New Delhi/Berne: Amid a debate on disclosure of names of suspected black money holders, Switzerland today said information exchanged under Swiss-India tax treaty cannot be disclosed “in principle” to a court or any other body outside the proceedings of a ‘specific and relevant’ case. The comments come at a time… – Continue reading
Some 51 countries, including the UK, have signed a new agreement at the Global Forum in Berlin to automatically exchange tax information, in an attempt to clamp down on tax evasion. Under the agreement, “unprecedented levels” of information, including account balances, interest payments and beneficial ownership, will be shared with… – Continue reading
Ireland’s Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton is undertaking his first investment mission since the Government announced major changes to the corporate tax regime as part of Budget 2015. Bruton is visiting the East Coast of the US as part of a program of engagement by the Government with multinational companies on… – Continue reading
European prosecutors and tax authorities are intensifying an investigation into a huge tax avoidance trading scheme costing European countries hundreds of millions of euros. The investigation centres on complex stock trades that major banks allegedly use to earn tax rebates. The practice was revealed by the Bureau three years ago…. – Continue reading
NEW DELHI/GENEVA: A huge global pressure to break secrecy veils of Swiss banks notwithstanding, Switzerland remains the world’s largest offshore financial centre with client assets totalling over $ 2 trillion, a new study said today. Besides the country is expected to remain “the biggest offshore centre for private banking in… – Continue reading
ASTANA. KAZINFORM – Senate’s plenary session has adopted the Law “On ratification of the Protocol between the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Government of the Republic of Belarus for the termination of the Agreement between the governments of the two states on the principles of indirect taxes… – Continue reading
New Delhi/Berlin, Oct 29: India today failed to attend an OECD meeting in Berlin where a multilateral agreement requiring a commitment to follow international standards of confidentiality for information received relating to black money was signed. Official sources said that India was not able to attend the Berlin meeting where… – Continue reading
Cayman takes another step forward in the fight against global tax evasion. Government has signed a deal that sets the worldwide standard for automatic exchange of information among tax authorities. More than 50 other countries and jurisdictions have also done that. Come 2017, Cayman will swap information on taxpayers’ offshore… – Continue reading
Geneva: A huge global pressure to break secrecy veils of Swiss banks notwithstanding, Switzerland remains the world’s largest offshore financial centre with client assets totalling over USD two trillion, a new study said. Besides the country is expected to remain “the biggest offshore centre for private banking in 2018,” with… – Continue reading
Financial institutions including fund managers will need to up the ante on client due diligence and bolster investor reporting following the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) agreement on the automatic exchange of information. The OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (CRS) will force national authorities in the 51 signatory states… – Continue reading
Non-residents will only be able to purchase land in Sri Lanka through long lease agreements and purchases will be subject to payment of a land lease tax (LLT), under the Land (Restrictions on Alienation) Act, which was recently given parliamentary approval. In accordance with regulations which have been provisionally applied… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Indian entities having businesses in the US risk higher penal taxes in the US on any fund transfer to the country if New Delhi fails to endorse a pact for information exchange by December 31 on grounds of confidentiality. New Delhi will find it difficult to sign the… – Continue reading
Revenue Minister Todd McClay today announced New Zealand’s timetable for participation in a global automatic exchange of information aimed at cracking down on tax evasion. G20 leaders announced the initiative in September 2013 – and in May 2014, New Zealand, along with all OECD countries, joined in the general declaration… – Continue reading
China has made significant strides in the past five years in building up its regulation in the area of double taxation avoidance, as well as implementation assurance techniques. Following the 2008 Corporate Income Tax Law, which laid the basis for anti-avoidance in China, the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) issued… – Continue reading
Offshore Incorporations Limited (OIL), a division of OV Group, a company formation and corporate service specialist focused on serving the financial and professional intermediary sectors, has released its fifth annual market research report “Offshore 2020”. This year, over 300 global senior industry stakeholders were surveyed, highlighting major trends and providing… – Continue reading
On Wednesday, when the Supreme Court accepted and handed over the sealed envelope from the government carrying the Swiss bank account details of Indians to the special investigation team, what seems to have won is the concern over the double taxation avoidance treaty (DTAT) and many such agreements that the… – Continue reading
