Business lobby group BusinessEurope has withdrawn its previous support for a proposed European common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) due to changes that make it mandatory for multinational companies. UK business lobby group the Institute of Directors has described the CCCTB as “unhelpful political populism”. “European business fully shares the… – Continue reading
Business and politicains all want it but welfare reform demand from London has thrown up an unexpected hurdle If corporation tax were cool, Eamonn Donaghy of KPMG in Belfast would be the Bono of his world – half quiet tax accountant, half buccaneering campaigner with a nifty sideline in high-level… – Continue reading
Critics of an EU tax-haven blacklist say the organisation is playing dice with small states’ reputations, while ignoring European tax avoidance hubs BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, June 19, 2015 (AMG) — Doubts have been cast over the methodology and motives behind the naming of fourteen Caribbean countries among a list of thirty… – Continue reading
Britain’s welfare bill can be reduced without eliminating the safety net – but not with a series of crude caps or freezes, explains Spencer Thompson. Today’s public finance statistics show progress towards reducing the deficit. Net borrowing has fallen by almost a quarter on a year ago, partly driven by… – Continue reading
IRS News Release IR-2015-70 (April 10, 2015) contains helpful but not exhaustive information about the filing obligations of US citizens and resident aliens abroad. Taxpayers outside the United States can also find helpful information about US tax-filing obligations and related matters by visiting (1) the IRS page on YouTube; (2)… – Continue reading
Fears are growing that Scotland may be becoming a magnet for money-launderers following allegations linking shell companies there to a $1bn (£634m) fraud in the ex-Soviet republic of Moldova. The swindle allegedly emptied three of Moldova’s leading banks of almost all their funds. Investigators say a key role was played… – Continue reading
International tax rules will soon change, but companies’ behaviour may change sooner. There will soon be fewer places for multinational companies and ultra-rich individuals to squirrel away money. In November leaders of the G20 are expected to adopt a full range of measures to curb the practices of base erosion… – Continue reading
In the last few years, particularly following the credit crunch, there has been a tangible focus on tax avoidance and clamping down on tax planning. Overnight, the rules of the game were changed and what was previously considered to be legitimate tax planning was condemned as being aggressive and morally… – Continue reading
In a further move to make tax systems fairer, more efficient, growth-friendly and transparent, the Commission presented an Action Plan to fundamentally reform corporate taxation in the EU and published a “Top 30” list of tax havens across the world. The Action Plan sets out a series of initiatives to… – 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
Government appeared to brush off the latest blacklisting of the Cayman Islands when it released a short statement on Wednesday at around 5pm following revelations by the EU that the jurisdiction had been cited as facilitating tax evasion, reports the Cayman News Service. “It is unfortunate that the EU black… – Continue reading
India has strongly argued for widening the agenda for sharing of information on tax issues and has called for holding a roundtable on infrastructure to deepen investment in this critical sector. Railway minister Suresh Prabhu, India’s sherpa for the G20 meeting, raised several issues to highlight the concerns of emerging… – Continue reading
Following the expiration of the 29 May 2015 notification deadline with the Cayman Islands Tax Information Authority (the “TIA”), the next step for all Cayman Islands Reporting Financial Institutions (each an “RFI”) is to submit a return (the “FATCA Return”) setting out certain details of any US Reportable Accounts that… – Continue reading
White House advisor Valerie Jarrett was tasked by President Obama with trying to kill a controversial income tax perk used by the “wealthy and well-connected.” Yet she made a killing on a Chicago real estate deal by enlisting the same benefit. That’s what the Better Government Association found in a… – Continue reading
Paris, Jun 18 (Prensa Latina) The Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) had a network with intermediaries for Latin American countries who help launder money and evade taxes, it was learned here on Thursday. The revelation was made in this capital by former UBS Director Stephanie Gibaud, who met here with… – 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
Yesterday, on June 17, 2015, three state tax bills were favorably reported to the United States House of Representatives (House) by the House Judiciary Committee (House Judiciary) after considering each during a half-day markup. The bills that were advanced included: (1) the Mobile Workforce State Income Tax Simplification Act (Mobile… – Continue reading
