CIVIL society organisations and the business community say the impact of Tax Inspectors without Borders (TIWB) initiative meant to curb tax evasion and illicit financial flows depended on the willingness of actors in Zimbabwe to reform and agree to be scrutinised. The TIWB project is aimed at helping developing countries… – Continue reading
What is the difference between 30 per cent of zero and 20 per cent of zero? Correct: precisely $5227.27 less than a Bronwyn-Bishop-taxpayer-funded helicopter trip from Melbourne to Geelong. A reduction in the corporate tax rate, as unrelentingly espoused by the business lobby in its pro-GST campaign, may be a… – Continue reading
Training and planning have helped insurance brokers meet new tax reporting regulations for 2015, and compliance is moving into the “another part of doing business” phase. Initial reporting under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, meant to help combat international money laundering, began Jan. 1. “The go-live in January was… – Continue reading
India and the US recently signed a tax information sharing agreement that will facilitate exchange of information between the two countries, beginning October. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) was enacted by the US government in 2010, as part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act. Fatca requires… – Continue reading
HC order had exempted Mauritius-based Copal Group from capital gains tax liability in India The income tax department has approached the Supreme Court seeking to quash a Delhi High Court order that exempted a series of transactions by Mauritius-based Copal Group — having assets in the US and in India… – Continue reading
DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said as many as 37,506 tax dispute cases were pending before various Income Tax Appellate Tribunals having a financial implication of Rs 1.45 lakh crore at end March 2015. Similarly, Rs 37,683.98 crore has been locked in 34,281 tax dispute cases pending before various… – Continue reading
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority ordered a local unit of India’s largest bank to pay a HK$7.5 million ($960,000) penalty for failing to carry out proper checks to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing. In its first action since gaining new anti-money laundering powers in 2012, the HKMA said the… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: The Financial Services Commission (FSC) of Mauritius, which is the regulatory body for the Mauritian non-banking financial services sector, has introduced a new application form for obtaining a tax residency certificate (TRC). FSC verifies these applications and recommends issue of the Mauritius tax residency certificate by the Mauritius revenue… – Continue reading
The Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) was subjected to rigorous assessments by the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently in a bid to verify the island’s readiness to enact the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), reports Barbados Today. Anthony Gittens, the BRA’s manager of policy and planning, said as… – Continue reading
Second-quarter data on US citizenship renunciations is out, with a surprising trend—the lowest quarterly number of people giving up their American citizenship since late 2012, according to a recent release by the Treasury Department, reports the Wall Street Journal. Since the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) was enacted in… – Continue reading
The Government of Jersey has published the Agreement between the Government of Jersey and the Government of the Republic of Korea on the Exchange of Information Relating to Tax Matters (hereafter: the TIEA), which was signed on July 21, 2015. Although signed, the TIEA has not yet entered into force…. – Continue reading
Developing nations left behind as OECD countries continue to dominate the global tax agenda called for a UN body on intergovernmental tax to no avail. Tax, more than ever before, is viewed as one of the most significant drivers of development finance. But Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)… – Continue reading
The United States finally took its first step toward a more competitive tax position for intellectual property in the United States. Although some might call it a baby step, the release this week of a discussion draft of legislation proposed to lower the tax rate on income from intellectual property… – Continue reading
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has secured victory after Ingenious tax avoidance scheme investors’ challenge to its tax avoidance crackdown process were rejected. Accelerated payment notices were introduced in July in the Finance Act 2014. They allow tax avoidance scheme users to pay disputed tax 90 days before HMRC challenges… – Continue reading
The tax authorities in Portugal today announced that the initial reporting deadline for foreign financial institutions has been extended to 30 November 2015 (from the original deadline of 31 July 2015). Also, while it has been reported that negotiations for an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between Portugal and the United States… – Continue reading
The U.S. Department of the Treasury on its webpage that is dedicated to FATCA has published the FATCA Agreement that was concluded between the Government of the United States and the Government of the Republic of Turkey. The agreement is a so-called Model 1 IGA. Already in June 2014 the… – Continue reading
