Chile is considering a 19 percent tax on multinational eCommerce companies like Amazon, Netflix and Uber. Finance Minister Felipe Larrain made the announcement on Thursday (Jan. 10), and if it comes to fruition, the rate would be almost double what was originally proposed, Reuters reported. The Chilean Chamber of Commerce,… – Continue reading
FIRST proposed by the European Commission (EU) in 2016, a set of new tax rules aimed at eliminating most common corporate tax avoidance practices came into force on 1 January 2019. The commission posted on its website on 30 December 2018 that the new tax rules known as Atad (anti-tax… – Continue reading
The Internal Revenue Service is giving foreign-based banks with U.S. operations some leeway when calculating a major new international tax aimed at preventing global companies from shifting profits abroad. Multinationals often transfer payments, such as interest or royalties, to their affiliates in low-tax jurisdictions to maximize deductions and minimize tax… – Continue reading
CANBERRA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) — The amount of tax paid by Australia’s biggest companies has risen 20 percent in a single year, data has revealed. According to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) ‘s corporate tax data for financial year 2016-17, which was released on Thursday, the nation’s 1,470 biggest companies… – Continue reading
One month after the Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR) ruled that back office support services qualify as “intermediary” support services and not exports, officers of the indirect tax department have started issuing preliminary notices to captive units of multinationals and Indian companies exporting offshore support services. AAR’s directive meant several… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Are India-based back offices of multinationals merely brokers? And, are Indian companies providing services to foreign firms just commission agents? Going by the tax department’s definition, it appears that they are so — and not exporters. Several back offices at multinationals now face 18% Goods and Services Tax (GST)… – Continue reading
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has revealed six tricks that multinational firms use to dodge paying tax. One of the schemes involves the firms exporting very cheaply and importing good very expensively. The authority reports that most firms also under-declare they pay to expatriates a move that reduces their profits and… – Continue reading
Many U.S. multinational corporations have packed up or are choosing to open subsidiaries in low-tax, rather than no-tax, countries that are seen as more legitimate than the formerly popular island destinations of the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas. They’re fleeing in response to regulations from the European Union that require… – Continue reading
US multinational corporations are plundering the populations of the United States and the world to the tune of trillions of dollars by driving down and evading taxes on profits booked overseas. This is the conclusion that emerges from a recent study by University of California at Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman… – Continue reading
Caerphilly-based credit referencing company Creditsafe has paid Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs almost £1 million after it was served with a ‘Diverted Profits Tax’ charge. Registered as Creditsafe Business Solutions, the company, based at Caerphilly Business Park, sells business data for credit check purposes and other uses. According to full… – Continue reading
Internal Revenue Commission is now in partnership with an international auditing organisation to help tackle multinationals that are avoiding paying taxes, Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Charles Abel, pictured, says. He said that Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), under its ‘tax inspectors without borders’ programme, would help IRC… – Continue reading
FRANKFURT AM MAIN: German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz in an interview said he backed a global minimum fiscal regime for multinationals as Europe looks to levy tax notably on US tech giants. “We need a minumum tax rate valid globally which no state can get out of (applying),” Scholz, a… – Continue reading
The Bahamas has drafted new legislation to ensure the jurisdiction achieves the right balance of business, economic sustainability, and compliance with international standards. Uppermost among the Bahamas’ priorities include compliance with the OECD and EU criteria on tax governance which has led to the Bahamas implementing sweeping changes to the… – Continue reading
The more detailed scrutiny of the tax affairs of multinationals, large corporations and wealthy individuals, made possible by the formation of the Tax Avoidance Taskforce, has collected $5.6 billion in extra tax in just two years. Deputy Commissioner Mark Konza said “the $679.9 million the Government funded the ATO for… – Continue reading
Foreign companies establishing a presence in China will encounter a host of considerations that do not exist in their home country. Of these, interpreting and understanding China’s system of accounting standards can be an especially difficult challenge. China only embraced a market-driven economy recently, so its accounting and bookkeeping systems… – Continue reading
Indian high commission in Dhaka has requested different Bangladesh government agencies including National Board of Revenue to solve a number of tax-related ‘problems’ Indian chief executive officers-managed multinational companies are facing in the country. In a letter to NBR sent on September 10, the high commission said that Indian CEOs… – Continue reading
