Taipei, April 16 (CNA) A record high in Chinese yuan deposits taken by banks registered in Taiwan as of the end of March show optimism that the Chinese currency will appreciate against the U.S. dollar in the long run, analysts said Thursday. They said that China is gearing up to… – Continue reading
On Tuesday we told you about what the Prime Minister said at the Summit of the America’s about the perilous state of Belize and the Region’s banking industry after draconian anti money laundering measures were enacted by the US Government. He said, quote, “there is a crisis in my own… – Continue reading
Sydney Airport is refusing to display a billboard that denounces tax evasion by multinational companies. The airport, which was last year forced to pay a $69 million settlement to the Australian Tax Office to end an audit of suspect tax deductions, claimed the proposed Labor billboard would contravene its policy… – Continue reading
It seems like the ultimate irony. At least 21 Swiss bankers under U.S. indictment for helping Americans skirt income taxes remain at large in their native country and out of the hands of prosecutors, reports Bloomberg. But the whistleblower who helped the Justice Department in its probe ended up going… – Continue reading
TWO Ugandan diplomats will soon find out how long they will be locked up in a jail in the UK after court found them guilty of fraud and tax evasion relating to duty-free goods. Diplomats are exempt from paying duties and taxes on cars, food and electrical appliances that they… – Continue reading
Small businesses in Connecticut pay about $7,000 apiece in additional taxes to make up for lost state revenue due to loopholes allowing big corporations to forego paying taxes on profits earned in other countries, such as the Cayman Islands, according to a new report issued by ConnPIRG this week. “The… – Continue reading
KATHMANDU, APR 16 – With the selected consultant for the Tanahu Hydropower Project demanding income tax exemption during ongoing negotiations before signing a contract, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has said that the government cannot provide the facility as the current tax law does not allow it. The NEA clarified… – Continue reading
Corporate treasury departments will have to start complying with International tax rules and provide documentation for transactions according to recent reports. G20 leaders attempted to reform the international tax system in July 2012 by setting up the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. This task was given to the… – Continue reading
Wealthy Americans are running out of ways to hide their money. The IRS has been relentless in prying open the secret Swiss bank account—dozens of Swiss banks are cooperating with the agency. Just last month, a settlement with the private bank BSI revealed bankers used coded language and nameless credit… – Continue reading
As foreign portfolio investors balk at India’s claim of $6.4 billion in back taxes, the finance ministry’s latest demand isn’t damping interest in the nation’s stocks and bonds. Foreigners were net buyers of local equities every day barring one since the finance ministry said April 6 it is well within… – Continue reading
Cross border transactions involving German entities investing in French real estate may need to be restructured as a result of proposed changes to the France/Germany double tax treaty, according to two experts. French tax expert Franck Lagorce and German tax expert Werner Geisselmeier, both of Pinsent Masons, the law firm… – Continue reading
BEIJING: A total of 57 countries have been approved as founding members of a Chinese-led infrastructure bank, Beijing said on Wednesday, and Norway is included despite frosty relations over a Chinese dissident’s Nobel prize. No nations that formally sought to become founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)… – Continue reading
Lithuania thanks Japan for lending support to the ambition to join OECD On 15 April 2015, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevicius in a meeting with Parliamentary Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Kentaro Sonoura expressed his gratitude to Japan for supporting Lithuania’s ambition to join the… – Continue reading
All of the firms have established funds based in offshore tax havens such as Cayman Islands and Jersey, analysis reveals Sixteen of the top 50 European hedge funds or their executives have donated more than £6.5m to the Conservatives, according to a new analysis of data. All of the firms… – Continue reading
Suppose you own 2 houses: one in a state with an income tax and another in an income-tax-free state, such as Florida or Nevada, where you spend an increasing amount of time. You’re ready to assert you primarily reside in the tax-free state. Goodbye, big tax bill? Don’t be surprised… – Continue reading
Suppose you own 2 houses: one in a state with an income tax and another in an income-tax-free state, such as Florida or Nevada, where you spend an increasing amount of time. You’re ready to assert you primarily reside in the tax-free state. Goodbye, big tax bill? Don’t be surprised… – Continue reading
In October 2012 Portugal launched its Golden Visa Residence Programme with the aim to provide prospective Non-EU foreign investors with the opportunity to take up residency in Portugal through investment. Recently, the Portuguese Parliament promulgated a set of new rules pertaining to this particular programme. The said rules are still… – Continue reading
