Category: Corporates

India $6.4 Billion Back-Tax Claim Fails to Dent Foreign Inflows

As foreign portfolio investors balk at India’s claim of $6.4 billion in back taxes, the finance ministry’s latest demand isn’t damping interest in the nation’s stocks and bonds. Foreigners were net buyers of local equities every day barring one since the finance ministry said April 6 it is well within… – Continue reading

Supreme Court rejects appeal against transfer of Vodafone Essar Gujarat’s assets

In a major relief to Vodafone, the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the income tax department’s appeal challenging Vodafone Essar Gujarat’s transfer of certain passive assets to Vodafone Essar Infrastructure. However, it said that the department is free to raise tax demand under relevant tax laws but can’t block the… – Continue reading

First cross-border payment for Canadian RMB Trading Hub

This week, the Royal Bank of Canada became the first bank to complete cross-border Renminbi (RMB) payment using Canada’s new RMB Trading Hub through the hub’s designated clearing bank, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (Canada). On 23 March, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), other Canadian banks and government delegates… – Continue reading

FF may table motion of censure against McDonald

SF deputy leader criticised for naming ex-politicians of having Ansbacher accounts Fianna Fáil will today discuss tabling a motion of censure against Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald over her decision to use Dáil privilege to name former politicians who were accused of having offshore bank accounts to evade… – Continue reading

Cameron advisor back in Labour’s crosshairs over Malta companies

Claims of using Malta to reduce tax liability ‘malicious and libellous’ – Lynton Crosby British Prime Minister David Cameron’s electoral guru, Australian Lynton Crosby, has rejected a Labour attack on his personal tax affairs as a “made up negative story”. On Thursday the British Labour Party called on Mr Crosby… – Continue reading

Europe Preparing Another Antitrust Case Against Google

European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager is preparing to reopen the antitrust case against Google following the settlement with the search giant under Joaquin Almunia two years ago. Vestager has been speaking to various advisors both inside and outside of Europe, alongside companies affected by Google’s anti-competitive search results. She… – Continue reading

Stop Corporate Welfare Kings and Tax Escapees From Strip-mining America

“Tax day” comes and goes each year, but unfortunately, the systemic issues that plague American taxpayers linger on without resolution well past the mid-April deadline. The U.S. tax code has long been manipulated by corporate lobbyists and their corporate tax attorneys. (President Jimmy Carter once called the loophole-ridden tax laws… – Continue reading

Wall Street Fees, Swiss Banks, Clydesdale Fined: Compliance

(Bloomberg) — Wall Street banks and other financial firms should pay new fees to bankroll their own government oversight, according to a member of the top U.S. derivatives regulator. Sharon Y. Bowen, a Democrat on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said Congress should let the agency set fees on banks… – Continue reading

How more and more U.S. corporations are opting out of paying U.S. taxes

NEW YORK • When it comes to taxes, corporate America is getting a bit less corporate. And a bit less American. Fueled by a wave of inversions, a record 54 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index of leading U.S. firms are now at least partially exempt from the… – Continue reading

Cameron crackdown on tax havens ‘purely political gesture’, says Tory peer

David Maclean, Baron Blencathra, wrote to Cayman Islands in 2014 that transparency push was to head off G8 pressure and EU’s financial transaction tax A Conservative peer has described David Cameron’s flagship G8 anti-tax avoidance initiative as a “purely political gesture” designed to head off European attempts to curb the… – Continue reading

Josh Frydenberg to boost funds management exports

The funds management industry has welcomed a commitment from Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to make tax and corporate law changes that will boost the export of asset management services to Asia. Complex and uncompetitive legal and tax settings in Australia have acted as a handbrake on the export of financial… – Continue reading

Canada: Increasing Corporate Penalties And Risk Management (Update To “Seven Corporate Sins As A Source Of Government Revenue And Economic Stimulus”)

Introduction Soft commodity prices, divergent monetary policies across major economies, high unemployment rates and weak world trade have all conspired to slow down global economic recovery over the past seven years. Consequently, governments have had to cut spending as future revenues remain uncertain. This has led governments to look for… – Continue reading

Syndicated loan borrowings abroad fall as companies tap bonds for expansion

MUMBAI: India’s syndicated loan borrowing in overseas markets has collapsed in the January-March quarter as Indian companies have taken the bond route to fund their expansions, and investments are yet to pick up. Loans denominated in US dollar, Japanese yen or euro dropped 75 per cent year-on-year. India G3 syndicated… – Continue reading

Offshore tax havens help dozens of companies avoid paying nearly 600 billion in taxes

Apple is worth roughly 700 billion dollars. Microsoft is worth rough 70 billion. Over the past few years, congressional hearings exposed how both companies moved money overseas to avoid paying U.S. taxes. But as a new report shows, Apple and Microsoft are two of dozens of companies who take part… – Continue reading

PwC among auditors enlisted by China to probe state firms’ offshore assets

Beijing enlists seven firms, including PwC, to investigate projects and holdings this year Beijing has appointed seven audit companies, including international firm PwC, to look into the overseas assets of major state-owned enterprises as it tightens the reins on the business giants. The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (Sasac)… – Continue reading

