Over 100 foreign providers of electronically supplied goods and services to Russian consumers have registered to pay value-added tax on their supplies at 18 percent. The levy – dubbed the “Google tax” – came into force at the beginning of this year and is payable on a quarterly basis. Affected… – Continue reading
MANILA, Philippines – Instead, the government should pursue the enactment of the proposed Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) before pursuing a tax amnesty program, Citi economist Jun Trinidad said. He said fiscal priority remains the passage of the first component of the tax reform measure that includes income tax cut… – Continue reading
An Australian taxpayer advocacy group has joined forces with a coalition of international taxpayer organizations and academics to condemn the Government’s plans to abolish the low-value goods and services tax threshold on imports. In separate submissions to the Senate inquiry into the proposes GST changes, the Australian Taxpayers Alliance and… – Continue reading
MANILA, Philippines – Investment bank Credit Suisse said an effective tax amnesty program would face hurdles in the Philippines due to the country’s strict banking secrecy law. In its Asian daily report titled “Philippines: Credible threat still lacking,” Credit Suisse economist Michael Wan said the planned program announced by Finance… – Continue reading
The German Ministry of Finance has published a progress report on its 10-point plan to combat tax evasion, which was first announced in the wake of last year’s Panama Papers leak. The plan, launched on April 12, 2016, outlines the measures that Germany wants to put in place at domestic… – Continue reading
Banks are urged to stop lending to zombie companies and shell companies in CBRC guidelines highlighting 10 types of specific risk China’s banking regulator has urged commercial lenders to be more vigilant when dishing out loans after a spate of heavily indebted companies found themselves in hot water in the… – Continue reading
Members of the Methodist Tax Justice Network (MTJN) and the Tax Justice Network (TJN) gathered outside the Embankment headquarters of PricewaterhouseCoopers on Wednesday 5 April 2017 to demonstrate in support of whistleblowers and against the actions of PwC, who have facilitated global tax avoidance, tried to prevent the release of… – Continue reading
Government today said Financial Institutions must obtain self-certification of account holders by April 30, 2017 in order to maintain their accounts active. The financial institutions need to obtain self-certification and carry out due diligence in respect of all individual and entity accounts opened from July 1, 2014 to August 31,… – Continue reading
With a total of 15 action points, the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project aims at fighting the artificial shift of profits from jurisdictions with high taxes to tax havens, often as a part of an entirely legal strategy used by MNEs. The BEPS Action 13 (Transfer Pricing… – Continue reading
South Korea’s tax agency has imposed more than 300 billion won ($262 million) in corporate taxes on the local unit of US tech giant Oracle Corp. for alleged tax evasion, sources familiar with the issue said Monday. The National Tax Service (NTS) took the action against Oracle Korea as it… – Continue reading
A bill introduced by a Democratic State Representative in the Prairie State of Illinois has named 18 Caribbean nations as foreign tax havens and if it becomes law, would forbid a company incorporated in any of those nations from submitting a bid or entering into a contract with the state…. – Continue reading
The Revenue Department on Friday said it has detected evasion of more than Rs 1.37 lakh crore in both direct and indirect taxes and identified over 1,000 shell companies which indulged in bogus transactions worth Rs 13,300 crore in the last three financial years. Warning tax evaders, it said the… – Continue reading
Companies including Apple, Google and BHP Billiton were grilled at parliamentary hearings on their tax structures in 2015 SYDNEY: Australia on Thursday said it had slapped seven large multinationals with a multi-billion-dollar tax bill as it pursued global firms shifting profits offshore to minimise liabilities. The companies hit with the… – Continue reading
Seventy-four percent of UK executives surveyed by KPMG said they see Ireland as having one of the top three most competitive tax regimes. KPMG has published the findings of its Annual Survey of Tax Competitiveness 2016, which are based on interviews with 100 senior tax decision makers in the largest… – Continue reading
Credit Suisse Group AG (CS – Free Report) is facing money-laundering and tax-evasion investigations involving thousands of account holders. In addition to the homeland, the investigation covers the Netherlands, Britain, Germany, France and Australia. The probes were triggered after FIOD, the Dutch office for financial crimes prosecution, got a tip… – Continue reading
Financial institutions are working together to combat tax evasion, bribery and corruption through ISO certifications and the Common Reporting Standard. These are among the topics discussed in the spring 2017 issue of Deloitte’s quarterly publication, the Middle East Point of View (ME PoV). The spring 2017 issue tackles several hot… – Continue reading
Hyderabad: Shell companies are becoming a common phenomenon globally and even in India. These companies are posing several challenges to governments and regulators for various reasons had been probing their involvement in large scale money laundering and tax avoidance cases. A shell company is a non-trading organisation that does not… – Continue reading
