FRANCISTOWN: Government’s negotiations with other countries to sign Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAA) are underway to ensure investor benefits from tax holiday incentives continue, Boniface Mphetlhe of Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) has said. The Deputy Permanent Secretary in MTI, Mphetlhe, was speaking on the topic of Botswana Investment… – Continue reading
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) has been in force for a month and still more countries are joining the tax network. So far, 101 countries and financial jurisdictions have either signed or agreed to join FATCA. FATCA is aimed at identifying US taxpayers with offshore bank accounts and investments. Overseas… – Continue reading
Tax investigators pursuing instances of blackmoney stashed abroad by Indians have finally been able to circumvent the Swiss secrecy code by asking over 100 such account holders to submit on their own details of personal balances in these banks, brought under the tax net recently, for lesser penal action for… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: G-20, a group of developed and developing nations, is likely to press for adoption of “rapid timelines” by different countries for automatic sharing of information with a view to curb tax evasion. The issue of automatic sharing of tax information would figure prominently during the meeting of G-20… – Continue reading
The Delhi High Court upholds the non-taxability of gains from sale of shares of overseas entities by the Copal Group to the Moody’s Group. Interpretation of the indirect transfer tax provisions in a restrictive manner. 50% threshold for substantiality based on guidance by OECD/ UN material and Shome Committee Report… – Continue reading
LONDON: Scottish explorer Cairn Energy plc today said it is working with the newly elected government to resolve a tax dispute that has stalled sale of its 10 per cent stake in Cairn India Ltd. “Cairn continues to seek resolution of the tax issue in India and will take all… – Continue reading
High Court supports Tax Appeal Tribunal’s decision on SBI High Court has approved the decision made by the Tax Appeal Tribunal, which supports the decision made by Maldives Inland Revenue Authority’s (MIRA) for State Bank of India (SBI) to pay MVR 55.6 million in the form of additional tax. The… – Continue reading
With new laws in place, recovery from Swiss banks can be little easier provided the government shows sincerity in taking action against tax dodgers Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar in recent days has expressed the government’s firm conviction to bring back untaxed money of “US$ 200 billion” stashed in… – Continue reading
The CEIB has “disseminated” the data of these 600 cases to the Income Tax dept, Enforcement Directorate (ED) etc. In another instance of suspected black money stashed by Indians abroad, investigative agencies are probing a set of 600 new names and identities which have been provided to India by a… – Continue reading
India: Delhi Government’s Revenue Department has fined Holcim India US$11m for evasion of stamp duty. It also directed the company to pay stamp duty of US$36m and a penalty of US$11m within 30 days for violation of stamp duty. Collector of Stamps (HQ) Lalit Mohan told local media that Holcim… – Continue reading
New Delhi: To address the problem of illegal money stashed abroad, India has asked Switzerland to join a ‘early adopter group’ mandating an automatic exchange of information amongst the countries involved in the group, Parliament was informed on Tuesday. “The finance minister has written a letter to the Swiss finance… – Continue reading
India should cut its tax rate on corporate profits from a statutory rate of almost 33% to 20%, while simultaneously ending all exemptions in a phased manner. Indian corporate tax rates are relatively very high, with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) statutory average, including surtaxes and sub-federal… – Continue reading
New Delhi: In its effort to unearth black money stashed away abroad, India has received data on over 24,000 instances of alleged tax evasion and dubious funds, which has been detected in foreign shores in the last financial year. These cases are now under investigation by the taxman even as… – Continue reading
New Delhi: The government Wednesday ruled out any tax amnesty scheme to unearth black money saying it goes against honest taxpayers even as it sought to send out a positive signal to investors by promising a re-look at the controversial GAAR shortly. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also referred to demands of… – Continue reading
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Hyderabad Bench has recently held in the case of DCIT, Hyderabad vs. M/s IJM (India) Infrastructure Ltd, Hyderabad (2014-TII-114-ITAT-HYD-TP) that a permanent establishment (PE) of a foreign company has to be treated as separate entity for the purpose of transfer pricing and that any… – Continue reading
New Delhi: The government on Tuesday said it is effectively using the information received from various countries to combat the menace of tax evasion and avoidance. “Effectively utilising the information received from treaty partners to combat tax evasion and avoidance,” Minister of State for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman said in a… – Continue reading
New Delhi/Paris: In a major development in the fight against black money, multilateral grouping OECD Monday unveiled a ‘single global standard’ for automatic exchange of financial account information by various countries including India and Switzerland.The new framework, to be presented before a meeting of G-20 finance ministers in September, would… – Continue reading
