The European Commission is refusing to hand over documents to MEPs investigating whether EU member states are using special tax regimes that favour large multinational corporations such as Facebook and Amazon. EU economics commissioner Pierre Moscovici wrote to the European Parliament’s special committee on tax rulings (TAXE) this week claiming… – Continue reading
Britain’s Conservative government has relaxed demands on the Cayman Islands to create a register detailing company ownership, despite Prime Minister David Cameron’s previous call for Overseas Territories to adopt the measure to promote transparency. The UK’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies make up almost 25 percent of the world’s tax… – Continue reading
As Labor Day weekend approaches, a tanned and rested Congress is poised to return to Washington to hash out corporate tax changes. Much of the debate over corporate tax reform in Washington sensibly focuses on how to encourage Fortune 500 corporations to repatriate and pay U.S. taxes on the $2.1… – Continue reading
Abu Dhabi: As the world powers get ready to lift sanctions on Iran, a top banker in the UAE said the banks have to carefully understand this change as they prepare to relax their systems and enable the expected business activity. “It is one of the tougher sanctions that the… – Continue reading
Japan has just embarked on the 2015 Tax Reform to be more growth-oriented with the aim of a reduction in the effective corporate tax rates to allow corporations to pay higher wages to existing employees as well as increase overall employment thereby increasing economic consumption and investment. On 31 March… – Continue reading
HMRC have increasingly been targeting the offshore arena in recent years, but it should not be overlooked that they continue to undertake civil and criminal investigations without any overseas angle whatsoever. This is all to evident in a recent case involving a chain of children’s nurseries, where the co-owner, Michael… – Continue reading
Revenue Minister Todd McClay announced today that Cabinet has given its approval to a set of proposals intended to address the current inequitable situation where debt remission between related parties can, under certain circumstances, result in an incorrect taxation outcome. At present, in cases when such debt is forgiven by… – Continue reading
Grant Shapps, Foreign Office minister, says on visit that Cayman Islands could use existing systems to help tax authorities The UK government appears to have relaxed its pressure on the Cayman Islands to create a register of company ownership, despite David Cameron’s plea last year for overseas territories to do… – Continue reading
SEJONG, Sept. 3 (Yonhap) — More South Koreans reported their overseas financial accounts to authorities in 2015 than a year earlier as the government turns up the heat on individuals and companies to disclose hidden assets, the tax office said Thursday. The government has taken a firmer stance toward people… – Continue reading
Depeartmental review indicates contentious tax credit plays vital role in supporting jobs Several multinational firms have been found to be aggressively and improperly claiming tax credits for research and development to lower their corporation tax bills. A Government scheme gives firms up to 25 per cent of their expenditure on… – Continue reading
HMRC has published draft regulations which will extend the application of the disclosure of tax avoidance schemes (DOTAS) regime to inheritance tax (IHT) avoidance structures. The draft regulations set out the circumstances in which arrangements will be required to be registered under the DOTAS regime. Registration will be required where… – Continue reading
The U.S. district of Columbia has blacklisted the Channel Islands as a tax haven. It’s part of a plan to highlight international jurisdictions they consider to be used by people trying to avoid paying tax. D.C want to use the list to deter businesses there dealing with businesses in Jersey…. – Continue reading
The number of Swiss banks that have entered deferred prosecution agreements with the U.S. government keeps growing. The subject is tax evasion involving American account holders. Today, banks everywhere want to know if you are compliant with the IRS. Under FATCA, the entire world is lending the IRS a hand…. – Continue reading
Schroders Plc’s Swiss bank will pay a $10.4 million penalty to avoid prosecution under a U.S. program that requires participating firms in Switzerland to say how they helped American clients avoid taxes. Schroder & Co. Bank AG’s penalty is the fourth highest among 33 banks that have settled with the… – Continue reading
The inquiry raises some larger and perhaps more challenging questions about Australia’s corporate tax system and what is acceptable and unacceptable tax minimisation. On 18 August 2015, the Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance tabled a long-awaited interim report, with the subtitle “You cannot tax what you cannot see”. The… – Continue reading
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia will host the bi-annual keystone 16th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) from today (Sept 2) until Friday. Themed ‘Ending Impunity: People. Integrity. Action’, over 1,000 delegates from over 130 countries are expected for plenary debates and workshops to discuss what can be done to end impunity for corruption. Hosted… – Continue reading
HM Revenue and Customs’ recognised overseas pensions (Rops) list has one extra fund in the Australian space, a self managed super fund which industry specialists say may cause a reopening of the market down under, reports FT Adviser. This follows the HMRC list being slashed of all Australian funds earlier… – Continue reading