Investors globally will now be able to start their business in Dubai without having to be in the UAE, following an agreement between Dubai Investment Development Agency (Dubai FDI), an agency of the Department of Economic Development (DED) in Dubai, and the US-based Alliance Business Centres Network (ABCN). The partnership… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – McDonald’s tax deal with Luxembourg did not breach EU state aid rules, EU antitrust regulators ruled on Wednesday, saying the reason the US fast food chain did not pay some taxes was due to the mismatch between US and Luxembourg laws. The decision by the European Commission… – Continue reading
Four pharmaceutical giants have been named and shamed for depriving Australia of $215 million a year in tax avoidance. Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD Australia), and Abbott – which make household name brands like Band Aid, Baby Oil, Centrum and ChapStick –were found to have unfairly… – Continue reading
The Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACAC) has explained why it is shifting the war against corruption in the country from politically exposed persons to multinationals. According to the Executive Secretary of PACAC, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, Africa and indeed Nigeria losses more from Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) perpetrated by multinational… – Continue reading
Transfer pricing cell of National Board of Revenue has remained nearly dysfunctional since its formation five years back due mainly to lack of logistic support, expert and dedicated manpower and propelling initiative of the tax authorities. The cell even could not conduct audit on any statement of international transactions of… – Continue reading
The Internal Revenue Service is making some adjustments to its Compliance Assurance Process, a program aimed at large corporate taxpayers that involves cooperating with the IRS before any audits. As part of the proposed changes, the IRS said Monday it will shift the start of the application period to Oct…. – Continue reading
Ghana loses significant tax revenue through the deliberate manipulation of the tax system by big corporate entities and multinational companies, the Senior Minister, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, has said. He described the situation as worrying and tasked the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to go after those companies and prosecute them if… – Continue reading
Last week, Medtronic Plc suffered a legal setback in its bid to avoid a $1.4 billion U.S. tax bill — a ruling that may have costly implications for other multinationals battling the Internal Revenue Service over the use of overseas payments to lower their taxes. Companies including Facebook Inc. and… – Continue reading
The current tax incentives arrangement for foreign investors looking to invest in key sectors of the economy ends up financing multinationals to the detriment of local businesses who continue to wobble under severe taxation, Marwan Ansah, Western Regional Chairman, Senior Staff Union of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), has… – Continue reading
Draft laws stopping multinational companies leveraging their Australian assets with debt, to reduce their tax burden have been released for public comment. The “thin capitalisation” rules prevent multinationals from shifting profits offshore by using excessive levels of tax-deductible debt to fund their Australian operations. “This will further reinforce the government’s… – Continue reading
U.S. companies that had been unsure of how to calculate a new tax on profits they’ve stashed offshore now have official answers. The Internal Revenue Service issued proposed regulations on Wednesday on Section 965, governing the so-called repatriation tax, detailing which corporate taxpayers are subject to the tax, which assets… – Continue reading
The OECD has committed to providing proposals to fix the taxation of the digital economy by 2020, in an update to G20 leaders on international efforts to mitigate base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). In the newly released Second Annual Progress Report of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS, the… – Continue reading
Profit shifting by large companies is a regional issue that can be addressed through improved information sharing between tax authorities of economies, says Internal Revenue Commission commissioner-general Betty Palaso. She said this at the opening of the Advancing Base Erosion and Profit Sharing (BEPS) and Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI)… – Continue reading
HCM CITY — Viet Nam’s laws about transfer pricing remain inconsistent and have many loopholes, causing great loss of State revenue, speakers said on July 19 at a meeting held in Ha Noi. Speaking at the “Transfer Pricing – Issues in Management” workshop, Dr. Ho Duc Phoc, auditor general of… – Continue reading
According to a newly released study by K-Monitor, the Hungarian government has spent around HUF 300 billion (almost EU 1 billion) in support of international companies. Just in this May-Jun period alone, the country has provided 10.7 billion financial aid to the world’s wealthiest companies. Despite the harsh rhetoric used… – Continue reading
The big picture is easy to see. The world’s richest few are expanding their fortunes at the cost of the vast majority. The combined wealth of the world’s 2,754 billionaires increased by US$1.8 trillion – or 24 percent – in 2017, to US$9.2 trillion. The richest 1 percent now own… – Continue reading
CANBERRA, June 27 (Xinhua) — An Australian taskforce has salvaged billions of dollars from multinational companies in just under a year, according to the latest tax office data. Acting on laws that were passed to crack down on large-scale tax avoidance, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) has clawed back more… – Continue reading
