On July 28, 2015 the Dutch Government published the English text of the Convention between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Republic of Kenya for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income (hereafter: the DTA) and a relating Protocol,… – Continue reading
The Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance Bob Richards today [Aug 28] commented on a report that Bermuda has been named to a new tax haven list drawn up by the District of Columbia in the US. While such changes would first have to be reviewed by the US Congress… – Continue reading
The Bank of Israel asked Bank Leumi Le-Israel Ltd. to set up an independent committee to examine management performance and bonuses after the lender agreed in December to pay a fine to U.S. authorities in a tax probe. Leumi, Israel’s second-largest lender, agreed the $400 million fine after a seven-year… – Continue reading
The yuan traded in Hong Kong strengthened on speculation that relatively high offshore borrowing costs are keeping some investors from making bearish bets on the currency. The overnight Hong Kong interbank offered rate for the yuan reached the highest in almost seven months on Tuesday, before the People’s Bank of… – Continue reading
Three-member AP Shah Committee has recommended extending minimum alternate tax (MAT) relief to foreign companies which do not have permanent establishment or public business in India. In an earlier version, the committee had sought to restrict MAT to foreign institutional investors and foreign portfolio investors. The committee had also not… – Continue reading
The government expects the number of disclosures about unaccounted overseas wealth under the black money window to go up in the last few weeks of the compliance period, which ends on September 30. “We expect the number of applications under the (black money) compliance window to go up during the… – Continue reading
European Union | August 27 2015 On 16 July 2015, the CJEU released its decision in the joined cases of Larentia + Minerva mbH & Co. KG and Marenave Schiffahrts AG. The CJEU followed Advocate General (AG) Mengozzi’s earlier opinion and held that active holding companies should have the right to… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: India continued to develop its relationship in the Indian Ocean Region, offering an additional coast guard patrol boat to visiting Seychelles President James Alix Michel, who is in India within five months of Prime minister Narendra Modi’s state visit.The visit also provided an opportunity to sign an agreement… – Continue reading
On June 29, 2015, the Israeli Tax Authority extended the deadline for registration of Family Trusts (sometimes referred to as Relatives Trusts), which are trusts created by a non-Israeli grantor for the benefit of one or more Israeli resident beneficiaries, from June 30, 2015, to December 31, 2015. The Israeli… – Continue reading
The two top Republican tax writers in Congress are warning the Treasury Department not to get ahead of Congress as it negotiates new international tax rules, questioning whether the administration is seeking to wield power it does not have. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and House Ways and… – Continue reading
Regulator demands Bank Leumi investigate top management in wake of U.S. tax-evasion settlement. Bank Leumi should take back bonuses it paid three former senior executives after the lender was forced to pay a huge penalty to the United States for tax violations that occurred under their watch, Banks Supervisor David… – Continue reading
The Cayman Islands as one of the leading offshore financial centres have a great level of uncertainty in its future with all the recent developments around tax compliance. One looming uncertainty is the European Union’s (EU) Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) passport. The AIFMD is one of several measures… – Continue reading
A favourable trip to London by Michael Dunkley has been notable for what did not come up in talks, the Premier said. “One thing that never came up was the European Union blacklist,” Mr Dunkley said of his meeting with British Cabinet ministers. In June, the EU’s executive commission included… – Continue reading
Pakistan has decided to revise obsolete convention of double taxation and provision of fiscal evasion convention with the United State of America (USA) aimed at bringing the treaty at par with neighbouring countries, well informed sources told Business Recorder. Pakistan and US signed a convention on the avoidance of double… – Continue reading
Taipei, Aug. 27 (CNA) Taiwan and Japan have nearly completed negotiations on a bilateral agreement to avoid double taxation, a Taiwanese official said Thursday. The date of its signing is still being discussed, the official said. The negotiations on the agreement have almost been concluded, Chou Shyue-yow (周學佑), deputy director-general… – Continue reading
Tax authority alerts police amid suspicion that foreign companies have defrauded its system over past three years Denmark’s tax authority said on Wednesday that it had alerted police after foreign companies appeared to have drained more than 800m euros from the system in what would be the country’s biggest tax… – Continue reading
Three-member AP Shah Committee has recommended extending minimum alternate tax (MAT) relief to foreign companies which do not have permanent establishment or public business in India. In an earlier version, the committee had sought to restrict MAT to foreign institutional investors and foreign portfolio investors. The committee had also not… – Continue reading
