The federal government of Nigeria and Qatar have signed an agreement for the avoidance of double taxation on income and capital gains for investments between the two countries. In addition to the elimination of double taxation on business income, similar treaties between Nigeria and other countries provide for a lower… – Continue reading
“We are clear. We will not stand for a minority of taxpayers continuing to seek out unacceptable ways to reduce the amount of tax they pay, and we will ensure HMRC has the tools to robustly tackle such activity.” So said David Gauke, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury. A clampdown… – Continue reading
Treaties limit the tax poorer nations can place on British companies doing business within their borders, says ActionAid. The UK has signed a high number of tax deals with some of the world’s poorest countries, potentially depriving those states of millions in tax revenues every year, according to an analysis… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: With Prime Minister Narendra Modi promising tax cuts and a $1.5-billion fund for India’s start-up eco-system, young entrepreneurs hope that the Budget 2016-17 will have some concrete steps to foster new businesses. “Implementation of nationwide GST (Goods and Services Tax) will help in simplifying the entire tax structure,… – Continue reading
The stock markets are facing the overhang of possible changes in the treatment of long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax for equity in the forthcoming Union Budget. Currently, under LTCG tax, there is zero tax if a share is held for more than a year. This provision had been brought in… – Continue reading
The government reportedly wants to extend to three years the holding period for investments in listed shares to qualify for capital gains tax exemption. This accepts the need to change the present capital gains tax regime but might not be the best way to go about it. It would discriminate… – Continue reading
Free-market advocates say retrospective tax claim on the British telecom major sends a negative message to global investors. It seems to be a weak argument Like all tax disputes, the one that involves Vodafone and the government is quite a tangled one. The company has been absolved of tax liability… – Continue reading
On February 15, 2016, the President of the Russian Federation signed Federal Law No. 32-FZ “On Amendments to the First and Second Parts of the Russian Tax Code (with Respect to the Taxation of Controlled Foreign Companies and the Income of Foreign Organizations)”, introducing a new set of amendments to… – Continue reading
Mumbai Tribunal rules buyback transaction taxable as capital gains, exempt under India-Mauritius Tax Treaty; even if considered as dividend, tax withholding does not apply This EY Tax Alert summarizes a recent ruling of the Mumbai Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (Tribunal) in the case of Goldman Sachs (India) Securities Pvt. Ltd…. – Continue reading
CAN NEPAL IMPOSE CAPITAL GAINS TAX ON NCELL BUYOUT DEAL? This question has been making rounds ever since TeliaSonera, the largest shareholder in Nepali telecom operator, Ncell, announced its decision to sell 60.4 per cent of its stake in the telecom company to Malaysian giant, Axiata, for $1.03 billion. Divergent… – Continue reading
Wealthy taxpayers who split time between states should be prepared to prove where their true home lies. You’re lounging by the pool of your second home in Florida, chuckling as you think of your friends back home braving the blizzard in Massachusetts. And you’re musing: Perhaps it’s time to escape… – Continue reading
The Government recently introduced into the Legislative Council a bill to provide a legal framework for the implementation of automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters (“AEOI”). This would have significant implications both for financial institutions and, in a cosmopolitan city like Hong Kong, for many of their… – Continue reading
Similar trade agreements have been used to facilitate apparent tax avoidance in the past A controversial new trade deal between the EU and the United States could make it more difficult to fight tax avoidance, a new report has warned. TTIP, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, is expected to… – Continue reading
Let me give you a heads up: First, I’m going to tell you some things that will make you ill. Then I’m going to present a cure. It will make you feel better—until, of course, you realize that knowing the cure brings us as close to implementing it as buying an… – Continue reading
A 30% tax bracket. A rise in the standard rate, with a rebate for lower earners. Higher taxes all round to finance more spending. In Scotland, ahead of May’s elections for the devolved parliament, a fascinating debate on tax and spending is under way, with the main parties setting out… – Continue reading
If Swiss banking secrecy laws gave Switzerland the world banking capital status, Monaco’s residence policy gives its realtors a thriving business. What is common between the Canadian Raonic who lost in the Australian Open semifinals and the Serbian Djokovic who won it? Well, they are both residents of Monaco, and… – Continue reading
