A FORMER financial services minister yesterday said global regulatory initiatives appear designed to force the Bahamas to adopt a corporate/personal income tax alien to its culture. Ryan Pinder, who held this position in the Christie Cabinet from 2012 to late 2014, told Tribune Business that the likes of the European… – Continue reading
A new study shows that France taxes its population the second-most among developed countries. Which country claimed the first place spot? Denmark. As research from the OECD economic think tank attests, the combination of France’s income and property taxes, social security payments, and goods and services makes up 45.3% of… – Continue reading
Multinationals have been getting away with not paying their fair share to the U.S. for too long, says this business founder With Washington pushing full-tilt on tax reform, it’s time to tackle the unfair tax advantage enjoyed by multinational enterprises. Addressing this longstanding problem could provide a unique opportunity to… – Continue reading
Plan proposes 12.5% tax rate on intellectual-property income Bills ‘upend decades of U.S. tax policy’ on tight deadline U.S. companies that make billions of dollars from patents and other intellectual property held offshore would be eligible for a special 12.5 percent tax rate on those earnings under the Senate tax… – Continue reading
The Senate Finance Committee released its tax reform plan on November 9, presenting a draft bill with marked differences to that agreed by the House Ways and Means Committee on the same day. The proposal was drafted by Finance Committee Republicans under the leadership of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin… – Continue reading
The European Union Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) has been talked about recently as a solution to the problem of an imperfect pan-EU corporate tax system, which allows large companies, particularly those with a digital presence, to detach profits from value-creation, and pay tax in low-tax jurisdictions. But what… – Continue reading
On October 2 the US Government released the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, setting out in legislation its plans for comprehensive reform of the US tax code. For businesses, the bill will bring about a landmark shift to a territorial corporate tax system, replacing the current worldwide tax basis regime… – Continue reading
The Deputy Prime Minister yesterday revealed the Bahamas “may have to look at” implementing a low-rate corporate income tax, as global regulatory pressures force “hard decisions” upon it. K P Turnquest, while emphasising that such a move was a long way off, agreed that compliance with the OECD’s Base Erosion… – Continue reading
TOKYO – Japan is cracking down on online retailers who skip taxes by not having an office in the country. The government of Japan recently announced that it is looking to amend current legislation to update the definition of a permanent establishment of a business, in an effort to bring… – Continue reading
Introduction The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an economic organisation made up of 35 member countries, with the aim of encouraging economic progress and world trade. In 2015, the OECD developed the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project, made up of reports on 15 action plans,… – Continue reading
The Canadian Government is pressing ahead with plans to cut the small business tax rate. The Government has tabled a Notice of Ways and Means Motion in the House of Commons that proposes phased reductions in the small business tax rate. Under the changes, the rate will fall from 10.5… – Continue reading
Cutting Australia’s company tax rate is “now an urgent matter,” according to Treasurer Scott Morrison. In a speech to CEDA, Morrison said that with the UK, France, and the US each seeking to lower their corporate tax rate, Australian businesses risk “becoming stranded on an uncompetitive tax island if we… – Continue reading
In a dramatic turn of events in the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Vodafone Ghana tax dispute before court, the Acting Commissioner-General of the GRA has refused to grant a waiver of the payment of 30 per cent of the value of tax in contention. In a letter to Vodafone… – Continue reading
The European Parliament’s PANA Committee has approved draft recommendations calling for increased scrutiny and regulation of emerging technologies, including virtual currencies and FinTech. The committee also approved a report delving into the findings of an 18-month probe into breaches of EU law in relation to money laundering, tax avoidance and… – Continue reading
Paul Chan Mo-po says the city must protect against unforeseen market changes at a tax forum that also featured a warning about the city’s international tax compliance There are no plans to cut Hong Kong’s corporate taxes across the board because the government needs to reserve funds to protect the… – Continue reading
LONDON — Brazil has provided investors with some of the best returns in the world this year but investment funds based in Ireland have been forced to adopt new strategies to get their money’s worth. Brazil blacklisted Ireland as a tax haven in September 2016 because of its low corporate… – Continue reading
ZURICH (Reuters) – Switzerland said on Wednesday it would start sharing information on the activities of multinationals in its territory with other countries in 2020, joining an international push to fight tax evasion. The new measures will force about 200 large companies in the low-tax haven to prepare country-by-country reports… – Continue reading
