The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Bombay High Court to decide the appeal of Vodafone India Services’, the Indian arm of Vodafone Group Plc, on merits and without being influenced by its earlier findings in a case related to R8,500-crore transfer-pricing tax dispute. A bench headed by justice AR… – Continue reading
The income tax department has moved the Supreme Court seeking directions to a tax tribunal to consider certain facts relating to the taxable income of Vodafone India Services for the 2007-08 fiscal. This relates to the sale of its calls centre business and an alleged exercise of call options in… – Continue reading
International accountant and shipping adviser Moore Stephens says companies in the offshore maritime sector could be among those hit by a 25% Diverted Profits Tax (DPT) charge under draft UK legislation scheduled to enter force in April 2015. Under the draft legislation published by the UK Government in December 2014,… – Continue reading
India has worked out a bilateral tax agreement with the United States, which could be signed during U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit, that would boost foreign investment and ease investors’ concerns raised by high profile cases against Vodafone and Shell. The pact, which industry executives say would specifically target the… – Continue reading
The Fiji Revenue and Customs Authority (FRCA) has announced two six-month amnesty programs, for undeclared offshore assets and for persons struggling to pay tax dues. The first amnesty will enable taxpayers who disclose assets held offshore to be liable for unpaid taxes only. Initially announced by the Fijian Minister for… – Continue reading
Premier Li Keqiang (Left) meets with Simonetta Sommaruga, president of the Swiss Confederation, in Davos, Switzerland, Jan 21, 2015.[Photo/english.gov.cn] China will give Switzerland an investment quota of 50 billion yuan ($8.05 billion) under its Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) scheme to support the establishment of the Zurich offshore renminbi market,… – Continue reading
Luxembourg’s business-friendly tax laws have saved companies billions. The party’s almost over. On a typical day, thousands of passengers pull into Luxembourg’s central train station and traverse the busy shopping street of Rue de la Gare, where everything from pastries to rain boots is on offer. Few, however, step inside… – Continue reading
Lobby groups representing Google, Amazon and other powerful US tech multinationals have launched a fierce attack on global plans to stamp out artificial corporate structures used to avoid tax. In responses to the latest stage of a two-year, G20-led programme of international tax reform, lobbyists for the US tech industry… – Continue reading
London mayor Boris Johnson has agreed to pay a substantial tax bill to the US government despite earlier claiming that it was “outrageous” for the US to tax expat American citizens in an interview at the end of November last year. Johnson was born in New York but left when… – Continue reading
Malta Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes (QROPS) are jumping on the flexible access bandwagon. The Malta Financial Services Authority as amended local regulations in favour of QROPS based on the Mediterranean Island following the new flexible access pension rules administered by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in the UK from… – Continue reading
Leading regulatory supervision software provider adds new features to provide a robust, future-proof FATCA & AEOI system. Ottawa, Canada (PRWEB) January 22, 2015 Vizor, the leading regulatory supervision software provider, today introduced new features that help Tax Authorities meet their Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) obligations as well as… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank today reviewed rules for foreign investment by proprietary companies and partnerships, introducing caps on such investments among other measures. The amount to be invested should not exceed 10 per cent of the average of last three years’ export realisation or 200 per cent of the net-owned… – Continue reading
Transfer pricing has been a favorite Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) enforcement target for some time now. Payments made by importers because of income tax transfer pricing requirements can trigger obligations and liabilities under Canadian customs laws. This arises, for example, when CBSA seeks to assess duties and taxes on… – Continue reading
With the city-state revising its earlier avoidance of double taxation agreement with France and signing a new one with Uruguay recently, a boost in cross-border trade is inevitable. Singapore (PRWEB) January 22, 2015 In what can be termed as two important milestones in Singapore’s trade relations with Europe and Latin… – Continue reading
In the first of this two part article, we outlined what businesses must do to comply with India’s transfer pricing laws, while stressing the key reforms introduced by the new government to bring certainty to the domestic tax system. Here, we discuss if and how India should respond to the… – Continue reading
