The latest FATCA Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) list reveals that of the top five countries with the most registrations to date, the Tax Authorities of two – the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands – are implementing the Vizor for FATCA & AEOI Vizor Software, the leading regulatory supervision… – Continue reading
The mainland has stepped up its participation in the G20’s fight against international tax avoidance by passing a law cracking down on the indirect sale of assets outside the country to avoid paying taxes. The law would affect investment companies, analysts said, adding it would also have a significant impact… – Continue reading
The Irish Finance Department and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) are to jointly run a two-year research program covering macroeconomic and tax policy issues. Under an agreement signed by the Department and ESRI, researchers from the Institute will work alongside officials from the Department on various research projects…. – Continue reading
On February 6, 2015, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) announced that it has reached agreement with the Group of Twenty (G-20) Finance Ministers on three key elements of its base erosion and profit shifting project. The three elements, which the OECD said will enable implementation of the… – Continue reading
Jeremy Grant in Singapore Clampdowns on bank secrecy in Europe and a proliferation of billionaires in Asia helped Hong Kong and Singapore attract more overseas money over the past two years than rivals such as Switzerland, according to a report by Deloitte. The consultancy’s annual ranking of wealth centres highlights… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – When a series of big U.S. companies last year moved to reincorporate abroad in inversion deals, some Republican lawmakers and tax policy critics blamed the high U.S. corporate tax rate. Lowering it, they said, would keep companies from fleeing the country. But a Reuters analysis of the taxes… – Continue reading
LONDON, England — A Labour government would push for UK overseas territories to be put on an international blacklist if they refuse to co-operate with a drive against tax avoidance, Labour Party leader Ed Miliband has told them ahead of general elections in Britain in May. In a letter to… – Continue reading
Switzerland and Liechtenstein have concluded negotiations toward a new double tax agreement (DTA), which should enter into force from January 2017. Switzerland’s Federal Department of Finance (FDF) announced on February 5, 2015, that talks concluded on February 2. The FDF expects the deal to be signed this summer and, pending… – Continue reading
The Labour leader has faced a backlash after accusing many of Britain’s overseas territories of helping tax dodgers Gibraltar’s chief minister has hit out at Ed Miliband – accusing him of fuelling Spanish attacks on the territory by wrongly suggesting it was operating as a “tax haven”. Fabian Picardo said… – Continue reading
The Guardian’s very “word-heavy” front page is entirely taken up with details about what the paper calls “questionable practices” at a subsidiary of HSBC – one of the world’s largest banks. The paper says the financial institution’s private Swiss bank “helped wealthy customers dodge taxes and conceal millions of dollars… – Continue reading
GENEVA: HSBC’s Swiss banking arm, which according to leaked documents helped wealthy customers avoid millions in taxes in the past, insisted Monday it has since undergone a “radical transformation”. “HSBC’s Swiss Private Bank began a radical transformation in 2008 to prevent its services from being used to evade taxes or… – Continue reading
Racehorse trainer says matter is now resolved and company fully tax-compliant Irish racehorse trainer Aidan O’Brien (45) is among the Irish people who feature in the files from HSBC Private Banking in Geneva given to the Revenue Commissioners in 2010. The files indicate that the mail relating to his and… – Continue reading
International clients include those involved in arms trade and blood diamondsA huge cache of secret files from the Swiss branch of one of the world’s largest banks includes Irish people who made tax settlements with the Revenue Commissioners for more than €4.5 million. Other clients include arms dealers who sold… – Continue reading
Bulgaria’s cabinet has approved an agreement with the United States on the US’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which targets tax non-compliance by US taxpayers with foreign accounts, Sofia Globe wrote. The cabinet approved the agreement, reached in December 2014, and said that it would ask the National Assembly… – Continue reading
French newspaper Le Monde published details on a scandalous report revealing a tax evasion scheme in the Swiss branch of HSBC on Sunday. Bulgaria is also said to have been a part of the illegal dealings with EUR 380,8 M and 74 bank customers. According to authorities, over EUR 180,6… – Continue reading
There is a saying that you can fool the people sometimes, but you can’t fool the people all the time. People patronising a bank might feel that high science is being practised in the back offices of banks; science beyond the ken of ordinary mortals. Perhaps! Related articles Barbados banks… – Continue reading
Manulife Asset Management (Manulife AM), which manages about US$276 billion, has merged its asset management and wealth divisions in Asia, appointing Michael Dommermuth to run the consolidated unit. As a result of the reshuffle, Donna Cotter, appointed Manulife AM’s wealth management head for Asia little over a year ago, has… – Continue reading
