Even employees earning below Rs 15,000 a month will be impacted if the Centre sticks to the plan of taxing 60% of EPF withdrawals The Budget has proposed significant changes on taxation of Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF). Given that EPF is at the core of the Indian social security system… – Continue reading
Retrospective amendments to domestic laws cannot override international treaties In a judgment that will have a far-reaching impact on double taxation issues, the Delhi High Court has held that Parliament cannot change the terms of an international treaty by bringing in amendments in the domestic law, and any such executive… – Continue reading
MAURITIUS has emerged as the biggest source of investment into Zimbabwe, accounting for projects worth $4,56 billion in the past five years. According to statistics released at an investment strategic meeting in Harare this week, a ZBCtv report indicated Mauritius was leading in terms of investments into the country while… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Centrum Wealth expects a flurry of dividends from corporates in the month of March. This is post the the government announcing an additional 10% tax for those earning an annual dividend income of more than Rs 10 lakh. Dividend income received by investors was already taxed through Dividend Distribution Tax…. – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Terming the financial information exchange pact FATCA between India and USA as an ‘inequitable system’, the Finance Ministry today said it has received written commitment from the US that they will move towards full reciprocity. “We should look at FATCA as very a special case. It’s a law… – Continue reading
BJP MPs are upset over the Budget proposal to tax EPF corpus at the time of withdrawal, a move they fear will antagonise the party’s core support base of the middle class. A day after he made the announcement, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley explained to party parliamentarians and allies that… – Continue reading
The industry was hoping GAAR might be postponed again, especially in the light of slowing down of the world economy In a signal to foreign institutional investors, the Union Budget has made a commitment to implement General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) on taxes only from April 1, 2017. “The investment… – Continue reading
Outstanding issues relating to the existing Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) are under negotiation between India and Mauritius through the mechanism of Joint Working Group (JWG), Parliament was informed today. “India has proposed changes in the existing DTAA to address concerns relating to treaty abuse, around tripping of funds, double… – Continue reading
With the adoption of the BEPS package, OECD and G20 countries laid the foundations of a modern international tax framework under which profits would be taxed where economic activity and value creation occurs. It is now time to focus on implementation of the recommended changes in a consistent and coherent… – Continue reading
If you have made any investment in a fixed deposit or a mutual fund or even in shares, by now, you must have received a form in the mail requiring you to comply with FATCA regulations. What is this new compliance requirement exactly and what does it mean so far… – Continue reading
The pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi – the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) – housed in the Gujarat International Finance Tec City – has received a boost in the Union Budget 2016/17. The long pending tax issue has been decided with 9 per cent minimum alternate tax (MAT),… – Continue reading
In Shanghai, Wolfgang Schäuble is urging his fellow G20 countries to put new rules to tackle tax avoidance into law. Back home, business leaders worry that German companies could be left exposed by the new rules if they are introduced unilaterally or go too far. The finance ministers of the… – Continue reading
While the various reforms initiated by the Centre has led to a significant increase in FDI inflows into India, the Economic Survey feels the need for a closer examination of such FDI flows to determine whether there has been any instances of tax evasion. The survey noted that out of… – Continue reading
Tax function of an organisation was traditionally run from the tax director’s room. Transfer Pricing (TP) was governed by contracts between related parties and this at times resulted in profits moving to legal entities that had contractual rights but had no significant people functions. There were instances of IP Holding… – Continue reading
Transfer pricing (TP) issues have never been such a critical part of the global economic agenda as they are today. Following the release of the report addressing Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) in February 2013, OECD and G20 countries (including India) adopted a 15-point Action Plan to address BEPS… – Continue reading
If January is a month of New Year resolutions, February can be said to be a month of New Financial Year expectations with Indian Government announcing its fiscal policy strategy, including taxation regime for the next financial year. The Union Budget of 2015-16 was the first full budget presented by… – Continue reading