WELLINGTON, June 26 (Xinhua) — New measures to ensure multinational companies in New Zealand pay their fair share of tax will come into force next week. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash said the Taxation (Neutralizing Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) Bill, which passed its third reading in Parliament on Tuesday, takes… – Continue reading
If all countries have access to info about final beneficiaries, MNCs will not be able to fraudulently assign profits to tax havens Can you imagine how much governments all over the world could improve public services like education, healthcare and access to publicly provided clean drinking water and sanitation with… – Continue reading
The OECD has released the first peer reviews of the country-by-country (CbC) reporting initiative, reporting that practically all countries that serve as headquarters to large multinationals have introduced new transfer pricing documentation requirements to improve transparency. Country-by-country reporting will see tax administrations worldwide collect and share detailed information on all… – Continue reading
Multinationals, politicians, corporate moguls, and European consuls all used offshore companies and bank accounts to hide money and avoid taxes in West Africa, according to an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released Tuesday. Senegal is one of the poorest countries in the world, but this didn’t stop… – Continue reading
The Internal Revenue Service has issued a new template that corporate taxpayers need to use when asking for an advance pricing agreement with the IRS. Advance pricing agreements are prior agreements between multinational companies and the IRS on the appropriate transfer pricing method to use for a given set of… – Continue reading
The Bahamas could be removed from the European Union’s (EU) ‘blacklist’ as early as this Thursday, with the Government hoping to at least get “an indication” of delisting progress. K P Turnquest, Deputy Prime Minister, told Tribune Business that the Government was yesterday “following up” with EU officials on the… – Continue reading
Argentina’s Federal Administration of Public Income has extended the filing deadline for country-by-country (CbC) notifications. Taxpayers who are part of multinational enterprises now have until May 2, 2018, to file CbC notifications where the ultimate parent company of the multinational group has a December 2017 fiscal year end. The CbC… – Continue reading
The federal government wants to block multinational companies using trusts and partnerships to escape paying tax in Australia. Assistant to the Treasurer Michael Sukkar introduced legislation to parliament on Wednesday that would bring artificial or contrived arrangements involving trusts and partnerships under the multinational tax avoidance laws introduced in 2016…. – Continue reading
British lawmakers are shifting their focus towards the offshores and tax havens detailed in the Panama and Paradise papers, in order to improve tax collection, curb multinationals’ tax avoidance practices, and track the money flows of ill-gotten gains. Kristian Rouz — Members of Parliament (MPs) are set to investigate the… – Continue reading
The deadline for multinationals to submit a master file and CbC report in India is March 31, 2018, in respect of the 2016-17 financial year. A “master file” must be furnished by multinationals if the total consolidated group revenue exceeds INR5bn and either the aggregate value of international transactions as… – Continue reading
On December 29, 2017, Hong Kong gazetted the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 6) Bill 2017 (the Amendment Bill). The Amendment Bill, which was formally introduced into the Legislative Council on January 10, represents a crucial step in the development of Hong Kong’s transfer pricing regulatory and enforcement regime. The objectives… – Continue reading
The Australian Tax Office on February 7 released draft Practical Compliance Guideline 2018/D2 on the operation of Australia’s Diverted Profits Tax for consultation. In the 2016-17 Budget, the Government announced that it would introduce a diverted profits tax (DPT), intended to ensure that the tax paid by significant global entities… – Continue reading
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said employees of regional operating headquarters (ROHQ) who used to enjoy preferential tax rates, will no longer be able to avail them beginning this year. In a tax advisory, the BIR said in view of the recent amendment of the provisions of Section 25(B),… – Continue reading
On February 2, 2018, Costa Rica published Resolution no. DGT-R-001-2018 in its Official Gazette, setting out the rules for filing a country-by-country report. The parent company of a multinational group resident in Costa Rica with consolidated group revenue of the equivalent of EUR750m in the Costa Rican currency – presently… – Continue reading
The recent U.S. tax overhaul could prompt U.S. multinationals to repatriate around $2 trillion (1.6 trillion euros), making a significant impact on global foreign direct investment, the U.N. said on Feb. 5. The forecast from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) came just over a month after… – Continue reading
The European Commission is launching an investigation into Ikea’s tax construction in the Netherlands. European Commissioner on competition Margrethe Vestager is expected to officially announce the investigation on Tuesday, British newspaper the Financial Times reports. The Swedish furniture company is suspected of evading nearly a billion euros in taxes between… – Continue reading
A tax bill to counter base erosion and profit shifting by multinational companies was introduced into Parliament on December 6. The Taxation (Neutralising Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) Bill contains measures to prevent multinationals from using: Artificially high interest rates on loans from related parties to shift profits out of… – Continue reading
