Regulatory snags have once again delayed Tupelo’s BancorpSouth Inc. acquisitions of Ouachita Bancshares Corp. of Monrore, La., and Central Community Corp. of Temple, Tex. Meanwhile, Tupelo’s Renasant Bank has completed its takeover of Heritage Financial Group Inc., a bank holding company headquartered in Albany, Ga. and the parent of the… – Continue reading
A series of recent federal enforcement actions targeting weaknesses in financial institutions’ Bank Secrecy Act/anti–money laundering (BSA/AML) compliance programs continued on June 15, when the Department of Justice (DOJ), Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced a coordinated enforcement against West Virginia’s Bank of Mingo…. – Continue reading
WASHINGTON, July 2 (UPI) — The United States asked Switzerland to extradite seven high-ranking FIFA officials who were arrested in May on suspicion of taking millions in bribes. Swiss authorities said its Federal Office of Justice received the requests Wednesday night from the U.S. Embassy in Bern on the request… – Continue reading
Georgia’s capital Tbilisi will host dozens of top officials including members of the G20 at a special meeting in October to discuss tax avoidance strategies on national tax bases. A group of delegates from 30 countries from Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the EU are due to take part in… – Continue reading
The Commerce Commission says it may not be able to do much about a company that more than 100 businesses have complained about, because it appears to be based overseas. The Commission has been investigating the New Zealand Small Business Assistance Centre since October 2014. Complainants say the company told… – Continue reading
The Monetary Authority of Singapore will introduce initiatives to boost skills and expertise across all levels in the financial sector. SINGAPORE: The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will introduce new initiatives to strengthen the Republic’s financial sector for future progress, as the country marks 50 years of independence. “Taking into… – Continue reading
Australia’s largest new coal project will struggle for finance and amounts to a gamble on the future of India’s power supply Queensland Treasury warned the state’s government as it pondered pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the development of the Galilee Basin. Documents released under Queensland’s freedom of information… – Continue reading
Ireland’s attractively low rate of corporate taxation is once again under pressure with the recent release of the European Commission’s new action plan to tackle tax avoidance. The commission has been prompted into this politically ambitious move by public outcry over big, usually American, companies avoiding tax in the EU…. – Continue reading
Florida governor releases 33 years of tax returns. Jeb Bush made $29 million in the first seven years after he left public office, dramatically increasing his wealth during a recession, a financial crisis and the Obama presidency he has criticized. Bush’s tax returns, released Tuesday, show how the former Florida… – Continue reading
Top Democrats are increasingly embracing a framework for taxing offshore corporate earnings that has long been favored by Republicans, as the two parties seek a deal that could provide long-term funding for the nation’s highways Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is the latest Democrat to get on board, releasing a plan… – Continue reading
Multinational pharmaceutical companies are unable to assure Australians they are not being “ripped off” on the price of medicines as a result of their complex global supply chains. The Australian heads of nine of the biggest global drug suppliers were forced into the embarrassing admission on Tuesday after backing themselves… – Continue reading
Prosecutors have launched an investigation into alleged tax evasion by Shinwon Group Chairman Park Seong-cheol. Investigators from the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office raided the headquarters of the apparel company and Park’s home in central Seoul, Wednesday, and seized account books and other related documents. After reviewing the seized materials, prosecutors… – Continue reading
New York State is increasingly reliant on China as a consumer of services and manufactured goods. In 2014, New York exported approximately US$4 billion to China, making it the state’s sixth largest export market. The top five exports to China are transportation equipment, waste & scrap, machinery (except electrical), primary… – Continue reading
Dubai — The UAE ranked top in the world along with Malta and Monaco for lighter tax burdens placed on residents on both personal and corporate levels, according to a latest report. The annual report released by Henley & Partners revealed the outcomes of the Global Residence Program Index (GRPI)… – Continue reading
HM Revenue & Custom is scrutinising savings accounts and property sales for evidence of tax avoidance. Tackling tax avoidance is top of HM Revenue & Custom’s to-do list, but it’s not turning its attention to popstars or the super-rich: it’s looking at you. Take That’s Gary Barlow has apologised for… – Continue reading
Copycat China is notorious . Many Western companies hesitate to enter China or to bring in technology, because of valid concerns about loss of intellectual property. This concern is even greater when it comes to innovating or conducting R&D in China. But there is encouraging news: the framework for IP… – Continue reading
