The investigation and prosecution of tax evasion has, in the last decade, grown from a specialised subcategory of law enforcement into a first-tier policy concern for the global community.Starting with the US government’s crackdown on Swiss bank UBS in 2008, there has been a steady drumbeat of news about prosecutions… – Continue reading
The GAAR guidelines should make it clear that it should be only used as a deterrent against tax avoidance schemes, and not a revenue gathering weapon in the hands of the tax officer. Accordingly, the guidelines should make it explicit that GAAR will be applicable only to artificial, abusive and… – Continue reading
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has issued a guideline asking its income tax offices across the country to start ‘scrutiny assessment’ of the tax returns submitted for the tax year 2015-16. As per the guideline, the taxmen have to complete the scrutiny assessment known as ‘return process’ by December… – Continue reading
Tax evasion cases have been mounting on UBS Group’s balance sheet; it recently got some hope from the European Court of Human Rights (NYSE:UBS) announced today that its decision, to challenge the French court’s rulings about the tax evasion case, has been accepted at the European Court of Human Rights… – Continue reading
The ways of doing business in a digital economy have evolved rapidly. Traditional tax norms, effective in addressing issues in a world before high-paced technological and e-commerce, are increasingly becoming outdated. Taxation of e-businesses has been a globally identified challenge with tax authorities acknowledging that corporates in this disruptive environment… – Continue reading
The Mauritius central bank said it has issued a banking licence to Bank of China , the first Chinese bank licensed to operate on the Indian Ocean island. Zhang Xiaoqing, who is leading a team setting up the Mauritius unit, said Bank of China wanted to provide financial services to… – Continue reading
LONDON & NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Markit (Nasdaq:MRKT), a leading global provider of financial information services, today announced the launch of a tax utility. The initial offering supports compliance with US Treasury FATCA obligations. Designed in partnership with Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Morgan Stanley, the service provides tax form validation and secure… – Continue reading
The Williams Mullen Southeast State and Local Tax (SESALT) team is pleased to provide you with a comprehensive recap of important tax developments around the Southeast. VIRGINIA CORPORATE INCOME TAX Conformity with Internal Revenue Code. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe signed emergency legislation on February 5, 2016 that advances the state’s… – Continue reading
On March 16, South Korean National Tax Service (NTS) Commissioner Lim Hwan-soo and Wong Kuen-fai, Commissioner of the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) of Hong Kong, met with each other and agreed to share their tax information immediately after their tax treaty becomes effective. The two countries’ negotiations for the treaty… – Continue reading
The government has signed five more advance pricing agreements with multinational firms. Of these, three are new agreements while two were renewals, according to consulting firm EY, which was involved in three of the deals. An Advance Pricing Agreement, or APA, is essentially a negotiated deal between a taxpayer and… – Continue reading
The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis, through its Inland Revenue Department has gone live with Vizor Software’s FATCA & AEOI solution, the FATCA Reporting Portal. Ottawa, Canada (PRWEB) March 17, 2016 Today, Vizor Ltd. announced that the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis has gone live with the Vizor… – Continue reading
The government said a foreign hedge fund with an Indian fund manager working in India will neither be classified as having a business connection in India nor as being located in India. “Under this regime, the fund management activity carried out through an eligible fund manager in India by an… – Continue reading
Botswana and Malawi have signed an Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation that aims to facilitate closer cooperation tax issues and allow for the exchange of information between their revenue authorities.Speaking at the signing ceremony on Wednesday, Botswana’s Finance Minister Kenneth Matambo said it was also pleasing that the… – Continue reading
The Treasury recently released a revised U.S. Model Income Tax Convention (the “2016 Model”), the U.S. starting point for bilateral treaty negotiation, last updated a decade ago. In May 2015, the Treasury circulated several proposed changes in draft form. Those proposals generally survive in the 2016 Model, although the Treasury… – Continue reading
Belarus and Kazakhstan introduced amendments and additions to the intergovernmental double taxation agreement and thus updated the tax legislation, Belarus’ Taxes and Duties Minister Sergei Nalivaiko said after a ceremony to sign the protocol, BelTA has learned. The matter is about the protocol between the governments of Belarus and Kazakhstan… – Continue reading
Summary The pace of change in international tax is dramatic. Each month brings new initiatives and developments at both national and supra-national levels. In this update, we focus on recent changes which are relevant to our clients. The OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“BEPS”) reports were finalised in October… – Continue reading
