While Cayman National maintains its financial stability it says it is unable to declare a dividend as it prepares to pay some CI$5 million as a potential settlement with the US authorities over criminal law breaches related to tax evasion. The financial institution, in its Fourth Quarter report (ending 30… – Continue reading
British offshore tax evaders are being warned that the UK Revenue and Customs Department (HMRC) will start to receive details on British taxpayers from more than 90 countries, including Cyprus, under new global agreements. “The government is giving people one last chance to come clean and get their tax affairs… – Continue reading
Swiss private banking group Julius Baer Group Ltd. (JBAXY.PK,JBARF.PK) may have to pay more than it anticipated to settle a case with the U.S. Justice Department over American offshore accounts, according to media report quoting people familiar with the matter. The report indicated that the U.S. prosecutors could ask Julius… – Continue reading
The provisions commonly known as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) became law in March 2010. •FATCA targets tax non-compliance by U.S. taxpayers with foreign accounts •FATCA focuses on reporting: •By U.S. taxpayers about certain foreign financial accounts and offshore assets •By foreign financial institutions about financial accounts held… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: As many as 380 market entities, most of them stock brokers, faced action for failing to prevent possible money laundering and terror financing activities during the last fiscal. Discrepancies related to Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism (AML and CFT) regulations were observed against brokers and depository participants… – Continue reading
An Easy Checkoff for Global Competitiveness: The Case for a U.S. Innovation Box – Robert D. Atkinson – November 30, 2015. “Taxing corporate revenues from innovation-based activities less will not only boost U.S. global competitiveness it will help bring back IP-based corporate profits now overseas. “Within the last decade a… – Continue reading
Legal experts say court order for restaurant’s parent company based in British Virgin Islands could lead to resolution of more disputes in city Hong Kong’s top court recently gave the go-ahead for the parent company of the famous Yung Kee roast goose restaurant in Central to be wound up, despite… – Continue reading
Netflix the online movie rental service did not pay any UK corporation tax last year, despite generating an income of £200million in Britain. The world’s biggest internet movie streaming service has five million subscribers in the UK alone and has proved a hit by offering U.S. shows like House of… – Continue reading
NEW YORK – The General Manager of Pakistan’s Habib Bank Ltd., New York branch, said Friday that steps have been taken to address the concerns of U.S. authorities after being hit by an enforcement order that barred the bank from conductingany dollar-clearing transactions or accepting any new accountsfor U.S. dollar… – Continue reading
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) on 17 December 2015 released guidelines that address country-by-country reporting. The ATO release—Law Companion Guideline (LCG) 2015/3—discusses Tax Laws Amendment (Combating Multinational Tax Avoidance) Act 2015 that was enacted earlier this month and discusses, in particular, Schedule 4. Background Schedule 4 created Subdivision 815-E of… – Continue reading
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) released its first tax transparency report, outlining for the 2013-14 year, the tax information published by the ATO covering income tax of certain corporate taxpayers with total income of AUS $100 million or more. Of the 1,539 total number of companies disclosed in the ATO’s… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Income tax assessments of Indians holding foreign bank accounts — done hurriedly and on the basis of weak evidence — are now falling apart. The Commissioner Income Tax-4 (Appeals), a quasi-judicial appellate authority had, on October 9, rejected the department’s case on grounds that it had used unauthenticated… – Continue reading
Caribbean nations have long served as tax havens for the world’s economic elite, with many offering so-called economic citizenship where, for large payments, one can simply buy citizenship in their countries. That can save the 1 percent a pretty penny. Overseas tax evasion costs the U.S. government as much as… – Continue reading
Apple CEO says the company pays ‘every tax dollar we owe’ amid debate in the US over corporations avoiding tax by using offshore units Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook has dismissed as “total political crap” the notion that the technology giant was avoiding taxes. Cook’s remarks, made on CBS’ 60… – Continue reading
Footwear is one of the industries with high export turnover. However, the profitable industry is being controlled by companies from South Korea and Taiwan. According to the Vietnam Leather & Footwear Association (Lefaso), with 800 enterprises and 1 million workers, FIEs account for one-fourth of total number of footwear makers,… – Continue reading
Edmond de Rothschild (Suisse) SA agreed to pay $45.4 million to avoid prosecution for helping U.S. clients evade taxes, admitting it aided them in moving cash and using sham offshore entities to hide money from the Internal Revenue Service. Rothschild is the 68th Swiss bank to reach an accord with… – Continue reading
On 16 October 2015, the Cayman Islands Government issued new regulations with respect to a global initiative on the automatic exchange of information (“AEOI“) and the Common Reporting Standard (“CRS“), established to improve tax transparency in the increasingly globalised world. Links to the Tax Information Authority Law (2014 Revision) and… – Continue reading
