Ahead of India’s rolling out of anti-tax avoidance regulations, Cyprus has shown eagerness to amend the bilateral tax treaty allowing New Delhi to tax capital gains. In turn, has pitched to be taken off the blacklist or being considered a “notified jurisdiction” for not sharing tax information, which implies increased… – Continue reading
The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday approved an anti-tax evasion bill, which, if passed into law, would subject all companies registered overseas to the 17 percent corporate income tax. While supportive of the legislation, the committee voted 7-5 in favor of allowing the Cabinet to set the implementation date to avoid… – Continue reading
Most American policymakers believe the U.S. corporate tax system needs reforming – and the facts back up their view The United States’ 39 percent combined statutory corporate tax rate is the highest among the largest 50 economies. The American tax and accounting system has trapped over $2 trillion of deferred… – Continue reading
Recent news of India and Mauritius signing a Protocol to amend their 33 year old tax treaty caused seismic changes in the tax world. Though not completely unanticipated, the change is significant for foreign investors to go back to the drawing board and reassess their structures. The tax treaty between… – Continue reading
It was quite a revelation when leaked documents, made public in April, showed that Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm, had helped 14,000 clients worldwide create offshore accounts to conceal assets or dodge taxes. On Monday, a report by The Times found that there were at least 2,400 clients based… – Continue reading
HMRC believe that that they have turned a corner in catching companies trying to avoid paying corporation tax after subjecting large businesses “to an exceptional level of scrutiny”. Data released following a Freedom of Information Act request by UHY Hacker Young showed 15 per cent decrease in the number of… – Continue reading
The FBR has proposed powers through Finance Bill 2016-17 for entering into treaty with bilateral or multilateral forums for exchange of information to ensure prevention of tax evasions in the aftermath of Panama Leaks disclosure that many Pakistani influential owned offshore companies abroad. In totality, the FBR took tax measures… – Continue reading
A CLAMPDOWN on tax planning, a transformation of its services for taxpayers and delivering a professional, efficient and engaged organisation are the three key objectives for HMRC in its updated single departmental plan. The government department has outlined its main visions and objectives for the period between 2015 and 2020,… – Continue reading
Asia Pacific The January – March edition of tax highlights for the Asia Pacific region highlights industry developments from Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore including: Australia’s new tax system for Managed Investment Trusts The final stage of China’s B2V reform to be rolled out from… – Continue reading
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) recognizes the efforts of an increasing number of tax authorities to revise their tax policies in response to the international guidelines outlined in the G20 mandated Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Base Erosion Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. ICC urges national governments to… – Continue reading
The EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) has been unable to reach agreement on the European Commission’s proposed anti tax avoidance directive. The issue has therefore been postponed until the next ECOFIN meeting in June. The European Commission announced its proposed anti-tax avoidance directive (ATAD) in January. The proposed… – Continue reading
The recent EMEA Conference of Alliott Group, one of the world’s most established international associations of independent accounting and law firms, brought together tax professionals from 28 countries across the world to discuss Base Erosion & Profit Shifting (BEPS), a project led by the OECD and G20 whose Action Plan… – Continue reading
PANAMA, widely recognised as one of the world’s tax havens, declined a request by the South African government to enter into a bilateral arrangement for the exchange of information. However, the refusal was made before the huge leak of information about the offshore holdings of wealthy individuals and entities disclosed… – Continue reading
The European Council has adopted a directive on the reporting by multinational companies of tax-related information and exchange of that information between member states, which transposes the OECD’s recommendation on country-by-country reporting (CBCR) into EU law Companies with a total consolidated group revenue of at least €750m (£570m) will be… – Continue reading
The Delhi HC has delivered path-breaking and bold verdicts, quashing proceedings initiated by CBDT and CBEC administrative guidance for assessments and subsequent denial of benefits. A question tax professionals are often asked is: Has the government done enough to address the situation on tax? Several negative catchphrases had peppered headlines… – Continue reading
The Panama Papers have recently drawn a great deal of investigation and public attention. Over 230,000 organizations and individuals were named as having set up offshore companies in tax haven like the British Virgin Islands, Panama, the Cayman Islands or the Bahamas. The public’s initial reaction was suspicion and anger toward… – Continue reading
May 18 — Russia agreed to automatically share financial account information but passed up an opportunity the same day on a similar agreement to exchange company country-by-country reports. Russia signed the OECD’s common reporting standard (CRS) multilateral competent authority agreement May 12 at a meeting of tax administration heads in… – Continue reading