Revenue department’s ‘harsh’ approach criticised as ‘misguided’ and ‘a bit desperate’, writes Sam Burne James Tax avoidance has been a high-profile topic in recent years, and charities have not been immune from the efforts of HM Revenue & Customs to close any perceived loopholes and bring in as much money… – Continue reading
This Annual Conference Provides Global Tax Compliance Experts With Insight on Adopting an Internationally Accepted Standard of Tax Transparency and Compliance NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwired – August 25, 2015) – marcus evans, the world’s largest event management group, will host the 4th FATCA and Global Tax Compliance Forum on November 4-6,… – Continue reading
Tightening noose on tax evaders, the government and the Income Tax department will keep a closer eye on those with foreign assets and income, which even includes the negligible interest earned on bank deposits, small earnings while on a short trip abroad or even an online project that paid you… – Continue reading
US fund managers and other investment advisers would have to take steps to combat money laundering and report suspicious transactions to authorities under a long-awaited US Treasury rule proposed on Tuesday, reports Reuters. If made final the proposal by Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) would close a long-standing hole… – Continue reading
Greece’s Deputy Finance Minister, Trifon Alexiadis, has fired Greece’s first salvo in the fight to overcome the country’s non-compliance problems, announcing the introduction of a comprehensive scheme of asset registration for all taxpayers. The new “Asset Declaration” measure will apply from the beginning of 2016. In preparation, the tax authorities… – Continue reading
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a recently released report that Latvia should review inefficient elements of its tax regime. According to the report, Improving public sector efficiency for more inclusive growth in Latvia, there is scope to improve tax efficiency by lowering taxes on labor income… – Continue reading
The Swiss cabinet has urged parliament to reject an initiative aimed at maintaining banking secrecy for domestic private bank clients. In recent years, Switzerland’s much-vaunted tradition of banking secrecy has been under constant pressure. On Wednesday the government dismissed calls to anchor the protection of domestic Swiss banking secrecy in… – Continue reading
The Ministry of Finance is making all possible attempts to resolve tax related disputes through proper dispute mechanism framework agreement with global as well as domestic companies with a spirit of equity and fairness so that the growth being aimed at is scaled and additional employment opportunities created as intended… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Regulator SEBI today asked market entities to ensure compliance with changed income tax regulations, with India becoming a signatory to FATCA as well as a global pact to check tax evasion. The latest directive comes close on the heels of the government signing FATCA with the United States… – Continue reading
A recent Central Board of Direct Taxes (‘CBDT’) press release of August 6, 2015 announced signing of 2 unilateral APAs, including one with a rollback provision, and this has raised hopes of many MNCs, that hope to witness expeditious and reasonable closures. n July 2012, with a view to providing… – Continue reading
If Hockey gets his way and personal income tax rates are massaged to give higher earners some more breathing space, the gap in funds will have to be filled somehow, and given the government’s history it’s pretty likely people less well-off will end up getting slugged more – either at… – Continue reading
New de-offshorization and capital amnesty laws could have widespread effects In an attempt to encourage “economic patriotism,” Russia recently adopted two new laws: (1) The De-Offshorization Law, which makes a number of major changes in the existing systems of corporate and personal taxation in Russia, particularly as they pertain to… – Continue reading
Sofia. Bulgarian Council of Ministers approved at its regular Wednesday sitting an agreement on exchange of information on tax matters signed between the governments of Bulgaria and Guernsey. The cabinet proposes the National Assembly ratifies the document, the press service of the Government announced. The agreement sets conditions for the… – Continue reading
Security fears; Global authorities to begin sharing sensitive data If you have a bank account somewhere overseas, that information will make its way back to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in a couple of years. In 2018, international tax authorities will begin automatically sharing financial information under the terms of… – Continue reading
Foreign asset declarations by Spanish taxpayers have totaled EUR126.3bn (USD145bn) since 2013, when such declarations became compulsory, Spain’s Ministry of Finance has said. The Ministry said that in the past three months 1,813 taxpayers declared EUR1.9bn in foreign assets under Modelo 720, which requires tax resident individuals to report assets… – Continue reading
The new head of Barclays Plc’s Swiss unit is pushing private bankers in Geneva and Zurich to double client assets in four years as international competitors exit the world’s largest hub for offshore wealth. James Buchanan-Michaelson, who joined from Coutts International in June, aims to increase Swiss assets, including loans,… – Continue reading
New investment structures are making it easier for people from outside of the European Union seeking to live in Portugal through the country’s golden visa programme, reports the Expats Forum. The initial minimum investment of €500,000 has been reduced to €350,000 for investment in properties located in districts designated for… – Continue reading