OFFSHORE TAX HAVENS COST SMALL BUSINESSES $3,244 A YEAR

Washington, D.C. – As tax day approaches, it’s important to remember that small businesses end up picking up the tab for offshore tax loopholes used by many large multinational corporations. U.S. PIRG joined Senator Bernie Sanders, Bryan McGannon of the American Sustainable Business Council, and Bob McIntyre of Citizens for… – Continue reading

Swiss banks suddenly preach transparency in U.S. tax evasion endgame

Swiss banks, for decades the bastions of secrecy, are preaching the virtue of transparency to their U.S. clients as they try to head off billions of dollars in potential fines for helping Americans evade taxes. Faced with the threat of penalties that could bankrupt some of them, almost 100 of… – Continue reading

Shire share price movement suggests pharmco is better off on its own

Analysts upbeat on the company’s standalone prospects The recent share price performance of Shire Plc (LON:SHP), the London-listed drugmaker left at the altar by US pharma giant AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) last year, suggests that the company will continue to thrive on its own, a view supported by recent analyst comments on… – Continue reading

Ten Percent of S&P 500 Companies Avoid Paying U.S. Taxes

When it comes to taxes, corporate America is getting a bit less corporate. And a bit less American. Fueled by a wave of inversions, a record 54 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index of leading U.S. firms are now at least partially exempt from the corporate income tax…. – Continue reading

Social networking sites to become work places

The Revenue Office will take steps to tax social networking sites and implement other regulations related to e-commerce. After the implementation of this regulation, all such virtual sites will be deemed as “work places” and the advertisers of social networking sites will also be deemed as “electronic tax payers.” Moreover,… – Continue reading

10 Notorious Tax Cheats: Billionaire Olenicoff Still Battling UBS Over $200 Million Offshore Stash

His softball sentence of two years probation ended five years ago. But billionaire real estate developer Igor Olenicoff still can’t put behind him his December 2007 guilty plea to lying on his federal tax return about some $200 million he kept offshore. For that, he can blame his own litigiousness… – Continue reading

HSBC seeks new non-executive directors in wake of tax evasion scandal

Bank appoints headhunters MWM Consulting after revelations about its Swiss banking arm have brought board composition under intense scrutiny HSBC is preparing to bring in new non-executive directors to overhaul a board that has faced intense scrutiny following revelations of its Swiss arm’s involvement in tax evasion. The appointment of… – Continue reading

PICKING UP THE TAB 2015: SMALL BUSINESSES PAY THE PRICE FOR OFFSHORE TAX HAVENS

Every year, corporations and wealthy individuals use complicated gimmicks to shift U.S. earnings to subsidiaries in offshore tax havens – countries with minimal or no taxes – in order to reduce their federal and state income tax liabilities by billions of dollars. While tax haven abusers benefit from America’s markets,… – Continue reading

Swiss Banks Strong-Arm Clients in U.S. Tax-Evasion Endgame

Swiss banks, for decades the bastions of secrecy, are preaching the virtue of transparency to their U.S. clients as they try to head off billions of dollars in potential fines for helping Americans evade taxes. Faced with the threat of penalties that could bankrupt some of them, almost 100 of… – Continue reading

Indian banks make a beeline for space in Gujarat’s Gift City

Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, HDFC Bank and many others have signed up for space in Gujarat’s International Finance Tec-City (also known as Gift City). In fact, banks are expected to be the first to kick off operations in 2016/17, when the International… – Continue reading

Central Bank Governor of the Year 2015, Asia Pacific

The ‘Green Governor’ has a reputation for innovative thinking and problem solving. He is renowned for his support of the agriculture sector and his focus on SME as well as green banking. As one of the most progressive and well-respected Central Bank Governors in the world, United World discusses Bangladesh’s… – Continue reading

Government shouldn’t work with tax-avoiding tech companies, says Macquarie Telecom

Government agencies should be forced to justify themselves to federal ministers every time they buy services from global technology giants such as Google and Amazon Web Services that pay less in local taxes, according to telecommunications provider Macquarie Telecom. In a letter to the Senate Economics Reference Committee investigating the… – Continue reading

UK: Tax Issues Update – April 2015 – IP Profit And Protection: Techniques For Future Success

Historically taxpayers have faced difficulty overcoming a presumption against a change in domicile to a foreign jurisdiction. Intellectual property generally will be the most valuable asset held by technology companies and, in fact, many other business entities across all sectors of the economy. A recent analysis of S&P 500 companies… – Continue reading

South32 turns bearish as tax inquiry, iron-ore put ‘sell’ skids under BHP

Johannesburg (miningweekly.com) – With the shareholder vote just over three weeks away, the planned spin-off of South32 from BHP Billiton has turned bearish and BHP Billiton has itself fallen victim to an unprecedented number of analyst sell recommendations owing to the plummeting iron-ore price, worsened by the reputational damage that… – Continue reading

Worldwide: Protecting Yourself From International Tax Investigations

Who Will Be Next? How To Respond To A Tax Investigation The international political community continues to make the most threatening noises about those who they believe do not pay enough tax. Long gone it seems are the days where it was accepted that a person could properly organise his… – Continue reading