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,...
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 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...
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 =...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Africa is estimated to have lost over $1 trillion in illicit financial flows (IFFs) within the past 50 years, with drainage of over $50 billion annually. These outflows, according to the African Union and Economic Commission for Africa (AU/ECA) High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs), refer to “money...
Thirty-eight African tax authorities recently converged in Abuja for the International Conference on Tax in Africa. The group discussed ways to boost revenues in Africa, in particular and how to improve collection of corporate income tax, reports Nduka Chiejina (Assistant Editor) Tax collection has never been a piece of cake...
African nations will have more resources at their disposal to meet the Sustainable Development Goals if their national revenue authorities can boost tax collection. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa estimates that the continent loses more than $50 billion through illicit financial outflows per year, much of this linked...
The Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr Babatunde Fowler said the organisation plans to join the global forum on Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) to reduce tax evasion. Fowler disclosed this on Sunday in Lagos on the sideline of the just concluded workshop on Automatic Exchange...
Sub-Saharan African countries should look to tap tax revenues outside natural resources, to finance stimulus measures that could reinvigorate their ailing economies, a new report from the International Monetary Fund says. The IMF’s Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa report, released on May 9, notes that growth in the Sub-Saharan...
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are putting a new breath to the fight against tax fraud and evasion in Nigeria, as the two agencies will soon launch an anti-tax fraud and evasion team. This collaboration, according to the FIRS Executive Chairman,...
Ghana has signed an agreement with the government of Mauritius to ensure that its investors will not be taxed twice by the two countries and vice-versa. Known as the Double Taxation Avoidance agreement (DTA), the both Foreign Affairs ministers Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey and Mauritius counterpart Hon SeetanahLutchmeenaraidoo signed the agreement...
The creation of a new United Nations tax body to clamp down on tax dodging, which experts say could cost developing countries more than $200 billion a year in missed revenues, will be a key priority of the Group of 77 and China under Ecuadorian leadership, according to the country’s...
A parliamentary drive to force greater transparency on the UK’s offshore tax havens is being led by former Commons spending watchdog chairwoman Dame Margaret Hodge and ex-international development secretary Andrew Mitchell. The pair, backed by scores of MPs from across the Commons and supported by an alliance of charities, are...
The Mauritius IFC: Driving Growth in Africa As a jurisdiction of substance, the Mauritius International Financial Centre (Mauritius IFC) has been instrumental in driving quality investments in Africa, leading to sustained growth and prosperity across the continent. It is therefore with deep regret that we take note of the misperceptions...
The Kenya Revenue Authority has signed an international memorandum of understanding on tax collaboration with Botswana, to provide administration assistance from next year. Tax officials from Kenya and Botswana on Thursday agreed to the assistance project that marks the first South-South cooperation pact under the Tax Inspectors Without Borders programme...
The Federal Executive Council, FEC, on Wednesday approved a bilateral agreement for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of physical evasion of taxes on income and capital benefits between Nigeria and Singapore. The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun disclosed to State House Correspondents, after the FEC meeting...
Ethiopia recently adopted new transfer pricing rules in the form of Directive 43/2015 (“the Directive”) issued by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. The Directive provides detailed guidance as to the application of Article 29 of the Income Tax Proclamation (ITP) 286/2002, which requires taxpayers to ensure transactions between...
Ireland, accused of being a tax haven for multinationals such as Apple to pay nearly zero tax on the bulk of its profits earned outside the United States, finds itself with a new adversary in the global fight against unfair tax practices — Brazil. As of October 1, Brazil will...
The European Commission has put nine Middle Eastern and North African countries on notice that they are at risk of measures being taken against them to deter tax avoidance. The nine countries (see table below) are Bahrain, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates...
Trade relations between Singapore and Africa are set to deepen, with several agreements signed on Wednesday (Aug 24) at the fourth edition of the Africa Singapore Business Forum. These include the signing of the Avoidance of Double Taxation (DTA) with Ethiopia, a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) with Mozambique and an...
Despite Western opposition, the 134-member Group of 77 is continuing to pursue a longstanding proposal for an inter-governmental UN-affiliated tax body aimed at combating corporate tax dodging and curbing illicit financial flows, including money laundering and off-shore banking. The proposal has already been shot down twice by Western nations, first,...
Kenya will create an international taxation center to help in the global crackdown against tax avoidance, a senior official said on Wednesday. John Njiraini, the Commissioner General of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), said the formation of the international tax office would enable Kenya to curb tax evasion. The office...
The Panama Papers have put the spotlight on tax avoidance once again. This is, of course, not a new issue. Before that, we had Swiss Leaks and BVI Leaks. You may be asking: how does tax avoidance work and why have policymakers struggled to rein it in? Firstly, it is...
Tax and prosecution bodies must build the capacity to curb illicit activities that rob countries of tax revenues, said Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan on Thursday, speaking at the High Level Conference on Illicit Financial Flows at the University of Pretoria. Illicit money leaving Africa reduces the amount of resources available...
