Fiscal competition between EU member states could lead to the disintegration of the European Union, the chairman of the European Parliamentary tax rulings committee has warned In a recent interview, French MEP Alain Lamassoure said that such an outcome would be “unacceptable”. “Fiscal competition can be healthy when it contributes… – Continue reading
March 2 (Reuters) – Generic and specialty drugmaker Mylan Inc reported a rise in quarterly profit and revenue, driven mainly by strong demand for its generics in North America. Net profit attributable to the company’s common shareholders rose to $189.2 million, or 47 cents per share, in the fourth quarter… – Continue reading
When combined with aggressive tax planning, Hong Kong’s onshore-offshore tax regime often results in a reduced tax burden for taxpayers that operate through Hong Kong companies by pricing intra-group transactions. This has led to heightened transfer pricing scrutiny from the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department in recent years. In order… – Continue reading
A fresh drive by the European Commission to ensure companies pay their tax where they make their profits could have far-reaching consequences for Irish corporate tax revenue. Some new pieces of legislation will be presented over the next few months, but one of the biggest could be the revival of… – Continue reading
NUMBER OF THE WEEK: 3,415. The number of people who renounced their citizenship in 2014 according to IRS data. This is one of the five highest totals on record since the U.S. Congress passed the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act in 2010. In the past five years, more than 10,000… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has launched a drive to combat tax evasion following a series of probes into rules that allow multinationals to slash their bills in Luxembourg, Ireland and the Netherlands. The EU’s executive commission said Wednesday that it will propose new tax legislation next month, including… – Continue reading
AMSTERDAM: Google shifted nearly €10bn in royalties to the tax haven of Bermuda via the Netherlands in 2013. That is almost €1bn up on 2012, the paper says. It bases its claims on an analysis of the annual reports of Dutch-registered Google Netherlands Holdings BV. Over €9bn came from Google… – Continue reading
The US giant trying to take over Britain’s biggest drinks can maker in a £4.3billion deal is a serial user of tax havens. Ball Corporation is in talks to buy FTSE 250-listed Rexam that would create an industry goliath. The deal could be finalised as early as this week, and… – Continue reading
Report skewers PwC for creation of Shire tax shelter it calls ‘tax avoidance on an industrial scale’ Shire’s Ireland address has made the specialty drugmaker a prime takeover target. AbbVie was attracted but dumped the $55 billion buyout when the U.S. Treasury Department threw cold water on the deal with… – Continue reading
A recent report detailing how Africa lost $US1-trillion in the last 50 years through illicit financial flows of money has raised questions about it’s abilities to curb fraud evasion and other means of corporate profit hiding. It has also sparked interest in holding multinational corporates, which are mainly responsible for… – Continue reading
New Delhi, Feb. 4: The notification of a social security deal with Norway – often called totalisation agreements — may pave the way for a similar pact with the US that has been hanging fire for a decade. Under the pact, employees sent by Indian firms to Norway on a… – Continue reading
The European Commission has turned a blind eye to secretive tax deals that Ireland and other countries have been doing with multinationals for decades. Only after complaints from the US did it launch investigations into the most high-profile cases — Apple in Ireland, Starbucks in the Netherlands, and Amazon in… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – The European Commission is investigating a Belgian system allowing companies to reduce their tax bills significantly, it said on Tuesday, widening its inquiry into tax deals struck with multinationals across the European Union. The Commission, which rules on competition and subsidies in the European Union, said deductions granted… – Continue reading
The IRS issued two New Releases this week that restate its focus on offshore tax evasion. The first was January 29, 2015 which followed the First International Criminal Tax Symposium. “The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI) and Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) co-hosted a three-day International Criminal… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Getting tough with investment proposals from tax heavens, FIPB has deferred 23 applications in its last three meetings apprehending “treaty abuse”. According to sources, the Department of Revenue has expressed doubt that a few foreign companies were evading tax by routing their investments through tax heaven countries with… – Continue reading
Speed read On 16 December 2014, Curaçao and the U.S. signed an intergovernmental agreement (“Curaçao-IGA”) setting out the information reporting and withholding requirements applicable to banks and other financial institutions resident in Curaçao (“FI’s”) under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”). By virtue of the Curaçao-IGA, FI’s will be… – Continue reading
American internet giant Google shifted nearly €10bn in royalties to the tax haven of Bermuda via the Netherlands in 2013, the Telegraaf says on Saturday. That is almost €1bn up on 2012, the paper says. It bases its claims on an analysis of the annual reports of Dutch-registered Google Netherlands… – Continue reading