HMRC reintroduces Australian fund to Rops listEU member states are lobbying the European Commission to prevent it from disclosing information on tax rulings to a European Parliament probe, reports the EU Observer. EU economics commissioner Pierre Moscovici, in a letter sent Monday (31 August) to the head of the parliament’s… – Continue reading
On August 31, the government of St Kitts and Nevis signed the agreement with the Government of the United States of America to implement the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), reports WINN FM. Enacted by the US Congress in 2010, FATCA targets non-compliance by US taxpayers using foreign… – Continue reading
Program is intended to raise tax revenues by providing a temporary window for S. Koreans to avoid penalties and prosecution Between Oct. 1 of this year and Mar. 31 of the next, South Koreans who voluntarily report assets and income they have hidden overseas and pay the taxes they… – Continue reading
Moneycontrol Bureau Credit Suisse has maintained its underperform rating on Glenmark Pharma as it feels potential currency devaluation in Venezuela could hurt profit meaningfully. The stock lost more than 3 percent intraday Wednesday. The brokerage expects a 20 percent degrowth in company’s FY17 earnings per share as it continued to… – Continue reading
HSBC’s Argentine unit told to remove CEO and one director HSBC accused of helping capital flight by wealthy Argentines Argentina’s central bank revoked the licenses of two top executives at HSBC Holdings Plc’s local unit, including the chief executive officer, arguing they had failed to prevent clients from laundering funds… – Continue reading
Switzerland’s parliament will soon take up the issue of inking a crucial Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) agreement with India, a move that could help combat the menace of black money and erect a platform to enable the exchange of information between the two countries. “The domestic procedures regarding AEOI… – Continue reading
The Cayman Islands are somewhat a tourism paradise. There are crystal blue waters and golden beaches, but the fate of the economy is often overlooked. For years the country has been sustaining itself on the financial services industry, but with the impending issue of tax avoidance in global media, could… – Continue reading
HSBC Argentina has been asked to appoint a new president and vice president within 24 hours by Argentina’s central bank for failing to prevent tax evasion and money laundering. Last year, HSBC was charged for helping more than 4,000 clients evade taxes by hiding their money in secret Swiss bank… – Continue reading
Lack of information about ‘opaque’ special purpose vehicles make it difficult to assess financial stability implications The legendary Warren Buffett once described some shadow banking activities as “financial weapons of mass destruction”. By that he meant they pose a huge threat to the global financial system, as these investment structures… – Continue reading
International pensions administrator STM Group is looking to offer QROPS tailored for UK expats in Australia after HMRC scrapped thousands of schemes from its approved list in July. During an interview with International Adviser, STM – which has trading offices in both Malta and Gibraltar – cited plans to expand… – Continue reading
Three-quarters of global business leaders would accept higher taxes in exchange for greater clarity on acceptable tax planning, the Grant Thornton International Business Report has found. The survey of 2,580 businesses in 35 countries noted a significant increase from the last time the question was asked – last year –… – Continue reading
Domestic funds will now have to closely examine FATCA rules. Much ink has been spilt of late over a United States (‘US’) federal law called the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (‘FATCA’) and hence we thought it fit to spend some time trying to analyse for the readers the aspects… – Continue reading
Investors could be hit hard if they are taxed on the capital gains earned from the sale of holdings in FPIs Today, a stable, predictable tax and regulatory regime is a sine qua non for creating a conducive climate for foreign portfolio investors (FPI). Investors wishing to invest in India… – Continue reading
By accepting the recommendations of the AP Shah panel on the issue of retrospective tax demand on FIIs, the Narendra Modi government has added one more item to the long list of its U-turns. And at the face of it, this one definitely is a wise one, though the question… – Continue reading
The Luxembourg tax authorities released a final version of an administrative circular and an updated administrative circular to implement provisions under the FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) regime concerning the automatic exchange of information between Luxembourg and the United States. An intergovernmental agreement (IGA), that follows the Model 1… – Continue reading
One of Ireland’s richest persons, John P. McManus, seeks $5.2 million from the U.S. government after it was wrongfully withheld from his $17.4 million gambling winnings to cover taxes. In a complaint filed Monday in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, McManus accuses the withholding agent of erroneously withholding the… – Continue reading
Statutes facilitates automatic exchange of financial account data Pensions regulator PFRDA has asked all intermediaries registered with or appointed by the body to take necessary steps to ensure compliance with respect to the implementation of multilateral competent authority agreement (MCAA) and foreign account tax compliance act (FATCA). Financial regulators in… – Continue reading
