Pakistan and Bulgaria on Wednesday signed the Agreement for Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income (ADTA) after the conclusion of second round of negotiations in Islamabad. The ceremony was overseen by Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Dr Muhammad Irshad and Bulgaria… – Continue reading
Witnesses call for repeal of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act An agreement that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of Canadian banking records being sent to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service could violate the U.S. constitution, a congressional subcommittee heard Wednesday. Testifying before a subcommittee of the House Committee on… – Continue reading
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are putting a new breath to the fight against tax fraud and evasion in Nigeria, as the two agencies will soon launch an anti-tax fraud and evasion team. This collaboration, according to the FIRS Executive Chairman,… – Continue reading
Newcastle managing director Lee Charnley released after HMRC investigation Offices at St James’ Park and club training ground raided by tax authorities The offices of Newcastle United and West Ham United were raided on Wednesday morning and Chelsea confirmed they were asked to provide information as part of a wide-ranging… – Continue reading
ABUJA – Nigeria has begun to take steps to boost its tax-to-GDP ratio beyond the miserly level of 6 percent. Over the weekend at the 2017 Spring Meetings of the IMF-World Bank/IMF in Washington DC the Finance Minister of Nigeria said that the national government must take extra efforts to… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI, APRIL 19: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the signing of the Protocol amending the Convention between India and Portugal for avoidance of Double Taxation. According to an official statement, the Protocol will also ensure prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income. The statement said,… – Continue reading
No rewards have been paid yet, but the agency has plenty of reports to investigate. The Canadian Revenue Agency’s offshore tax tip-line program has yet to pay out any rewards, but the agency said it’s generating a lot of leads. The Offshore Tax Informant Program (OTIP), which was launched in… – Continue reading
The Thai Revenue Department announced earlier this month that new legislation effective from April 2 increases penalties for those taxpayers committing tax fraud or evading their tax liability. In a statement accompanying the enactment of the Revenue Code Amendment Act (No.45) B.E. 2560, the Department revealed that such fraudulent activity… – Continue reading
At the end of March 2017, the Ministry of Finance called for public discussion on a draft bill (the “Bill”) amending the Bulgarian Tax and Social Insurance Procedural Code (the “Code”). The Bill seeks to improve administrative cooperation in the Bulgarian tax sector. The first set of amendments relates to… – Continue reading
On 12/29/2016, Colombia’s Congress approved “Law 1819 of 2016”. The new legislation is a structural tax reform primarily aimed at increasing revenues for Colombia. Colombia suffered a loss of revenues when crude oil prices plummeted beginning in 2014. The loss of revenue created a negative impact on its economy; creating… – Continue reading
MANILA, Philippines – Investment bank Credit Suisse said an effective tax amnesty program would face hurdles in the Philippines due to the country’s strict banking secrecy law. In its Asian daily report titled “Philippines: Credible threat still lacking,” Credit Suisse economist Michael Wan said the planned program announced by Finance… – Continue reading
The German Ministry of Finance has published a progress report on its 10-point plan to combat tax evasion, which was first announced in the wake of last year’s Panama Papers leak. The plan, launched on April 12, 2016, outlines the measures that Germany wants to put in place at domestic… – Continue reading
KUALA LUMPUR: The Inland Revenue Board (IRB) plans to increase its penalty to 100% for individuals and companies who evade paying their taxes or misreported tax. IRB chief executive officer Datuk Sabin Samitah said the new penalty scheme, an increase from the current 45% penalty imposed on unpaid tax, will… – Continue reading
A parliamentary commission will consider the introduction of a new legal obligation for tax advisers to disclose information about advice on tax mitigation to the Swedish Tax Agency, Skatteverket. Under the proposed rules, tax attorneys would be required to provide details of which clients have received advice on tax reduction… – Continue reading
Ghana and the Czech Republic have signed a Double Taxation Agreement. The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori Atta, and the Czech Ambassador to Ghana, Margita Fuschova, signed on behalf of both countries. This agreement was signed after the two countries concluded negotiations for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Custodians for foreign portfolio investors and tax consultants are in a deadlock with both parties refusing to take the onus of potential liabilities of their clients in the new tax regime. The custodians, mainly foreign banks, want a certificate from consultants such as the big four firms stating that… – Continue reading
South Korea’s tax agency has imposed more than 300 billion won ($262 million) in corporate taxes on the local unit of US tech giant Oracle Corp. for alleged tax evasion, sources familiar with the issue said Monday. The National Tax Service (NTS) took the action against Oracle Korea as it… – Continue reading
