Jersey Finance has welcomed the signing of a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) between Jersey and Romania this week. The agreement, which was signed by the Minister for External Relations, Senator Sir Philip Bailhache, and the Romanian Ambassador, His Excellency Ion Jinga, at the Romanian Embassy in London on Monday… – Continue reading
Juncker has put corporate tax reform firmly back on the EU agenda The “Lux leaks” scandal may have cast a shadow over Jean-Claude Juncker’s first months as European Commission president, but its real significance will be how it impacts the EU’s position on corporate tax. Some contend the scale of… – Continue reading
Four years after entering a punishing €67bn bailout, the Irish economy is booming again. Gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 5.5 per cent between January and June. The European Commission expects Ireland to be the fastest-growing country in the eurozone in 2014. Yet a chorus of economists… – Continue reading
The EU’s most powerful official is under mounting pressure as dozens more multinational corporate names are dragged into the Luxembourg tax scandal following a new leak of confidential documents on Tuesday. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European commission, has been battling to distance himself from the growing furore over the… – Continue reading
Ambassador to London Matthew Barzun says US citizens must pay up Boris Johnson was born in New York so faces a tax bill in America London Mayor has branded the Transatlantic rules ‘outrageous’ Barzun defends US firms like Amazon and Google over tax dodging Insists they are just playing by… – Continue reading
China and Turkey have fallen in international rankings of perceived corruption, according to a new report released by the Berlin-based anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI).09 Dec 2014 Regulatory Europe Asia Pacific Gulf Africa According to the latest edition of TI’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2014, which scores countries on a… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Singapore said on Tuesday that it has finalised an information-sharing agreement with the United States that is aimed at combating offshore tax dodging. The deal will make it much easier for financial institutions in one of Asia’s biggest wealth management centres to comply with U.S. tax law. The… – Continue reading
New Delhi: Citing national security and confidentiality clauses, Finance Ministry has declined to disclose information on exchange of correspondence among India, Swiss and German authorities in connection with the black money probe. Replying to an RTI query, the ministry said it was obtaining information regarding Indians having accounts in foreign… – Continue reading
The Swedish Tax Agency has, on request by the Swedish Government (Ministry of Finance), evaluated the transfer pricing documentation rules’ functionality and proposed possible changes to simplify the application. The first step was to make an international comparison of the rules in relevant, comparable OECD countries. An overall assessment showed… – Continue reading
New Delhi: The government on Tuesday said Mauritius is yet to agree to certain proposals to the long pending revision of bilateral tax treaty. “India has made certain proposals for revision of DTAC (Double Taxation Avoidance Convention) to end round tripping and other aspects. Mauritius is yet to agree to… – Continue reading
The Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes recently met with legislators who oversee gambling issues in Connecticut to talk about competition in other states and what to do about it, a key lawmaker said Tuesday. State Rep. Steve Dargan, D-West Haven said he and state Sen. Joan Hartley, D-Waterbury, who oversee… – Continue reading
LISBON (Reuters) – The former head of Banco Espirito Santo <BES.LS> on Tuesday denied any wrongdoing in the collapse of the bank his family founded and blamed the Bank of Portugal for accelerating its demise. Portugal had to rescue the country’s largest bank, known as BES, in a 4.9 billion… – Continue reading
Bulgaria has formally signed up to the US’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), just over six months after the two countries concluded a transitional “in substance” agreement. FATCA, which was enacted by the US Congress in 2010 and took effect on July 1, 2014, is intended to ensure that… – Continue reading
Significant numbers of people are continuing to renounce their U.S. citizenship or end their long-term U.S. residency. There are 776 names on the Treasury Department list published Friday for the third quarter of 2014. That’s the third highest quarterly figure ever, according to Andrew Mitchel, an international tax lawyer in… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Luxembourg is giving details of its tax deals with foreign firms to governments that ask for them, its finance ministry said on Tuesday, addressing critics of its role in helping companies avoid taxes on a global scale. In a statement issued after a Belgian minister revealed he was… – Continue reading
Perhaps it was just a matter of time until the Internal Revenue Service decided to “outsource” its tax audit and litigation function to a private entity, i.e., a law firm. As reported in the December 8th issue of Tax Notes, the Service has hired the law firm of Quinn Emanuel… – Continue reading
European Union nations that offer “patent box” tax breaks should retool their laws so that only deserving companies can claim benefits tied to technical innovations, according to a draft report from a European Union working group. Countries that use this kind of technology tax break should start legislative work next… – Continue reading