Taxing decisions With highly efficient labour markets, a solid institutional environment and a strong banking system, Canada has long been considered one of the most competitive nations in the world. In fact, in its most recent rankings in 2014, Bloomberg declared Canada the second best country in the world for… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: As the current fiscal nears its end, Sebi has stepped up its surveillance to check tax evasion attempts through ‘arbitrage’ and bogus losses using stocks and mutual fund investments. Towards the end of every financial year, the manipulators tend to devise new ways of tax evasion, including incurring… – Continue reading
The Authority for Advance Rulings, a quasi-judicial tax body under the finance ministry, has reaffirmed that capital gains earned by a Mauritius-registered company from transfer of shares of an Indian firm shall not be taxable in the country if the foreign corporation doesn’t have a local permanent establishment. In doing… – Continue reading
Treasury is still fighting to keep a tax agreement out of parliament after a lobby group sued them over a pact it signed with Mauritius back in 2012. The double taxation avoidance agreement allows firms registered in the two countries to pay taxes in only one country. It also allows… – Continue reading
The present French Tax Update will focus on an overview of several noteworthy publications, including decisions issued during the past few months by the French Administrative Supreme Court (Conseil d’Etat) and French Constitutional Court (Conseil Constitutionnel), as well as the European Commission decision in respect of the Belgian Excess Profit… – Continue reading
COMMUNIST trade union leader Ken Gill famously referred to taxation as “the price we pay for civilisation.” If so last week gave further evidence of just how uncivilised a country Britain has become after decades of neoliberalism. Google’s deal with HMRC has rightly prompted outrage and consternation at the sheer… – Continue reading
Modi promised efficiency in allocation of resources as well as creation of opportunities for citizens to progress. New Delhi: Promising reforms that will transform lives, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the government will not eliminate all subsidies but will rationalise and target them to the needy. He said… – Continue reading
The Italian Patent Box regime largely complies with the OECD recommendations to prevent base erosion and profit shifting. Its non-compliant features offer a brief window of opportunity for companies able to take swift advantage of its wide range of qualifying intangible assets. Many countries have implemented specific IP regimes through… – Continue reading
The UAE is one of the few places in the world where expats can live, earn and keep those well-earned dirhams, as income tax is still not in sight. This benefit has earned the country many rankings as one of the best immigration destinations in the world. Apart from good… – Continue reading
Anguilla levies a 3% flat rate of personal income tax and is otherwise a tax haven with a stunning climate and amazing Carribean lifestyle Whilst there are various categories of flat tax, including marginal flat tax and Hall-Rabushka flat tax, in its simplest form flat tax is simply a rate… – Continue reading
Whilst there are various categories of flat tax, including marginal flat tax and Hall-Rabushka flat tax, in its simplest form flat tax is simply a rate of tax that remains consistent with a constant marginal rate. What this means is, as an income tax payer in a country with such… – Continue reading
Once the thrill of deciding to retire overseas has subsided, you normally start to think of all the things you need to do before you go. Picking the right removal firm, a lawyer to help you buy a new home are a couple, but the tax & financial implications of… – Continue reading
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) which is now saddled with the onerous task of getting alternative sources of revenue for the federal government has since adopted a stick and carrot approach to bringing tax payers into the tax net. Assistant Editor, Nduka Chiejina looks at the issues contained in… – Continue reading
Mozambique may introduce an LNG-specific tax regime for its giant Rovuma Basin projects if new petroleum tax regulations prove too tough for investors in today’s $30 per barrel oil environment. “Amendments to the tax law framework that were made [when oil prices were high] may serve Mozambique less well right… – Continue reading
Generally, if a South African taxpayer sells shares in a foreign company, he will be hit with South African capital gains tax (CGT) on any gain realised on that sale. However, South Africa provides exemptions from this CGT in certain circumstances, one of which relates to the sale of foreign… – Continue reading
One of the biggest financial benefits of owning a home is qualifying for the tax breaks that homeowners are eligible to receive. Many of the tax deductions for home-related expenses are well-known, but others often slip under the radar. Below, we’ll run through the list of deductions for homeowners that… – Continue reading
It’s a whopping four and a half thousand miles away from the UK but the Cayman Islands is a slice of British-overseas paradise. Watched over by a Governor appointed from Whitehall, the Caymans are technically British. But there’s a huge difference between that island and the UK: no-one seems to… – Continue reading
India’s biggest source of FDI is India itself, money departing on a short holiday to a tax haven and then routed back as FDI. Will the government muster up the political will to clamp down on the tax-allergic business elite? This could be a bumper year for the ever-lucrative tax… – Continue reading
