Pharmaceutical industry acquisition target Perrigo (PRGO) Wednesday said it’s buying German pharmacy company Naturwohl Pharma GMbH, the latest transaction in the sector’s surge of mergers and acquisitions. Perrigo, operated from Michigan but headquartered in Dublin following a corporate tax inversion, did not disclose terms of the deal for Naturwohl and… – Continue reading
THE HAUGE, July 20 (Xinhua) — The Dutch-German agreement to enhance the exchange of information on tax rulings was “an important step” towards greater transparency, but there is still a long way to go before reaching common ground on harmonized corporate tax policies within the European Union (EU), according to… – Continue reading
Irish people investing in other countries often lose up to a fifth of dividends Irish tax refund specialists Taxback. com have introduced an online service to help people recover tax withheld on share dividends in other countries. *Irish people investing abroad often lose up to a fifth of their dividends… – Continue reading
HE Voluntary Disclosure Programme introduced in 2012 to encourage taxpayers to regularise their affairs has some flaws that need addressing to be able to expose the real amount of money that has left SA illegally. Tax experts warn that the process in SA is relatively expensive, there are uncertainties because… – Continue reading
Swiss banks can more easily take on clients in neighbouring Germany, the Swiss government said on Thursday, after a deal that ends a lengthy standoff between the two countries over hidden offshore accounts, Reuters reports. Germany’s wealthy have traditionally been the largest client base for Swiss private banking services, but… – Continue reading
Germany and the Netherlands have signed a new agreement that provides for the “spontaneous” exchange of information on advance pricing agreements and advance tax rulings. The agreement was signed in Brussels on July 14, 2015. Under the new agreement, both countries have committed to the mutual exchange of information on… – Continue reading
July 17: The Japanese Ministry of Finance on 16 July 2015 announced that the governments of Japan and Germany reached an “agreement in principle” for a new income tax treaty. The new treaty would replace the existing agreement signed in 1966, and subsequently amended in 1979 and in 1983. According… – Continue reading
In May 2012, Cyprus introduced a package of incentives and tax exemptions relating to investment in intellectual property rights, commonly known as an “IP box.” Intellectual property projects are particularly susceptible to cross-border planning by reason of the mobility of intellectual property rights, which do not consist of physical assets… – Continue reading
HypoVereinsbank, the German arm of Italy’s UniCredit, is in talks with German prosecutors to pay a fine to put two tax probes behind it, two people familiar with the matter said. HypoVereinsbank and the Cologne prosecutors declined to comment on the development, which was first reported by German daily Sueddeutsche… – Continue reading
US authorities are investigating German banking giant Deutsche Bank over alleged money laundering in Russia, people familiar with the matter said Monday. The investigation centers on billions of dollars’ worth of transactions carried out by Deutsche Bank in Russia that New York state regulators believe may have been used to… – Continue reading
Addis Ababa, Jul 12 (AFP) Prominent economist and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz accused Germany today of displaying a “lack of solidarity” with debt-laden Greece that has badly undermined the vision of Europe. “What has been demonstrated is a lack of solidarity by Germany. You cannot run a eurozone without a… – Continue reading
The continuing speculation over Greece’s possible exit from the Eurozone and the weakening effect this might have on the shared currency in the short-term, may once again be prompting some folks to consider setting up non-resident bank accounts in non-eurozone countries. Offshore banking has a bit of a dodgy image… – Continue reading
U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors are investigating former Deutsche Bank AG traders in connection with their participation in the interest rate-rigging scandal and could bring charges this year, Bloomberg reported, citing two people with knowledge of the situation. At least five former traders are under investigation for their role in… – Continue reading
10/07/2015 – The OECD set out a clear path for Lithuania’s accession to the Organisation, reinforcing the OECD’s commitment to further extend its global membership. On 8 July 2015 the 34 OECD Members adopted the Roadmap for the Accession of Lithuania to the OECD Convention setting out the terms, conditions… – Continue reading
PARIS (Reuters) – The U.S, UK and Chinese economies are showing fresh signs of weakening while activity in the euro zone as a whole is firming up, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said on Wednesday. The OECD’s monthly leading indicator, a measure designed to flag turning points in… – 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
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
The Unified Patent Court (UPC) Agreement will not be ratified in the UK this year, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has confirmed. In a statement sent to Out-Law.com, the IPO ruled out ratification of the Agreement this year but said that it intends to complete the “domestic preparations” for ratification… – Continue reading