The US policy is different. Moving away from the homeland doesn’t mean you are free from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). You are required to file your US tax returns every year, report your worldwide income to the IRS and pay any tax imposed by the US tax laws. Since… – Continue reading
MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Convey Compliance Systems recently expanded its Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) Management Services to include Global Intermediary Identification Number (GIIN) verification. This update allows users to manage client GIINs by comparing them against the most recent IRS published list. The new GIIN Verification capabilities are… – Continue reading
October 29: The IRS today issued transmittal message as a reminder that new versions of the following information returns (in the Form 1099 series) and instructions have been finalized for 2015. The IRS specially noted that each of these information returns has been updated for purposes of FATCA reporting. Form… – Continue reading
Montana has the sixth-best business tax climate in the U.S., according to a report from the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit think tank. The Tax Foundation’s 2015 State Business Tax Climate Index takes into account over 100 variables, including corporate taxes, individual income taxes, sales taxes, unemployment insurance taxes… – Continue reading
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times New Delhi, October 29, 2014 First Published: 09:16 IST(29/10/2014) | Last Updated: 10:26 IST(30/10/2014) The government on Wednesday submitted a list of 627 Indians holding accounts in HSBC Bank, Geneva, to the Supreme Court, which directed its special investigating team (SIT) to examine them and take… – Continue reading
VietNamNet Bridge – Recent surveys about the tax policies applied to foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) show that Vietnamese have become choosier about foreign direct investment (FDI) and FIEs (foreign-invested enterprises). “Do you think that the FIEs in Vietnam are transparent in tax payments?” was one survey question raised by Thoi Bao… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court’s directive on sharing the names of overseas account holders has raised worries about India’s commitment to the confidentiality clause in various tax treaties and may impact remittances from the US. Any move to make the names public without prosecution may hamper signing of the Foreign… – Continue reading
Furious at what it sees as the Modi government’s flip-flops on the black money issue and selective revelation of names of Indians holding foreign bank accounts, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered it to disclose by Wednesday the names of around 800 holders of accounts abroad. A bench led by… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Even as the present debate over black money is focused mostly around the names of 628 Indians with account in HSBC, Geneva, the authorities have a list of another 612 Indians with accounts in tax havens around the world. The names of these 612 Indians emerged in 2013… – Continue reading
New U.S. tax rules applicable to Covidien acquisition make deal less attractive, Moody’s said. Two Wall Street rating firms expect to downgrade Medtronic Inc.’s debt because the company will have to borrow $13.5 billion more than it expected to buy health care supplier Covidien and move the combined company to… – Continue reading
MAJOR South African banking group FirstRand is to open a branch in Guernsey, part of a cluster of islands that form the Channel Islands. Though not a member of the EU, Guernsey has a special relationship with it, being treated as part of the European community for the purposes of… – Continue reading
WELLINGTON, Oct. 29 — New Zealand is to join a global scheme to fight tax evasion by multi-national companies in 2019, Revenue Minister Todd McClay said Wednesday, prompting criticism that he was offering a five-year “tax holiday” for foreign firms. G20 leaders announced the initiative for an automatic exchange of… – Continue reading
In its first report submitted to the Supreme Court, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money has sought an investigation unit, with the Enforcement Directorate as the nodal co-ordinating agency. The court-appointed SIT, headed by retired Supreme Court judges M B Shah and Arijit Pasayat, has made several recommendations… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI – The Indian government has handed over to the Supreme Court a list of more than 600 Indians with unauthorized foreign bank accounts as it attempts to crack down on rampant tax evasion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi says he wants to prosecute people who park their money abroad… – Continue reading
Bruton says US multinationals will advise Government on ‘knowledge box’ tax scheme Germany has warned that corporate tax subsidy arrangements known as “patent boxes” are acceptable in the European Union only as a reward for research and investment by companies in member states, not as a new tax-avoidance tool. It… – Continue reading
(BERLIN) – The finance ministers of around 50 countries meet in Berlin on Wednesday to sign a deal they hope will put an end to banking secrecy and aid the worldwide fight against tax fraud and evasion. “Banking secrecy, in its old form, is obsolete,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble… – Continue reading
The European Court of Justice has ruled against Italian gambling tax legislation, which taxes winnings from games of chance that are obtained in other EU member states but exempts such winnings obtained in Italy. The Court said that by exempting from income tax only winnings from games of chance obtained… – Continue reading
