TOKYO — Two of the world’s largest manufacturers of the machinery used to produce semiconductors, Applied Materials of the United States and Tokyo Electron of Japan, on Monday dropped plans to merge after the Department of Justice said that combining their businesses would restrict competition. The proposed $10 billion deal… – Continue reading
Ireland might learn as the Isle of Man positions itself as the new bitcoin capital of the world While bitcoin is attractive because of its inherent decentralised nature, it has struggled to be perceived as a legitimate currency, given the lack of accountability and total absence of someone or something… – Continue reading
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) went big exactly a year ago when it announced a takeover offer for UK-based AstraZeneca plc (ADR) (NYSE:AZN). The company’s decision to lap up AstraZeneca was seen as opportunistic; it being laced with controversy on many accounts, with some allegations behind the company’s proposition to acquire AstraZeneca… – Continue reading
When Burger King’s owners first announced last summer’s mega-deal to gobble up Tim Hortons, the fast-food firm’s executives downplayed a key reason why they were acquiring the Canadian coffee chain and relocating corporate HQ to Canada: to cut its taxes. “Tax wasn’t really the driver of this,” Daniel Schwartz, the… – Continue reading
Trade in today’s global era visualizes significant number of international transactions in form of transfer of goods, services, capital and intangibles. International transfers arise within the Multinational Enterprise group entities and are called intra-group transfer. What is actually paid by one entity to another entity in the intra-group transfer is… – Continue reading
However, OECD being persuasive may not help funds based out of nations whose treaties do not give specific exemption The Indian government’s clarification that it would honour tax treaties while making a demand of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) at the effective rate of 20 per cent came as a relief… – Continue reading
On March 30, 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it had entered into a nonprosecution agreement with BSI SA, the first Swiss bank to reach resolution with the U.S. government as to its potential criminal exposure for assisting its U.S. clients in engaging in tax evasion.[1] As part… – Continue reading
Sarao made about $40m in profit using spoofing techniques that involve putting in an order and swiftly withdrawing it before a trade can take place Washington/London: The west London trader charged with contributing to a sudden crash in US equity markets five years ago set up companies in the Caribbean… – Continue reading
Moves to create a supposed level playing field for succession issues in Europe, along with more established themes around automatic exchange of information and US extra-territorial tax powers make their appearance in a major Geneva-based conference later in April. Figures from the world of wealth management will gather at the… – Continue reading
Political activists gatecrashed Barclay’s AGM in Central London on Thursday to highlight the role of private finance initiatives (PFI) in “killing off” Britain’s public services, racking up unsustainable debt, dodging tax and funneling profits offshore. Thursday’s demonstration marks the first of three planned days of protest to raise awareness about… – Continue reading
Documents exposed secret deals to slash global tax bills of multinational companies A French journalist has been criminally charged in Luxembourg for his role in exposing how hundreds of multinational companies used secret deals with the European duchy’s government to slash their global tax bills — a scheme that CBC… – Continue reading
The true cost of the debt that China’s real estate developers peddled to eager international investors during a five-year property boom is now becoming clear. Having found themselves shut out of local bond and loan markets seven years ago, a band of developers began looking elsewhere for funds. First an… – Continue reading
The government on Wednesday assured over 1,000 foreign institutional investors (FIIs) across the United States, Hong Kong and Singapore they can avail of treaty benefits to ward off tax demands on capital gains booked over the years till March 31, reports the Financial Express. The development is significant given the… – Continue reading
Stymied in their efforts to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Republican leaders in Congress continue their efforts to undermine the law by starving it of funding. Today, the Senate Finance Committee will consider legislation that would repeal some of the tax changes enacted to pay for the ACA…. – Continue reading
MPs say transfer pricing, though legal, presents challenges when determining if firms have evaded taxation and they want the practice criminalised. The portfolio committee on trade and industry has heard calls for the criminalisation of transfer pricing – a practice that, when abused, results in large corporations shifting profits offshore… – Continue reading
In This Issue: • It’s Stifling in Here! SEC Rules That Companies Can’t Put Restrictive Language in Confidentiality Agreements That Could Potentially Stifle Whistleblowers • An Opinion on Opinions: U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Omnicare • Is OFAC the New Black? Schlumberger and PayPal—The Rise in the Enforcement of Sanctions… – Continue reading