The European Union, locked in a tax battle with the likes of Apple Inc. and McDonald’s Corp., laid down the law in its bid to rein in governments that woo multinationals with special fiscal deals allowing them to reduce their fiscal liability by booking profits abroad. The European Commission, which… – Continue reading
China is joining an international effort to tackle tax evasion, with plans to require multinationals to disclose more detailed information on their overseas affiliates, according to taxation consultants who advised the government on the new rules. The proposed regulations would make it more difficult for large companies to avoid taxes… – Continue reading
Revenue Minister Michael Woodhouse says the recent signing of the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the Exchange of Country-by-Country Reports will help ensure large multinationals pay their fair share of tax by providing for increased sharing of information between revenue authorities. “Some large multinationals often have intricate financial arrangements in… – Continue reading
The closure of a tax loophole could hit UAE firms planning to invest in India through Mauritius. The Indian government this week amended a long-standing treaty that helped foreign investors to avoid capital gains tax by routing their investments through Mauritius. Mauritius is the biggest source of foreign direct investment… – Continue reading
East African Community member states have failed to reach a deal on a common tax rate as the bloc’s smaller economies worry about significant revenue losses. The failure to harmonise value added tax, income tax and excise tax rates has left the regional bloc deliberating on how to harmonise legislation… – Continue reading
Transfer Pricing in China 2016, the latest publication from China Briefing and Dezan Shira & Associates, is out now and available for purchase through the Asia Briefing Bookstore. Transfer pricing is a reality for any multinational company. As a result of a globalized economy and increasing complexity in business models,… – Continue reading
National Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier announced today that the Government of Canada has taken another step to stop the unfair practice of aggressive tax planning by signing an international agreement to implement stronger international reporting obligations for large multinational enterprises (MNEs). Thirty-one other jurisdictions have also signed the agreement. The… – Continue reading
New Delhi, May 11 (IANS) Following the revision of India’s bilateral tax treaty with Mauritius, the government on Wednesday said the General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR ) provisions, with effect from April next year, will override the Double TaxationAvoidance Agreement (DTAA) in case of abuse. “GAAR being anti-abuse provision can prevail… – Continue reading
NEW YORK — U.S. multinational companies are saving $100 billion a year by shifting their profits overseas to lower their tax bills, according to a study released Tuesday that found that corporate tax-dodging is a bigger problem than previously estimated. Most U.S. companies pay far less than the country’s 35… – Continue reading
Authorities answer OECD call to clamp down on corporate grey area of internal transfer pricing with proposal for tougher reporting standards China is mulling plans to tighten tax reporting requirements on multinationals operating in the country to help close a ¬massive global loophole. If the plan goes ahead, multinationals would… – Continue reading
Bank of Ireland has lost a £27m (€34.2m) tax avoidance case in the UK after an attempt to exploit a loophole that did not exist. HM Revenue and Customs challenged the attempt to avoid corporation tax by Bank of Ireland through a subsidiary, the former building society Bristol and West,… – Continue reading
The National Assembly of South Korea is postponing the ratification of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) for the automatic exchange of South Korean and U.S. taxpayers’ financial information. Under the circumstances, South Korean financial companies are about to be forced to pay more than 600 billion won (US$521… – Continue reading
Banks say tax rules cracking down on property speculation force them to screen for money-laundering at their own cost. Banks are refusing to open accounts for foreigners if they think the costs outweigh the benefits. New property and tax laws launched late last year made “offshore persons” buying or selling… – Continue reading
In August 2015, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published the first edition of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) Implementation Handbook to provide practical guidance to assist government officials in implementing the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters (AEOI). The AEOI and CRS… – Continue reading
The Irish Revenue has issued a brief explaining how the implementation of a most favored nation clause in Ireland’s tax treaty with Estonia will affect the tax treatment of royalties. Ireland’s Double Tax Convention (DTC) with Estonia became effective in 1999. It contains a provision whereby the tax treatment of… – Continue reading
US disregarded entities owned by foreign persons would be treated as domestic corporations under regulations proposed by the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Friday (REG-127199-15). The new rules would apply for purposes of the reporting, record maintenance, and other compliance requirements that apply to 25% foreign-owned domestic corporations under… – Continue reading