In This Issue: – Fifth Circuit Ruling in BMC Software, Inc. v. Comm’r. Is Good News for Taxpayers – When Is a Second Inspection Not a Second Inspection? – Captive Insurance Litigation: Key 2014 Cases – Excerpt from Fifth Circuit Ruling in BMC Software, Inc. v. Comm’r. Is Good News… – Continue reading
Washington State Auditor Troy X. Kelley has been indicted for federal income tax evasion, lying to investigators, concealing millions of dollars, and making repeated false statements. The 10-count indictment relates to Mr. Kelley’s career before becoming the state’s auditor. Not surprisingly, though, Governor Jay Inslee wants Mr. Kelley to resign…. – Continue reading
An agreement was signed between GIFT SEZ and NCDEX on Thursday at Gandhinagar, according to a joint media statement Ahmedabad: National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Ltd (NCDEX), India’s leading online commodity exchange, said it will set up an international commodity and derivatives exchange in the special economic zone (SEZ) area… – Continue reading
This week, the Royal Bank of Canada became the first bank to complete cross-border Renminbi (RMB) payment using Canada’s new RMB Trading Hub through the hub’s designated clearing bank, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (Canada). On 23 March, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), other Canadian banks and government delegates… – Continue reading
Top Democrats in both the House and the Senate are bringing back legislation to crack down on offshore tax deals. Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) and five other Democratic lawmakers are proposing to ban companies that shift their legal address abroad and score a lower… – Continue reading
Racing Minister Nathan Guy has signalled that the Government may crack down on online gambling, announcing a working group to look into the “problem”. The TAB, operated by the New Zealand Racing Board (NZRB), holds a monopoly on all racing and sports betting within New Zealand, but the growth of… – Continue reading
The IRS is growing increasingly uncomfortable that an increasing number of smaller companies and professional firms have been doing what larger companies do — creating their own or joining a captive insurer, reports Insurance Journal. The IRS believes some of these smaller companies are creating these so-called “microcaptives” in order… – Continue reading
Offshore staff PARIS – An official investigation has been opened against Bourbon Offshore, alleging bribery of public officials in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Nigeria in connection with the tax audits of local entities in 2011 and 2012. The investigation stems from the October 2012 arrest of a then-Bourbon Offshore tax… – Continue reading
NASSAU, Bahamas — The Ministry of Financial Services is doing everything necessary to ensure the full compliance of The Bahamas with established international norms and standards, as the Ministry prepares the country to be ready to comply with the United States Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The Ministries of… – Continue reading
Conservative Party candidates are bankrolled by hedge fund donations siphoned to Westminster from lucrative tax havens including the Cayman Islands, new analysis suggests. Figures released on Thursday by the Electoral Commission detail donations received by Britain’s political parties since the general election campaign began. Sixteen of Europe’s 50 most prolific… – Continue reading
We’ve heard a lot in this election campaign about how much parties say they will save by clamping down on tax avoidance and evasion. It is one of the key ways they say they are going to pay for their spending promises. Should we believe them? First of all, tax… – Continue reading
THE NUMBER of Slovak companies residing in tax havens dropped in the first three months of this year to 4,248, which is by 114 less than in the end of last year. Most companies left Monaco and Jersey. The trend is the opposite rose by 23 to 13,270, the TASR… – Continue reading
Claims of using Malta to reduce tax liability ‘malicious and libellous’ – Lynton Crosby British Prime Minister David Cameron’s electoral guru, Australian Lynton Crosby, has rejected a Labour attack on his personal tax affairs as a “made up negative story”. On Thursday the British Labour Party called on Mr Crosby… – Continue reading
* Cite new delay of merger with Hudson City Regional bank analysts at Janney Capital Markets on Tuesday lowered their earnings estimates for M&T Bank Corp., citing the latest delay of the Buffalo commercial bank’s merger with Paramus-based Hudson City Bancorp Inc. “We had previously expected the merger to close… – Continue reading
European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager is preparing to reopen the antitrust case against Google following the settlement with the search giant under Joaquin Almunia two years ago. Vestager has been speaking to various advisors both inside and outside of Europe, alongside companies affected by Google’s anti-competitive search results. She… – Continue reading
French President François Hollande said on Wednesday that a drawn-out tax evasion row with Switzerland “is behind us” as he launched a visit aimed at mending fences. The two-day trip is the first state visit to Switzerland by a French president since Jacques Chirac’s stopover 17 years ago. Paris is… – Continue reading