[HONG KONG] China is set to enhance the convertibility of its yuan currency by allowing capital to be taken out on a daily basis from the largest investment scheme open to foreign investors, people with knowledge of the plans told Reuters. This could strengthen the global standing of the yuan… – Continue reading
The arrival of Netflix in Australia has brought into sharp relief the GST base erosion problem caused by global digital commerce. Along with the non-taxation of low-value imported goods, the absence of GST on services and digital products imported by consumers represents an omission from the tax base that is… – Continue reading
IF THE South African Revenue Service (SARS) focused on recovering money from transfer pricing abuses‚ Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene probably wouldn’t have had to raise taxes by 1% in his budget speech‚ Judge Dennis Davis‚ head of the Davis Tax committee, told Parliament on Tuesday. He was briefing the portfolio… – Continue reading
Commissioner Chris Jordan delivers rebuke to multinational tech giants contesting evidence they gave to a Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance The tax commissioner, Chris Jordan, has delivered a public rebuke to multinational tech giants Apple, Google and Microsoft, vigorously contesting evidence they gave to a recent Senate inquiry hearing… – Continue reading
Bitcoin transactions are exempt from value-added-tax (VAT) in Spain, says Spanish tax lawyer Alejandro Gómez, The General Directorate of Taxes, a subsidiary of the Spanish taxing authorities, made the statement in a response to a request from Gómez. According to Gómez, the consultation found that Bitcoin payments were a form… – Continue reading
India said foreign portfolio investors can use tax treaties to reject demands on past capital gains, seeking to defuse a row that cast a cloud over the $48 billion poured into stocks and bonds from overseas. Foreign institutional investors domiciled in countries that have signed double taxation avoidance treaties with… – Continue reading
Mylan NV Executive Chairman Robert Coury made $22.7 million, including $1 million for his personal use of the drugmaker’s two corporate jets, in 2012 and 2013. At Israeli rival Teva, shareholders in 2012 balked at raising the chairman’s salary to $900,000 a year. The contrast highlights the sharp differences that… – Continue reading
An inflow of bank deposits to Luxembourg from Asia and the Gulf have replaced reductions from European countries such as France and Germany following an overhaul of the Grand Duchy’s tax secrecy regime, reports the Financial Times. Pierre Gramegna told the Financial Times in an interview that “bank secrecy had… – Continue reading
The European Investment Bank (EIB) must tighten up its lending rules to prevent its money being funnelled through tax havens, NGOs have warned in a new report, reports EU Observer. The report ‘Towards a Responsible Taxation Policy for the EIB’, published on Tuesday (21 April) by transparency NGOs Re-Common and… – Continue reading
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Markets fell 500 points on Monday. Punters’ worries about current tax disputes between Modi Sarkar and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) being one reason why the Sensex dived. There has been a battle of phrases between FPIs and North Block. And it looks as if this will be a… – Continue reading
The Finance Minister has failed to assuage markets’ fears on the issue of retrospective tax Markets are getting jittery each time the finance minister or his ministry utters the T word. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reminds the market of UPA’s finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who introduced the now-dreaded retrospective tax…. – Continue reading
Like many other public banks, the European Investment Bank (EIB) leverages its own means by acting as a catalyst for private investment through various financial mechanisms. Too often, though, attempts to attract private capital result in unpredictable risks and higher-than projected costs for the public coffer, write Xavier Sol and… – Continue reading
Doing so would get rid of ‘overlapping and duplicative disclosure requirements,’ says advocacy group for Americans abroad The IRS’ taxpayer advocate is urging the tax service to simplify rules for Americans living overseas. Currently, foreign bank accounts must be reported both to the Treasury, in a Report of Foreign Bank… – Continue reading
Indian companies had raised a record $18.6 billion in 2014 through offshore bonds. This year, it may cross $20.50 billion, says MD, Treasury and Markets, India, at DBS Bank Vijayan Subramani. In an interview with Bhavik Nair, Subramani indicates Singapore dollar-denominated bond issues from India are likely to make a… – Continue reading
The National Taxpayer Advocate has recommended that the reporting rules under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and for foreign bank account reports in effect be merged to simplify the duplicative disclosure requirements that make it difficult for American expatriates to have bank accounts in the foreign countries where they… – Continue reading
Britain’s Conservative Party returned a donation of £50,000 from a wealthy businesswoman on Monday after it emerged she was once wanted on charges of tax fraud in the United States. Beatrice Tollman, founder of luxury hotel chain Red Carnation, made an election campaign donation to the Tories earlier this month…. – Continue reading
Apple Australia denies tax avoidance but the numbers just don’t add up. The media spokeswoman for Apple Australia has been very busy the past two weeks. Her boss appeared at a Senate hearing on corporate tax evasion a couple of weeks ago, so she’s had to do some mopping up… – Continue reading
