The French bank Credit Agricole will pay US regulators $787 million for flagrant violations of international sanctions against Iran, Sudan, and other countries. While it almost isn’t news anymore that a global bank got caught violating the law and will pay a giant fine to make up for it, we… – Continue reading
What has happened? On 5 October 2015 the OECD issued its final paper on BEPS Action 12 Mandatory Disclosure Rules, Action 12 – 2015 Final Report (Paper). In this Alert we highlight the main issues and recommendations for taxation reform raised in the Paper. The Australian Treasurer’s BEPS Press Release… – Continue reading
Zambia Revenue Authority-ZRA- Commissioner General Berlin Msiska says Africa needs to work together to address illegal Financial Flows. Mr Msiska says international cooperation is required because illegal financial flows affect all regions of the continent. He says African Tax administrations can achieve a more effective and efficient relationship through initiatives… – Continue reading
The rogue regime in Banjul is on the verge of finalizing an Offshore Banking deal with some Hong Kong multi-million dollar companies, the Freedom Newspaper can reveal. Under the new deal, the Jammeh government is going to open an Offshore Bank in The Gambia, with the primary objective of helping… – Continue reading
Major tax administration reforms are expected after Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Commissioner General John Njiraini was made to cut short the release of quarter one performance on Monday following a call from State House. KRA has already moved to deepen its capacity by inviting former employees to boost its capacity… – Continue reading
National Treasury has decided to scrap a recently introduced incentive to make South Africa’s service sector more competitive, despite an impassioned appeal from multinational companies not to do so. The special foreign tax credit for service fees has protected companies from double taxation where South Africa’s treaty partners levied withholding… – Continue reading
What economists and tax practitioners expect to see. JOHANNESBURG – Finance minister Nhlanhla Nene (pictured) will once again be between a rock and a hard place when he presents his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) on Wednesday. With the economy under pressure and concerns about how government will balance its… – Continue reading
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has welcomed Tunisia’s plans for tax reform, noting that they will improve equity in the tax regime, simplify tax rules, and boost revenues. In its 2015 Article IV consultation report for Tunisia, the Fund called for the quick implementation of the tax reform package, which… – Continue reading
The British Virgin Islands (BVI) said it is already committed to publishing an anti-money laundering action plan after another worrying report emerged; this time listing the territory among the top 10 countries to which identified United Kingdom criminal assets have been laundered. The BVI is actually the only Caribbean country… – Continue reading
SOUTH African companies with operations elsewhere in Africa, such as telecommunications giant MTN, have reason to breathe a little easier having earned a tax respite, albeit considered minor by tax experts. The Treasury has made a concession on the proposed repeal of foreign tax credits for fees on services provided… – Continue reading
When a multinational company makes a cross-border investment, the relevant tax treaty between the two countries will generally sort out which country gets to tax which part of the ensuing activity and income streams. (Read more about tax treaties here.) A key question is this: how do the ensuing taxing… – Continue reading
The BEPS Project involves input from the 34 member countries of the OECD, all G20 members, and more than 40 developing countries. The objective of the BEPS Project is to close gaps in international tax rules, effectively eliminating or substantially reducing BEPS; and to secure government revenues by ensuring that… – Continue reading
Business Reporter Tax administrators from all over Africa are set to meet from October 20 to 22 2015 in Lomé, Togo under the auspices of the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF),the premier tax organisation on the continent,which holds its 2nd International Conference on Tax in Africa (2ICTA). The gathering of… – Continue reading
EY: Four out of 10 Czech businessmen asked for bribe Four out of 10 Czech entrepreneurs have been explicitly asked for a bribe and up to six out of 10 have encountered the possibility of gaining an advantage in their business in exchange for a bribe, according to a survey… – Continue reading
Concerned about the impact of tax havens, world powers are tightening the noose on multinationals seeking tax advantages. India wants changes to its tax treaty with Mauritius, forcing the island’s new government to re-examine its business model and focus elsewhere. There is debate in the new government, which took office… – Continue reading
The details of the recently signed Income Tax Treaty between Jersey and Rwanda have become available. The treaty was signed on 26 June 2015. The treaty will come into force after the two countries exchange ratification instruments. The provisions of the treaty will have effect from 1 January of the… – Continue reading
The central government is stepping up its anti-graft drive by cracking down on illegal lending and money-laundering operations in a bid to prevent outbound flows of stolen assets. The Ministry of Public Security says “black banks” and illegal currency exchanges have facilitated the flights of a number of former government… – Continue reading
