The Federal Government is seeking assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on modalities for improving tax collection, especially from the International Oil Companies (IOCs), Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed, has said. She told reporters on the sidelines of the ongoing 2018 International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank Group Meetings, in Bali,...
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday in Abuja signed executive order eight, tagged Voluntary Offshore Assets Regularization Scheme (VOARS) to make money laundering and tax evasion difficult. Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in a statement last night, said Executive Order 008, which was...
By the order, Nigerian taxpayers who hold offshore assets and incomes are expected to, within a period of 12 months, declare voluntary those assets and pay taxes on them. When they do this, they should expect to derive certain specified benefits. The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has stepped up...
Switzerland has begun sharing financial record data with tax authorities in many countries as a method for battling tax evasion, however, Africa, which loses about $60 billion in unlawful flows every year, generally into European banks, is prominent by its nonappearance from the arrangement. Swiss bank accounts have for quite...
Luanda, ANGOLA, October 6 – Angola and China are due to sign a set of agreements including an accord to put an end to double taxation in commercial transactions, as part of a visit the Angolan president Joao Lourenco is due to start to the Asian country, Angop has learnt....
The entry into force of Value Added Tax in Angola has been postponed from January 2019 to July of the same year due to delays in legislation, an official said on Wednesday in Luanda. The coordinator of the technical group for the introduction of VAT, Adilson Sequeira, was speaking on...
Our previous article about the taxable basis for the taxation of companies in the Macau territory made reference to the fact that the courts in Macau, notably the Court of Second Instance (TSI) and the Tax Administration, do not seem to share the same view regarding income considered as the...
The new Tax Identification Number (NIF) of Angola for individuals and companies goes into effect on 1 October, said on Friday in Luanda, the head of the Registration and Collection Directorate of the General Tax Administration (AGT). The entry into operation of the new NIF, which will be the same...
Angola and Portugal are due this week to sign a convention to end double taxation between the two countries, as part of a two-day visit to Angola that the Portuguese prime minister is due to start on Monday, financial newspaper Jornal de Negócios reported last Friday. The newspaper reported that...
The British High Commission has advised British citizens to report and pay their tax on foreign income and assets. In a media release, the Commission said as part of the British Government’s “Requirement to Correct” legislation UK taxpayers must make sure that all their foreign income and assets, where there...
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...
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a regulation in European Law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union (EU). The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) superseded the UK Data Protection Act 1998 on May 25, 2018. Significant and wide-reaching in scope, the new...
Federal Inland Revenue Service has published Nigeria’s revised Transfer Pricing Regulations (NTPR). The NTPR is effective for basis periods commencing after 12 March 2018 and incorporates BEPS outcomes and suggestions from The African Tax Administration Forum. The NTPR includes significant penalties for non-compliance (a) failure to file TP declaration =...
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...
The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) concluded the negotiation of Double Taxation Agreements (the DTAs) with the Republic of Ghana and the Republic of Cameroon on 26 July 2018 and 3 August 2018, respectively. While this is a welcomed development, it is expected that efforts will now be directed towards...
A bilateral double taxation agreement between Nigeria and Singapore generally is to take effect Jan. 1, 2019, although in Singapore, provisions regarding income taxes other than withholding taxes are to take effect Jan. 1, 2020. The treaty, also known as a DTA, is to affect how each country’s income tax...
Manufacturers have accused the Kenya Revenue Authority of bulldozing the planned roll out of the e-tax stamp duty system despite numerous concerns. Their main concern is that the Excise Goods Management System will push up the cost of doing business. The Kenya Association of Manufacturers yesterday made a passionate appeal...
Value Added Tax (IVA) will replace the Consumer Tax in Angola in 2019, the coordinator of the Technical Group for the Implementation of IVA, Adilson Sequeira, said according to a report published on the website of the Angolan Ministry of Finance. “The introduction of IVA is the result of a...
A legal practitioner cum entrepreneur, Moses Oruaze Dickson, has called for the review of the legislative framework for tax and taxation in the country, describing the existing law as obsolete for a progressive society like Nigeria. According to Dickson, who is also Managing Solicitor, Triax Solicitors, the law is long...
NAIROBI, July 13 (Xinhua) — Kenya and Turkey are set to sign a double taxation avoidance agreement in order to boost bilateral commercial ties, a Turkish diplomat said Friday. Ahmet Cemil Miroglu, Turkish Ambassador to Kenya, told a media briefing in Nairobi that both nations have already agreed on the...
Kenya and Portugal on Tuesday signed an agreement for avoidance of double taxation. The main objective of the Agreement on the Avoidance Double Taxation is to eliminate double taxation of income or gains arising in one country and paid to residents of the other country. This will create a conducive...
ISLAMABAD: If Panama Papers documents are any guide, Saifullahs of Lakki Marwat has the highest number of offshore companies owned by any Pakistani family and majority of them are in British Virgin Islands. Seychelles and Panama are two other jurisdictions where they have set up companies. While source of wealth...
Experts have called on the federal government to do more toward promoting new investments, especially local start-up companies, by offering them tax incentives in order to enable them thrive in the nation’s current business climate. They are unanimous in their opinion that the federal government has not done enough to...
The Mauritius Revenue Authority on June 11, 2018, warned those financial institutions required to report information on the accounts of US persons under the US Financial Account Tax Compliance Act that declarations are required by Jule 31, 2018. The statement said: “FATCA information in respect of the year 2017 will...
Liberia has signed the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, as amended by the Protocol amending the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) The Convention provides a multilateral basis for a wide variety of administrative assistance including...
NAIROBI, June 12 (Xinhua) — Kenya on Tuesday signed an agreement with Singapore to phase out double taxation and attract investments from the Southeast Asian country in key sectors like agro-processing and financial services. Henry Rotich, the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Planning, said the elimination of double taxation...