OECD and G20 Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) was adopted in 2013. It consists of 15 actions including transfer pricing, taxation of controlled foreign corporations (CFC), digital commerce, hybrid instruments, international information exchange, tax treaty shopping etc. In 2013, OECD working group prepared draft documents regarding… – Continue reading
BEIJING, July 1 — China’s top legislature has ratified an international convention combating tax avoidance. The Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters was submitted by the State Council, China’s cabinet, to a bimonthly meeting of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee for review. It was ratified before… – Continue reading
Leaders of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) have ended a meeting in Grenada criticising the European Union over its decision to blacklist several Caribbean countries as tax havens. In addition, the leaders of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Montserrat, St Kitts… – Continue reading
Jayant Sinha said that we will make sure all investors get a safe harbour with respect to permanent establishment New Delhi: The government will soon set rules so that private equity and venture capital investors can shift base to India without any adverse tax consequences, junior finance minister Jayant Sinha… – Continue reading
Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop has promised that Australia will not be “a safe haven for the proceeds of corruption” in Papua New Guinea, as police in both countries probe the role of Australian lawyers there. Ms Bishop’s intervention and the police probes were triggered by explosive video footage that… – Continue reading
The Executive Directorate of Revenue has announced that as part of the changes in the audit and tax collection system, it will oversee the transfer prices of companies headquartered abroad. In addition to the implementation of electronic billing and other changes that aim to improve the supervision of tax collections,… – Continue reading
Action 3 of the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) agenda promised to address how countries could use controlled foreign corporation (CFC) rules to combat BEPS. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending upon one’s vantage point), as is pretty much universally agreed, the OECD’s draft report on CFC rules (the “draft”)1… – Continue reading
The next step for all Irish entities which are classified as Financial Institutions (“FIs”) for FATCA purposes is to submit a return (the “FATCA Return”) to Irish Revenue setting out details of any US reportable accounts they may have maintained during the 2014 calendar year, or to confirm by way… – Continue reading
Brazilian President Dilma Roussef met with President Barack Obama at the White House this week. Below is the new multi-faceted partnership. The United States and Brazilian relationship has been unstable since the U.S. spying policy became known in 2013. Brazilian President Dilma Roussef canceled a 2013 visit to Washington, D.C…. – Continue reading
NEW DELHI, JULY 1: Anyone with undisclosed assets and bank accounts abroad will get time up to December 31 to avoid a higher penalty and prosecution. The Finance Ministry has notified the compliance window under The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015. Under… – Continue reading
The next step for the Cayman Islands in relation to international tax cooperation is the implementation later this year of the OECD Common Reporting Standard (CRS). The CRS standardises the global automatic exchange of information (AEOI) for tax purposes. Financial Services Minister Wayne Panton said the CRS will further strengthen… – Continue reading
The German government has announced plans to incorporate Action 13 (guidance on transfer pricing documentation and country¬by¬country (CbC) reporting) of the OECD’s BEPS project into local legislation. The wording of the new law is being drafted and may be published some time in autumn of this year. It is the… – Continue reading
Bangladesh’s central bank asks Finance Institutions to tighten money laundering rules DHAKA, July 1 (Xinhua)–Bangladesh’s central bank on Wednesday issued a circular asking all financial institutions(FIs) to follow the anti-monetary laundering and terrorist financing rules strictly. “There is no big change in the latest circular, it has just consolidated all… – Continue reading
The budget deal agreed to by state lawmakers this week quietly targeted Microsoft for a $57 million tax increase over the next two years, and the Redmond software giant is apparently willing to go along with it. They haven’t advertised it, but the budget deal agreed to by state lawmakers… – Continue reading
On 23 June 2015, Mauritius signed the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. Mauritius has taken a significant step to enhance its exchange of information legal framework. It is the seventh member of the African Tax Administration Forum to join the Convention and becomes the 87th… – Continue reading
On 1 July 2015, the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters entered into force in Russia. The Agreement was signed by Russia on 3 November 2011. The agreement is designed to facilitate international co-operation among tax authorities to improve their ability to tackle tax evasion and… – Continue reading
The independent intergovernmental organization FATF or The Financial Action Task Force (on Money Laundering), headquartered in Paris, has published a report as a guide for using digital currencies titled “Guidance for a Risk-Based Approach to Virtual Currencies.” It includes benefits of digital currencies as well as potential risks of money… – Continue reading