New Delhi, Jan. 23: India and the US have failed to make much progress in the totalisation pact that addresses the the problem of the double payment of social security taxes by Indian software professionals in America, dampening expectations surrounding President Barack Obama’s visit this weekend. Top officials said discussions… – Continue reading
New Zealand First is concerned the Uber ride service and multinational companies like it are using elaborate tax shelters to rip off hard working Kiwi taxpayers. The Party will be closely following the government’s newly announced review of small passenger services. “Why is it when a multinational with a track… – Continue reading
SUCCESSFUL INTERNATIONAL STRUCTURES in most cases begin with choosing the right jurisdiction to host a company that will form part of an international business. Depending on the company’s activities, the choice will depend on the range of double taxation treaties and the availability of tax reliefs followed by a host… – Continue reading
Outlook: The OECD’s work on corporate tax avoidance has proceeded at a faster rate than many expected According to Oxfam, on current trends the richest 1 per cent of the world’s population will have a greater share of its wealth than the remaining 99 per cent within two years. The… – Continue reading
Competition commissioner urging swift conclusion to open investigations The European Commission has said it will publish the result of its investigation into the Government’s tax arrangements with Apple by the spring. Speaking in Brussels, a commission spokesman said competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager “wants to focus on the four open in-depth… – Continue reading
Observers of offshore financial centres will know that post 2008 they have been weathering a perfect storm. Firstly, reduced transactional flows, simply because there is less money available for structured finance and investment generally. Secondly, a constant barrage of negative publicity, which deliberately seeks to conflate tax evasion and tax… – Continue reading
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights.http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3e5cbbfa-9bff-11e4-b6cc-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz3OtSPx5Gf The European Parliament is poised to launch a full inquiry into sweetheart… – Continue reading
The European Parliament’s Green Party cleared the first legal hurdle in its push for a probe of tax evasion in the wake of revelations about hundreds of sweetheart deals for companies in Luxembourg. The proposal gathered the backing of more than the required 188 EU lawmakers in order to seek… – Continue reading
The European Parliament’s Green Party has cleared the first legal hurdle for the creation of a committee to look into tax evasion in the wake of revelations about hundreds of secret deals for companies in Luxembourg. The proposal gathered the backing of more than the required 188 MEPs to seek… – Continue reading
In the light of the recent revelations about Luxembourg tax avoidance schemes for multinational corporations, a quarter of the European Parliament on Wednesday (14 January) backed the Greens’ proposal to set up a full inquiry committee on tax evasion and dumping. Managing to get the required support of 188 MEPs… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) -– So how did the previously obscure term tax inversions become part of Washington parlance, fodder for the next presidential campaign and the issue that helped derail a U.S. Treasury nominee? Thank, or blame, depending on your perspective, cutting-edge tax lawyers, populist Democrats, a banana seller, a drugmaker, a… – Continue reading
Countries are competing to lower their tax rates to please the corporate giants, but the result is a massive collective loss of revenue. Only international coordination can wipe out the practice and defeat the negative influence of the Big Four accounting firms. Tax havens have long existed in the popular… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS – As political honeymoons go, it was short and ended abruptly. Just one week into his job as European Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker was broadsided by a series of newspaper articles outlining the depth and breadth of corporate tax avoidance schemes in Luxembourg. Schemes thought up and enacted while… – Continue reading
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles publicly denied a media report saying it was thinking about moving the tax residence of its Ferrari luxury sports car division outside Italy. “These rumors have no grounds,” FCA said in a company statement. “There is no intention to move the tax residence of Ferrari SpA outside… – Continue reading
AMSTERDAM: The Dutch Ministry of Finance announced that a new regulation for the avoidance of double taxation between the Netherlands and Curacao is expected to be effective beginning 1 January 2016. In anticipation of the new tax regulation, the Netherlands is extending measures provided to Curacao in previous years, concerning… – Continue reading
The Luxembourg Government is to provide the European Commission with a list of the tax rulings issued by its tax authorities, along with a list of the beneficiaries of its concessionary tax regime for intellectual property (IP) income. Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel announced that the decision had been made… – Continue reading