A new leak of confidential documents expands the list of big companies seeking secret tax deals in Luxembourg, exposing tax-saving maneuvers by American entertainment icon The Walt Disney Co., politically controversial Koch Industries Inc. and 33 other companies. Disney and Koch Industries, a U.S.-based energy and chemical conglomerate, both created… – Continue reading
Thousands of rich Australians have come forward to declare billions of dollars in untaxed assets and income stashed in bank accounts in Switzerland and in other countries. The rush comes as what the Australian Taxation office says is the last tax amnesty it will ever offer comes to an end…. – Continue reading
The MT Conferences section did not involve the reporting or the editorial staff of The Moscow Times. Russian business is trembling in expectation of the new year when major changes recently introduced to the tax legislation will enter into force. There has been a lot of discussion regarding the increase… – Continue reading
The Joint Committee on Taxation has increased, from USD19.5bn to more than USD33.5bn, its estimate of tax revenue that could be saved over a ten-year period from legislation to restrict corporate inversions introduced by Democrat lawmakers in the United States House of Representatives in May this year. A recent letter… – Continue reading
Hong Kong’s financial institutions have been urged to assess whether their Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance (ORSO) retirement schemes are required to comply with the requirements of the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which aims to prevent tax avoidance by US residents, according to law firm Deacons. ORSO schemes… – Continue reading
MOSCOW, December 8 (RAPSI) – The world’s four largest audit firms, which provide services under the FATCA norms, have provided contradictory consultations to their Russian clients, Kommersant newspaper writes on Monday. The Big Four are the four largest international professional services networks, offering audit, assurance, tax, consulting, advisory, actuarial, corporate… – Continue reading
Please credit and share this article with others using this link:http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/telecom/448032/officials-use-it-to-catch-tax-dodgers. View our policies at http://goo.gl/9HgTd and http://goo.gl/ou6Ip. © Post Publishing PCL. All rights reserved. The Revenue Department has adopted an IT system to track taxpayers with irregularities in their tax payments as part of its effort to increase collection… – Continue reading
DAVID Murray’s financial system inquiry has left Australia’s big four banks at the whim of constantly changing global capital rules, analysts say. “By targeting a dynamic benchmark, there is a risk the Australian banking system enters a global ‘race to the top’ of capital levels,” said UBS analyst Jonathan Mott,… – Continue reading
The accountant PricewaterhouseCoopers and drugs giant Shire are due face a tense parliamentary showdown over tax avoidance with an angered Margaret Hodge today. PwC’s head of tax, Kevin Nicholson, was summoned to face Ms Hodge’s powerful Public Accounts Committee following reports last month that multinational corporations advised by PwC Luxembourg… – Continue reading
Although Thailand’s largest bank, Bangkok Bank (BBL), already has the greatest foot-|print overseas, it continues to look for further opportunities in the |offshore market and plans to open at least four additional branches next year. One will be a sub-branch |in Shanghai’s free-trade zone, |and another will be located |in… – Continue reading
Mumbai: As India continues its pursuit of black money allegedly stashed abroad, Switzerland has said it would not entertain any ‘fishing expedition’ and authorities cannot ask for names of all Indian account holders in Swiss banks without doing their own independent investigations. Switzerland’s ambassador to India Linus von Castelmur also… – Continue reading
THE media and civil society organisations should join hands and work together to ensure a fair taxation system in Africa, an advocacy group has said. Tax evasion, illicit financial flows and harmful tax incentives are rampant among governments, investors and multinational companies in Africa, Tax Justice Network’s Africa executive director… – Continue reading
As India continues its pursuit of black money allegedly stashed abroad, Switzer-land has said it would not entertain any ‘fishing expedition’ and authorities cannot ask for names of all Indian account holders in Swiss banks without doing their own independent investigations. Switzerland’s Ambassador to India Linus von Castelmur also said… – Continue reading
Global regulators need to standardise the mechanisms by which financial institutions exchange tax information on their clients amid concern the number of tax information exchange agreements between various countries is spiraling out of control. This comes as a number of countries and global regulatory bodies introduce their own tax reporting… – Continue reading
President Luis Guillermo Solís said that Costa Rica would present its application to join the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in June 2015, during remarks following a meeting with the organization’s president in Mexico on Sunday. The meeting with OECD President José Ángel Gurría took place during a business… – Continue reading
The luxleaks scandal has been used as “cover” by big European nations to point the finger at the tax affairs of small countries like Ireland and try to push through rules that suit their own interests, according to Fine Gael’s Brian Hayes. The MEP, who sits on the parliament’s economic… – Continue reading