Google says it paid 36.4m (AUD59.8m) in UK corporation tax in the last financial year, as the internet firm’s operations in this country remain mired in controversy. The US company, which was revealed early last year to have done a 130m (AUD213.7m) deal with the taxman covering 10 years of… – Continue reading
The federal government is considering doubling the tax rate applied to more than $199 billion worth of so-called stapled structures, in a move that experts say could scare off foreign investors. Separate securities, such as a share in a company and a unit in a trust, can be stapled together… – Continue reading
Online giant wins transfer pricing case against US Internal Revenue Service Amazon. com has won a tax dispute with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS), involving more than $1.5 billion (€1.39 billion), in relation to the transactions of a Luxembourg unit more than a decade ago. Judge Albert Lauber of… – Continue reading
The New Zealand Law Society says that following discussions with Inland Revenue and the New Zealand Bankers’ Association it has now reached an understanding with Inland Revenue about application of FATCA to lawyers’ trusts accounts. FATCA is the United States’ Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. Its objective is to reduce… – Continue reading
Money will be used to hire more auditors and develop computer systems to “target high-risk international tax” evasion. Tax auditors and fraud investigators have been given more than half a billion dollars to pursue tax cheats, and the government expects them to collect five times that much in additional taxes…. – Continue reading
Swiss bank, UBS Group AG UBS , and its French unit will be facing a trial in France against allegations that the bank helped its clients in that country to evade taxes. Notably, a five-year probe into such allegations was closed last year. Following this, the prosecutor’s office was supposed… – Continue reading
Multinational companies are now paying tax based on their Australian profits instead of shifting income to low-tax countries, officials say. CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA—Facebook, Google and other multinational companies are now paying tax in Australia based on their Australian profits instead of shifting income to low-tax countries since the government cracked down… – Continue reading
Treasurer Scott Morrison will launch a fresh attack on tax avoidance this week in Parliament in a bid to get the so-called “Google Tax” pushed through and shift public attention towards the Coalition’s record on multinational tax crackdowns. The Diverted Profits Tax is due to be debated this week, almost… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: The recent changes in the India and South Korea Agreement for Avoidance of Double Taxation provides recourse to taxpayers of both countries to apply for Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP) in respect of transfer pricing disputes, and also to apply for bilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APA) for APA period beginning… – Continue reading
Property buyers will be quizzed about their tax residency under new anti-money-laundering rules being introduced by Westpac and its subsidiaries St George Bank, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA. Mortgage brokers, who act as intermediaries between the banks and buyers, are being told that from this week they must also ask… – Continue reading
Beware of the dreaded inheritance tax and changes to it from April 2017! Approximately 1.3 million Britons now live in Australia and Brexit may only increase this number! Many think that moving to Australia means they no longer need to worry about UK tax, but often they are not fully… – Continue reading
Value added tax is likely to be an irrecoverable cost, negatively affecting margins for the banking sector Dubai: The UAE and GCC banks that are facing increased regulatory burden from Basel III capital requirements and International Reporting Standards 9 (IFRS 9) are expected to face further pressure in terms of… – Continue reading
Washington’s Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act, known as FATCA, will be assailed afresh as lawyers and lobbyists renew efforts to repeal the law as part of President Donald Trump’s tax reform. Washington-based Jim Jatras, a Republican and co-leader of the Campaign to Repeal FATCA, says “lots is happening,” and his… – Continue reading
Three BBC newsreaders are fighting attempts by HM Revenue & Customs to make pay back nearly £1m in unpaid income tax and national insurance. The Financial Times reports the three presenters – Joanna Gosling, David Eades and Tim Willcox – claim they were forced to set up personal service companies,… – Continue reading
The Swiss government plans to bolster group financing activities by amending its withholding tax ordinance to exempt interest payments for certain intra-group loans. The goal of the amendment is to encourage Swiss-based multinational companies to pursue targeted financing activities in Switzerland rather than abroad, according to a March 10 news… – Continue reading
From 6 April 2017, non-dom owners of UK property will be liable to inheritance tax (IHT) at 40% on any UK residential property they own. This has always been the case where a non-dom (broadly an individual who is resident in the UK but who has their permanent home abroad)… – Continue reading