The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is in the vanguard of a global movement towards the automatic exchange of information on tax matters. The US enacted FATCA in 2010 to tackle the problem of tax evasion by US citizens and residents who under-report or fail to report income… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: UK-based telecom company Vodafone Group will hold its board meeting in Delhi later this month, said two people aware of this. It will be the second such meeting in the country since Vodafone acquired its business in India. The meeting is an “ordinary” board meeting with “routine” agenda items,… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: India and the US have finalised a framework to resolve transfer pricing cases, some of them pending for five years, in what could end tax trauma for more than 50 American MNCs such as Microsoft, IBM and Oracle by the fiscal year-end and send a strong signal to… – Continue reading
SINGAPORE (Jan 22): Keppel Corp posted a 6% rise in 4Q earnings to $726 million, or 39.9 cents per share. This was 6% above the $684 million recorded in 4Q13, led by higher pre-tax profit from most of its divisions. For the full year FY14, earnings fell 19% to $1.39… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Dabur promoter Pradip Burman, whose name has cropped up in the blackmoney list, was today once again stopped from going abroad by a Delhi court which said there was an apprehension that he could flee. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Devendra Kumar Sharma, rejected Burman’s application saying no… – Continue reading
Just as UK firms grasp the requirements of the US-led Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca), China appears to be joining the ranks as another nation seeking to up its tax-take from citizens living abroad. China has announced plans to implement a law that is similar to Fatca. This legislation… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: India’s software product startups plan to approach the finance ministry this week to get the ambiguity cleared in this Union Budget on the pending issue of whether software sold in the country should be classified as a product or service. Tax officials have been levying both value-added tax… – Continue reading
Prepared to take tax evaders to court. The Australian Tax Office has investigated 25 international technology companies over the past 18 months for tax avoidance as part of its ongoing crackdown on elaborate cross-border tax structures and profit shifting. The federal government late last year gave the ATO extra resources… – Continue reading
Despite its throwback name, Adobe Products is a cutting-edge technology company whose products—notably, PDF files—are used by millions of Americans every day. As it turns out, Adobe’s tax-avoidance technology is pretty 21st-century too. The company’s newest annual financial report, released earlier this week, discloses that Adobe is currently holding more… – Continue reading
To comply with unconstitutional pseudo-treaties negotiated by the Obama administration without the consent of Congress or any semblance of constitutional authority, the IRS announced that it will be sharing private financial information on U.S. bank account holders with foreign powers. No warrant is needed for foreign governments or tyrants to… – Continue reading
(ECNS) – Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s restructuring of his business empire is not a retreat from the city or tax avoidance, said Chen Jingwei, chairman of the Hong Kong China Chamber of Commerce. Li surprised the market by reorganizing his business empire into two new groups, one for property-related… – Continue reading
The IRS has unveiled a secure web application, the International Data Exchange Service (IDES), for cross-border data sharing. IDES will allow Foreign Financial Institutions (FFIs) and tax authorities from other countries to transmit financial data on U.S. taxpayers’ accounts, via an encrypted pathway, to the IRS. The tool is part… – Continue reading
New Zealand First is concerned the Uber ride service and multinational companies like it are using elaborate tax shelters to rip off hard working Kiwi taxpayers. The Party will be closely following the government’s newly announced review of small passenger services. “Why is it when a multinational with a track… – Continue reading
* PBOC extends $8 bln in pilot scheme for Swiss investors * Sydney, London, Frankfurt among global yuan trading centers * Swiss bankers welcome the move to tap China growth DAVOS/ZURICH, Jan 21 (Reuters) – Switzerland’s central bank said on Wednesday it had agreed with the People’s Bank of China… – Continue reading
Lobbyists representing firms including Google, Amazon and Apple claim ‘fundamental flaws’ in G20-led reforms The World Economic Forum in Davos, where Google, Microsoft and Facebook executives will discuss the digital economy on Thursday. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images Lobby groups representing Google, Amazon and other powerful US tech multinationals have launched… – Continue reading
The Davis Committee has made certain recommendations relating to transfer pricing and documentation in its report on the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan. We are aware that the current transfer pricing practical guidelines, as contained in SARS’ Practice Note 7 (PN7), are not that clear and… – Continue reading
Companies in the offshore maritime sector could be among those hit by a 25 percent Diverted Profits Tax (DPT) charge under draft UK legislation scheduled to enter force in April 2015, international accountant and shipping adviser Moore Stephens said. Under the draft legislation published by the UK government in December… – Continue reading
2014 was a year replete with new legislative and regulatory initiatives impacting federally regulated financial institutions. The key initiatives introduced or implemented in 2014 are outlined in our annual year in review. PRUDENTIAL REGULATION: GUIDANCE FROM OSFI Proposed New Bail-in Regime for Large Banks On August 1, 2014, the Government… – Continue reading
