European officials have been urged by the British government to remove Bermuda – a tax haven used by Google – from an official blacklist, according to reports. The behind-the-scenes lobbying by UK Treasury ministers involved a memo circulated among Tory MEPs in Brussels describing the sanctions against tax havens as… – Continue reading
Those who have been hiding their income or wealth overseas had better think again, as Korea will soon be exchanging financial information with multiple countries, including tax havens. They are advised to voluntarily report it to the government before the end of March to be given a grace period, said… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS (Alliance News) – The EU stepped up the fight against corporate tax avoidance Thursday, unveiling proposals including an EU-wide blacklist of international tax havens, as part of a wider clampdown on firms using loopholes to reduce their tax bills. The EU’s executive estimates that member states are deprived of… – Continue reading
Moving money out of the usual offshore secrecy havens and into the U.S. is a brisk new business. Last September, at a law firm overlooking San Francisco Bay, Andrew Penney, a managing director at Rothschild & Co., gave a talk on how the world’s wealthy elite can avoid paying taxes…. – Continue reading
Despite EU intentions to crack down on tax avoidance, the European Commission’s Anti-Tax Avoidance Package does not do what it says on the tin, warns Oxfam, and developing countries will feel the EU’s failure most. The package comes a week after the international NGO revealed that just 62 people own… – Continue reading
Transfer pricing is the general term for the pricing of cross-border and domestic, intra-group transactions between connected parties. It refers to the setting of prices for transactions between connected persons involving the transfer of property or services. Companies can be connected in various ways, for example, two wholly owned subsidiaries… – Continue reading
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been defending his decision to build a new data centre in Ireland against claims the move is a tax dodge. The social media mogul announced the start of construction of the €200m facility at Clonee on the Meath-Dublin border on his own Facebook page, quickly… – Continue reading
Yesterday was quite a day for corporate tax geeks. We saw a corporate tax inversion that comes with a long, Baroque history; an estimate by Reed College economist Kim Clausing that inversions and other income-shifting techniques reduced Treasury revenues by as much as $111 billion in 2012; and a new… – Continue reading
The UAE is one of the few places in the world where expats can live, earn and keep those well-earned dirhams, as income tax is still not in sight. This benefit has earned the country many rankings as one of the best immigration destinations in the world. Apart from good… – Continue reading
On 5th October 2015, the OECD released its final reports setting out the action plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project, thus concluding the two year project which started at the behest of G20 countries in 2013. The reports are aimed at suggesting the measures to reform the… – Continue reading
Anguilla levies a 3% flat rate of personal income tax and is otherwise a tax haven with a stunning climate and amazing Carribean lifestyle Whilst there are various categories of flat tax, including marginal flat tax and Hall-Rabushka flat tax, in its simplest form flat tax is simply a rate… – Continue reading
Whilst there are various categories of flat tax, including marginal flat tax and Hall-Rabushka flat tax, in its simplest form flat tax is simply a rate of tax that remains consistent with a constant marginal rate. What this means is, as an income tax payer in a country with such… – Continue reading
DAVOS, Switzerland—Google said Friday that it has struck a deal with U.K. authorities that will settle a tax dispute and boost its corporate taxes in Britain, part of a broader effort by European governments to wring more out of big firms in the tech sector. As part of the settlement,… – Continue reading
Coinciding with the World Economic Forum in Davos this week Oxfam has issued a report – entitled An Economy for the 1% – outlining how wealth inequality has grown to the stage where 62 of the world’s richest people own as much as the poorest half of the world’s people… – Continue reading
After designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana spent almost eight years battling in Italian courts to protect their brand and their honesty — Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana was officially cleared of all tax evasion charges this week. “Finally,” Dolce’s lawyer, Massimo Dinoia, told WWD about the end of… – Continue reading
While most computer users are likely familiar with Adobe products, they are probably not aware of the company’s tax-dodging practices. The maker of the ubiquitous PDF reader and Flash software earlier this week released its annual report, which revealed the company is rapidly diverting profits offshore. Its stash of “permanently… – Continue reading
A group of businesses in the Welsh town of Crickhowell have gone offshore as part of a campaign to try and get HMRC to change tax laws. The Welsh town of Crickhowell is spearheading a unique campaign to get HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to change the laws so companies… – Continue reading
It’s a whopping four and a half thousand miles away from the UK but the Cayman Islands is a slice of British-overseas paradise. Watched over by a Governor appointed from Whitehall, the Caymans are technically British. But there’s a huge difference between that island and the UK: no-one seems to… – Continue reading