Republic has implemented all four agreed standards under OECD’s tax/profit project An international body overseeing global tax practices has said that Singapore’s tax incentives meet the international standards on countering corporate tax avoidance. The Forum on Harmful Tax Practices (FHTP) said in a report yesterday that it had reviewed 164… – Continue reading
An estimated $3.5 billion in revenue from large corporates and multinationals is at risk to the economy, but through audit activity this will reduce to $2.5 billion, according to the Australian Taxation Office. On Wednesday the agency is releasing the first tranche of its long-awaited highly anticipated “tax gap” figures,… – Continue reading
Maltese MEP and former Prime Minister Alfred Sant said that small EU countries and islands use tax competition tools in order to compensate for major competitive disadvantages due to their limited endowments and distance from major markets. Along with Malta, even Ireland and Cyprus have notably expressed their great concerns… – Continue reading
Cyprus should consider reinstating the immovably property tax to boost revenues, the International Monetary Fund has said. Taxpayers in Cyprus previously had to pay an annual tax linked to the total value of all immovable property owned. The tax was substantially reduced in 2016 and withdrawn completely this year. The… – Continue reading
The cash would be enough to fund the entire health service for a year Ireland faces legal action for failing to recover €13billion euros in tax from US tech giant Apple after European competition authorities blasted the country over a sweetheart deal. The European Commission said Ireland had not recouped… – Continue reading
EU nations led by France and Italy reinforced the need for an “equalization tax” or turnover tax on large internet companies such as Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., and suggested they would use special legislative procedures to impose one in the event all 28 EU-member countries don’t back the levy…. – Continue reading
GOP Leadership’s Proposal for a “Territorial Tax System” Would Encourage Corporations to Send Jobs Offshore and Avoid Paying Taxes. WASHINGTON – Today, 100 organizations sent a letter urging members of Congress to reject a proposal that would allow U.S. multinational corporations to pay little to nothing on their offshore profits…. – Continue reading
President Trump on Wednesday this week announced a sketchy Republican tax reform plan that covered just 9 pages and he proposed that the headline federal corporate rate should be cut from 35% to 20%. However, there is a risk to Ireland’s low 12.5% corporate tax advantage. The average rate of… – Continue reading
C&AG report reveals significant variations in average tax rate paid by top 100 companies Some 13 of Ireland’s top 100 companies pay an effective rate of tax of just 1 per cent, the latest Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) report has found. The low rate, which is significantly below the… – Continue reading
American CEOs stress urgent need for a tax code overhaul Major U.S. companies are advocating for changes in the tax system that they say will boost investment, jobs, and economic growth. Business leaders are urging Congress to pass a bill by the end of this year. Chief executives of large… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union’s plans to increase taxes on digital firms risks undermining the bloc’s growth and stifle global efforts to find common solutions, U.S. companies operating in the EU said on Tuesday. Critics say online firms such as Google (GOOGL.O) or Facebook (FB.O) pay too little tax… – Continue reading
Markus J Beyrer, Director General of Business Europe, has expressed concerns about the proposed introduction of a European Union turnover tax on digital businesses. On September 21, the European Commission launched a new agenda to ensure that the digital economy is taxed “in a fair and growth-friendly way.” This could… – Continue reading
In a sharp censure to those who charge that the present government has slapped the citizenry with the highest possible taxes while taking away the concessions, the country’s State Minister of Finance said Sri Lanka is a tax haven in comparison to most other economies in the region and beyond… – Continue reading
On 19 September 2017, the Dutch government released the State’s Budget for the year 2018. The Budget includes a draft bill to expand the dividend withholding tax exemption to tax treaty countries, to introduce a withholding tax obligation for holding cooperatives and to limit the taxation of non-resident investors. If… – Continue reading
Tax inversions by US multinationals attempting to shift profits into lower tax jurisdictions could cost the US up to $12bn (£7.4bn) in lost corporate tax revenues by 2027, according to figures released by the US Congressional Budget Office There were 11 major corporate inversions from 2014-2015, although two significant inversions… – Continue reading
BHP is willing to head to court to fight the Australian Taxation Office on a more than $1 billion tax bill over its Singapore marketing hub. The world’s largest miner has continually defended its Singapore marketing hub, where it is accused of routing profits, and says it is confident of… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission said the EU should proceed with an overhaul of taxes on digital firms even if the rest of the rich world did not follow suit, a draft report said. The document is part of an EU push to tap more revenues from online multinationals… – Continue reading