About Botswana Botswana, a former British colony in Southern Africa, is one of the most prominent countries in Africa. The country has a strong economy,uses one of the most advanced banking systems in the continent, and maintains a stable tradition of representative democracy. After becoming independent in 1966, Botswana developed… – Continue reading
The agreement between Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates for the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income has entered into force, a Government spokesman said today (December 18). The agreement was signed in December last year. It came into force… – Continue reading
The organization’s new ambassador in the Brazilian capital Brasília claims trade and mutual investment between Arab countries and Brazil can be worked on. São Paulo – Newly appointed to represent the Middle East and North Africa countries in Brazil, the ambassador of the League of Arab States in the national… – Continue reading
As the Government of Jamaica moves on its agenda to prevent revenue leakage through transfer pricing legislation, local companies are still waiting to see what impact the changes will have on their operations. The new law allows for the detailed examination of the accounts of companies with associates and branches… – Continue reading
The Bundesrat (upper house of the German parliament) approved the Law on the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (Finanzkonten-Informationsaustauschgesetz) on 18 December 2015. Financial institutions face new reporting obligations and duties of care under this law. The new legislation requires financial institutions to provide the German Federal Central Tax… – Continue reading
When purchasing a real property overseas, there are situations when it may prove advantageous or even necessary to do so through an offshore corporation, rather than owning the property individually. It is crucial to understand that this can also have significant US tax consequences for US persons. Fortunately, “checking the… – Continue reading
Case law Chevron appeal to the Full Federal Court Chevron Australia Holdings Pty Ltd has appealed the decision of the Federal Court in Chevron Australia Holdings Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation (No 4) [2015] FCA 1092 to the Full Federal Court. For details of the Federal Court decision, please… – Continue reading
The Department of Justice announced today that Edmond de Rothschild (Suisse) SA and Edmond de Rothschild (Lugano) SA (collectively EdR Switzerland) reached a joint resolution under the department’s Swiss Bank Program. EdR Switzerland will pay a penalty of more than $45 million. The Swiss Bank Program, which was announced on… – Continue reading
The Delhi High Court held that the taxpayer’s advertising, marketing, and sales promotion expenses were not an “international transaction” under provisions of India’s tax law, and thus, could not be the basis of a transfer pricing adjustment. The court further held that a “bright line test” as applied by the… – Continue reading
A list of tax paid by Australia’s biggest companies, released by Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan on Thursday, may have raised more questions than it answered. Nevertheless, we needed it. This is just the beginning of a long journey towards tax transparency. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) released the data for… – Continue reading
The European Parliament has spelt out the legal steps needed to improve corporate tax transparency, coordination and an EU-wide policy convergence in a resolution voted on this week. Parliament’s drive to persuade EU member states to act to counter aggressive corporate tax planning and evasion by multinationals in Europe was… – Continue reading
MUMBAI|NEW DELHI: Many US-based non-resident Indians are considering selling their property in India – even at a discount – amid confusion and fear that a new information-sharing protocol may bring their assets, bank accounts, mutual funds and capital market investments in India under the scanner of US tax authorities. India… – Continue reading
The Australian Government’s efforts to improve tax collections are more urgent amid falling revenue from weak commodity prices, the Wall Street Journal reports Malcolm Turnbull’s government took the rare step of making public the tax affairs of scores of multinationals, highlighting that many big names—including Apple Inc. and Volkswagen AG… – Continue reading
The Indian government has become progressively more strict about what is considered income under tax law and who must file an income tax return. In particular, companies required to withhold taxes, and individuals or companies in receipt of income, have found themselves subject to increasingly stringent withholding rules. The topic… – Continue reading
Group companies, irrespective of the jurisdiction, will have to conform to common standards The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently released 15 action-plans to address the issue of “Base Erosion & Profit Shifting” or BEPS, which has led to misalignment between where taxes are paid and where value… – Continue reading
Employees relocating from Canada to the US may face a number of complex tax-related issues. Matt C Altro, president and CEO of Canadian firm MCA Cross Border Advisors, shares his advice for companies and their relocatees on planning for, and coping with, these challenges. Talent mobility is a key issue… – Continue reading