Sometimes it can be hard to keep up with the avalanche of government announcements on tax avoidance and evasion. In the first of a two part series, Jason Collins, a member of the CIOT’s management of taxes sub-committee and partner at Pinsent Mason, provides an overview of the rapidly changing… – Continue reading
Recently, the Finance Committee concluded its deliberations regarding the imposition of tax legislation pertaining to “wallet companies” (companies owned by individuals who provide services through them) within the scope of the Arrangements Law for 2017 – 2018. The original draft bill was softened and even sweetened for a particular period… – Continue reading
Each and every bank account is under our scanner to find out tax evasion, said CBDT chairman Sushil Chandra. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is examining several dubious companies and they would be removed from the website of Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) if found to be shell… – Continue reading
South Korea’s tax authorities have been investigating the local importer of Toyota and luxury Lexus vehicles over suspected tax evasions since late 2016, industry sources said Friday. In November, the Seoul office of the National Tax Service (NTS) launched a tax audit into Toyota Korea over suspicions that it paid… – Continue reading
Accounting firm’s contracts with federal government questioned. A former client of the accounting giant KPMG says a tax dodge that involved wealthy people gifting their money to an offshore jurisdiction was a “facade” designed to hide money from the taxman. The client, who spoke to CBC’s the fifth estate and… – Continue reading
The New Zealand Parliament has passed a Bill which, following royal assent, will meaningfully increase disclosure obligations for NZ resident trustees of NZ foreign trusts. The Taxation (Business Tax, Exchange of Information, and Remedial Matters) Bill, was passed by Parliament on 14 February 2017. The Bill contains important provisions relating… – Continue reading
Federal agents raided three Caterpillar buildings near its Illinois headquarters on Thursday, company and law enforcement officials said, in an escalation of an inquiry into the heavy equipment manufacturer’s offshore tax practices. Caterpillar has been dogged by accusations that it slashed its domestic tax bill by shifting corporate profits from… – Continue reading
On 30 December 2016 the Commercial Court of Voronezh Oblast delivered a judgement in case No. А14-10190/2014 (the “Decision”) under the claim of Ilyushin Finance Co. Open Joint Stock Company (the “Company”). The case is an example of a broad interpretation of the list of documents confirming entitlement to a… – Continue reading
The new Residence Nil Rate Band will allow people to pass on property to their descendants tax free. But some people need to take action now or risk missing out. In April, a major change to inheritance tax (IHT) law comes into effect with the launch of the Residence Nil… – Continue reading
The European Parliament’s Monetary Affairs and Civil Liberties committees’ overwhelming support for access by EU citizens to information concerning the beneficial owners of companies without having to demonstrate a ‘legitimate interest’ and trusts would have to meet the same requirements. MEPs agreed the on their position on EU Anti-Money Laundering… – Continue reading
THE ORGANISATION for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) initiated the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project in 2013 to address perceived gaps in international tax rules causing a loss of revenues for governments of about US$100 billion to $240 billion (Bt3.5 trillion to Bt8.4 trillion) annually. The OECD’s BEPS… – Continue reading
[HONG KONG] More Chinese companies are looking to raise debt offshore after Beijing approved a new funding structure last month that makes it easier and cheaper to tap foreign lenders. China’s foreign exchange regulator in January let domestic companies bring home cash raised through offshore bonds secured by onshore guarantees,… – Continue reading
Transfer pricing—the price charged for intercompany transactions between entities in different tax jurisdictions—can be used to shift funds within a multinational corporation (MNC), and serves as an effective means to manage a firm’s finances. Transfer pricing—the price charged for intercompany transactions between entities in different tax jurisdictions—can be used to… – Continue reading
Global banking giant HSBC has disclosed being probed by tax authorities in India and several other countries, including against its Swiss and Dubai units, for allegedly abetting tax evasion of four Indians and their families. Besides, the bank has been approached by the regulatory and law enforcement agencies of various… – Continue reading
The government is pulling out all the stops to end perceptions that New Zealand is a tax haven. With tougher disclosure rules set to come into force from July following the Panama Papers scandal, Inland Revenue (IRD) is promising to pass on the details about those with New Zealand foreign… – Continue reading
A bombshell hidden in the detail of the 2017 Budget review relates to the taxation of offshore trusts. It refers to the 2015 Budget review in which it was announced that measures would be introduced to the tax treatment of foreign companies held by interposed trusts. No specific countermeasures were… – Continue reading
Apple, which was recently slapped with a $14 bn tax bill for its activities in Ireland has now filed a 14-point appeal against the ruling. The EC had filed a case accusing Ireland of giving “state aid” to Apple. The European Commission (EC) charged Apple on various grounds, including tax… – Continue reading