Japanese multinational companies worry that filing their first country-by-country reports in 2018 will lead to a barrage of transfer pricing audits by developing countries. Companies are currently preparing their first country-by-country reports that must be filed with the National Tax Agency by the end of March 2018. Japan adopted country-by-country… – Continue reading
The OECD has taken issue with the Estonian Government’s plans to reduce the rate of tax on distributed dividends for established companies, warning that the measure could complicate the tax system and discriminate against small firms. Under recently enacted legislation, tax on distributed dividends will be reduced from 20 percent… – Continue reading
Ireland’s Minister for Finance (the “Minister”) welcomed the results of the independent review of Ireland’s corporation tax regime (the “Review”) issued on 12 September 2017: “I welcome the emphasis given in the Review to the importance of certainty, which is core to our corporate tax offering. Our 12.5% corporation tax… – Continue reading
Letters calling for the elimination of FATCA, among other tax issues, will be presented to the White House in about two weeks’ time. A global political organisation with affiliation to the Republican Party has recently launched a petition and letter writing campaign in protest of “citizenship-based” taxation – partly in… – Continue reading
The proposals plan to tax giant digital companies on turnover rather than profits EU finance ministers have agreed to step up technical work on harmonising the taxation of the giant digital companies with a view to debating “possible solutions” at their December meeting. The ministerial consensus was a significant setback… – Continue reading
With corporate tax reform still very much on the table, advocacy group Alliance for Competitive Taxation (ACT) has weighed in with a reform plan that it deems internationally competitive and pro-growth, and capable of driving transformational change in the U.S. economy. ACT doesn’t define its member businesses but says it… – Continue reading
Greece is defying the prevalent trend among the world’s industrialized nations for reducing tax rates in order to boost investment and competitiveness, a report published on Wednesday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has shown. According to the report, in contrast to the majority of… – Continue reading
CBDT chairman Sushil Chandra says income tax dept will soon conclude probe into financial dealings of about 100,000 individuals suspected of tax evasion New Delhi: The income tax department will conclude its investigations into the financial dealings of about 100,000 individuals suspected of tax evasion and persuade many other assessees… – Continue reading
Multinational corporations with profits held overseas would face a mandatory one-time tax as part of the planned Republican tax legislation, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday. “There will be a ‘deemed tax’ as a one-time charge,” Mnuchin said in an interview with Fox News at the Treasury. U.S. companies have… – Continue reading
The four biggest economies in the Eurozone – Germany, France, Italy, and Spain — demand an end to the erosion of their tax base by means of incorporation in states that facilitate tax avoidance. According to the Financial Times, Bruno Le Maire, Wolfgang Schaeuble, Pier-Carlo Padoan, and Luis de Guindos,… – Continue reading
Operations in the European Union haven’t been easy going for tech companies for quite a long time. While many European countries earlier called for strict privacy regulations and large fines on tech companies for violating them, they have now called for increased taxation for these companies for their operations in… – Continue reading
The EU 28 financial ministers are set to discuss taxation of multinational digital platforms in Tallin on September 15-16, Reuters reports. Companies such as Amazon and Google have designed tax plans that reduce their tax liability in countries they operate. The proposal put forward by the Estonian Presidency proposes to… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS — European Union finance ministers are set to discuss rule changes next week aimed at increasing taxes on digital multinationals such as Google and Amazon, an EU document seen by Reuters said. Online giants are facing increasing pressure in Europe over the low tax they pay, but states have… – Continue reading
Argentina is reportedly considering shifting the burden of tax towards consumption, to bring the country’s corporate tax rate down to a competitive level. Specific measures are expected to be tabled before lawmakers soon. It is anticipated that there could be a 10 percent cut to the corporate income tax rate,… – Continue reading
President Donald J. Trump is working to reform the tax system so that Americans are treated fairly and can keep more of their hard-earned money, and companies can bring jobs back to the United States. According to a news release from the administration, Trump will jumpstart America’s economic engine by… – Continue reading
The government said Wednesday that it will toughen its stance against tax evasion by multinational firms by adopting a global agreement in the country’s legal system within the year. In the mid-to-long term tax policy plan announced Wednesday, the finance ministry said that it would submit bills to enact “OECD… – Continue reading