The Bahamas Ministry of Financial Services (MoFS) and the Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB) once again are collaborating on a broad outreach in Asia, using the 2015 China Offshore Summit series as an anchor event, reports The Bahamas Weekly. The Summit series (2 events annually) is designed specifically to educate… – Continue reading
This month’s feature examines proposals for new tax information reporting requirements for large multinational businesses as part of wider and ongoing changes to the international tax system – proposals which have been described by international tax experts as the most significant development in the field of transfer pricing since TP… – Continue reading
Until recently, demonstrating empirically the value of International Finance Centres (IFCs) to global economies has proven relatively difficult. Despite IFCs being able to point to the high quality of their regulation and the endorsement they receive on a consistent basis from global authorities such as the OECD and IMF, this… – Continue reading
The Jersey Financial Services Commission and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority have signed an understanding and cooperation agreement, reports ITV News. It’s the first of its kind to be agreed with the Swiss authorities. Jersey has similar agreements with regulators in over 90 countries around the world. “I am… – Continue reading
Expat contractors who are earning big salaries without paying tax in their home countries are running out of time to put straighten their finances, say recruitment experts. Contractors who are still tax resident in the UK but fail to declare their offshore earnings are one target for global tax authorities…. – Continue reading
THE African continent has been under the surveillance for Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) for quite some time now. The report prepared by the former South African President, Mr Thabo Mbeki, who chaired the AU High Level Panel on IFF in early February 2015, clearly states that the multinational companies (MNCs)… – Continue reading
PRESS RELEASE Three Memoranda of Understanding (MOU)/Agreements on bilateral cooperation between Mauritius and Ghana in various fields were exchanged yesterday at New Treasury Building, in Port Louis. The documents concluded pertain to the following: mutual visa exemption; standardisation and conformity assessment; and, tertiary education. The exchange of MOUs was held… – Continue reading
Personal incomOn 23 July, the Belgian federal government agreed the budget review for 2015 and 2016 and the implementation of the long awaited tax-shift plan. The aim of the tax shift is to reduce the Belgian tax burden on labour, improve the competitiveness of Belgian companies and create new jobs…. – Continue reading
Next week, G20 finance ministers and central bank governors will gather for their third meeting during Turkey’s presidency. With just two and half months until leaders assemble in Antalya for this year’s summit, these meetings give the G20 an opportunity to confirm 2015 outcomes and demonstrate that the G20 remains… – Continue reading
After the leak of two major secret documents from HSBC’s Swiss private banking arm that revealed names of roughly 2,000 Indian account holders, the global bank itself has done it now. For the first time ever, HSBC Singapore shared a new list of 1,200 individuals all across the globe of… – Continue reading
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was enacted in 2010 by the Government of the United States of America (USA) (Govt. of US) with a view to combat tax evasion by U.S. citizens and residents through the use of offshore accounts. FATCA requires financial institutions globally to share information about… – Continue reading
In the overview of tax treaties as published on the website of the Irish Revenue, the Irish Revenue has published a statement announcing that the Convention between the Government of Ireland and the Government of Ukraine for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect… – Continue reading
WINDS OF CHANGE – GEORGE OSBORNE’S FIRST BUDGET AS THE CHANCELLOR OF A CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT BROUGHT SEVERAL SIGNIFICANT ANNOUNCEMENTS. By Mark Wingate Taking a leaf from the Labour Party’s election manifesto, there will be a further tightening of the rules for non-doms. In an attempt to provide a more level… – Continue reading
The Uganda Revenue Authority has pledged more cooperation with the African Tax Administration Forum to address taxation avoidance practices by multinational corporations. The Uganda Revenue Authority has pledged more cooperation with the African Tax Administration Forum to address taxation avoidance practices by multinational corporations. The corporation will involve forming a… – Continue reading
A bill proposing amendments to New Zealand’s property tax regime was introduced before Parliament on August 24, 2015, following public consultation. The measures proposed in the bill are intended to improve compliance with the current residential land sale rules and ensure that people pay their fair share of tax on… – Continue reading
FOCUS: Banks, professional services firms and trust and company service providers will face particular risks once the UK government’s proposed criminal offence for companies and partnerships whose ‘agents’ facilitate tax evasion comes into force. Agents, including employees but also others who “act on behalf of” a company, already potentially commit… – Continue reading