The Government has released exposure draft legislation to amend the anti-avoidance rules in Part IVA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth) to prevent multinational entities using artificial or contrived arrangements to avoid a taxable presence in Australia. We will continue to monitor the progress of the exposure draft… – Continue reading
A private equity executive won his five-year legal battle with U.K. authorities to stop his fees from managing venture capital funds being taxed twice. George Anson, who has worked at Boston-based HarbourVest Partners for 25 years, faced a 67 pence levy on every pound earned from a Delaware company between… – Continue reading
VietNamNet Bridge – It is clear that the US has been increasing its investments in Vietnam and that Vietnam needs to grab the great opportunities brought by the capital flow. Dr Vu Chi Loc from the Hanoi Foreign Trade University noted that Vietnam’s deep integration into the global economy in… – Continue reading
OECD common reporting standard On 3 June 2015, the Treasurer announced that Australia had signed the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) common reporting standard (CRS) Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement which enables automatic exchange of CRS information between countries. Australia proposes to implement the CRS from 1 January 2017,… – Continue reading
“There is much to be gained from the existing double taxation treaty between Trinidad and Tobago and the Kingdom of Spain,” said Spanish Secretary of State for International Co-operation and Latin America Jesús Gracia Aldaz in his address at the First T&T–Spain Partnership Forum at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain…. – Continue reading
CUSTOMS and Excise would be adding four mobile container scanners that would become operational within the next two months. The scanners would be used for locating narcotics, arms and ammunitions and explosives as goods arrive in the country. Customs would also be acquiring six more sniffer dogs to assist its… – Continue reading
Chinese banks, encouraged by Premier Li Keqiang’s “going-out” strategy, are rocketing up the international bond arranging league tables in Asia, leaving investment banking stalwarts in their wake. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s biggest lender by assets, jumped four spots from the end of last year to… – Continue reading
THE ROBERT Fico government is preparing an additional 30 measures by which it wants to combat tax avoidance and tax evasion in Slovakia. It wants, for example, to use cover companies to uncover criminal deeds, names of debtors should be published on the website of the Financial administration and excise… – Continue reading
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) does not get most expatriate Americans’ vote, according to a new survey of Americans living abroad conducted by deVere Group, a financial consulting firm. Forty-eight percent of the 370 expats surveyed say they would vote for a presidential candidate who promises to repeal… – Continue reading
SOME businesses are taking last-minute action to fulfil their reporting obligations for the first deadline of US Fatca – the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. With the deadline for filing Fatca returns today, local business Fusion Systems has seen a rush of interest over the past week for companies seeking… – Continue reading
Vaduz (ots / IR) – The government has decided in your meeting of 30 June 2015 to open negotiations on a double taxation agreement with the Principality of Monaco. As a basis for understanding the OECD Model Convention serves. The agreement should also include a clause on exchange of information… – Continue reading
Swiss banks have long been seen as ‘safe havens’ for parking funds by Indians and other foreign nationals, but global pressure has been mounting in recent years on Switzerland to clamp down on their secrecy walls. Facing possible criminal action by India and some other nations over suspected black money,… – Continue reading
The British Virgin Islands (BVI) maintains its popularity as the jurisdiction of choice for international business companies by ensuring it is at the forefront of corporate legislation and international cooperation. The popularity of BVI companies continued unabated in 2014, with incorporations of approximately 60,000 new business companies during the year;… – Continue reading
An eyebrow-raising disclosure in the U.S. indictment of FIFA officials is that a representative of a Caribbean bank made it easy for one allegedly illegal transaction to be done by flying to New York to personally collect a check and then returned to deposit it in an account in the… – Continue reading
Latvia has become the second European state to remove Bermuda from its blacklist of uncooperative tax jurisdictions In June, the European Commission (EC) published a list of 30 uncooperative tax jurisdictions, with a so-called master blacklist comprising of countries that were targeted by 10 or more EU member states. Bermuda… – Continue reading
Latvia has become the second European state to remove Bermuda from its blacklist of uncooperative tax jurisdictions In June, the European Commission (EC) published a list of 30 uncooperative tax jurisdictions, with a so-called master blacklist comprising of countries that were targeted by 10 or more EU member states. Bermuda… – Continue reading
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was enacted in 2010 in the wake of the revelations of the use of Swiss bank accounts for US tax evasion and out of a congressional desire to pursue what were supposed to be those most cunning US tax evaders. While FATCA is… – Continue reading