FATCA – Which Countries Are In And Out The controversial US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) law is set to start from July 1, 2014, so with less than 21 days to go, here’s a look at which countries are in and who is outside of the tax network…. – Continue reading
St. Kitts and Nevis is one of 30 countries placed on the European Union’s black list for not doing enough to fight tax evasion. The EU’s executive Commission published the list Wednesday (June 17). The blacklisted countries figure on at least ten of the EU’s 28 member nations’ lists of… – Continue reading
Abstract Over the past 25 years, Cyprus has become the portal of choice for investment into and out of Russia and Central and Eastern Europe. The new Russian de-offshorization law, which took effect on 1 January 2015, will have significant implications for users of overseas structures. This article examines the… – Continue reading
Guernsey’s Chief Minister and Commerce and Employment Minister have expressed their astonishment that Guernsey has been included on a list of 30 so-called ‘non-cooperative’ non-EU jurisdictions, which was published today, reports Guernsey Finance. The list consolidates national tax ‘blacklists’ as they stood six months ago, and includes any jurisdiction on… – Continue reading
The 11 European nations seeking a financial-transactions tax will meet Thursday in Luxembourg in a bid to decide how to design the measure, according to European Union officials. Participating states are wrangling over which trades to tax and who should collect revenue, according to planning documents obtained by Bloomberg News…. – Continue reading
PARIS: France is considering making 2017 a year free of income tax. The government wants to shift to a system of automatic withholding, similar to that in the United States and much of the rest of the world. Employees in France currently pay taxes a year after their income is… – Continue reading
The European Union: Labelled Bermuda as a tax haven Bermuda has been named by the European Union as a country that is not doing enough to crack down on tax avoidance. The Island was one of 30 countries on the list published by the EU’s executive Commission today. “These tax… – Continue reading
The United States is through trying to needle the OECD’s base erosion and profit-shifting project with pinpricks. Last week, Robert Stack, U.S. Treasury deputy assistant secretary (international tax affairs), abandoned the subtle digs Treasury had been using to attack BEPS and flat-out said the United States is extremely disappointed in… – Continue reading
Politically incendiary proposals will set sights on multinationals’ tax planning with EU states and 30 worst offending havens could be officially blacklisted Officials in Brussels will on Wednesday announce a series of measures designed to stamp out the toxic culture of secret, sweetheart tax deals for multinationals which prevails in… – Continue reading
France is trying to squeeze more out of web businesses like EBay Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Airbnb Inc. Soaring online sales and the use of the Internet giants by smaller businessses as a marketplace for goods and services is prompting the French Senate to look for ways to collect more… – Continue reading
Turkey levies a 15 percent tax on footballers playing in the Spor Toto Super League and collects the second-lowest tax from footballers among European countries According to the Income Tax Law currently in force, footballers playing in the Super League pay a 15 percent tax while those playing in lower… – Continue reading
AUSTRALIA and Germany are starting negotiations to update a tax treaty between the two countries that stretches back 40 years. TREASURER Joe Hockey says the discussions will focus on maximising the efficiency of the trade and investment relationship with the world’s fourth largest economy and Australia’s tenth largest trading partner… – Continue reading
Heads of state meeting at the G7 Summit in Bavaria, Germany committed to promoting automatic exchange of tax information and tax rulings to discourage multinational companies from shifting profits from country to country to avoid taxes, reports Accounting Today. In a joint declaration, the G7 leaders reaffirmed their commitment to… – Continue reading
India joined the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information on 3rd June, 2015, in Paris, France, alongwith Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Indonesia and New Zealand. On our behalf, the Declaration to comply with the provisions of the MCAA was signed by H.E. Mr. Mohan Kumar,… – Continue reading
DRESDEN — Finance chiefs from the Group of Seven (G-7) economic powers met on Thursday to discuss how to revive a faltering global recovery, with the US leaning on Europe to reach a deal to avert a Greek bankruptcy. The threat of a Greek default, rising oil prices and bond… – Continue reading
Following our article at the end of last year on the potential changes to the UK patent box regime further details have been released on the new regime, timings and additional work to be done. On 6 February 2015, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a paper… – Continue reading