As part of the Government’s crackdown on profit shifting by multinationals from the UK to low or no-tax jurisdictions, the Chancellor has announced in Budget 2016 a package of enhanced withholding tax measures which are designed to ensure that companies are not able to use intragroup royalty payments for avoidance…. – Continue reading
The amount people can earn before being hit by income tax will rise to £11,500 in April 2017, benefiting millions of workers. The move will cut taxes for 31 million people, according to the Treasury, and will mean 1.3 million low-wage workers are taken out of paying income tax altogether…. – Continue reading
Amazon’s Italy chief tells Bloomberg the company is cooperating with the authorities European Union member states continue their crackdown on American companies that they believe have avoided tax payments. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is the latest company under investigation for its tax dealings in Italy, the company’s chief for Italy and… – Continue reading
Ban on tax haven land rejected in favour of ‘transparency register’ PROPOSALS TO OUTLAW the ownership of land in offshore tax havens were rejected by the Scottish Parliament today [Wednesday 16 March] on the basis of private legal advice. Estimates that 750,000 acres of Scotland are owned in tax havens… – Continue reading
In their latest attempt to try to stamp out tax avoidance by multinationals in the European Union, lawmakers are set to question Apple, Google, IKEA and McDonald’s over their tax affairs as EU member states fail to agree a common tax policy. Lawmakers in the EU have struggled to prevent… – Continue reading
THAILAND HAS no plan to adopt any time soon the three-tiered approach to transfer-pricing documentation recommended by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. However, large Thai multinational enterprises (MNEs) with subsidiaries operating in countries that are members of the OECD and/or Group of 20 will find that they will… – Continue reading
The offshore yuan was set for the biggest two-day decline in six weeks after China’s central bank reduced the currency’s reference rate and policy makers were seen preparing a levy on foreign-exchange transactions. The monetary authority has drafted rules for a so-called Tobin tax in an effort to curb currency… – Continue reading
A record high 1,163,229 Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (more commonly, FBARs) were filed in 2015, up more than 8% from the prior year. That growth, however, is nothing new: FBAR filings have grown on average by 17% per year during the last five years , according to… – Continue reading
New tax regulations dealing with the issue of BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) may have a disproportionate impact on the real estate development sector as they are implemented in the UK. The concept of BEPS originates from the OECD and the G20 nations. The intention is to deal with… – Continue reading
The Isle of Man Government has struck a new VAT deal with the UK. Treasury Minister Eddie Teare MHK has this morning informed Tynwald that a new agreement has been reached involving a revision of the formula that governs the sharing of joint indirect tax revenues under the 1979 Customs… – Continue reading
The financial watchdogs of Mauritius and the Seychelles have joined together in a Memorandum of Understanding. The Financial Services Commission of Mauritius (FSC Mauritius) and the Financial Services Authority of the Seychelles (FSA) have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the beginning of March. According to… – Continue reading
President Barack Obama is heading to Cuba next week. When Air Force One lands on that island nation on March 20, Obama will become the first U.S. commander in chief to visit Cuba in 88 years. In advance of that historic visit, which the administration hopes will eventually lead to… – Continue reading
For the last five years, the U.S. has waged a strong battle against offshore tax evasion. In 2010, America began its boldest crackdown with the enactment of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (known widely as “FATCA”). FATCA requires foreign financial institutions (e.g., banks, investment houses, etc.) doing business in… – Continue reading
State lawmakers are getting into the act of demonizing corporate inversions even though there is not much they can do to stop them. Corporate inversions, in which U.S. companies merge with or are acquired by an overseas business, are a hot topic on the campaign trail and in the halls… – Continue reading
The UK has been slammed over its failure to crackdown on British-controlled tax havens, with a new report claiming that the wealthiest one percent of the UK’s population have captured more than US$1.4 trillion of the country’s national growth since 2000. The report from Oxfam called on UK officials to… – Continue reading
China’s chess game to seize control of the South China Sea may take an interesting turn if an influential businessman’s suggestion is followed and Beijing turns one of the disputed islands into its very own Cayman Islands-style offshore bank. The idea, as explained by The Washington Post, is to establish… – Continue reading
A new bill proposed by City Council President Darrell Clarke last week would ban city government from doing business with companies who move abroad to avoid paying U.S. taxes. Corporate tax inversion might not have a sexy ring to it, but it has been a topic on the minds and… – Continue reading