Today, the Scottish government revised its new Land and Building Transaction Tax (LBTT) rules. The LBTT is to replace stamp duty in Scotland from April, and its rates had been designed to be oddly punitive for those buying high-end houses. Anyone buying a house costing more than £250,000 was to… – Continue reading
President Vladimir Putin is pushing harder on Russia’s richest citizens to repatriate offshore assets amid a slump in the ruble and the imposition of sanctions by the US and the European Union, The Business Times said. Under new tax rules signed into law by a presidential decree in November, Russian… – Continue reading
In his state of the union address last night President Obama urged U.S companies to repatriate all those profits hiding off-shore and away from the prying eyes of the IRS. Ed Mills, Managing Director at FBR Capital Markets summed it up in his morning note: The President called on Congress… – Continue reading
SUCCESSFUL INTERNATIONAL STRUCTURES in most cases begin with choosing the right jurisdiction to host a company that will form part of an international business. Depending on the company’s activities, the choice will depend on the range of double taxation treaties and the availability of tax reliefs followed by a host… – Continue reading
Chancellor George Osborne told MPs that allowing Scotland to vary air passenger duty could cost Newcastle 450,000 passengers Chancellor George Osborne has warned that Newcastle International Airport could lose 450,000 passengers if the region is made a guinea pig for air tax reform. Speaking to the Treasury Select Committee Mr… – Continue reading
On October 29, 2014, through the OECD “Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes,” both the OECD and G20 countries endorsed a new Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matter. 59 countries are so-called “early adopters” and are committed to undertaking their… – Continue reading
Democratic lawmakers Tuesday pushed legislation to stop U.S. companies from reincorporating overseas to reduce their tax bills, saying a wave of so-called inversions last year has nearly doubled the revenue the federal government will lose from those moves over the next decade. The bill would make it tougher for U.S…. – Continue reading
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Chinese property companies are having to turn to more expensive sources of finance as problems at developer Kaisa Group make it increasingly difficult for them to get credit in the offshore market. Kaisa’s failure this month to make an interest payment on a dollar bond has… – Continue reading
Decree-law no. 7/2015, dated 13 January, introduced important changes to the taxation system of revenues obtained by investors in all funds located and operating in Portugal. Taxation in Portugal had hitherto been levied on gains and other revenues earned by funds irrespective of costs incurred in achieving them. One of… – Continue reading
A person who is required to file an information return with the IRS must obtain your correct taxpayer identification number (TIN) to report, for example, income paid to you, payments made to you in settlement of payment card and third party network transactions, real estate transactions, mortgage interest you paid,… – Continue reading
In December 2014, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) issued a letter to a sample of taxpayers to remind them of the criteria for filing a T1135-Foreign Income Verification Statement and to review their income tax filings to ensure they have been properly reporting the relevant assets and income. All Canadian… – Continue reading
The thrust of the Indian government’s economic policy is encouraging, particularly the tax reform of proposed introduction of goods and services tax. NEW DELHI, JAN 20: Germany has made a case for ‘respecting the secrecy’ of any information shared with India for tax administration purposes. This stance assumes significance given… – Continue reading
President Obama reopened a fiscal can of worms with his proposal to increase the capital gains tax to 28 percent, a plan Republicans said they would not adopt. The administration has tried to paint it as a mainstream idea, noting that the rate was 28 percent under President Ronald Reagan,… – Continue reading
For as long as leaders from low-income countries are excluded from the solution, tax avoidance will inflict costly and sometimes life-threatening consequences on millions of individuals Politicians have been all-too-eager to label 2014 a milestone year for action on tax avoidance, with many of the world’s leading economies having introduced… – Continue reading
Voltaire wrote “If you see a Swiss banker jumping out of a window, follow him, there is sure to be a profit in it”. Following this train of thought India is seen to be ruined by a cartel of Swiss bankers, terrorists and corrupt industrialists. Unlimited black money is apparently… – Continue reading
A couple of decades ago, the senior management of major corporations was often less than responsive to public pressures of various sorts. With a few exceptions where major media got involved, issues such as customer complaints or public outrage over corporate policy (labor exploitation, tax avoidance) could almost always be… – Continue reading
Both the OECD and the EU are exploring options to change how digital businesses are taxed, while NGOs are stepping up their pressure on tax authorities to challenge large companies’ transfer pricing arrangements. No matter how robust your digital business’s transfer pricing arrangements appear to have been in the past,… – Continue reading