Documents filed in the Federal Court on an unrelated matter have highlighted how little profit Jeep has made despite turning over almost $5 billion in six years. US car giant Jeep and its associated brands may not be paying enough tax in Australia, a document filed in the Federal Court… – Continue reading
The month of July has seen several significant developments regarding implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which has been fully effective since July 1, 2014. First, the IRS Office of Chief Counsel issued an advice memorandum regarding the applicability of the tax returns and return information confidentiality… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Government today said the tax department will expeditiously process the cases where FIIs have claimed exemption from minimum alternate tax (MAT) as a benefit under the bilateral tax treaties. “The CBDT ( Central Board of Direct Taxes) has directed its officers to expeditiously process the cases where the… – Continue reading
On July 27, 2015, the U.S. Tax Court issued a stunning rebuke to the IRS by invalidating the part of the Internal Revenue Services’ (IRS) cost-sharing regulations under code section 482 that says taxpayers have to take into account, among other costs, the costs of stock-based compensation. The Altera decision… – Continue reading
While the traders have announced shutter down strike on August 01 (Saturday), the All Pakistan Business Forum (APBF) has endorsed their stance on 0.3% WHT on banking transaction, persuading the government to withdraw this tax to avoid any confrontation. President All Pakistan Business Forum Ibrahim Qureshi, said that the government,… – Continue reading
Three former chief executives of major listed companies have recently moved from Finland to Portugal. Matti Halmesmäki, a 62-year-old former chief executive at Kesko, Sakari Tamminen, a 61-year-old former chief executive at Rautaruukki, and Kim Gran, a 61-year-old former chief executive at Nokian Tyres, have all transferred their residence to… – Continue reading
Governments that offer multi-national firms sweetheart tax deals should not be allowed to benefit if the European Union orders them to claw back the aid, according to a new report by the European Parliament’s special committee on tax rulings. Instead, the proceeds should be “returned to the member states which… – Continue reading
First it was three years, now it’s three months. The Senate’s attempt to pass a multiyear highway bill ran off the road this week after House Republicans announced they will adjourn one day early for the month-long August recess. The House’s early departure forced the Senate to acquiesce to a… – Continue reading
Canadian financial institutions will be subject to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Common Reporting Standard as of July 1, 2017 with the first exchanges of financial account information beginning in 2018. The CRS, known formally as the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax… – Continue reading
An alliance of London minicab drivers wants the EU to probe Uber’s tax arrangements and grill founder Travis Kalanick personally on the issue. Business Insider has seen a copy of a letter sent by the London Private Hire Car Association (LPHCA) to the chair of the European Parliament’s tax committee,… – Continue reading
Since July 1, eleven more Swiss banks have entered deferred prosecution agreements with the U.S. government. 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. Meanwhile,… – Continue reading
The Indian Income Tax Act 1961 in its section 172 deals with “Shipping business of non-residents”. Section 172 of the Act applies “for the purpose of the levy and recovery of the tax in the case of any ship, belonging to or chartered by a non-resident, which carries passengers, livestock,… – Continue reading
ANDORRA LA VELLA: Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE’s Foreign Minister, has met Gilbert Saboya, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Andorra. During the meeting, Sheikh Abdullah underscored the UAE’s keenness to enhance cooperation with Andorra as well as ways to boost relations in all fields. Saboya expressed his wishes… – Continue reading
Finland’s print media carries a mixed bag of headlines this Thursday, from former business bosses moving to tax-soft Portugal to studio apartment rents rising fast outside Helsinki. Neutral zone Åland is also under scrutiny, and the boat industry, at least, is doing well. Top tabloid Iltalehti splashes its front page… – Continue reading
John Goodchild explains the tax position of non-dom clients, and their families, after the Chancellor’s Summer Budget crackdown The Budget on 8 July announced a raft of provisions designed to increase the tax paid to the Exchequer by non-domiciled individuals (non-doms) and their families. Significant changes will be made to… – Continue reading
The opening of Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet finds Afghanistan veteran Dr John Watson pondering his future. Inevitably, he finds himself in London, “that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drawn”. The century that followed saw London lose much of… – Continue reading
For fans of creative tax dodging, the release of the Nike Corporation’s annual report is always an enlightening occasion. As we noted two years ago, the company quietly acknowledges having stashed billions of dollars in low-tax offshore destinations, and has inadvertently given some signals about how it might be achieving… – Continue reading
Donald Trump did not like the tax reform Ronald Reagan signed into law in 1986. In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, he called it “one of the worst ideas in recent history.” The reason for his dislike was that the reform put the kibosh on real estate tax… – Continue reading