“Tax day” comes and goes each year, but unfortunately, the systemic issues that plague American taxpayers linger on without resolution well past the mid-April deadline. The U.S. tax code has long been manipulated by corporate lobbyists and their corporate tax attorneys. (President Jimmy Carter once called the loophole-ridden tax laws… – Continue reading
The tax code’s complexity and increases in tax rates has made it more difficult to add jobs in Clark County, argued a Springfield business owner as he testified in the U.S. House on Wednesday. Competitive tax rates for small businesses are critical, especially in industries like manufacturing, said Dan McGregor,… – Continue reading
Within the current discussion of corporate tax there are a number of terms used to describe the corporate strategies and behaviours involved, such as “tax minimisation” or “tax avoidance”. There are also other terms used in the academic accounting literature on tax. This can result in confusion about what exactly… – Continue reading
Ahead of this week’s income tax filing deadline, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation Foundation said the U.S. should exempt its companies’ foreign earnings from corporate taxes. In contrast to current tax policy, the groups’ analysis argued that exempting those earnings would allow… – Continue reading
Israel joined the OECD in 2010. Background The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is spearheading a concerted effort to help governments around the world collect more taxes. The OECD is doing so by issuing a series of recommendations for tightening up corporate and personal tax measures. Individual governments are… – Continue reading
Bourbon Offshore said a judicial investigation has been launched into its business dealings in Africa. The matter relates to tax and bribery charges by authorities in Marseilles, France. It comes after the company’s former manager was arrested at the Marseilles-Provence airport when he was returning from Africa in possession of… – Continue reading
One in three wealthy people who may be dodging tax will get a call or personal visit by the Australian Taxation Office as it moves to ensure the richest Australians and private companies pay their fair share of tax. The ATO wants to beat its 2013-14 rate of raising $1.1… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street banks and other financial firms should pay new fees to bankroll their own government oversight, according to a member of the top U.S. derivatives regulator. Sharon Y. Bowen, a Democrat on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said Congress should let the agency set fees on banks… – Continue reading
HSBC has appointed headhunters to find new non-executive directors in an effort to freshen up its board. Europe’s biggest bank has previously said its next chairman will be an external candidate, and it has also been reported that one of the new non-executives was likely to be a replacement for… – Continue reading
Taxes have risen by around one per cent on the average worker’s wage in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries since 2014, although the majority of governments have not increased income tax rates, the OECD has said. In its Taxing Wages 2015 report, the OECD looks at the… – Continue reading
NEW YORK • When it comes to taxes, corporate America is getting a bit less corporate. And a bit less American. Fueled by a wave of inversions, a record 54 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index of leading U.S. firms are now at least partially exempt from the… – Continue reading
Tax directors at many organizations anticipate their companies will grow by entering into new domestic and international markets in the years ahead, according to a new survey by BDO USA. In a sign of an improving economy, 50 percent of the 100 tax directors at $1billion-plus public companies surveyed by… – Continue reading
David Maclean, Baron Blencathra, wrote to Cayman Islands in 2014 that transparency push was to head off G8 pressure and EU’s financial transaction tax A Conservative peer has described David Cameron’s flagship G8 anti-tax avoidance initiative as a “purely political gesture” designed to head off European attempts to curb the… – Continue reading
The funds management industry has welcomed a commitment from Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to make tax and corporate law changes that will boost the export of asset management services to Asia. Complex and uncompetitive legal and tax settings in Australia have acted as a handbrake on the export of financial… – Continue reading
The Italian Ministry of Finance has removed Guernsey from its revised tax blacklist. Amendments within the 2015 Finance Act mean that the anti-tax haven deduction blacklist has been revised to exclude all countries that have an adequate exchange of information with Italy. Sinéad Leddy, Head of Technical at Guernsey Finance,… – Continue reading
As the above title indicates (it is only a modest exaggeration), the Treasury Greenbook regarding the FY 2016 budget proposes a radical restructuring of the system for U.S. taxation of foreign income of U.S. multinational enterprises (MNEs). Some Congressional players have suggested that these proposals are an opening bid in… – Continue reading
Baker & Hostetler LLP On Tax Day it is a helpful reminder that a variety of income tax reporting obligations are associated with offshore assets. Any ownership of an asset that gives rise to income when those assets are located outside of the United States may need to be reported… – Continue reading