The “Big Four” global accounting firms – PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and Ernst & Young – are the masterminds of multinational tax avoidance and the architects of tax schemes which cost governments and their taxpayers an estimated $US1 trillion a year, according to an Australian taxation expert. The controversial new claims...
Kenya and India will enter into a revised agreement for the avoidance of double taxation on Monday when President Uhuru Kenyatta and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India preside over the signing of several agreements on Monday. At a press briefing on Sunday, President Kenyatta’s spokesman Manoah Esipisu said other...
The absence of adequate data on the operations of businesses in the extractive sector continues to impede the GRA’s ability to fully implement Ghana’s transfer pricing policy. According to the Deputy Commissioner in charge of Policy Programs at the GRA, Edward Gyamerah, the issue makes it difficult to fully assess...
Representatives of more than 80 countries and jurisdictions met in Kyoto on Thursday for a two-day conference aimed at going after corporate tax avoidance in the first-ever effort of its kind to include developed and developing countries. The meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Committee on Fiscal...
Tax authorities and African governments have been urged to adopt effective information exchange systems based on proper implementation of international standards of transparency. This is necessary because exchange of information among member countries ensure that corporate bodies and individual taxpayers would have no safe haven to hide their income and...
India had in August 1982 signed the treaty with Mauritius to eliminate double taxation of income and capital gains to encourage mutual trade and investment. Investors must pay taxes on money they earn in India and the domestic economy is now strong enough to depend on any “tax-incentivised route” to...
As world leaders consider what to do about the revelations emerging from the Panama Papers, Liberia’s government will be worrying about the fall-out that may cross the Atlantic Ocean from the affair. The European Union has announced it will be creating a new “tax haven blacklist”, to be released by...
On October 5, 2015, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) issued final tax policy recommendations stemming from its Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. The reports, endorsed by the G20 Finance Ministers on October 8 and by the G20 leaders at their November 15-16 summit, consist primarily...
African governments should embrace meaningful bilateral investments agreements to foster sustainable economic growth on the continent. The call follows a report by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) on investment policies and bilateral investment treaties by Africa, indicating a huge gap between most of signed treaties and their actual...
UNITED NATIONS, March 30 (Xinhua) — Stopping abuse of tax havens and promoting global tax cooperation will help create a fairer global society, Jeffrey Sachs, U.S. economist and UN special adviser on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) told reporters here Wednesday. Sachs made the statement at a press conference here...
Kenya has received global recognition from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), following the appointment of James Karanja, a career Kenyan tax administrator to lead the recently established Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) Secretariat. TIWB is a global scope initiative, that was launched mid last year at the...
The Mauritius central bank said it has issued a banking licence to Bank of China , the first Chinese bank licensed to operate on the Indian Ocean island. Zhang Xiaoqing, who is leading a team setting up the Mauritius unit, said Bank of China wanted to provide financial services to...
Mauritius plans to sell itself as a world class financial-services hub to investment companies in Asia and the Far East to win new business, an official said. The island-nation’s Financial Services Promotional Agency plans to market the country as an international financial center, or IFC, and is already collaborating with...
THE withdrawal of a withholding tax on service payments to foreigners, decried by many as unworkable, has been widely welcomed. The Treasury acknowledged that the tax had introduced “unforeseen issues, uncertainty on the application of domestic law and taxing rights under tax treaties”. The withholding tax was introduced into legislation...
When a rock-star French economist comes to our country to tell us that the surest way to fix inequality is to tax the hell out of the privileged, they are guaranteed a sympathetic audience. And so we will partly have Thomas Piketty to thank when Pravin Gordhan introduces tax hikes...
Treaties limit the tax poorer nations can place on British companies doing business within their borders, says ActionAid. The UK has signed a high number of tax deals with some of the world’s poorest countries, potentially depriving those states of millions in tax revenues every year, according to an analysis...
Any country that agrees to adopt the OECD/G20 base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) project minimum standards and pay an annual fee will be allowed to participate in future BEPS project work, according to a plan agreed to by the OECD today. The OECD’s framework for BEPS plan implementation, to be...
Axis Bank, India’s third-largest private bank by assets, is aiming to open branches in Sharjah and Bahrain by March next year as part of plans of increasing its presence in the Arabian Gulf region, a senior executive said. Axis Bank has nine overseas offices: branches at Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai-DIFC,...
Kenya will now be able to pursue individuals who use offshore companies to evade taxes and commit other economic crimes, after it signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters last week. The agreement is the most comprehensive multilateral instrument available for all forms of cooperation to...
Rules should require foreign owners of prime London homes to come clean about beneficiary owners, say anti-corruption groups Large parts of London’s Baker Street, including the Beatles store, are owned by offshore trusts. New laws that aim to stop the UK being a magnet for money launderers – by forcing...
Google’s top global tax executive told U.K. lawmakers that a new U.K. tax provision dubbed “the Google Tax” will not actually apply to the U.S. technology giant. The law, officially the Diverted Profits Tax, was introduced last year amid concerns that Google parent Alphabet Inc. and other global tech companies...