The Government of the Netherlands has said that it will take a step forward in its fight against tax evasion and money laundering by introducing a registry of ultimate beneficial owners of companies registered in the Netherlands. Draft legislation for the introduction of a registry of beneficial ownership was published… – Continue reading
HMRC has launched a new hotline for the public to report fraud and evasion, replacing the existing two separate tax evasion and customs hotlines with one, in a bid to streamline information gathering on tax fraud. Individuals can report all kinds of tax fraud and evasion on the new hotline,… – Continue reading
Credit Suisse Group AG (CS – Free Report) is facing money-laundering and tax-evasion investigations involving thousands of account holders. In addition to the homeland, the investigation covers the Netherlands, Britain, Germany, France and Australia. The probes were triggered after FIOD, the Dutch office for financial crimes prosecution, got a tip… – Continue reading
Financial institutions are working together to combat tax evasion, bribery and corruption through ISO certifications and the Common Reporting Standard. These are among the topics discussed in the spring 2017 issue of Deloitte’s quarterly publication, the Middle East Point of View (ME PoV). The spring 2017 issue tackles several hot… – Continue reading
Hyderabad: Shell companies are becoming a common phenomenon globally and even in India. These companies are posing several challenges to governments and regulators for various reasons had been probing their involvement in large scale money laundering and tax avoidance cases. A shell company is a non-trading organisation that does not… – Continue reading
Slovakia should tackle value-added tax and corporate tax evasion, the International Monetary Fund has said. In its annual report for the country, the Fund said that measures to target tax fraud and non-compliance have reduced the VAT gap – the amount lost compared with the theoretical maximum were the headline… – Continue reading
KARACHI: Tax authorities have sought banks’ assistance to curb tax evasion by flagging suspicious financial transactions, sources said on Friday. The source said the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) asked banks to share with the board details of foreign trade, detected under anti-money laundering laws. “The purpose for obtaining the… – Continue reading
The New Zealand Law Society says that following discussions with Inland Revenue and the New Zealand Bankers’ Association it has now reached an understanding with Inland Revenue about application of FATCA to lawyers’ trusts accounts. FATCA is the United States’ Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. Its objective is to reduce… – Continue reading
Money will be used to hire more auditors and develop computer systems to “target high-risk international tax” evasion. Tax auditors and fraud investigators have been given more than half a billion dollars to pursue tax cheats, and the government expects them to collect five times that much in additional taxes…. – Continue reading
The European Parliament’s Panama Papers investigative committee is preparing for a “fact-finding” visit with counterparts in the U.S. Congress, as well as officials from the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service. The European Union lawmakers’ four-day U.S. trip, which begins March 21, will include a visit to Delaware for meetings… – Continue reading
The 2017 Finance Bill was published on Monday 20 March, introducing dozens of initiatives with a focus on improving and modernising the tax system The Treasury said the bill, which is over 700 pages in length, “continues the government’s crackdown on tax avoidance” and “improves the fairness of the tax… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Stockmarkets cannot be allowed to be misused by manipulators for evasion of taxes and the BSE has put in place a strong surveillance mechanism to check any such misdeeds, the exchange’s CEO Ashish Chauhan has said. He also urged the government to have a fresh relook at the… – Continue reading
Property buyers will be quizzed about their tax residency under new anti-money-laundering rules being introduced by Westpac and its subsidiaries St George Bank, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA. Mortgage brokers, who act as intermediaries between the banks and buyers, are being told that from this week they must also ask… – Continue reading
The Caribbean Community is looking at spending nearly quarter of a million dollars on a Washington-based consultant to lobby the Trump administration about the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act. Cayman appears unlikely, however, to be affected by any lobbying – or even FATCA repeal – in the wake of last… – Continue reading
Value added tax is likely to be an irrecoverable cost, negatively affecting margins for the banking sector Dubai: The UAE and GCC banks that are facing increased regulatory burden from Basel III capital requirements and International Reporting Standards 9 (IFRS 9) are expected to face further pressure in terms of… – Continue reading
AMMAN — Addressing tax evasion efficiently has become of vital importance to the state budget and the overall economy in light of Jordan’s current economic conditions, experts agreed on Saturday. Participants in a panel, organised by the Jordan Transparency Society, agreed on the need for stricter inspections and more awareness… – Continue reading