South Africa is allowing MTN potentially lucrative tax credits on money sent from its African operations to a letterbox company in Mauritius. Last week, amaBhungane and Finance Uncovered, a global reporting project, exposed how MTN’s African subsidiaries send billions in management fees to MTN International in Mauritius. The Mauritian entity… – Continue reading
Extensive use has been made of trusts in South Africa, both for tax planning and for the purposes of reducing (or eradicating) one’s estate duty liability upon death. As the use of offshore trusts as a estate and wealth planning vehicle increases, one needs to consider if and how offshore… – Continue reading
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) rents office space from a Vancouver-based property developer – a company that exploits offshore tax havens in Liechtenstein, the British Virgin Islands and Channel Islands. Larco Investments Ltd. owns three buildings in Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton where they rent office space to the CRA. Larco… – Continue reading
Do your individual clients howl about paying too much federal income tax? Just wait until you get an earful from your business clients. Advertisement A new report from the Tax Foundation, a conservative-leaning think tank located in our nation’s capital, found that the United States has the third-highest marginal corporate… – Continue reading
The Algeria and the United States signed Tuesday in Algiers an intergovernmental agreement on the sharing of tax information between the two countries and to promote financial transparency and the strengthening of bilateral and international fight against tax evasion. The agreement, first of its kind concluded by the US with… – Continue reading
Tax experts from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil and Israel spoke at a two-day conference at Michigan Law about the challenges of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and a multitude of other issues at the intersection of the law of taxation and citizenship. Panel discussions at… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on October 13 signed four unilateral advance pricing agreements (APAs), including India’s second APA with a rollback provision. The nature of the transactions covered under these agreements varied from software development to share price valuation. According to government sources, the total number… – Continue reading
The National Assembly member (NAM) for Foni Bintang Karanai constituency has said that during the recent annual general meeting (AGM) of African Parliamentarian Network on Illicit Financial Flows and Tax (APNIFFT) held in Entebbe, Uganda, African parliamentarians present had applauded the Public Accounts Committee and Public Enterprises Committee (PAC/PEC) of… – Continue reading
Staff Correspondent The National Board of Revenue on Monday started negotiations with Bhutan to sign an agreement on avoidance of double taxation and prevention of tax evasion and capital flight from the country. A five-member delegation led by NBR chairman Md Nojibur Rahman has been carrying out the first round… – Continue reading
Companies around the world are scrambling to overhaul how they communicate with the public when it comes to how much tax they pay, according to professional services firm KPMG. While the Senate is currently investigating multinational firms such as Apple and Google over potential tax avoidance, other countries are also… – Continue reading
Bangladesh is set to sign an agreement with Bhutan to avoid double taxation to boost investments, trade and facilitate information exchange between the two Saarc nations, the National Board of Revenue said in a statement. A team led by NBR Chairman Md Nojibur Rahman is now in Thimpu to take… – Continue reading
Gov. Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom has decried what he called the high rate of tax evasion in Nigeria, describing it as inimical for the development of the country. Emmanuel said this at the opening of the Mandatory Professional Training Programme of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CTIN)… – Continue reading
KUWAIT: The Cabinet has called on ministers and senior officials of state bodies to submit their financial disclosure reports to the Anti-Corruption Authority as soon as possible. The call was made by the Cabinet during its customary weekly meeting held at Bayan Palace yesterday under chairmanship of HH the Prime… – Continue reading
EBENE, Mauritius, Oct 12 (Reuters) – Mauritius plans to launch a trading platform to hedge African currencies against the U.S. 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… – Continue reading
NAIROBI: The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) deserves a special commendation for daring to aim high by targeting to raise Sh5.3 trillion in the next three years. The tax body aims to do this, not by raising taxes—as some would advise it to—but by bringing into the tax bracket 4.4 million… – Continue reading
Emmanuel Mayah, Jeff Mbanga, Francis Kokutse and Nick Mathiason contributed to this joint investigation by the M&G Centre for Investigative Journalism (amaBhungane) and Finance Uncovered, a global reporting project involving journalists in 54 countries. Shortly after Cyril Ramaphosa left MTN to become South Africa’s deputy president last year, he lashed… – Continue reading