Summary:Australia and the UK have reached a deal aimed at helping tackle profit-shifting practices by multinational companies, such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Australia and the United Kingdom have agreed to form a joint working group to tackle profit shifting by multinational companies such as Google, Apple, and Microsoft. The… – Continue reading
In recent years we have seen a seismic shift in the tax transparency landscape. The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (US FATCA) has proved to be a watershed moment and we are rapidly moving towards a global network of automatic information exchange spearheaded by the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard… – Continue reading
Ben Franklin’s famous dictum, “Nothing is certain except death and taxes” is crying out for an urgent revision. Why? Because even if still holds true for people like you and me, it has little to do with some of the country’s richest corporations. The truth is that for corporate giants… – Continue reading
CHINA Tax Free Reorganisations • With circulars 109 and 116 jointly issued in December 2014 by the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation, the Chinese authorities have relaxed the conditions for internal reorganisations. • Circular 109 deals with internal reorganisations. Provided the pertinent requirements are met, the… – Continue reading
The government’s recent steps to check the flow of unaccounted wealth to foreign assets and bank accounts have had the unintended result of making tax compliance tough for expatriates on corporate assignments here, who have legitimate assets in their home countries, say experts. The tax troubles of these people over… – Continue reading
EUROPEAN M&A DOS AND DON’TS FOR NON-EUROPEAN BUYERS Inbound M&A in Europe by non-European buyers increased in 2014 by 68.6% compared to 2013, representing over a third of USD 901.4 billion total European M&A.1 For non-European buyers the basic framework of transactions may be similar, but there are a number… – Continue reading
Bangladesh authorities are working with counterparts abroad to recover proceeds of corruption (‘stolen assets’), in terms of the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman has said. The central bank chief disclosed this while speaking at an event title Addressing the Linkage Illicit Flows and… – Continue reading
Nothing is certain in India except death and tax disputes. Ask foreign portfolio investors: they now face demands for past dues of as much as $6.4 billion. The wrangle stems from the Minimum Alternative Tax, or MAT, which officials say leads to a 20 percent levy on capital gains by… – Continue reading
The head of the Business Council of Australia (BCA), Catherine Livingstone, has called for a national “conversation” about what the federal government and the business community euphemistically call “economic reform”. Ever in thrall to trickle-down economics, they manage to talk in “doublespeak”, a close relative of the doublethink that George… – Continue reading
Members of both houses of Congress in Washington D.C. are working to end offshore tax deals corporations are using to cut costs. “These companies, these corporations, want to avoid paying their fair share of taxes in the United States, sometimes billions of dollars and yet they want life to go… – Continue reading
The outlook for uranium, moribund for some time, is looking up. And that means shares of Cameco Corp., the Saskatoon-based miner one analyst calls “the only real blue-chip stock in the sector,” are up, too – about 20 per cent from their 52-week lows. The stock has received a host… – Continue reading
When Hillary Clinton recently borrowed Elizabeth Warren’s talking points and claimed “the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top” (in our economic and political system) against regular working people, did she mention reforming the tax code — and then offer any solutions? The simple answer is… – Continue reading
At least 21 financial advisers in Switzerland charged with aiding American tax dodgers are at large With its tan marble floors and leather-clad reception desk, the staid Zurich offices of the Julius Baer Group, one of Switzerland’s largest private banks, are an unlikely place to find an alleged fugitive from… – Continue reading
On March 30, 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it reached the first non-prosecution agreement under the Swiss bank program with BSI, S.A. (BSI). BSI, one of Switzerland’s ten largest banks, has agreed to pay $211 million in fines and cooperate in any related civil or criminal… – Continue reading
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the government will press ahead with Rs 40,000 crore tax demand on foreign institutional investors as FIIs lost a case against levy of tax on capital gains they made. “FIIs went to a tribunal, which is called Authority for Advance Rulings (against levy… – Continue reading
New Delhi: The government has set the record straight on tax disputes, maintaining they are not covered by the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPA) and need to be judicially and legally settled. “…But again on the BIPA issue, let me mention, it has been our consistent view that… – Continue reading
Taipei, April 16 (CNA) A record high in Chinese yuan deposits taken by banks registered in Taiwan as of the end of March show optimism that the Chinese currency will appreciate against the U.S. dollar in the long run, analysts said Thursday. They said that China is gearing up to… – Continue reading