The disclosure of thousands of pages of confidential documents on Luxembourg tax deals was a “game changer” that led European Union regulators to expand their probe of such accords to all 28 nations in the bloc, Luxembourg Finance Minister Pierre Gramegna said. The EU’s expanded investigation “is not a surprise… – Continue reading
Debate on multinational tax avoidance widens The surprise announcement by the European Commission that it is to extend its request for information on tax rulings to all European Union member states has the potential to significantly shift the terms of the debate on multinational tax avoidance. The timing of the… – Continue reading
The European Commission has announced that its ongoing inquiry into advance tax rulings will be expanded to cover all European Union member states. The Commission said on December 17 that it will ask member states to confirm whether they offer tax rulings. If they do, they will be requested to… – Continue reading
The European Union has agreed rules to stamp out tax evasion and stop dirty money from criminal gangs or terrorism finance being channelled through anonymous companies. EU states and the European Parliament struck the agreement on Tuesday evening to update the bloc’s anti-money laundering rules, a statement from parliament’s economic… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Luxembourg acceded on Thursday to the demand of the European Commission to release data to further EU antitrust regulators’ investigation into whether it allowed multinationals to pay excessively low taxes. The European Commission launched investigations this year into whether U.S. retailer Amazon (AMZN.O) and a unit of Italian… – Continue reading
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. Brussels has widened a probe into corporate tax rulings to include all 28 member states amid heightened scrutiny of sweetheart tax deals granted to businesses by national… – Continue reading
December 17: The Dutch Ministry of Finance announced that a new regulation for the avoidance of double taxation between the Netherlands and Curaçao is expected to be effective beginning 1 January 2016. The Dutch government bill concerning this regulation is pending consideration by the Lower House. Once approved, the bill… – Continue reading
An investigation into tax rulings provided by certain EU member states is to be widened to cover all member states, according to a press release from the European Commission.17 Dec 2014 Tax Disputes and Investigations EU & Competition Tax Public procurement and state aid Corporate tax International tax UK Europe… – Continue reading
* EU to examine tax arrangements across bloc * Several deals with multinationals already under scrutiny * Questions asked of new Commission President Juncker (Adds Luxembourg reaction, background) By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS, Dec 17 (Reuters) – European Union competition regulators have asked all 28 member countries for details of… – Continue reading
The European Union’s new antitrust chief said the EU is braced for a legal battle with governments embroiled in its probe of sweetheart tax deals for multinationals from Apple Inc. (AAPL:US) to Amazon.com Inc. Margrethe Vestager said the process needs to be legally watertight as officials investigate whether deals handed… – Continue reading
Something strange happened in 2014 — Americans became very interested in corporate tax policy. It started in the spring, when U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which produces blockbuster drugs like Lipitor and Viagra, floated a possible merger with its British-based rival AstraZeneca. Normally a merger of that size would make a… – Continue reading
The surge in U.S. companies avoiding taxes by taking a foreign address has been condemned by President Barack Obama and stirred a policy debate in Congress. What’s often overlooked is that these “inversions” are typically a final step in a hopscotch of multinational tax dodging. Many companies invert after years… – Continue reading
Some of the best tax minds in the country agree on one thing: Corporate tax reform will be a very, very heavy lift. Sure, the White House and top lawmakers who will be in charge of writing tax law next year have signaled their openness to the idea. And, yes,… – Continue reading
Rome (dpa) – The head of Italy‘s tax office, Rossella Orlandi, on Monday criticized automaker Fiat‘s decision to move its tax residence to Britain after completing a merger with US peer Chrysler. “I would … like to stress that we need some sense of national pride. In Germany tax rates… – Continue reading
A secret deal with the Swiss government negotiated by media group Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd when James Packer was chief executive set a tax rate of less than 2.15 per cent on PBL’s intra-company loans. “We do have good news for you!” Ernst & Young Swiss partner Markus Huber wrote… – Continue reading
Around the world, countries are desperately seeking ways to stop multinational companies from earning profits within their borders without paying taxes on them, while stashing trillions in tax havens like the Cayman Islands. The British government, after a search, says it knows how to tax the profits Google earns in… – Continue reading
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting The Walt Disney Co. generates $18.2 billion per year in economic activity in Florida and and is responsible for more than one in every 50 jobs in the Sunshine State, according to a study the company paid for in 2011. But here’s something Disney won’t… – Continue reading