Anticipating a tough legislative fight, the European Parliament’s special committee investigating tax shelters plans to play its trump card: citizen outrage. The committee’s co-rapporteur Michael Theurer, a German MEP from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, told POLITICO’s German podcast that he expected “objections, difficulties and political resistance”… – Continue reading
While preparing its bid for Tim Hortons Inc. last year, Burger King Worldwide Inc. initially wanted to set up the new parent company of Canada’s iconic supplier of double-doubles and maple-glazed doughnuts across the Atlantic in Britain, to avoid taxes. Miami-based Burger King’s first offer to buy the doughnut chain… – Continue reading
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday issued licenses to 14 insurance companies to run offshore units, while commission Chairman William Tseng (曾銘宗) said the licenses would help the nation move closer to transforming into an asset management hub. Tseng said the licenses are a follow-up to efforts to benefit from… – Continue reading
COLOMBIA: The Tax Authority (DIAN) clarified the withholding tax rate applicable to payments made abroad based on the provisions of Law 1739 of 2014 Article 28 of Law 1739 of 2014 set forth that revenue obtained by companies and foreign entities, that are not attributable to a branch or permanent… – Continue reading
On 9th July 2015, the Cyprus House of Representatives voted in favour of the introduction of a Notional Interest Deduction regime, aimed at encouraging investment into corporate structures, and thus reducing excessive debt financing. Such changes, aimed to further improve Cyprus’ growth prospects, will align the Republic’s system with that… – Continue reading
The Cyprus Tax Department announced that Financial Institutions which report information to the Cyprus tax authorities under the Cyprus – United States Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Agreement will not be required to file nil returns. The FATCA Agreement between Cyprus and the United States was signed on 2… – Continue reading
In the wake of the recent arrests of stakeholders in the Maltese remote gaming sector, it seems that professional firms and the remote gaming authority did not carry out due diligence appropriately on ultimate beneficial owners of the companies they have registered and represented. This failure has seriously tarnished Malta’s… – Continue reading
RBS’s private banking business has swung deeply into the red as litigation and conducts costs relating to Coutts mount. According to an interim update from the bank, the private banking business registered a loss of £50 million in the second quarter versus a £145 million profit in the corresponding period… – Continue reading
In the midst of the Special Investigative Team (SIT) on undisclosed money flagging concern on participatory notes (p-notes), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) says it is probing a case of alleged round tripping. The term refers to transactions between companies that bolster their revenue but, in the… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The government today said it’s taking effective steps to deal with black money and will focus on high-impact cases with a view to prosecuting offenders expeditiously for credible deterrence against tax evasion. “While focusing on non-intrusive measures, due emphasis has been given on enforcement measures in high-impact cases… – Continue reading
Companies and govts have been playing the cat-and-mouse game for several decades on transfer pricing Only a naivete would think of Hilary Clinton’s proposal last week to scale up the rate of capital gains tax as a mere concept to streamline America’s tax rate structure. It is being perceived as… – Continue reading
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA)[LR1] is generally associated with reporting requirements for foreign banks and foreign entities to disclose the names of U.S. individuals using such foreign vehicles to hide U.S. financial accounts. (See all three blog posts in this series on FATCA compliance.) However, there is an… – Continue reading
Governments that dole out tax subsidies to big companies shouldn’t be allowed to reap multibillion-euro windfalls if the European Union orders them to claw back the aid, lawmakers probing tax loopholes said. Instead, the EU should consider changing the law so that money is shared among neighboring nations that played… – Continue reading
Tax savings drove the acquisition strategy of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. and led to Burger King’s move to Canada, according to a U.S. Senate committee report. Taxes appear to be much more important to the deals than the companies say, according to an advance copy of the report and testimony… – Continue reading
GOVERNMENT HAS TAKEN key steps to meet the requirements of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act Intergovernmental Agreement (FATCA IGA), which allows for the reciprocal exchange of information between the USA and Barbados. Minister of Finance, Christopher Sinckler, outlined the key steps as amending the Income Tax Act and putting… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: The identity of taxpayers who opt for an advance pricing agreement (APA) in the field of transfer pricing will continue to remain confidential. Such information cannot be made available under the provisions of the Right to Information Act (RTI), according to the Central However, responding to a second appeal… – Continue reading