In a major clampdown, regulator SEBI has debarred over 1,000 entities from the capital markets after they were found to be misusing stock exchange platforms for tax evasion to the tune of more than Rs 15,000 crore. SEBI has also suspended trading in shares of as many as 167 companies,… – Continue reading
Only the little people pay taxes. For a small, select cohort of rich Australians, the famous quote of New York property billionaire Leona Helmsley rings not as an outrage but as an inspiration. In the most recent documents released by the Australian Tax Office, there were 55 people who had… – Continue reading
In the final session of the two day Global Tax Conference at Dublin Castle yesterday, a senior Canadian tax advisor used the analogy of children playing football to describe the relationship between multinationals and government when it comes to tax. In a kids football match, he said, when the ball… – Continue reading
N.R. Narayana Murthy, Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Infosys, said here on Saturday that reducing friction for business and creating an easy-to-comply-with tax system can help shore up the Human Development Index (HDI) of the country. He also called for jailing people who do not pay tax as it is… – Continue reading
Mauritius plans to sell itself as a world class financial-services hub to investment companies in Asia and the Far East to win new business, an official said. The island-nation’s Financial Services Promotional Agency plans to market the country as an international financial center, or IFC, and is already collaborating with… – Continue reading
The amount of tax multinational companies pay – and the amount they don’t pay – has become highly controversial, writes RTÉ’s Economics Correspondent Sean Whelan. This is mainly as a result of public outrage over legal tax avoidance schemes that big companies can use to shelter vast amounts of money… – Continue reading
Fortune 500 firms may be avoiding $695 billion in U.S. income taxes on $2.4 trillion held offshore. What do Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have in common? Both seek an end to the use of offshore tax havens by corporate America. Bernie Sanders’ plan ends the ability of corporations to… – Continue reading
A tax treaty between Liechtenstein and Switzerland has been approved by the Liechtenstein government and transmitted to Parliament for consideration, the Liechtenstein government announced March 9. The government said that the treaty, which would replace a 1995 agreement between the countries, has also been approved by the Swiss Federal Council… – Continue reading
Offshore schemes operated by Swiss bank UBS and Germany’s Deutsche Bank in a bid to avoid paying income tax on bankers’ bonuses are not exempt from tax, the Supreme Court in London ruled Wednesday. British tax authorities, who brought the court action, said the schemes set up by the Swiss… – Continue reading
It’s not just the Indian banks that business tycoon Vijay Mallya has taken for a ride. The chairman of United Breweries (UB) group and promoter of now defunct Kingfisher Airlines also concealed in his election affidavit, filed before the Rajya Sabha, his business interests in offshore tax havens elsewhere. dna… – Continue reading
EU countries will exchange information on the tax affairs of multinational companies under new rules backed by EU finance ministers aimed at stopping big companies avoiding paying their fair share into government coffers. The rules, that should take effect later this year, are a response to growing concerns about corporate… – Continue reading
Two units of Cayman National Corporation Ltd pleaded guilty to U.S. charges on Wednesday as part of a $6 million settlement of an investigation into how the financial services firm helped Americans evade paying taxes. Cayman National Securities Ltd and Cayman National Trust Co Ltd each pleaded guilty in federal… – Continue reading
Colorado House Democrats succeeded Wednesday for a second straight year in sending a bill to the Senate that would generate more tax revenue from some international companies — but only after a lengthy and very pointed debate that often sought to pit big businesses against small companies and average Colorado… – Continue reading
Credit Suisse Group (CSGN.S) is under investigation in Italy in connection with a case looking into allegations that the bank helped wealthy clients transfer undeclared funds offshore, Italian judicial sources said on Wednesday. Credit Suisse offices in Milan were searched by Italian police in December 2014 as part of an… – Continue reading
Uzbekistan and Finland signed a protocol on amendments to the Uzbek-Finnish intergovernmental agreement on avoidance of double taxation and prevention of income tax evasion, the Uzbek foreign ministry’s statement posted on its website said. Uzbekistan and Finland signed the agreement on the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of income… – Continue reading
Federal authorities demanded secrecy in no-penalty, no-prosecution deal to high net worth Canadians The Canada Revenue Agency offered amnesty to multi-millionaire clients caught using what’s been called an offshore tax “sham” on the Isle of Man — a reprieve that was supposed to remain secret and out of the public… – Continue reading
Fenergo offers Nikko Securities America, Inc. end-to-end Client Lifecycle Management with a regulatory focus on AML, KYC and FATCA Fenergo, the leading provider of Regulatory Onboarding and Client Lifecycle Management software solutions for investment, corporate and private banks, has announced a new deal to provide Nikko Securities America, Inc. with… – Continue reading