Taxation by county governments on transit goods is holding back plans to eliminate trade barriers between East Africa Africa Community countries, Cabinet minster Peter Munya said at the weekend. The Cabinet Secretary for East African and Northern Corridor Development said said double taxation will stiffle the growth of the East...
As June 30th deadline to file returns with Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) fast closes in, a section of rich Kenyans who have hidden assets overseas are rushing to return the assets to avoid paying taxes. Tax consultants told Business Daily that the wealthy lot is repatriating the cash to avoid...
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...
When it comes to cryptocurrencies, an area that is often overlooked is that of exchange control, and whether the acquisition or trading in cryptos may (even inadvertently) lead to a transgression under the exchange control regulations. According to Leon Rood, director at Werksmans Attorneys, while the South African Reserve Bank...
As Nigeria continues to innovate and source strategies to attract foreign investors, making the country an investor destination in sub Saharan Africa and indeed the whole of Africa, the United Arab Emirates’ example is perhaps the way to go. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime...
The International Monetary Fund, an arm of the World Bank Group tells Nigeria to double her tax compliance to GDP ratio from 25 per cent to 50 per cent. Amine Mati, head of IMF in Nigeria, said this in Lagos, at the presentation of the IMF Regional Economic Outlook for...
The Minority in Parliament has raised concerns over government’s intention to approve Double Taxation Agreements with the Czech Republic, Morocco, Mauritius and Singapore which they claim were not in the interest of the country. According to the Minority, Ghana would not benefit from the deal since the level of investments...
KAMPALA, May 16 (Xinhua) — The World Bank in its new report has urged Uganda to improve its tax revenue if the east African country is to sustain economic growth. The Bank in its 11th Uganda Economic Update issued on Tuesday said while the economic growth has rebounded from 4.5...
President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption drive moved a notch higher yesterday. Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s agreement on recovery of assets and cash stashed away in UAE by Nigerians takes off next month. Besides, the collaboration among heads of anti-corruption agencies in Commonwealth (Africa) countries will be stepped up...
The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun has disclosed that the Federal Government paid N439.3 million to fourteen whistleblowers who gave vital information in the recovery of billions of Naira and some millions in hard currency from some corporate tax evaders. While she did not name the offending companies, Adeosun told...
Individuals that are in salaried employment have limited tax benefits. There are, however, certain tax benefits that may be used by individuals in salaried employment who are aware of the South African tax laws, notes Daniel Baines, author of ‘How to Get a SARS Refund‘. These can be grouped into...
President Muhammadu Buhari move to halt tax evasion signs an agreement with Singapore President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday 26 March 2018, signed the instrument of ratification of agreement with Singapore against double taxation and fiscal evasion. The President’s assent is pursuant to the approval of the double taxation treaty (DTT)...
HARARE, May 7 (Xinhua) — Zimbabwe and Qatar on Monday agreed to expeditiously negotiate and conclude agreements that protect future investments and avoid double taxation, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa has said. Addressing journalists in Doha, Qatar, after the first meeting between Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Amir...
(Business in Cameroon) – During the inauguration of Nestlé Cameroon’s new production unit on April 12, 2018, in Douala, Pietro Lazerri, the Swiss ambassador to Cameroon informed that his country and Cameroon would initiate discussions to find a solution to the double taxation of companies operating in both countries. The...
Expanding the tax base under the existing conditions is like bleeding an anaemic person. A recent directive by President Yoweri Museveni to the Minister of Finance to tax users of social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp in a bid to widen the country’s tax base has stirred a...
Malawi is struggling to address loss of revenues due to smuggling of minerals, unregulated artisanal and small-scale mining activities, under declaration of taxable income and transfer mispricing by mining companies. Reserve Bank of Malawi statistics show that Malawi lost $980 million (MWK78 billion) between 2010 and 2017 due to foreign...
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said he wanted to tax social media to keep the gossip mill in check and raise revenue for the cash-strapped country. Now the government says it has no such plans. The government of Uganda admitted this week that it won’t impose a social media tax, after...
The Seychelles has been told to deploy more resources to implement recommendations from the OECD on base erosion and profit shifting. Ingela Willfors, a United Nations tax expert from the Swedish Ministry of Finance, held discussions on implementation with the Seychelles’ Minister of Finance, Trade, and Economic Planning and in...
The Centre for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD) has commended the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) for exposing the tax evasion scam worth K76.5 billion in the extractive sector. The center has also welcomed intentions by the authority to undertake an extensive audit of mining companies. CTPD Executive Director Isaac Mwaipopo...
NEW YORK —Globe Afrique Media and Communication has initiated a research on naturalized US citizens living and working abroad, especially in African countries who have either refused to file US federal and state taxes or are under-reporting their income and assets. In a recent assessment conducted by Globe Afrique, hundreds...
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday signed two agreements with two countries following the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC). The agreements, according to a statement issued by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Femi Adesina, include the instrument for ratification of agreement between Nigeria and...
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) would, this year, start charging seven per cent VAT Withholding Tax on individuals and entities that transact business with the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). “What we are seeking to do is that as a person is charging the 17.5 VAT on build-up cost of...
Egypt is to receive international support to implement new measures in the area of tax transparency and information exchange. Unveiled at a meeting on international tax reform in Cairo on March 7, the OECD and Egypt agreed a new project entitled “Enhancing Domestic Resource Mobilization in Egypt through a better...
Mauritius last month released the Income Tax (Country-by-Country Reporting) Regulations 2018, setting out the jurisdiction’s rules concerning the filing by multinational groups of transfer pricing documentation. The CbC report is one element of a new three-tiered standardized approach to transfer pricing documentation proposed under BEPS Action 13. Under the framework,...