An overseas assignment is definitely exciting, but it pays to understand the double taxation issues that might arise Even with a lucrative compensation package, an assignment overseas could be taxing if there are unplanned outflows, particularly on account of double taxation. Here’s a couple of commonplace situations you might find… – Continue reading
As per the estimates, in last six months Rs.150 crore of value added tax was evaded by giving wrong declaration in imports only on JNPT port Trade circles have alleged a surge in tax evasion by importers of vegetable oils. According to an official from the Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA),… – Continue reading
Investors in India are nervous as it looks like the government aims to go ahead with plans to close more tax loopholes through a new set of General Anti-Avoidance Rules, or GAAR. While the new rules were slated to come into effect in April, many investors and executives had expected the… – Continue reading
New Delhi: India on Tuesday said negotiations are going on for signing new Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs) with Hong Kong, Iran, Nigeria and three other nations. The three other countries are Azerbaijan, Chile and Venezuela, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley informed Rajya Sabha in in a written reply . Besides,… – Continue reading
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has yet to adopt a view on proposed rules to tighten policy on tax avoidance by foreign investors, a senior finance ministry official said on Monday. The general anti-avoidance rules (GAAR) announced by the previous government had sparked alarm among foreign investors because of provisions… – Continue reading
The UK and India are determined to lead international efforts to tackle tax evasion, according to a joint press statement issued by UK Chancellor George Osborne and India’s new Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. On July 8, 2014, the two governments met in New Delhi at the seventh round of the… – Continue reading
The finance ministry will soon consider tax expert Parthasarathi Shome’s suggestions on possible instances where offshore sale of Indian assets need not be taxed here, said a finance ministry official. The Shome Committee had in its 2012 ‘Report on Retrospective Amendments Relating to Indirect Transfer of Indian assets’ suggested that… – Continue reading
GUWAHATI, July 14 – Evasion of tax and forest royalty has become a major cause of concern for Assam. Though the Bureau of Investigation of Economic Offences (BIEO) of the Assam Police managed to detect some such evasions, those were tips of the iceberg and it is up to the concerned departments to be more vigilant… – Continue reading
India’s government challenged the merger of Vedanta Resources Plc (VED)’s local units in court on the grounds the deal by the flagship company of billionaire Anil Agarwal was aimed at avoiding taxes. The merger is a “device” for tax evasion, according to the petition filed today by the Ministry of… – Continue reading
To energise capital markets, the government today proposed a slew of measures, including tax benefits and easier regulations for foreign investors and corporate bonds besides creating a new instrument Bharat Depository Receipts, helping BSE benchmark Sensex to jump 434 points. Finance Minister Arun Jaitely in his maiden budget also annouced… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Vodafone Thursday said it will continue the process of international arbitration initiated under the India-Netherlands Bilateral Investment Treaty to resolve the ongoing Rs 20,000-crore tax dispute against India, while a local tax official said the department will continue with its tax demand on the telecom major. Earlier today, Finance Minister Arun Jailtey… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: India and the UK today expressed the determination to work together to tackle the menace of tax evasion even as Britain agreed to support infrastructure projects in the country. UK Export Finance will provide a line of credit of one billion pounds (about Rs 10,000 crore) for the… – Continue reading
India and the United Kingdom today reiterated their determination to lead on tackling tax evasion, noting that the two countries would begin exchanging tax information on an automatic basis from 2017 with each other and with a large number of jurisdictions as part of their commitment to early adoption of… – Continue reading
The recently enacted FATCA makes it mandatory for Indian tax authorities to share information about earnings of NRIs in US. However both India and US have a treaty signed to avoid double taxation. NRIs living in US can certainly benefit from this treaty The US government has recently enacted Foreign… – Continue reading
To act as an investment manager the company is required to be appropriately regulated Offshore companies owned by NRIs or persons of Indian origin can act as investment manager for newly created class of overseas investors, FPIs, provided they are well regulated in their jurisdiction, Sebi has said. As per… – Continue reading
New Delhi: Offshore companies owned by NRIs or persons of Indian origin can act as investment manager for newly created class of overseas investors, FPIs, provided they are well regulated in their jurisdiction, Sebi has said.As per Sebi, non-resident Indian (NRI) or person of Indian origin (PIO) is not eligible… – Continue reading