Hong Kong (HKSAR) – The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today (June 18) expressed regret over the inclusion of Hong Kong in the list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions published by the European Commission. “Hong Kong has all along been supportive of international efforts to enhance tax transparency and combat… – Continue reading
On June 17, the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee approved the markup of three bills dealing with interstate tax rules in the United States on individual income tax, business activity taxes, and sales tax on digital goods. The Mobile Workforce State Income Tax Simplification Act is a bipartisan measure that… – Continue reading
Effective from January 1st next year, personal income tax in Hungary will be paid at a flat tax rate of 15%. Consequently, the standard withholding tax rate on all Hungarian securities (debt securities and equities) will also be reduced from the current 16% to 15%, says Clearstream Banking in a… – Continue reading
Alongside an imminent price rise in houses in Britain (The Economist) and several other factors to take into account in considering moving to Malta, your domicile status and subjectivity to UK inheritance tax should also feature in the picture. It is useful to know that neither permanently leaving the UK… – Continue reading
Introduction The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) requires entity account holders to document their status for US withholding tax purposes (Chapter 3 status) and their status for FATCA due diligence purposes (Chapter 4 status). In the case of a non-US entity account holder that has made an entity classification… – Continue reading
Effective from January 1st next year, personal income tax in Hungary will be paid at a flat tax rate of 15%. Consequently, the standard withholding tax rate on all Hungarian securities (debt securities and equities) will also be reduced from the current 16% to 15%, says Clearstream Banking in a… – Continue reading
The reported resurgence of cross-border mergers involving US companies that then move their corporate headquarters abroad shows that anti-tax avoidance measures passed last year were “a sticking plaster rather than a long-term solution”, an expert has said17 Jun 2015 The Financial Times reported (registration required) that demand for corporate ‘inversion’… – Continue reading
BERN, Switzerland – Reeling from an American federal investigation of bribery in soccer, FIFA was put under more pressure Wednesday as the scale of a separate Swiss investigation of suspected money laundering was revealed. Banks in Switzerland have flagged up 53 possible acts of money-laundering that could be linked to… – Continue reading
The European Union 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive has been officially published in the European Journal. The scope of the 4th Directive is wider than its predecessor and covers all gambling services, it will review and revamp the UK Money Laundering Regulations which were established 2007. The 4th Directive will, however,… – Continue reading
The 30th June 2015 deadline for Isle of Man Reporting Financial Institutions to submit their first US FATCA reports to the Income Tax Division is now less than two weeks away. The reports, in respect of the 2014 reporting year, can only be accepted by the Assessor in the prescribed… – 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 U.S. Model Income Tax Treaty (the U.S. Model Treaty) generally represents the United States’ opening position in treaty negotiations. As a result, when changes to the treaty are proposed, international tax practitioners should be aware of the potential impact those changes can have on their existing inbound U.S. structures…. – Continue reading
Marek Helm, head of the Estonian tax authority, is questioning claims that hundreds of Estonian businesses have been set up in Latvia because Latvia offers them better tax benefits than Estonia, reported Delfi today. Speaking in Reporter, an investigative TV journal of Kanal2, Helm said that he does not believe… – 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
A disgraced senior FIFA official has agreed to forfeit 50 per cent of the $1 million he had stashed away in a secret CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank (Bahamas) account, court documents have revealed. The plea agreement between the US federal authorities and Charles (Chuck) Blazer, which was unsealed late on… – Continue reading
The Bahamian financial industry is concerned it will have to start reporting information for the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) without the necessary legislation being in place, Tribune Business can reveal, reports the Bahamas Tribune. Lawrence Lewis, a Deloitte & Touche (Bahamas) partner and accountant, confirmed to Tribune… – Continue reading
Indian Government has finally heeded the clarion call of the taxpayers who were besieged by transfer pricing adjustments.That said, while an earnest beginning has been made, it would bring the matter to a perfect close if the apparent deficiencies in the draft rules were to be addressed Since its introduction… – Continue reading
