Mauritius plans to launch a trading platform to hedge African currencies against the US dollar, part of a bid to expand its role as a financial hub for the continent, the financial services minister said. The Indian Ocean island is also in talks to boost ties with stock exchanges in… – Continue reading
WELCOME to Switzerland. A mountainous country where nothing comes cheap but many of the world’s filthy rich come to grow their fortunes. The ongoing relationship between the wealthy and Switzerland looks set to only strengthen as the super rich get richer, according to a report released on Friday. That’s despite… – Continue reading
KUWAIT CITY, Nov 29: “The world of taxation has changed tremendously impacted by FATCA, transfer pricing, Base Erosion and Profit Sharing, and others which require dramatic changes in existing operating models and structures,” remarked Fouad Douglas, PwC Country Senior partner, at a tax seminar organised by the PwC in conjunction… – Continue reading
Mumbai: India will allow offshore insurance companies, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds to lend to local companies for the long term, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Monday, easing rules for offshore borrowing. The RBI said it was taking a “more liberal approach” for long-term foreign currency… – Continue reading
Barely a week goes by without Deutsche Bank featuring in the news for some reason, usually a bad one. This time, it’s tax avoidance. The FT reports that Deutsche Bank “has been devising complex tax avoidance strategies for some of its largest corporate clients”. Not that this is illegal, of… – Continue reading
Edward Snowden is not in jail, but his namesake soon could be. Switzerland has sentenced Hervé Falciani, a former HSBC Swiss bank employee, to five years in prison. He is the whistleblower and leaker often called the “Edward Snowden of tax evasion.” Leaks bank records and tax documents has helped… – Continue reading
While the U.S. is plagued by inertia when it comes to tax policy, the rest of the world hasn’t been standing still. The biggest change of late has been the completion of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project, or BEPS, a multiyear… – Continue reading
The law, at present, is replete with a complex web of cross-references, often causing confusion The clamour for simplifying tax legislations gets louder as a new government, in its interaction with businesses and the civil society, holds out a promise of a non-adversarial tax regime. The reform of indirect taxes… – Continue reading
Government officials say multinational technology giants are reluctant to pay anything The Korean affiliates of Microsoft (MS) and Oracle are under increasing pressure to pay taxes here, with government officials saying the two multinational technology giants were reluctant to pay anything, although they generated huge a lot of money from… – Continue reading
Final regulations implementing the common reporting standard (CRS) have been published in the Isle of Man. In addition, it has been announced that the existing intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between the Isle of Man and the UK will be superseded by CRS, and that 2016 will be a transitional year. Read… – Continue reading
East African countries expect to collect more revenue under a new code drawn, by the world’s richest economies to stop foreign multinationals from dodging taxes in host countries. The new code — Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) — adopted by G20 at its meeting in Turkey two weeks ago,… – Continue reading
Australian punters will be thrilled to know that when they do their shirts gambling their post-tax dollars, those very same dollars, which become the pre-tax dollars of the British online betting giants, are funnelled off to places like Gibraltar, pre-tax. University of NSW accounting academic, Jeff Knapp, and Fairfax Media… – Continue reading
Tech titans powering the economy shelter money through insane tax-avoidance havens. It’s wrong — and adding up Offshore tax havens enable not only individuals to dodge taxes—they also enable multinational corporations to do so. Often this tax avoidance is done within the letter of the law: multinational groups exploit the… – Continue reading
Residents want to share their tax avoidance plan with other towns to force the treasury into closing tax loopholes A small town in Wales is attempting to register its independent businesses as offshore companies to demonstrate how flawed they believe the British and international tax systems are. By mimicking the… – Continue reading
World Bulletin / News Desk Herve Falciani, the former HSBC employee whose disclosures uncorked the “Swissleaks” scandal on bank-supported tax evasion, was sentenced in absentia on Friday to five years in prison, Switzerland’s ATS news agency said. Falciani, who worked as an IT specialist with HSBC, was convicted of industrial… – Continue reading
When it comes to planning for tax season, corporate tax reporting should be considered as part of Enterprise Performance Management. As Margaret Mitchell exclaimed in the classic novel, Gone with the Wind: ‘Death, taxes and childbirth! There’s never any convenient time for any of them.’ And while I hope that… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Formula One is seeking to encash a $15.45-million guarantee by debt-laden Jaiprakash Associates BSE 1.18 % on the ground that it hadn’t paid the sport’s organiser money that had been contractually agreed upon. The company said the amount is caught up in tax litigation and hence can’t be given…. – Continue reading