PETALING JAYA, Mar 15 (Sin Chew Daily) — Local taxation expert Koong Lin Loong said the Internal Revenue Department’s target was not wealthy people but tax evaders. “Whether a person is evading tax is normally assessed with the ten-point criteria, and assets of unidentified origins will be their focus of… – Continue reading
Italian and Swiss tax authorities have signed an accord to improve the exchange of information to fight tax evasion, the Italian economy ministry said on Tuesday. The agreement took effect at the start of this month and aims to further enhance transparency following a previous accord which was introduced last… – Continue reading
The LuxLeaks and Panama Papers scandals aroused shock and outrage the world over. However, reaction from Central and Eastern European statesmen and citizens was decidedly more muted. A new report has suggested profit shifting and tax dodging by businesses in the region is endemic – perhaps accounting for the lack… – Continue reading
Former Prime Minister and Coordinator of Naya Shakti Party Nepal, Baburam Bhattarai, has said that the offshore deal to transfer 80 percent of the shares in Ncell was an attempt to evade taxes. “Attempts have been made to evade tax by not registering share transfer information at the Office of… – Continue reading
It’s unlikely that RCM will be there for agricultural produce such as fruit, vegetables or cereals In services and goods prone to tax evasion, there will be a mechanism under the proposed goods and services tax (GST) regime to make buyers or receivers liable to pay the tax, instead of… – Continue reading
The new scanners by Kenya Revenue Authority at entry points has helped curb a multi-million-shilling tax evasion racket. The crooks had used all ways to beat the authority’s system to import luxury cars declared as toys or bicycles; scrap batteries that turned out to be Kenyan tea for export and… – Continue reading
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday told the National Assembly that Pakistan will sign an agreement with Switzerland on exchange of information regarding bank accounts on March 21. “The Swiss government offered to sign such an agreement with Pakistan in the third quarter of the current month that will enable… – Continue reading
New Delhi, March 9 (IANS) India and Belgium have signed a Protocol to amend the double taxation avoidance agreement to curb tax evasion, an official statement said on Thursday. “India and Belgium have signed a protocol amending the existing agreement and protocol between the two countries for avoidance of double… – Continue reading
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is drafting a proposed legislation making tax evasion an economic sabotage, a heinous crime which is not bailable. This was disclosed on Wednesday (March 8) by BIR Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay as he gave an update about the on-going validation of Mighty cigarettes with… – Continue reading
More tax is lost to onshore evasion or non-compliance than to offshore evasion and avoidance, and HMRC is armed with a raft of tools to curb the practice. In the second of a two part series, Jason Collins, a member of the CIOT’s management of taxes sub-committee and partner at… – Continue reading
The Italian Revenue Agency is stepping up its fight against international tax evasion. The tax authority will focus on undeclared funds and income held abroad by Italian taxpayers who have become resident abroad since January 1, 2010. Controls will be based on selected lists, which will first target the most… – Continue reading
Each and every bank account is under our scanner to find out tax evasion, said CBDT chairman Sushil Chandra. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is examining several dubious companies and they would be removed from the website of Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) if found to be shell… – Continue reading
South Korea’s tax authorities have been investigating the local importer of Toyota and luxury Lexus vehicles over suspected tax evasions since late 2016, industry sources said Friday. In November, the Seoul office of the National Tax Service (NTS) launched a tax audit into Toyota Korea over suspicions that it paid… – Continue reading
Accounting firm’s contracts with federal government questioned. A former client of the accounting giant KPMG says a tax dodge that involved wealthy people gifting their money to an offshore jurisdiction was a “facade” designed to hide money from the taxman. The client, who spoke to CBC’s the fifth estate and… – Continue reading
The Government recently issued a resolution to ratify an agreement and a protocol on avoiding double taxation and preventing income tax evasion between Vietnam and the United States of America. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was asked to complete necessary procedures in accordance with law. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance… – Continue reading
The European Parliament’s Monetary Affairs and Civil Liberties committees’ overwhelming support for access by EU citizens to information concerning the beneficial owners of companies without having to demonstrate a ‘legitimate interest’ and trusts would have to meet the same requirements. MEPs agreed the on their position on EU Anti-Money Laundering… – Continue reading
The importance of taxation to a nation’s economic wealth and development cannot be overemphasised. However, the achievement of this goal is often undermined by tax evasion and deliberate attempts by multinationals to shift profits from one jurisdiction to another, amongst others. Over the years, Nigeria has attempted to use taxation… – Continue reading