Vietnamese regulations and policy are certainly not in favor of using foreign loans to refinance existing domestic loan debts. However, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) could feasibly exercise its discretion to permit such loans if applicants made a compelling case. Prudent cross-border lenders will require Vietnam borrowers to disclose… – Continue reading
Turkish banks and companies are trying to sell syndicated loans to Asian investors after a drop in Asian lending but investors are wary of increasing Turkish exposure due to political instability following June’s elections, bankers said. Turkish borrowers are targeting Asian investors in a bid to extend loan maturities after… – Continue reading
Britain’s taxing question is whether to maximise revenues or face more austerity. Given the scale of state spending that’s the stark choice facing chancellor George Osborne if he wants to balance the books in this parliament, says James Sproule We are once again considering the tax options facing the chancellor… – Continue reading
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. — A law signed by Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper will allow some active duty Airmen who list their official home of record as Colorado to return Colorado as their legal residency without being obligated to pay state income taxes for their military pay. The Colorado… – Continue reading
Tax avoidance can be defined as aggressive tax-planning strategies and structures by multinational companies that take advantage of the gaps or mismatches in tax rules to shift profits to low-tax locations. While many countries around the world have either general or specific anti-avoidance legislation to tackle this problem, the current… – Continue reading
The European Union has published its first list of international tax havens as part of a crackdown on multinational companies trying to avoid paying tax in the 28-nation bloc. The list of 30 territories includes Hong Kong and Brunei in Asia, Monaco, Andorra and Guernsey in Europe, and a series… – Continue reading
Blatt’s all folks!’ was probably the pick of the tabloid headlines following the announcement that Sepp Blatter intends (finally) to step down as president of Fifa. Over the course of the next few months, he won’t be the only person anxiously awaiting the outcome of the current investigations into alleged… – Continue reading
CBDT chairperson Anita Kapur said that the income tax department will ensure that chronic evaders are not able to get away without facing court cases. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Tuesday said that the tax department will not resort to coercive methods to recover the minimum alternate… – Continue reading
THE new double-tax treaty between SA and Mauritius is set to come into force in January next year, following a controversial renegotiation to better protect the South African tax base. However, tax experts have warned that sweeping changes to the treaty, including withholding taxes for interest (10%) and royalties (5%)… – Continue reading
Julius Baer of Switzerland became the latest bank to start an internal probe of money transfers linked to an investigation of FIFA, world soccer’s ruling body. Julius Baer joined banks including the U.K.’s Standard Chartered Plc in reporting that it began an inquiry. The Zurich-based firm was named as one… – Continue reading
The European Commission is set to adopt an Action Plan to tackle corporate tax avoidance and promote growth-friendly taxation in the Single Market despite an uphill battle against global giants such as Apple and Starbucks, as well as some hypocritical member states. The European Commission’s plans unveiled Wednesday include a… – Continue reading
Zambia Revenue Authority -ZRA- Commissioner General Berlin Msiska says the authority has granted tax deferment to some mining firms following cash flow challenges in the sector. Mr. Msiska says the deferment was given after the said firms applied because of challenges facing the sector and was granted in accordance with… – Continue reading
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. owns more than $76 billion of assets through a web of units in offshore tax havens around the world, though you wouldn’t know it from reading the giant retailer’s annual report. A new study has found Wal-Mart has at least 78 offshore subsidiaries and branches, more than… – Continue reading
Whether a UK taxpayer is classed as Scottish for the purposes of the Scottish rate of income tax (SRIT) will depend on whether that person is resident in Scotland in any particular tax year, according to draft guidance published by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The SRIT will take effect… – Continue reading
On 11 June 2015, Guernsey and Bulgaria signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement. The two countries shall notify each other, in writing, when their necessary internal procedures for entry into force of this Agreement have been completed. The Agreement shall enter into force on the date of the later of… – Continue reading