The Kenya-South Africa double taxation agreement comes into force from January 1. An announcement in the November 19, South African government gazette says the agreement applies for taxes withheld at source. “A resident of Kenya will not be taxed on any South African business profits, unless it carries on business… – Continue reading
City watchdogs say Barclays adopted a no-questions-asked policy Bank did not check where ultra-wealthy clients’ money came from £72million fine has been imposed on the bank for turning a blind eye Barclays has been shamed over a murky £1.9billion deal with ultra-wealthy clients which left the country vulnerable to financial… – Continue reading
The European Parliament has overwhelmingly approved a suite of corporate tax reforms that will ensure multinational companies pay taxes where profits are made and increase transparency. A total of 508 MEPs voted in favour of the adoption of recommendations put forward by the Special Committee on Tax Rulings last month…. – Continue reading
The Dutch government said Friday it will appeal an EU ruling that the Netherlands gave Starbucks an illegal tax break and ordered the coffee giant to pay some 30 million euros ($34 million). “The government is of the opinion that the Commission does not convincingly demonstrate that the tax authority… – Continue reading
PRESS RELEASE Mauritius and Morocco signed on November 25 in Port Louis a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) that will provide for greater tax certainty for businessmen of the two countries. The signatories were the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo, and the Ambassador of the Kingdom… – Continue reading
‘Offshore exposure should be a part of any well-balanced investment portfolio, regardless of the rand’s value’ – Duane Gilbert. Fund managers are very much aware of the impact of the weaker rand on investments, but for consumers not dealing with asset management on a daily basis it is a huge… – Continue reading
Shriram Asset Management Company gets Sebi nod for offshore fund management Shriram Asset Management Company Ltd today said it has got market regulator Sebi’s approval to manage offshore funds. “The company has recently got the go-ahead from Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to undertake ‘offshore fund management’,” Shriram… – Continue reading
FOCUS: Significant changes to the international tax system planned for the next five years, coupled with a major shift in attitudes towards tax avoidance, has all but killed off the traditional tax scheme. So what does the future hold for businesses seeking to engage in tax planning? To celebrate Out-Law’s… – Continue reading
Global taxpayers can expect to pay more tax in the years ahead. Many governments worldwide continue to update their tax legislation and expand their tax systems to repay debt and pay for increased social welfare, even as the memory of the last global financial crisis lingers. These are the conclusions… – Continue reading
A recent Dutch group request for administrative assistance shows that even before the “automatic exchange of information” (AEoI) measure is effective in Switzerland in 2017, those with undeclared assets need to consider making a disclosure. The Swiss federal tax administration recently approved a Dutch group request for administrative assistance, and… – Continue reading
In response to the announcement that pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Allergan would merge, Hillary Clinton released a statement that completely missed the real issue behind these inversions – they are a symptom of the greedy, complex, and inefficient U.S. tax code. “Inversion is a symptom, not a disease,” said Grover… – Continue reading
Sum of Us has said it wants to hit Amazon where it hurts – its sales – by posting ads alerting customers of Amazon’s tax practices An online activism group has plans to hit Amazon with a massive anti-tax avoidance ad campaign come Black Friday. Sum of Us has said… – Continue reading
Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said that he no longer expects that the European Commission will release its decision on the legality of a tax ruling provided to Apple before Christmas. Noonan confirmed that the Commission had requested additional information on the ruling. He said it will take the… – Continue reading
Bermuda has been in the spotlight in Australia as senators examine the tax affairs of big business. An Australian senate committee set up to look at the tax affairs of major companies heard that oil giants Chevron had 200 companies registered in Bermuda and a further 200 registered in the… – Continue reading
German prosecutors have launched an investigation into suspected tax evasion in connection with cheating on emissions tests by Volkswagen, adding to the intense scrutiny of Europe’s biggest carmaker. The investigation focuses on five Volkswagen employees, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office in the northern German city of Braunschweig, near Volkswagen’s… – Continue reading
India’s Supreme Court has asked Vodafone to pay $302 million to the Indian government as part of its plans to merge four of its operating businesses ahead of a public listing in India. Vodafone is contesting charges of around $1.1 billion that the government is seeking to allow the merger… – Continue reading