“A government that robs Peter to pay Paul, can always count on the support of Paul”– George Bernard Shaw. Well, the UPA government certainly did a Peter to multinational companies operating in India by hiking withholding taxes from 10% to a good 25% in the 2013 budget. Who is the… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: In order to encourage foreign investment, the finance ministry is likely to introduce safe harbour rules for transfer pricing of capital transactions which will bring about certainty in taxation of such deals. The finance ministry, according to sources, may introduce the changes in the Budget to be presented… – Continue reading
Besides DTAC, both nations have BIPPA; India has been largest exporter of goods and services to Mauritius since 2007 Seeking to dispel concerns about Mauritius being used for round-tripping of Indian money, the island nation’s financial sector watchdog has sought a quick resolution of tax related issues between the two… – Continue reading
The Ministry is considering 20% mark up under the safe harbour rule, which would mean that transactions following the norms would not be scrutinised by the tax authorities Press Trust of India | New Delhi July 6, 2014 Last Updated at 11:25 IST In order to encourage foreign investment, the… – Continue reading
Players say it amounts to double taxation, prompts companies to refrain from giving dividends As foreign investors once again bet on India ‘story’, stock markets in the country are on a high. They are not running out of steam as predicted by many, but gaining strength by the day. Every… – Continue reading
SURAT: A team of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) from Ahmedabad trapped 12 persons at Songadh check-post on Gujarat-Maharashtra border for allowing trucks to enter the state without paying commercial tax at the sales tax check-post. A team of ACB led by police inspector K T Kamaria carried out checking at Songadh… – Continue reading
RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh commercial tax department, which recently unearthed the multi-crore rupee bogus billing scam, is all set to investigate the role of lawyers, who were responsible for registration of taxpayer identification number (TIN) of the phony companies involved in the racket. The department has also decided to impose heavy penalties,… – Continue reading
SURAT: Central excise arrested Nirav Pramod Desai for evasion of service tax to the tune of Rs 60 lakh on Monday. He was sent to jail for 11 days by a court. Desai is proprietor of High Tech Engineers, Surat. In the period from 2009-10 to 2012-13, he had collected… – Continue reading
As the new government gets to work, one key item on the agenda would be the revival of growth. The key to that objective is the revival of the investment climate in India for renewed flow of overseas investments. One aspect that has vitiated the investment climate is the tax… – Continue reading
As directed by the RBI, the IT dept has put a watch on account holders in cooperative banks in Gujarat for tax evasion. The IT dept. claims it has already recovered Rs. 5 crore from defaulters under ”Project UCB ” a special drive started sometime ago. About 1500 defaulters have… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) is preparing to examine transfer pricing cases, which have significant revenue implication for the exchequer and lead to longdrawn litigation between companies and tax authorities. The CAG has so far not been auditing transfer pricing cases, mainly because of the shortage of… – Continue reading
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said India and the US have agreed to implement a foreign tax compliance law and asked banks and financial institutions to register by this year-end to report accounts and assets held by US citizens. India and the US have agreed to implement… – Continue reading
RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh commercial tax department has registered a FIR against 10 firms on Friday for allegedly evading tax worth crores of rupees by using bogus bills. The FIR against the firms based in Raipur, Durg and Bilaspur comes a day after the registration of similar cases against three other firms…. – Continue reading
The Indian economy today is in urgent need of measures to restore growth. A stable, clear and transparent tax regime would go a long way in improving sentiments and investor confidence. Building such a tax regime would require an integrated effort including legislative changes to bring in clarity, operational changes… – Continue reading
In a major coup in India’s efforts to recover untaxed wealth, Switzerland recently promised to share the details of Indian nationals “holding black money” in Swiss bank accounts. The offer to share information came after India’s Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, wrote to the Swiss authorities requesting their cooperation. Given the… – Continue reading
The unequivocal mandate given to the Modi led NDA government will allow them to take a long term perspective while making policy decisions. The finance ministry led by Arun Jaitley has close to 15 days left to put together the dream budget and at the same time address ‘inclusive growth’… – Continue reading
The Swiss Government has expressed its desire to work together with the new Indian Government in its fight against tax evasion. In an e-mail response to Business Line on Swiss authorities’ reported move on sharing information, the Swiss Finance Ministry said, Switzerland is committed to resolving any open question with India and… – Continue reading