THE BUREAU of Internal Revenue (BIR) filed with the Department of Justice a criminal complaint against a “grey market” luxury car importer for P638.36-million tax evasion. In a Thursday briefing, Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares said the BIR found Eddie M. Estallo, Jr. liable for the tax after he filed inaccurate… – Continue reading
According to their acolytes, the rich are great innovators and job creators. But they haven’t lived up to that billing in this century as both job growth and overall economic growth have been extraordinarily weak since 2000. If their benefit to the economy is in doubt, no one can dispute… – Continue reading
Recent media coverage has prompted impassioned calls for Congress to close the “loopholes” that supposedly explain why the 400 richest taxpayers paid an average federal individual income tax rate of 16.7 percent in 2012. Unfortunately, these calls are based on outdated numbers and an incomplete picture of the tax system…. – Continue reading
The taxation of ‘non-UK domiciled’ individuals has been a thorny political issue as successive governments have sought to crack down on those enjoying what some have seen as an excessively benign tax regime The taxation of ‘non-UK domiciled’ individuals has been a thorny political issue as successive governments have sought… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Recent media coverage has prompted impassioned calls for Congress to close the “loopholes” that supposedly explain why the 400 richest taxpayers paid an average federal individual income tax rate of 16.7 percent in 2012. A few weeks ago, the IRS released new data showing that the average federal individual… – Continue reading
Two weeks remain to influence draft legislation which reduces the ability for individuals to convert income distributions from a company into capital gains by way of winding-up that company, an expert has warned.19 Jan 2016. Proposals amending the Transactions in Securities (TIS) rules were published by HMRC on 9 December… – Continue reading
In an effort to facilitate non-resident enterprises in applying for tax benefits, China’s tax bureau recently released the SAT Announcement [2015] No.60, which replaced the previous “Administrative Measures on Tax Treatment under Double Taxation Agreement to Non-resident Enterprises (Guoshuifa [2009] No.124)” and simplified the application procedures for a non-resident enterprise… – Continue reading
The only thing worse than paying taxes is the idea that other people avoid paying their fair share of them. On the subject of tax avoidance by other people, I can think of at least three principal feelings. As the kids say, I feel all the feelings. Outright tax fraud… – Continue reading
PM Narendra Modi also announces a Rs.10,000 crore fund to provide support to innovation driven enterprises New Delhi:In an effort to give a fillip to the start-up ecosystem in the country, the government on Saturday announced its intention to exempt capital gains tax on investments in start-ups and a Rs.10,000… – Continue reading
Treasurer Scott Morrison could rake in billions of dollars of extra revenue if property tax breaks were removed, according to a new think tank report. The federal government would gain $46 billion per year if the capital gains tax exemption on the primary residence was removed, according to The Australia… – Continue reading
Billionaire John Paulson’s New York hedge fund firm has shut an operation in Bermuda that had been targeted by a Democratic lawmaker as a tax shelter. Paulson’s venture, a reinsurer named PacRe Ltd., has stopped writing new coverage, and its insurance policies have expired, according to two people familiar with… – Continue reading
On January 11, 2016 the Luxembourg tax authorities issued a newsletter announcing that on January 13, 2016 the Agreement between the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Republic of Croatia for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and on… – Continue reading
The BVI and Cayman are often referred to as “tax neutral” and you might have been told that, for this reason, it would be advantageous to establish your fund in either jurisdiction. What does this actually mean and what does it mean for your fund? Primarily, it means that BVI… – Continue reading
Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland denies treaty benefits in case of dividend paid on shares acquired for hedging derivative contracts. Court stated that due to the fully hedged nature of ownership, there was economic nexus and interdependency between two independent transactions and therefore, the “intermediary” bank did not have beneficial… – Continue reading
The UK tax authority, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), has announced that new double tax avoidance treaties with Bulgaria and Croatia have entered into force. The 2015 UK-Bulgaria double tax agreement was signed on March 26, 2015, and replaces the former 1987 treaty. It generally limits the withholding tax rate… – Continue reading
According to a recent petition, the Israeli government has taken the wrong side in a world war that the US is waging over taxes of its overseas dual citizens. The financal future of 9 million Americans worldwide and hundreds of thousands living in Israel could be at stake. According to… – Continue reading