Brussels competition arm investigating Ireland for use of ‘comfort letters’ to companies The European Commission is to propose a mandatory common corporate tax base next month as part of a wide-ranging clampdown on corporate tax avoidance. Under a discussion document to be looked at by EU commissioners in Brussels today,… – Continue reading
France and Germany want to see common basic corporation tax rates across the EU, according to reports France and Germany are pushing plans to introduce a minimum corporation tax rate across the continent, it was reported today, in a move that could result in higher taxes on British companies. European… – Continue reading
The company decided to declare its revenues since European regulators started to investigate its accounting practices. Internet retailer Amazon paid about US$16 million to Germany in 2014, while the giant multinational recorded a total earning of US$16 billion in that country, according to the country’s regulators. In the past, the… – Continue reading
Switzerland has begun online publication of names of foreigners and foreign firms wanted in tax probes by their countries of origin, including Germany. American citizens are identified only by their initials. The Swiss Sunday newspaper “Sonntagszeitung” said the alpine nation was flooded with formal tracing requests from foreign tax authorities…. – Continue reading
Details of new Tax treaty Become Available The details of the new Income Tax Treaty between Netherlands and Germany have become available following its ratification by Netherlands on 15 May 2015. The new treaty was signed on 12 April 2012. Once in force and effective, the new treaty will replace… – Continue reading
German tax law allows deferring the tax on certain disposal gains by transferring the hidden reserves in the disposed assets to similar newly acquired or newly produced assets (“Replacement Assets”). The tax deferral requires an allocation of the Replacement Assets to a German permanent establishment. The ECJ has recently ruled… – Continue reading
Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, just got a step closer to explaining his role in the Lux Leaks scandal. Speaking after an official visit to Luxembourg, German Member of the European Parliament, Fabio De Masi said: “It is becoming increasingly clear that powerful EU member states like Germany… – Continue reading
THE BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government, which had made a lot of noise about black money and the illegal stashing of funds abroad in the run-up to general elections last year, finally got down to some serious work to tax ill-gotten wealth and curb its growth. Last week, the government… – Continue reading
The worldwide transfer pricing landscape is in a state of flux and the need for sound and reliable dispute resolution mechanisms has never been more important for multinational enterprises. In particular, where aggressive tax administrations such as India are concerned, double taxation is a key concern for businesses. Mutual agreement… – Continue reading
The total “development finance” loss – counting both revenues and reinvested earnings – is estimated in the range of $250 to $300 billion. This prevents developing countries from stopping the outflow of money, which thus bleeds them of essential resources The financial crisis of 2008 had an interesting collateral benefit… – Continue reading
VietNamNet Bridge – Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam, the German invested retailer, which repeatedly reported losses over the last 12 years in Vietnam, has engaged in transfer pricing to evade tax, according to the General Department of Taxation (GDT). It has asked the big retailer to reduce the reported loss… – Continue reading
Ireland found itself surrounded by supporters, for the first time, on the issue of corporate tax rates, during an informal meeting of EU finance ministers, reports the Irish Examiner. Finance Minister Michael Noonan was not present, as he returned to Dublin early, but the head of the Central Bank, Patrick… – Continue reading
The announcement of a ground-breaking tax free zone being established by the Albanian government around the port city of Durrës marks an exciting new phase for the country, as it beckons more and more foreign investors to look to its shores. The Albanian Ministry of Economy is set to create… – Continue reading
Documents exposed secret deals to slash global tax bills of multinational companies A French journalist has been criminally charged in Luxembourg for his role in exposing how hundreds of multinational companies used secret deals with the European duchy’s government to slash their global tax bills — a scheme that CBC… – Continue reading
Bitcoin transactions are exempt from value-added-tax (VAT) in Spain, says Spanish tax lawyer Alejandro Gómez, The General Directorate of Taxes, a subsidiary of the Spanish taxing authorities, made the statement in a response to a request from Gómez. According to Gómez, the consultation found that Bitcoin payments were a form… – Continue reading
An inflow of bank deposits to Luxembourg from Asia and the Gulf have replaced reductions from European countries such as France and Germany following an overhaul of the Grand Duchy’s tax secrecy regime, reports the Financial Times. Pierre Gramegna told the Financial Times in an interview that “bank secrecy had… – Continue reading