MTN Uganda has been accused of failing to provide evidence to justify shifting huge amounts of cash out of Uganda to a briefcase company located in Mauritius, potentially lowering its tax bill in Uganda – the subject of which remains an ongoing dispute with Uganda Revenue Authority, it has emerged…. – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: India has found global allies in its fight against black money. Germany, France, Switzerland, Singapore, Mauritius and the British Virgin Islands are among those that are providing information, or will soon start doing so, on assets held by Indians, helping the Narendra Modi government in its campaign to… – Continue reading
Patent box regimes typically apply deeply discounted tax rates to income derived from intellectual property. Recently unveiled draft legislation may pave the way for a US patent box regime and incentivize taxpayers to reevaluate their global structures. Introduction The US imposes the highest corporate income tax rate (35%) in the… – Continue reading
TRYNESS MBALE, Lusaka IN A bid to contribute to economic growth, Stanbic Bank Zambia has disbursed over K25 million to small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) in various sectors this year. Stanbic Bank chief executive officer for east and southern Africa Zweli Munyati said the bank realises that the SMEs sector… – Continue reading
Six of the nation’s largest banks — Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs — utilize a combined 395 known tax havens to avoid potential tax bills in the billions, according to a new analysis. In total, the big six banks kept $126 billion… – Continue reading
NIGERIA’S recent rating as “third to the last” on the 2015 global ranking of “Ease of paying taxes” is a good indication of why the country is not earning as much as it should from taxation. The country’s ranking as 187 among 189 economies covered by the survey, which assessed… – Continue reading
On October 2, 2015, the Internal Revenue Service announced that it had achieved a key milestone in implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), a critical anti-tax evasion law passed by Congress in 2010 but not fully implemented until July 2014. The milestone announced by the IRS was… – Continue reading
The IRS has announced that as of September 30, 2015 it will implement the automatic exchange of tax information as set forth in the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, (FATCA). The IRS Commissioner in announcing the implementation of the automatic exchange of information stated: “This information exchange is part of… – Continue reading
Not only does the United States retain the dubious distinction of having the highest corporate tax rate in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development country grouping, it now has the third-highest rate of corporate tax in the world, according to the Tax Foundation. The non-partisan tax policy think tank… – Continue reading
Wealthy Dutch people are abusing tax havens abroad to prevent from being taxed on 129 billion euros in deposits, a former tax inspector told television show Nieuwsuur. The money is held in the accounts of shell companies based in the Cayman Islands, Seychelles and Virgin Islands, among other locations, the… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The Centre is in talks with Mauritius with regard to the long-pending revision of the bilateral tax treaty, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said today. “We are in discussion with them. Some negotiations have already taken place and they wanted to reopen certain issues. we are in discussion with… – Continue reading
With the final draft of the OECD’s BEPS initiative – Base Erosion and Profit Shifting – out later today, the taxman’s ability to tax international transactions as well as those of foreign firms operating in India will go up dramatically; the idea behind the initiative is to treat all cross-border… – Continue reading
LONDON: Creating a more participatory approach to tax co-operation tops the agenda of this year’s meeting of Commonwealth finance ministers in Lima on October 7. Delegates will discuss the need for developing countries to be more active in global negotiations to prevent international tax avoidance and illegal tax evasion. The… – Continue reading
It is estimated that only around 1% of the world’s population have two or more passports, making dual citizenship an exclusive privilege JOHANNESBURG – “No man is an island” is the theme of this year’s upcoming Investment Agenda, being held in Johannesburg on the 20th of October. Leading investors, asset… – Continue reading
On Monday (5 Oct) the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will present its final Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (Beps) project corporate tax reform proposals and on Tuesday the Ecofin council of EU finance ministers, is expected to agree on the exchange of tax rulings between member… – Continue reading
Millions of pounds of British aid money could have been given to known tax havens to fund public services The UK paid out £45m to 13 countries on the European Commission’s tax haven “blacklist” in 2013, according to a report in The Independent. The blacklisted countries that received British aid… – Continue reading
The new Protocol to the Cyprus – Ukraine double taxation agreement The Cyprus Ministry of Finance has announced that agreement has been reached with Ukraine on a Protocol that will amend the existing DTA between the two countries. The existing DTA was signed in 2012 and entered into force on… – Continue reading