Tax dodging by the super-rich is one of the main drivers of global income inequality and must be sharply curtailed, according to a new report from the global nonprofit Oxfam. Citing research by Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman — a protégé of Thomas Piketty, author of the global bestseller on inequality,… – Continue reading
Ireland’s insistence that it is not a tax haven and that in fact other EU countries have tax regimes that facilitate tax dodging by multinationals will be borne out by a study to be released next week. But while this will be good news to Finance Minister Michael Noonan a… – Continue reading
India’s biggest source of FDI is India itself, money departing on a short holiday to a tax haven and then routed back as FDI. Will the government muster up the political will to clamp down on the tax-allergic business elite? This could be a bumper year for the ever-lucrative tax… – Continue reading
Apple Inc. is pushing back against an European tax investigation that could force the iPhone maker to pay more than $8 billion in back taxes. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook met with the European Commission’s antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager in Brussels on Thursday to press the company’s case. After the… – Continue reading
The IRS believes it is owed millions of dollars from golf clubs taking tax deductions for environmental protections that are not appropriate. The Internal Revenue Service may never be able to get all of the tax dollars it expects from wealthy investors or corporations due to tax loopholes or offshore… – Continue reading
Ireland’s emergence from economic meltdown provides a model for other nations, the Taoiseach has told the World Economic Forum. Enda Kenny also defended his country’s tax arrangements with multinational companies, telling the audience past claims that it was a tax haven for big businesses were without foundation. Mr Kenny took… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: In what could lead to an increase in domestic tax liabilities of many Indian conglomerates and multinationals, the government is set to introduce a framework for Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), a global agreement to check tax avoidance by multinationals, in the upcoming Budget. Industry sources expect the… – Continue reading
The proceeds from illegal tax breaks brokered between an EU state and a multinational company, known as clawbacks, should be returned either to the EU budget or to the coffer of other states unfairly deprived of the money, according to MEPs. The idea was endorsed by the European parliament in… – Continue reading
There will be no end to the inequality crisis until world leaders end the era of tax havens, once and for all, according to a report from charity Oxfam. In its report, “An Economy for the 1%”, published ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Oxfam has challenged world… – Continue reading
The only thing worse than paying taxes is the idea that other people avoid paying their fair share of them. On the subject of tax avoidance by other people, I can think of at least three principal feelings. As the kids say, I feel all the feelings. Outright tax fraud… – Continue reading
The beneficiaries included Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, BP Plc, BASF SE, Proximus SA, Atlas Copco AB, Wabco Holdings, and Celio France SAS. proximus SE This estimate does not include any benefits associated with a successful appeal of the decision, nor does it reflect guidance we expect to receive from the Belgian… – Continue reading
LAHORE: Nearly 40% of Pakistan’s companies that provided IT services have moved their business to the United Arab Emirates, largely due to the 8% additional tax on revenues levied by the government in 2015-16, said Sajjad Syed, chief executive officer of Excellence Delivered (ExD) Private Limited . ExD outsources non-core… – Continue reading
European Commission is due to rule on Apple’s tax affairs in March But recent rulings suggest that report is likely to go against tech giant Probe investigating if firm negotiated low tax rate with Irish authorities If taxes are recalculated at higher rate, Apple could end up owing $8bn Apple… – Continue reading
I know Switzerland is renowned as a tax haven but this is surely a step too far? To be fair, they are not actually cutting tax levels. They are just discouraging early payment of taxes. Why would anyone pay the tax authorities early if they didn’t have to? The canton… – Continue reading
Only one major amendment lodged by the government so far INFORMATION ON WHO OWNS SCOTLAND will be publicly available – but new Scottish Government proposals will still fall short of calls for action on land owned in tax havens. The Land Reform Bill, which has faced criticism from MSPs and… – Continue reading
In June of 2015, Connecticut passed legislation that implements combined reporting for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2016. Part of the new regime, which is codified by Conn. Gen. Stat. P.A. 15-5, § 144 (2015), requires water’s-edge combined groups to include entities incorporated in tax havens in… – Continue reading
‘We’re not a tax haven, we have never been involved in any kind of tax malpractice’ – Michael Noonan, Irish Minister for Finance 5th October 2015 If your top political figures need to constantly state that your country is not a tax haven, then the chances are it probably is… – Continue reading
