India said foreign portfolio investors can use tax treaties to reject demands on past capital gains, seeking to defuse a row that cast a cloud over the $48 billion poured into stocks and bonds from overseas. Foreign institutional investors domiciled in countries that have signed double taxation avoidance treaties with… – Continue reading
The nation’s most powerful and respected tax adviser has warned the Abbott government not to make a legislative “kneejerk” response to the current debate over multinationals shifting profits to avoid tax. Arnold Bloch Leibler senior partner Mark Leibler said today the current tough anti-avoidance provisions of the tax law should… – Continue reading
Dinesh Kanabar, CEO, Dhruva Advisors explains that there are three kinds of FIIs: protected by double taxation avoidance treaty, no treaty but physical presence in India, and no treaty and no presence in India. So far notices have been sent only to the second category of investors. Minimum alternate tax… – Continue reading
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Markets fell 500 points on Monday. Punters’ worries about current tax disputes between Modi Sarkar and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) being one reason why the Sensex dived. There has been a battle of phrases between FPIs and North Block. And it looks as if this will be a… – Continue reading
The Finance Minister has failed to assuage markets’ fears on the issue of retrospective tax Markets are getting jittery each time the finance minister or his ministry utters the T word. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reminds the market of UPA’s finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who introduced the now-dreaded retrospective tax…. – Continue reading
Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (Singtel), has announce the intent to delist from the Australian Securities Exchange, due to what it described in official statements as “low trading interest”. Singtel shares have been listed on the ASX as CHESS Depositary Interests (CDIs). This has enabled foreign companies to trade on the Australian… – Continue reading
Myanmar remains an enigmatic country – one of the largest and most populated in Asia but also one of its poorest and least understood. It remains a country that has largely stood still for seventy years – hardly any infrastructure of note was developed in the country since the end… – Continue reading
UK’s biggest coffee shop brands Costa, Caffè Nero and Starbucks perform poorly in new ethical scorecard ranking companies on treatment of staff and suppliers, environmental policies and tax avoidance Consumers have been urged to switch to independent coffee shops after major brands including Costa, Caffè Nero and Starbucks scored poorly… – Continue reading
HM Revenue and Customs has amended its list of registered pension schemes in what appears to be a bid for clarity in light of the new pension freedoms, toughening risk warnings and modifying language to emphasise that appearing on the list does not confer authorisation, reports the FT Adviser. The… – Continue reading
The Hong Kong bourse has launched a special segregated accounts system for Stock Connect in an attempt to address investors’ concerns over the much-criticised pre-trade checking rules. A reformed trade settlement system was rolled out to Stock Connect investors yesterday in a bid to address concerns over the pre-trade checking… – Continue reading
Indian companies had raised a record $18.6 billion in 2014 through offshore bonds. This year, it may cross $20.50 billion, says MD, Treasury and Markets, India, at DBS Bank Vijayan Subramani. In an interview with Bhavik Nair, Subramani indicates Singapore dollar-denominated bond issues from India are likely to make a… – Continue reading
The UK is inhibiting its economy with a tax burden 18 percent heavier than the global average and should consider setting a specific target for lowering the overall tax take, according to research by accountants UHY Hacker Young. UHY’s findings show that tax revenue in the UK represents a third… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Swiss bank UBS is looking to grow wealth assets in Asia-Pacific to the tune of 15 percent annually as it builds its presence in China and consolidates its leading position in the region. With 269 billion Swiss francs ($280.4 billion) of invested assets, UBS ranks as the biggest… – Continue reading
CHINA Tax Free Reorganisations • With circulars 109 and 116 jointly issued in December 2014 by the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation, the Chinese authorities have relaxed the conditions for internal reorganisations. • Circular 109 deals with internal reorganisations. Provided the pertinent requirements are met, the… – Continue reading
India and China developing frameworks for Reits but while their sheer sizes impress, both face tax and high interest rate hurdles, reports the Business Times. India and China are both developing frameworks for real estate investment trusts (Reits), but the threat to Singapore’s position as a major regional Reit centre… – Continue reading
To balance the books, Australians will have to pay more tax, the only questions being what will be taxed and how high the rate. Boasting glittering skyscrapers and label-clad youth, Singapore is the new jewel in the capitalist world’s crown. The city state is home to the third-highest density of… – Continue reading
TACKLING tax evasion and dealing with the fast-growing digital economy were top of the agenda at a conference on taxation yesterday. Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport, Mrs Josephine Teo, told the event that the tax authorities around the world are acting to address tax dodges more… – Continue reading