The Brazilian Ministry of Finance has issued Portaria MF no. 488/2014, on December 1, which reduced the maximum income tax rate from 20% to 17% for the purposes of applying the concepts of tax havens and privileged tax regimes. The reduction is an important move because it demonstrates a… – Continue reading
In his annual address to both houses of parliament, President Vladimir Putin announced a large-scale program for the liberalization of the Russian economy. In particular, he proposed an amnesty for the repatriation of offshore capital and tax breaks for small businesses. However, Russian experts point out that some of the… – Continue reading
The exchange of information between tax authorities worldwide is about to enter into a new phase of an active gathering and reporting of data. The eradication of tax evasion has now been elevated to a matter of priority amongst OECD states. There has been an unprecedented push to expand the… – Continue reading
The number of calls from the public to HMRC’s tax evasion hotline has increased by almost a quarter in the past year The number of calls from the public to HMRC’s tax evasion hotline has increased by almost a quarter in the past year The service, which allows the public… – Continue reading
People who provide services delivered through electronic means (‘Electronic Services’), sold to final consumers based in other EU states, need to cope with the change of ‘place of supply’ rules from 1 January 2015. Place of supply rules are one of the more hotly debated areas of VAT. They determine… – Continue reading
Reversing earlier moves taken this summer and fall, a major international bank is ending its cooperation with the Internal Revenue Service’s efforts to prevent investors from investing money in foreign countries with more amenable tax structures and policies, such as Ireland or Switzerland. During a Zurich speech, Barclays bank executive… – Continue reading
Tennis legend Roger Federer is set to move into a 6.5million glass mansion in a Swiss tax-haven Wollerau Three-storey building comes with floor-to-ceiling windows, a swimming pool and view across Lake Zurich Wollerau is one of the lowest tax municipalities in Europe and has attracted other multi-millionaires Tennis ace Roger… – Continue reading
While the dust is still settling from the mid-term elections and the pundits are trying to figure out what it all means, the American people have made their collective voices heard and delivered a message that they do not like the country’s direction. Exit polling data from Election Day showed… – Continue reading
The lesson from the ongoing trial of former UBS wealth management chief executive Raoul Weil really shouldn’t be a surprise, but we’ll say it anyway: Do not fail to declare income from offshore investments to avoid taxes. Unless, that is, you and your clients would prefer a really close relationship… – Continue reading
On November 6th, 2014, the ICIJ journalists’ network revealed its investigation into leaked documents from professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. Their analysis shows that over 340 multinational companies use schemes to avoid paying taxes – schemes made possible by Luxembourg’s particularly favourable tax laws. How did the ICIJ work together on… – Continue reading
The Property Council of Australia has joined efforts by the broader business community to lobby the federal government to implement significant tax reforms next year. Members of the Business Coalition for Tax Reform (BCTR) will meet with the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) on December 15 to commence discussions… – Continue reading
Nicholson stands by previous testimony to MPs, as accountants are accused of mass-marketing tax avoidance schemes The head of tax at one of the UK’s top accounting groups was accused of lying to parliament about his firm’s role in devising controversial tax deals for clients in Luxembourg. Kevin Nicholson, PwC… – Continue reading
(Corrects headline to remove reference to probe at UBS) Dec 8 (Reuters) – Israel has arrested 28 people so far as part of an investigation into Israelis allegedly holding undisclosed bank accounts with Swiss bank UBS, the Tax Authority said on Monday. “The investigation continues and more arrests are expected,”… – Continue reading
The Irish President Michael D. Higgins is in China on a ten day visit — his first state visit to the country. Accompanying him is a delegation of leading Irish state companies, including IDA Ireland — the country’s foreign investment agency. They are set to hold meetings with leading personnel… – Continue reading
Germany’s Deutsche Bank dodged over $100 million in federal taxes, according to allegations in a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York Monday afternoon. “Through fraudulent conveyances involving shell companies, Deutsche Bank tried to make its potential tax liabilities disappear. This was nothing… – Continue reading
On May 1, 1975, Princeton graduate John C. Bogle launched an investment company on a bold new idea: it would be owned by its member funds and operated for the benefit of its shareholders. That company, the Vanguard Group, is now one of the world’s largest investment companies with about… – Continue reading
Islamic Finance has garnered an increased interest in the last few years and has the potential to develop the capital markets of Sri Lanka and assist in the development of infrastructure along with encouraging foreign investment in the island state, according to an economist in Sri Lanka. In an interview… – Continue reading