With regard to the increasing talk in the US Congress on tax reform, American Citizens Abroad (ACA) has provided the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee with a full reform proposal for the enactment of residence-based taxation (RBT) for American expatriates. ACA has said lawmakers should enact RBT instead… – Continue reading
TOKYO — Do the rich and powerful really dodge taxes? They do. The “Panama Papers” – 11.5 million or so documents leaked from a Panama law firm specializing in tax shelters of various kinds and degrees of ingenuity – are shocking, however, not only to the naively innocent but to seasoned… – Continue reading
The US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio has dismissed a case brought by Senator Rand Paul (R – Kentucky) and a group of individuals, who attempted to make several challenges to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts… – Continue reading
Australia announced a further crackdown on multinational tax avoidance in its annual budget on Tuesday, including the planned introduction of a UK-style diverted profits tax (DPT), that it expects to raise A$3.9 billion over the next four years. The government is creating a new Tax Avoidance Taskforce of 1,000 specialist… – Continue reading
Panama Papers’ disclosures now and earlier dealings of Vodafone through Cayman Islands are stories of famous tax havens, which evoke discussions of how tax evasion takes place. These are all direct taxes, mainly corporate tax, and not indirect tax. These are cases of tax planning that come to the fore… – Continue reading
Minutes after midnight on Saturday, Chen Sheng, a businessman from the southern city of Wenzhou, got a value-added tax (VAT) invoice after paying his bill at a hotel in Beijing. To his surprise, the invoice was the very first issued in China after the country replaced all business tax with… – Continue reading
The Internet and Mobile Association of India’s (IAMAI’s) pushback against the equalization levy on e-commerce transactions introduced in the union budget shows up the difficulty revenue authorities will have when they try to protect their tax base. The last word on this subject hasn’t been said and the original budget… – Continue reading
THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) recently issued Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 32-2016 setting the amendments in the provisions of the Philippines-New Zealand tax treaty, which was originally entered into on Oct. 2, 2008. The Protocol includes the following changes: 1. The rate for dividends was changed to a… – Continue reading
COMPANIES profiting from schools and hospitals built under private finance initiatives in Scotland are based in tax havens such as Jersey and Guernsey. An analysis carried out by the Sunday Herald has revealed numerous examples of PFI projects in Scotland which have owners based offshore. The owners include an offshoot… – Continue reading
Australia is following the path of the United Kingdom and is planning to create a public register that will unmask the shell company owners who take advantage of tax avoidance by the international companies. The Guardian reported that the Canberra government has expressed on making a public commitment to put… – Continue reading
A world away from Panama, the sleepy eastern Hungarian village of Komlóska has become a kind of tax haven – to survive. The village of 300 inhabitants is in one of Hungary’s poorest regions with high unemployment and a shrinking population. But in 1990 the mayor, László Köteles, decided to… – Continue reading
In amove towards a more progressive taxation policy the revenue officials have set an aggressive target of resolving about 100 transfer pricing issues by signing advance pricing agreements (APAs) with multinationals this fiscal, people close to the development said. The government, through the Central Bureau of Direct Taxes (CBDT), had… – Continue reading
As promised earlier this year, the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) has published Guidance Notes for the implementation of the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (CRS). The CRS, the new global standard for automatic exchange of information for tax purposes, obliges all participating countries and jurisdictions to obtain financial information from their… – Continue reading
Service tax litigations have risen substantially in recent years and that may be because of the absence of a pan-India Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime that can potentially remove several ambiguities around indirect taxation, experts maintain. A total of 75,314 litigations were pending with the Department of Revenue, the… – Continue reading
The Revenue has published its consultation on proposing to make companies criminally liable for failing to prevent their staff facilitating tax evasion The offence was first proposed in the 2015 Budget and was expected to come into effect in 2020. The Panama papers leak and subsequent scandal has put significant… – Continue reading
Gibraltar, a tiny British territory at Europe’s southern tip, is famous for its geography — a huge limestone rock — that appears on the Prudential logo. It’s a global center for offshore banking, with the trappings of wealth to prove it: Luxury high-rises tower over super yachts in Gibraltar’s marina. The… – Continue reading
The U.S. Treasury Department is finalising new tax rules aimed at combating the use of shell companies to evade taxes, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said on Saturday amid increased pledges by global finance leaders to cooperate on tax issues. In a statement to the International Monetary Fund’s steering committee,… – Continue reading