The head of the Business Council of Australia (BCA), Catherine Livingstone, has called for a national “conversation” about what the federal government and the business community euphemistically call “economic reform”. Ever in thrall to trickle-down economics, they manage to talk in “doublespeak”, a close relative of the doublethink that George… – Continue reading
Lee Curthoys, corporate tax lead at Radius, looks at Singapore’s changing transfer pricing regulations and tells us what we need to know. For a number of reasons, ranging from public safety to proximity to other Asian markets, Singapore is a popular destination for businesses looking to expand globally. In fact,… – Continue reading
HONG KONG: small group of asset managers is pushing for more protection for offshore holders of Chinese bonds, in a sign that growing default fears are putting established funding structures under scrutiny. The ongoing debt restructuring of troubled Chinese property developer Kaisa Group Holdings has rattled many on the buy… – Continue reading
“Tax policy and administration should incentivise compliance. They should be administered fairly, transparently, with minimum discretion, with no harassment of taxpayers but also ensuring that tax evasion is dealt with firmly.” Promising a ‘modern tax system’ with low and globally competitive rates, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has assured foreign investors… – Continue reading
ENERGY giant Woodside Petroleum says its Singapore office was set up for marketing, not tax minimisation. “THE office in Singapore for us is actually not set up at all for tax optimisation, it’s set up because that’s where marketing is done,” chief executive Peter Coleman told Woodside’s annual general meeting…. – Continue reading
The funds management industry has welcomed a commitment from Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to make tax and corporate law changes that will boost the export of asset management services to Asia. Complex and uncompetitive legal and tax settings in Australia have acted as a handbrake on the export of financial… – Continue reading
As the saying goes, there are two certainties in an uncertain world: death and taxes. The corporate world, while unable to eliminate the former, is doing everything in its considerable power to eliminate the latter. As recent developments over the past couple of years show, transnationals are determined to not… – Continue reading
Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, HDFC Bank and many others have signed up for space in Gujarat’s International Finance Tec-City (also known as Gift City). In fact, banks are expected to be the first to kick off operations in 2016/17, when the International… – Continue reading
Government agencies should be forced to justify themselves to federal ministers every time they buy services from global technology giants such as Google and Amazon Web Services that pay less in local taxes, according to telecommunications provider Macquarie Telecom. In a letter to the Senate Economics Reference Committee investigating the… – Continue reading
Johannesburg (miningweekly.com) – With the shareholder vote just over three weeks away, the planned spin-off of South32 from BHP Billiton has turned bearish and BHP Billiton has itself fallen victim to an unprecedented number of analyst sell recommendations owing to the plummeting iron-ore price, worsened by the reputational damage that… – Continue reading
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) moved a new bill for first reading in parliament, which aims at combating money laundering and financing of terrorism, the MAS said in a press release on Monday. The Monetary Authority of Singapore Bill (MAS Bill) was moved by Singapore Deputy Prime Minister and… – Continue reading
SINGAPORE, April 12 (Reuters) – The Singapore trading hubs of the world’s largest commodity companies are coming under scrutiny from the governments of some resource-producing countries who say they suspect they are using units in the Southeast Asian financial centre to avoid tax. Some of the world’s largest oil, mining… – Continue reading
The key is to arrive at a Goldilocks mean — rolling out tax-friendly policies while being firm with incorrigible offenders A phrase first used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a group of businessmen in the run-up to the elections last year has now come back to haunt his… – Continue reading
There was a moment on Tuesday evening – hours before the first public hearing of the Senate inquiry into corporate tax evasion – when Treasurer Joe Hockey and his advisers should have sensed a firestorm approaching. Sandwiched between a story on a Gold Coast diet blogger accused of pinching other… – Continue reading
Australia’s biggest miners, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, have told the Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance that they are under audit by the Australian Taxation Office for allegedly shifting profits through marketing hubs in Singapore. The Singaporean hubs are used by multinationals including the tech giants and miners to… – Continue reading
An Australian Senate parliamentary committee hearing on Wednesday was dominated by the fire and brimstone of Labor and Greens politicians directed against tax avoidance by major corporations. Labor Senator Sam Dastyari called on Australian Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan to “name some of Australia’s worst corporate offenders,” declaring that they “should… – Continue reading