(CNSBusiness): The Cayman Islands government joined more than 50 countries Wednesday, when it signed the latest agreement to tackle global tax evasion. Wayne Panton, the financial services minister, signed on the dotted line of the OECD’s Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) in Berlin, the latest worldwide standard for automatic exchange… – Continue reading
Here’s a quick update on the legal challenges to Canada’s agreement with the U.S. regarding the controversial FATCA law. The group behind the suit, the Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty, says it has retained U.S. legal counsel to challenge in Washington whether so-called “Accidental Americans” resident in Canada… – Continue reading
* Leumi says working with NY State regulators on settlement * Says too soon to estimate final amount of deal * Bank rejects $300 mln settlement offer from NY State * Leumi has provisioned 950 mln shekels for final settlement * Share price falls 1.9 pct in Tel Aviv trading… – Continue reading
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Luxembourg on October 26, 2014, signed a protocol to amend their double tax agreement. The protocol revises provisions in the treaty, which dates back to November 2005, the UAE’s Ministry of Finance said. In particular, the scope of the treaty has been expanded to… – Continue reading
UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, has had to set aside Sfr1.84bn (or £1.2 billon / $1.9 billion) in legal provisions to pay for possible fines and to settle regulatory investigations. It has also warned shareholders that these costs are likely to be “at elevated levels” for the “forseeable future”. The Swiss… – Continue reading
Bellary: While Union finance minister, Arun Jaitley has warned the Congress it could be embarrassed once the names of people holding illegal foreign accounts are made public, local mining industry sources say the BJP too could be in for some embarassment as its once powerful leader and jailed mining czar,… – Continue reading
KUCHING: Accounting firm Deloitte Malaysia stressed on the government increasing focus on transfer pricing whereby there is a new requirement for taxpayers to declare if one has prepared all the necessary transfer pricing documentations. In the past, one was only required to disclose related-party transactions but there was no requirement… – Continue reading
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has launched a new web site for financial institutions required to make reports about US taxpayer clients under the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) laws. The online portal offers advice and access to a reporting hub for financial managers sending information about their… – Continue reading
AFIP bureau will have access to data of companies such as Techint and Globant The AFIP tax bureau yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Luxembourg to share fiscal information between both countries, an arrangement that will begin from 2015. The MOU will give AFIP access to information of… – Continue reading
US banana producer and distributor Chiquita has decided to terminate its proposed inversion with its rival Fyffes, in a deal which would have involved moving its tax residence to Ireland, and will instead be acquired. Chiquita’s decision comes after the announcement of non-legislative measures by the US Treasury Department on… – Continue reading
Nearly 1,500 individuals have disclosed more than AUD180m (USD157.8m) in previously unreported offshore income and over AUD1bn in assets since the Project DO IT amnesty was launched, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has revealed. The scheme began in April and is scheduled to end on December 19, 2014. The foreign… – Continue reading
Australians gamble more per capita than any other country in the world – and lose more too – so it’s no surprise that our gaming industry is getting flustered about the rivers of money flowing to the online black market. Tabcorp’s Paula Dwyer today called on the federal government to… – Continue reading
Tabcorp is pushing the Federal Government to even the playing field when it comes to wagering. Tabcorp’s chairman Paula Dwyer wants a ban on rival offshore betting companies operating in Australia. An estimated 14 per cent of betting by Australians is with non-licensed offshore operators, Ms Dwyer told shareholders at… – Continue reading
New CIBC report offers tax tips for U.S. vacation properties TORONTO, Oct. 28, 2014 /CNW/ – CIBC (TSX: CM) (NYSE: CM) – As Canadians look to take advantage of low U.S. house prices to buy vacation homes and escape the chill of winter, a new report by Jamie Golombek, CIBC’s… – Continue reading
New York’s banking regulator will ask for more than $300 million to settle an investigation into whether Bank Leumi Le-Israel (LUMI) BM helped Americans evade taxes, a person familiar with the matter said. Benjamin Lawsky, head of the state’s Department of Financial Services, is seeking more than what the bank… – Continue reading
Canada’s Competition Bureau says that Burger King’s plan to buy Tim Hortons does not pose a competitive threat to the fast food industry. The antitrust watchdog issued a No Action Letter (NAL) Tuesday, confirming that it reviewed the proposed transaction and concluded that it will not, at this time, “challenge… – Continue reading
Move will have dramatic implications for both overseas investors with assets in Israel and Israelis with undeclared assets abroad. Israel will be joining an international mechanism for the sharing of information on financial accounts, the Finance Ministry announced Monday. The cross-border exchange of information, which is due to be in… – Continue reading