After several years of delays, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) finally took effect on July 1, 2014. Congress enacted FATCA as part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act in 2010 to stop U.S. taxpayers from evading U.S. taxes through undisclosed offshore accounts and investments. FATCA requires… – Continue reading
The US giant trying to take over Britain’s biggest drinks can maker in a £4.3billion deal is a serial user of tax havens. Ball Corporation is in talks to buy FTSE 250-listed Rexam that would create an industry goliath. The deal could be finalised as early as this week, and… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 9: The “door for dialogue” with India remains open despite the current “difficult environment” on the tax-related information sharing front, the Swiss Finance Ministry has said. In a just released annual report on International Financial and Tax Matters 2015, Switzerland has admitted that its relations with India… – Continue reading
The nation’s largest organization of accounting and tax professionals is urging the Senate to approve income tax treaties between the U.S. and various countries. In a February 3 letter to Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), the committee’s ranking… – Continue reading
Guest Post by Andrew Blair-Stanek, Assistant Professor of Law at University of Maryland Carey School of Law Patent owners routinely tell the IRS, under penalties of perjury, that their patents have little value. Litigators representing defendants should take advantage of these remarkable admissions. IP has become the world’s leading tax… – Continue reading
This past December, the Multistate Tax Commission’s (MTC) transfer pricing advisory committee and its project facilitator Dan Bucks recommended what it calls the “preliminary design” approach for a proposed Arm’s Length Adjustment Services (ALAS) program. While still subject to approval, states have already put designs on increasing state transfer pricing… – Continue reading
The Department of Finance recently published the attached public consultation on the ‘Knowledge Development Box’ (“KDB”), inviting submissions before 8 April 2015. This regime was widely publicised in connection with the 2015 Budget and is intended to play a key role in Ireland’s corporate tax regime, as outlined in the… – Continue reading
SAS supports Dubai Islamic Bank with Anti-Money Laundering solutions Dubai – SAS, the leader in business analytics software and services, announced its collaboration with Dubai Islamic Bank ( DIB ) to help prevent money laundering among the bank’s customers. SAS will support the bank with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) solutions that… – Continue reading
The former ANZ Bank chairman Charles Goode held an account with HSBC’s Swiss private banking arm and asked to be identified only as “Mr Shaw” in his dealings with the bank, according to file notes in leaked bank documents. Goode – who maintains close ties to the Liberal party and… – Continue reading
The tax collection agency HMRC has said work to identify Scottish taxpayers is proving “more complex” than anticipated. It wants access to NHS records to help identify those eligible to pay the new Scottish rate of income tax (SRIT). Labour has called on the Scottish and UK governments to “get… – Continue reading
HAMILTON, Bermuda, February 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — The Government of Bermuda notes the reported comments of Mr Edward Miliband, Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition in the UK, in relation to tax avoidance and British Overseas Territories (OT), and his wish to enforce better levels of transparency and disclosure should he… – Continue reading
The Sydney Morning Herald said that a Fairfax Media report “has found a complex web of companies tied to Adani’s Australian coal developments, extending from the low-tax regime of Singapore to the tax haven of the Cayman Islands. Indian mining giant Adani’s 16 billion dollar mining project in Australia’s Queensland… – Continue reading
More than 100 tax disputes involving Indian associates of US companies such as IBM and Microsoft are set to be settled out of court by April this year with the income tax department and the US Internal Revenue Service identifying disputes in the contract research, IT and software sectors for… – Continue reading
As countries share more information, opportunities to squirrel away cash abroad will continue to narrow AMONG the sins that have most angered the austerity-weary everywhere is the use of undeclared offshore accounts to stash the wealth of the rich. Greeks were particularly enraged when data stolen from Swiss banks showed… – Continue reading
A Labour government would push for UK overseas territories to be put on an international blacklist if they refuse to co-operate with a drive against tax avoidance, Ed Miliband has told them. In a letter to their leaders, he said they would have six months to compile a public register… – Continue reading
A source from FPT Group said this group’s revenue was estimated at VND35.11 trillion last year, up 23% against the previous year and 10% higher than targeted. But its profit fell by 2% to around VND2.46 trillion. The shrinking online game segment and difficulties related to information technology projects on… – Continue reading