New Delhi, April 10: The finance ministry is mulling a new tax regime for financial SEZs of the kind inaugurated today in Gujarat so that the taxes paid by financial institutions working out of them are on a par with Dubai and Singapore. The country’s first International Financial Services Centre… – Continue reading
* Australia pursuing multibillion-dollar claims on BHP, Rio -AFR * Singapore marketing hubs save the two A$750 mln/year -AFR * Rio, BHP say the Singapore hubs not set up to save tax * BHP says uses the hub as it is close to customers and markets (Adds tax office, Rio,… – Continue reading
Major accounting firms say they are not doing anything illegal in helping corporations to minimise tax liabilities. KPMG’s managing partner Rosheen Garnon faced the second day of the Senate inquiry into tax avoidance, which has so far heard Australia is missing out on billions of dollars in tax every year… – Continue reading
Companies appearing before a senate inquiry into tax avoidance are on notice that any false evidence they give will be corrected by the Tax Office. Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan urged the committee to ask individual companies to disclose their own tax positions. He would correct the record if they provided… – Continue reading
SINGAPORE – An enhanced regulatory framework for corporate service providers (CSPs) to combat money laundering and terrorism financing will take effect from May 15. The strengthened regime for CSPs will help to further boost Singapore’s reputation as a trusted international financial and business centre with robust regulatory frameworks against money… – Continue reading
Executives tell Senate inquiry paying tax overseas for Australian sales is how the global tax system works, while News Corp Australia demands Netflix pays GST Senior executives from three major tech firms have defended corporate structures which allow most of the revenue from their Australian operations to be taxed in… – Continue reading
Since entering the Illinois Senate race last week, Democratic Rep. Tammy Duckworth has been running a protectionist campaign, railing against her Republican opponent’s alleged support for outsourcing jobs and overseas tax havens. But financial records obtained by The Daily Caller show that Duckworth has investments in companies that use offshore… – Continue reading
Singapore does not condone any abuse of its tax system, a Ministry of Finance (MOF) spokesman said on Tuesday, in response to a Straits Times query following media reports that the Australian government is pursuing global miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto for channelling billions of dollars in iron ore… – Continue reading
Tax breaks for research and development should be targeted to smaller technology start-ups, rather than big companies that will most likely make the investments regardless of incentives, Google Australia will tell the senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance. Google Australia’s managing director, Maile Carnegie, will be appearing before the inquiry… – Continue reading
Labor Senator Sam Dastyari has accused the Tax Commissioner of protecting some of the nation’s worst tax dodgers after the commissioner denied access to documents which could embarrass some of the world’s biggest mining companies. On the eve of the corporate tax avoidance inquiry by a parliamentary committee led by… – Continue reading
An arrest over allegations of price fixing has increased calls for tighter regulation of the booming sector On a late February morning, Yves Bouvier arrived at the Monaco home of one of his best clients. He expected Dmitry Rybolovlev, the Russian billionaire owner of AS Monaco football club, to pay… – Continue reading
Apple, Google and Microsoft have faced an Australian Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance on Wednesday. The tech giants have given evidence to a committee regarding the low amounts of tax paid locally in comparison to their profits. From the coy responses of the big three, one may come to… – Continue reading
SINGAPORE: India’s central bank is to ask large borrowers to issue more bonds in an unprecedented move to deepen the domestic capital markets and address concentration risks in the banking system. The Reserve Bank of India has proposed the measure as part of a discussion paper on rules limiting the… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – India is considering allowing companies to raise rupee debt offshore, the country’s central bank said on Tuesday, noting strong demand for such debt following issues by Asian Development Bank and International Finance Corp. “These issues have been received with interest. The appetite for rupee debt amongst international investors… – Continue reading
Urgent changes are needed to Australian tax laws, say experts, amid claims BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto avoided paying billions of dollars in tax during the mining boom. The Australian Tax Office has the mining giants in its sights over claims they have been saving more than $750 million a… – Continue reading
On April 1, Italy’s Minister of the Economy and Finance, Pier Carlo Padoan, signed two decrees that modify Italy’s “black lists,” and announced on the same day that Italy and the Vatican had signed their previously agreed tax information exchange agreement (TIEA). The two decrees follow the guidelines laid down… – Continue reading
Till March 31, close to 100 FIIs got notices from the Tax Department for a controversial Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) of 20 per cent, while they are now being followed up with Assessment Orders. In the biggest-ever tax demand slapped on them, nearly 100 foreign funds have been asked to… – Continue reading