Hong Kong is tipped to become the world’s largest offshore corporate services centre by 2020, helped ironically, by the industry’s own struggles against reform demands coming from western governments and pressure groups. On notice after high profile money laundering and tax avoidance scandals, traditional offshore havens like the British Virgin… – Continue reading
Transfer pricing adjustment cannot be made in a case where the tax rate in the country of the Associated Enterprise is higher than the Indian rate and where, accordingly, establishment of tax avoidance or manipulation of prices or establishment of shifting of profits is not possible. Only after proper application… – Continue reading
On September 16, 2015, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida entered an order allowing the IRS to proceed with “John Doe” Summonses seeking information regarding US persons who hold offshore accounts at Belize Bank International Limited and Belize Bank Limited (the “Belize Banks”).1 These summonses… – Continue reading
On Tuesday, Deutsche Bank Suisse, a unit of German lender – Deutsche Bank AG DB entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) under which the bank will pay a penalty of around $31 million. The non-prosecution deal entered under the Swiss Bank Program will help the bank… – Continue reading
The offshore yuan strengthened the most this month on speculation traders are paring bets the currency will weaken after a surprise drop in U.S. consumer confidence pushed down the greenback. A gauge of the dollar’s strength fell for a second day as an index of consumer sentiment slumped to the… – Continue reading
Deutsche Bank AG’s Swiss unit agreed to pay $31 million to receive a non-prosecution agreement in a U.S. probe of banks in Switzerland that helped Americans evade taxes. The accord announced Tuesday by the Justice Department is the third-largest of 57 reached this year with Swiss banks. The firms, which… – Continue reading
Veteran banker says India purchase reflects client demand for onshore private banking advice. Julius Baer’s Asia Pacific head Thomas Meier is preparing to leave Asia after 20 years, but he isn’t leaving Asia behind. The veteran banker, who also worked at Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, will continue to oversee… – Continue reading
Participants listen to an expert during the seminar hosted by KPMG Qatar. KPMG in Qatar held a seminar recently to help chief financial officers and chief compliance officers from financial institutions understand the implications of Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and what they need to do to comply. The seminar comes… – Continue reading
The number of Swiss institutions have seen “asset outflows” and the tax status of many of their clients have been found to be “inappropriate”, as per the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), which also has the mandate to combat money laundering activities. Switzerland authorities revealed on Tuesday that India… – Continue reading
Multinationals should pay their taxes where they make their profits, according to one of the recommendations by the tax rulings committee, which were adopted by MEPs on 25 November. Report authors Elisa Ferreira (S&D, Portugal) and Michael Theurer (ALDE, Germany) told us it had been difficult for the committee to… – Continue reading
Expats savers will have some fixed feelings at the changes in interest rates on offshore fixed and instant access accounts. Conister Bank has notched up a couple of rate increases on fixed rate accounts – the three year fix rising 0.5% to 2.30% and the one year fix up 0.10%… – Continue reading
Pharmaceuticals manufacturer Pfizer is set to move its tax address to Ireland following a major merger A Government minister has said that Ireland is not a tax haven, and that companies choose to locate here for ‘lots of reasons’. It comes in the wake of the decision by the pharmaceuticals… – Continue reading
Corporation tax in Northern Ireland is on its way ‘The future depends on what you do today’. It’s a very simple mantra but it rings so true when you consider the author and what he achieved, Mahatma Gandhi truly was a man of iconic vision and wisdom. As details of… – Continue reading
Teddy Sagi still owns a 30 per cent stake in Playtech, the gambling software firm The Israeli billionaire Teddy Sagi’s £460m takeover of Plus500, the financial trading firm, was torpedoed yesterday due to “concerns” raised by the Financial Conduct Authority watchdog. Mr Sagi is the founder of the gambling software… – Continue reading
The Italian Supreme Court overturned decisions of lower courts to conclude that two renowned Italian fashion designers were not guilty of tax evasion. The designers, however, could still be subject to civil penalties of about €343.3 million. BACKGROUND The designers had set up Luxembourg companies, to which they had transferred… – Continue reading
Guidance published in the Spanish official gazette on 17 November 2015, establishes the requirements: (1) to identify the tax residence of persons holding or controlling certain financial accounts; and (2) to report that information within the context of mutual assistance. Accordingly, Royal Decree 1021/2015 transposes into Spanish domestic law the… – Continue reading
The Department of Justice announced today that Privatbank IHAG Zürich AG (IHAG) reached a resolution under the department’s Swiss Bank Program. IHAG will pay a penalty of more than $7 million. “Through the information provided by IHAG and other Swiss banks in the Program, the department has unraveled the various… – Continue reading