Feb 7 (Reuters) – A former Swiss banker charged by U.S. prosecutors with helping wealthy Americans evade taxes has been arrested in Germany pending extradition to the United States, his lawyer said on Saturday. Roger Keller, a onetime client adviser in Zurich at Wegelin & Co, was one of three… – Continue reading
This past December, the Multistate Tax Commission’s (MTC) transfer pricing advisory committee and its project facilitator Dan Bucks recommended what it calls the “preliminary design” approach for a proposed Arm’s Length Adjustment Services (ALAS) program. While still subject to approval, states have already put designs on increasing state transfer pricing… – Continue reading
From 6 April 2015 (the start of the UK tax year), the UK taxation of share option gains and other employee share awards is changing. The new treatment applies regardless of when options or other awards were made and so in effect the change is retrospective and affects options and… – Continue reading
The serious doubts expressed by many, most recently Professor Christians of McGill University, as to the Constitutional authority cited by the US Treasury1 in support of each Inter Governmental Agreement (an “IGA”) entered into by it on behalf of the United States government to implement FATCA have been rendered practically… – Continue reading
A swath of changes to corporation tax in the European Commission’s pipeline topped the Taoiseach’s agenda when he met the president of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker officially in Brussels. New rules that would force every country to make public the tax arrangements with larger companies, including multi nationals… – Continue reading
Accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has been accused of promoting tax avoidance “on an industrial scale”, in a report by MPs. It is said to have helped hundreds of clients cut their corporation tax bills by setting up bases in Luxembourg. Earlier this week the Archbishop of Canterbury said companies should… – Continue reading
On 29 January 2015, the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department (“IRD”) announced new, hard-line procedures for obtaining a certificate of Hong Kong resident status (“tax residence certificate”) for the purpose of Hong Kong’s comprehensive double taxation agreement (“DTA”) network. The new rules became effective on 1 February 2015. This Client… – Continue reading
Report skewers PwC for creation of Shire tax shelter it calls ‘tax avoidance on an industrial scale’ Shire’s Ireland address has made the specialty drugmaker a prime takeover target. AbbVie was attracted but dumped the $55 billion buyout when the U.S. Treasury Department threw cold water on the deal with… – Continue reading
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is trying to claw back £14 billion of taxes through a series of tax mitigation schemes it is investigating. According to the National Audit Office (NAO) which today issued a report on HMRC’s progress since 2010, HMRC has estimated there is £14 billion of tax… – Continue reading
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has launched an attack on the tax industry in the light of evidence presented by Big Four firm PwC In a 17-page report on tax avoidance and large accountancy firms, the PAC blasts the tax industry as being unable to regulate itself and calls on… – Continue reading
This week, almost 200 taxpayers in Belgium received a detailed information request regarding their transfer prices. For the third year in a row, this coordinated audit effort is organised by the specialised audit team at the Belgian tax administration. Downsized transfer pricing audit team The transfer pricing audit cell is… – Continue reading
G20 finance ministers will hear about the OECD’s three-pronged approach to implementation of the BEPS Action Plan at their meeting in Istanbul on Monday and Tuesday of next week (February 9 and 10). The OECD, which is leading the work, outlined today what has been agreed so far with the… – Continue reading
Government’s updated strategy aims to add 10,000 jobs to Dublin ’s international financial hub When the International Financial Services Centre began life in 1987 it had just three companies, employing 55 people. If a strategy drawn up for the Government comes to fruition, some 10,000 direct net new jobs will… – Continue reading
Are you confident that your clients will never be sued? And if they are sued, are you certain that they will be treated fairly by the U.S. legal system? People are now being forced to protect themselves and their assets from liabilities that were never a concern in the past. … – Continue reading
The group that represents most of the ASX 200 on tax issues, the Corporate Tax Association, has emerged as a surprise advocate of increasing transparency about the amount of taxes big companies pay. The Corporate Tax Association’s submission to the inquiry into corporate tax avoidance said it had concerns about… – Continue reading
Bond trader Ben Eiler swapped life in suburban Georgia for an island in the Caribbean, and he didn’t even have to apply for a visa. The towering 38-year-old native of Arkansas is one of at least 250 people who’ve accepted Puerto Rico’s invitation to well-heeled U.S. citizens to move to… – Continue reading
Two double taxation agreements (DTAs) involving Kenya, South Africa and Mauritius have been set back a year after Kenya failed to complete the final step in the proceeds. The DTAs between Kenya and South Africa and between Kenya and Mauritius had been signed by the three countries and were due… – Continue reading