WILLEMSTAD – Pan-American Life Insurance Company of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, a member of Pan-American Life Insurance Group (PALIG), facilitated a discussion yesterday with other members of the local insurance association about the practical implications of the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) which was introduced in July 2014…. – Continue reading
In 2013, the previous Belgian government introduced a new reporting obligation for individual founders and beneficiaries of so-called “legal arrangements” (i.e., trusts, foundations and certain tax haven companies). At the same time, the previous government also internally discussed a draft bill seeking to further discourage the use of such legal… – Continue reading
On August 12, 2015, the IRS issued Rev. Proc. 2015-40, which revises the procedures for obtaining competent authority (CA) assistance concerning issues arising under U.S. income tax treaties. This revenue procedure replaces current guidance, which was last updated almost 10 years ago, in Rev. Proc. 2006-54. Revisions to the former… – Continue reading
Almost 173,500 financial institutions from around the world have signed up to report customer information to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Around 2,230 registered with the FATCA portal in the past month, according to the IRS. At least one financial institution… – Continue reading
Two Cayman residents are challenging a decision by the Tax Information Authority to comply with a tax information exchange request by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Lee and Sheila Aronfeld are naturalized citizens of the Cayman Islands but remain taxpayers in the United States, where they are subject to a… – Continue reading
New Delhi: Expressing concerns over the outflow of funds from developing countries, including India, through money laundering and other ways, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha today said as much as $300-600 billion moves out through such channels. “Illicit financial flows means the money that actually is black money,… – Continue reading
The government asked companies and individuals to report their hidden overseas assets voluntarily during a grace period ending in March next year, a move to expand the tax base and strengthen taxation transparency. Those who voluntarily come clean on their hidden overseas assets will be exempted from punishment during the… – Continue reading
Call to strip company of transparency standards certification A leading tax policy advocacy group has called for online retailer Etsy to be stripped of a certification awarded to companies that adhere to strict standards for transparency and social accountability unless it dismantles its offshore tax cutting structure. Last month, Bloomberg… – Continue reading
New Zealand: GST and the digital economy The New Zealand Government has released a Discussion Document regarding the proposal to impose goods and services tax (GST) on online purchases of goods and services from offshore suppliers by New Zealand resident consumers. The publication Taxing by the megabyte: New Zealand’s GST… – Continue reading
For hedge funds in most jurisdictions, the first wave of registration and reporting deadlines surrounding the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is now in the rearview mirror, but a significant amount of work likely remains. Due to the staggered approach regarding the definition of a reportable investor in 2014… – Continue reading
The Finance Ministry said Tuesday that it would pardon individuals and companies that not paid taxes on gains from overseas investments, as long as they voluntarily report their gains for tax payment by the end of March. The tax authority’s policy came from the Park Geun-hye administration’s efforts to expand… – Continue reading
Swiss banking secrecy is no longer viable as the U.S. Justice Department closes in on agreements with most of the institutions that may have helped Americans evade taxes, according to the top American diplomat in Switzerland. Negotiations with about one-third of Swiss lenders, known as Category 2 banks, to finalise… – Continue reading
Malta’s tax legislation provides for a number of benefits which can be derived by companies and their shareholders. The tax rules can lead to a tax burden in Malta which is significantly reduced or completely eliminated in certain cases, and the following are some of the key tax benefits which… – Continue reading
Based on the overview of Jurisdictions Participating in the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters as available on the website of the OECD, on August 31, 2015 Mauritius deposited its instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval for the Protocol of the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance… – Continue reading
U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), House Ways and Means Committee chairman, sent a letter on Tuesday to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, outlining concerns regarding the country-by-country (CbC) reporting requirements in the works at the Treasury Department. The letter… – Continue reading
For the past few years, Canadians have been taking advantage of our dollar being worth about the same as the U.S. dollar. From buying up real estate to cross-border shopping, being on par with the U.S. dollar has had its advantages. However, in the last few months, economic factors have… – Continue reading