Maltese MEPs and their Cypriot counterparts have voted against a report which urges the European Union to introduce tax convergence and harmonisation among all EU member states. The vote passed with 500 votes in favour, 122 against and 81 abstentions. Head of the Maltese Labour Delegation, Alfred Sant, said that… – Continue reading
2016 Compliance Update For the past few years, FATCA has dominated the international tax compliance landscape. As that regime continues to be phased-in, a new regime – the Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”) – will begin to be implemented around the world. CRS, sometimes referred to as “Global FATCA,” will expand… – Continue reading
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, in power for 13 years, has been notoriously lax and often late when it comes to implementing stringent rules controlling money in order to ensure better transparency in financial movements, halt tax evasion, prevent illicit funding and disrupt money laundering activities. That… – Continue reading
Liability below the mid-point of the range in IPO prospectus TORONTO, Dec. 18, 2015 /CNW/ – Spin Master Corp. (“Spin Master” or the “Company”) (TSX: TOY) announced today that it has reached a settlement agreement with the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”), which resolves a previously disclosed transfer pricing matter arising… – Continue reading
Not only is Dec. 31 the deadline for any last-minute, year-end tax planning you may be contemplating, but it may also be the last day to come clean to the tax man if you still have an undisclosed Swiss bank account. If that’s you, consider getting your act together and… – Continue reading
Where it happens does not matter. Portugal or overseas, whether its rental income, bank interest, bond yields, dividends, or even gains from the sale of a property, such personal financial information will be automatically shared from 1st January 2016. For many who have undergone financial planning, or have been involved… – Continue reading
Tax disputes are to no longer form a part of a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) signed by the government with another country, the Union Cabinet decided on Wednesday, clearing a revised model text The idea is that foreign companies finding themselves in a tax row with the government will not… – Continue reading
Where it happens does not matter. Portugal or overseas, whether its rental income, bank interest, bond yields, dividends, or even gains from the sale of a property, such personal financial information will be automatically shared from 1st January 2016. For many who have undergone financial planning, or have been involved… – Continue reading
On December 8, there was a brief note in the media about the fact that Malta had managed to include a reference to flexibility into a European Council communiqué on taxation. You would be forgiven for overlooking it, assuming it was just a pedantic attempt to score political points. Think… – Continue reading
SYDNEY, Dec 17 (Reuters) – Australia on Thursday identified 600 companies which it said paid no tax last financial year, including Halliburton Co and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc, as part of a campaign to challenge “overly aggressive” tax arrangements. The Australian Taxation Office published the income and tax rates of… – Continue reading
Tax is back in the news with the release of information of the taxes paid (or rather not paid) by some of the biggest companies operating in Australia. After much hand wringing (and a break for Christmas) politicians will return in the New Year to attempt to get back some… – Continue reading
Why raise the limit for quoting PAN in cash deals? Though the government’s one-time black money compliance window for money stashed overseas garnered a mere Rs 3,770 crore, getting rid of black money remains a focus area. While it is understandable that industry’s protests over the General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR)… – Continue reading
According to a research report titled “Illegal Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2004-2013”, recently published by the Washington based research institute Global Financial Integrity (GFI), Bangladesh stands 26th in the list of 149 developing nations, in terms of flight of capital including money laundering (The Daily Star, December 10, 2015)…. – Continue reading
Dreyfus Sons & Co. has operated for two centuries as a private Swiss bank, catering to Jewish clients who wanted to hide assets from the Nazis during the 1930s and World War II. More recently, it helped U.S. clients hide assets from the Internal Revenue Service by concealing their true… – Continue reading
The Cayman Islands (along with the United Kingdom, Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, the British Virgin Islands and over 70 other countries) has committed to implementing the OECD Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”), which will require investment funds to collect tax identification and tax residency information from all new subscribers and transferees (including… – Continue reading
Initiated by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2013 and endorsed by the G-20, the OECD’s “Action Plan to Address Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)” includes 15 key areas to encourage more transparency, better reporting and more cooperation between countries in which multinational companies operate. On October… – Continue reading
IP regime To comply with the OECD’s BEPS reports and more specifically its action plan n° 5 regarding harmful tax practices, the Luxembourg intellectual property (“IP“) regime under article 50bis of the Luxembourg income tax law (“ITL“) will be repealed as from 1 July 2016. As such, the Luxembourg 80%… – Continue reading