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval for signing of an agreement between India and Maldives that will provide relief from double taxation for their airlines operating between the two countries. “The agreement provides for relief from double taxation for airline enterprises of India and Maldives by way of… – Continue reading
The stock markets are facing the overhang of possible changes in the treatment of long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax for equity in the forthcoming Union Budget. Currently, under LTCG tax, there is zero tax if a share is held for more than a year. This provision had been brought in… – Continue reading
Is India back on the world map as a lucrative investment jurisdiction? Does the world see the Make in India dream becoming a reality? Well, the $222 billion investment pledges received during the Make in India week do resonate the revived positive sentiment! In fact, recent policy measures have clearly… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Competition Commission has been exempted from paying taxes on fee and government grants received by it till financial year 2020-21. The government has decided to extend certain income tax exemptions for the fair trade regulator as the earlier one ends this financial year. According to a notification issued… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Continuing its crackdown on misuse of stock exchange system for tax evasion, regulator Sebi on Wednesday barred 22 brokers from securities market for executing ‘reversal trades’ worth over Rs 8,100 crore to generate fictional profits or losses. However, these trading members would be allowed to function as stock… – Continue reading
The Indian government clarified on Friday that the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and Common Reporting Standards (CRS) will not entail reporting of all fixed deposits and auto sweep facilities in pre-existing savings bank accounts. “During stakeholders consultations, representatives of financial institutions informed that in such… – Continue reading
New Delhi :The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued a clarification with regard to an inter-governmental agreement between India and USA signed for implementation of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The CBDT further said in its statement that the Government of India has also joined the Multilateral… – Continue reading
Free-market advocates say retrospective tax claim on the British telecom major sends a negative message to global investors. It seems to be a weak argument Like all tax disputes, the one that involves Vodafone and the government is quite a tangled one. The company has been absolved of tax liability… – Continue reading
Mumbai Tribunal rules buyback transaction taxable as capital gains, exempt under India-Mauritius Tax Treaty; even if considered as dividend, tax withholding does not apply This EY Tax Alert summarizes a recent ruling of the Mumbai Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (Tribunal) in the case of Goldman Sachs (India) Securities Pvt. Ltd…. – Continue reading
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,… – Continue reading
CAN NEPAL IMPOSE CAPITAL GAINS TAX ON NCELL BUYOUT DEAL? This question has been making rounds ever since TeliaSonera, the largest shareholder in Nepali telecom operator, Ncell, announced its decision to sell 60.4 per cent of its stake in the telecom company to Malaysian giant, Axiata, for $1.03 billion. Divergent… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The tax department today said it has resolved disputes totalling Rs 5,000 crore with foreign companies in sectors like software and consultancy under the Mutual Agreement Procedure(MAP) in about two years time. The countries with which the cases have been resolved are the US, Japan, the UK and… – Continue reading
Only 3 per cent of India’s over 1 billion people are estimated to pay taxes It is that time of the year, when the salaried class starts praying for incremental tax concessions in the annual budget. Analysts, however, say that the government should focus on increasing the tax net instead… – Continue reading
Similar trade agreements have been used to facilitate apparent tax avoidance in the past A controversial new trade deal between the EU and the United States could make it more difficult to fight tax avoidance, a new report has warned. TTIP, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, is expected to… – Continue reading
If Swiss banking secrecy laws gave Switzerland the world banking capital status, Monaco’s residence policy gives its realtors a thriving business. What is common between the Canadian Raonic who lost in the Australian Open semifinals and the Serbian Djokovic who won it? Well, they are both residents of Monaco, and… – Continue reading
Simplification of income tax processes and relief on tax deducted at source (TDS) are among the top of the Budget wishlist of non-resident Indians (NRIs), say experts. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present the budget on February 29. Experts believe that one of the long-pending demands of NRIs is tax… – Continue reading
Officials said the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has asked the taxman to send across to it all such cases for exchange of information which are getting “time barred” by March 31. With the current financial year coming to a close soon, CBDT has asked the Income Tax department… – Continue reading
To search for a tax haven to free yourself from tax burden, you need not have to go to Bermuda, Isle of Man, Cayman Islands, Dubai, Switzerland, Mauritius or any other country. It is just right here in India where we are living, hidden in various sections of our Income… – Continue reading
Introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be a crucial step towards tax reforms in India. Abolishing several central and state taxes and replacing them by one single tax will mitigate the recurring problem of double taxation and for the first time, create a common national market. Due to… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: As the current fiscal nears its end, Sebi has stepped up its surveillance to check tax evasion attempts through ‘arbitrage’ and bogus losses using stocks and mutual fund investments. Towards the end of every financial year, the manipulators tend to devise new ways of tax evasion, including incurring… – Continue reading
‘Multinational corporations complain all the time of excessive demand about excessive taxation, but it is also true that MNCs across the world tend to find tax avoidance and sometimes tax evasion as an appropriate technique’ Blaming multinational corporations squarely for tax controversies, Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan has said their… – Continue reading
The Authority for Advance Rulings, a quasi-judicial tax body under the finance ministry, has reaffirmed that capital gains earned by a Mauritius-registered company from transfer of shares of an Indian firm shall not be taxable in the country if the foreign corporation doesn’t have a local permanent establishment. In doing… – Continue reading
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday announced that, starting February 16, its Advance Pricing and Mutual Agreement office will begin accepting requests for bilateral advance pricing agreements between the U.S. and India. This marks a big step forward to ensure tax certainty between the two countries, according to experts…. – Continue reading
Amazon is also alleged to have taken the goods from manufacturers/traders at lower price and told them to compensate the difference by claiming Cenvat credit. However, nothing concrete has been found as yet to establish the said allegations. The probe is still underway. The Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence… – Continue reading
Mauritius will start automatic exchange of tax information with other nations only from September 2018, as it has postponed by a year implementation of global common reporting standard on tax matters. The delay could impact Indian authorities’ efforts to gather more tax-related information from Mauritius, which is allegedly being used… – Continue reading
While the central government is pursuing its objective to provide a certain and stable tax regime, it is critical that instances of dual levy of VAT and service tax on the same transaction are addressed urgently The levy of service tax as well as Value Added Tax (VAT) on the… – Continue reading
Though the use of the retrospective tax on Vodafone and Cairn tend to grab the headlines, a large part of the ‘tax terror’ in India has really been the contribution of the high-pitched transfer pricing (TP) additions to the income of the MNCs Though the use of the retrospective tax… – Continue reading
India and the U.S. have reached an agreement to resolve more than 100 pending transfer pricing cases, one of the biggest deterrents for foreign investors planning an India foray, according to a government statement. Some more are expected to be resolved soon. Transfer pricing refers to the setting of the… – Continue reading
The revived Asia Tax Awards will feature categories for companies, firms and individuals. The Asia Tax Awards are back! More than five years after they last took place in November 2010, the Asia Tax Awards will be held once again on Thursday May 5 2016, following the Asia Tax Forum,… – Continue reading
Can tax treaty provisions override domestic law?In our last article we defined double taxation as an exposure to tax more than once on the same profit or income. We also highlighted the two types of double taxation i.e. economic double taxation and juridical double taxation and also noted that a… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) today said it has resolved as many as 100 transfer pricing disputes with the US, which will lead to an environment of “tax certainty and encourage MNCs” to do business in India. The resolution of such issues, CBDT said further, follows… – Continue reading
India and Armenia on Wednesday signed a protocol to amend the existing Double Taxation Avoidance Convention between the two countries. “The Protocol amends the Article on Exchange of Information for tax purposes to bring it in line with the updated provisions in the OECD Model,” said a Finance Ministry release…. – Continue reading
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 26:Ministers and top tax officials from more than 30 countries including India will sign an international agreement on Wednesday to significantly advance the fight against corporate tax avoidance. This agreement – Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) – will be signed at the OECD in Paris, sources said…. – Continue reading
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 26:A majority of Indian multinationals see the implementation of base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development leading to increase in double taxation and compliance burden for them, an India-specific BEPS survey by Deloitte India has revealed. This is interesting… – Continue reading
