SINGAPORE, April 12 (Reuters) – The Singapore trading hubs of the world’s largest commodity companies are coming under scrutiny from the governments of some resource-producing countries who say they suspect they are using units in the Southeast Asian financial centre to avoid tax. Some of the world’s largest oil, mining… – Continue reading
The present French Tax Update will focus on (i) several noteworthy French and European Union court decisions issued in the last months of 2014 and in the first months of 2015, and (ii) the recent presentation by the European Commission of a package of tax transparency measures. VALIDITY OF TAX… – Continue reading
In 2015, Singapore celebrates its 50th year of independence and also mourns the passing of its first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew who steered Singapore’s success for many critical years. From its origins as a British trading post in 1819, Singapore has grown into one of the busiest ports and… – Continue reading
Cross border tax fraud and tax evasion by High Net Wealth Individuals (HNWI) are serious problems for many jurisdictions. For many years exchange of information between countries has been solely upon request. In practise this procedure is not efficiently working as it requires foreseeable relevance, thus ‘fishing’ for information is… – Continue reading
Japan is the latest global financial hub to start making inroads into Islamic finance, a move that could help strengthen regional economic ties and give its lenders an edge in winning business in markets whose growth prospects far outpace their home turf, reports Reuters. Tokyo has long been a major… – Continue reading
Luxembourg’s Direct Tax Administration has published a circular on February 12 clarifying issues relating to residency certificates for Luxembourg funds. These are applicable to both UCITS and non-UCITS funds regulated by Luxembourg’s investment fund legislation of December 17, 2010, which transposed the UCITS IV Directive, as well as Specialised Investment… – Continue reading
Jakarta (ANTARA News) – The Indonesian and Japanese governments agreed to review the Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (IJ-EPA) to derive mutual benefits, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received by Antara here on Tuesday. The review of IJ-EPA was agreed during a bilateral meeting between… – Continue reading
Tax Regulation Number PER-01/PJ/2015, which is supposed to be effective starting this year, has triggered controversy within the banking industry. This is mainly due to the new obligation for banks to disclose details on every customer’s tax payments on deposits or savings interest. The Finance Minister needed to postpone indefinitely… – Continue reading
Both China and most other Asian nations have been highly assertive in their use of Double Tax and Free Trade agreements over the past five years, as the reality of rising prices in China coupled with an emerging consumer class dictate that intra-Asian trade flows are growing as an astounding… – Continue reading
Many Islamic financial institutions like Qatar Islamic Bank have caught up to their Western counterparts in terms of efficiency and technology and are targetting new clients abroad. Also, given Doha’s expertise in the sector and its close ties with the UK, Qatari banks are well positioned to tap into British… – Continue reading
JAKARTA, Feb 24 ― Indonesia will crack down on corporate tax avoidance via transfer pricing this year to try and recoup 200 trillion rupiah (RM56.6 billion) in lost state income mainly in the commodities sector, the new head of the tax office told Reuters. Under the transfer pricing method, an… – Continue reading
Jeremy Grant in Singapore Clampdowns on bank secrecy in Europe and a proliferation of billionaires in Asia helped Hong Kong and Singapore attract more overseas money over the past two years than rivals such as Switzerland, according to a report by Deloitte. The consultancy’s annual ranking of wealth centres highlights… – Continue reading
The Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) has welcomed the government’s plan to introduce a tax amnesty, a fiscal incentive expected to encourage individuals or corporation that have not fully paid their taxes to comply with tax regulations. The association’s deputy chairman Hariyadi Sukamdani said that the amnesty would be effective in… – Continue reading
London is a global haven for criminal financial activity – with billions of pounds laundered through British banks each day, according to the head of the UK’s National Crime Agency. “Many hundreds of billions of pounds of criminal money is almost certainly laundered through UK banks and their subsidiaries each… – Continue reading
To comply with unconstitutional pseudo-treaties negotiated by the Obama administration without the consent of Congress or any semblance of constitutional authority, the IRS announced that it will be sharing private financial information on U.S. bank account holders with foreign powers. No warrant is needed for foreign governments or tyrants to… – Continue reading
[HONG KONG] Asia could set another record for international bond issues in 2015 if Chinese companies continue to borrow offshore at the same voracious pace they did this year, while bankers expect a heavy redemption schedule and larger pipelines from India and Indonesia to lift activity. Barclays is forecasting volumes… – Continue reading
Indonesia has only met its tax revenue collection target two times in the past 10 years, but President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has vowed to transfer his past success in boosting tax revenue at the regional level in Jakarta and Surakarta to the nationwide level. Jokowi has laid out his plan… – Continue reading
As part of the Indonesian Government’s drive to improve tax administration and compliance, the Ministry of Finance recently announced that, following a proposal from the Director General of Taxation (DGT), it has placed a temporary ban on overseas travel by senior personnel of 147 companies and 21 individuals. The action… – Continue reading
Jakarta. A leading business lobby with strong ties to the administration of President Joko Widodo has called for a tax amnesty, in which the authorities will waive off past taxes and penalties to conglomerates and individuals parking billions of dollars worth of funds overseas, in a bid to reinvest that… – Continue reading
Jakarta. Indonesia has banned from foreign travel senior representatives of 147 firms and 21 individuals with outstanding tax bills amounting to $42.8 million as part of a crackdown on tax evasion, the finance ministry said on Wednesday. The tax office, which is under finance ministry, is also processing bans on… – Continue reading
An agreement to help crack down on cross-border tax evasion is being worked on by Singapore and Indonesia. The two nations are working on implementing the framework for the automatic exchange of information (AEOI) on tax matters, as they look to keep improving trade and investment ties. The move was… – Continue reading
Singapore’s Ministry of Finance say both parties enjoy “excellent cooperation” regarding tax matters, and have agreed to update the existing Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement as the next step. SINGAPORE: The Republic and Indonesia will be looking to increase cooperation on the sharing of tax information in the coming days,… – Continue reading
The latest World Bank quarterly report on Indonesia’s economy estimates that 50 percent of tax potential in the country remains untapped, causing the tax ratio — tax receipts as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) — to be very low at only 12 percent, among the lowest in the… – Continue reading
JAKARTA, Dec 15 — Indonesia and Singapore have agreed to step up efforts to share tax-related information to tighten loopholes on tax evasion in each other’s countries, Indonesia’s finance ministry said. The commitment came after Indonesia’ Finance Minister met his counterpart Tharman Shanmugaratnam in Singapore today, the ministry said in… – Continue reading
GCC-based Islamic banks are increasingly eyeing international markets Islamic banks in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations need to expand abroad to maintain their pace of growth in the future, according to Al-Baraka Banking Group, which operates in 15 countries from the Middle East to Asia. “Banks have no alternative,” says… – Continue reading
KATADATA – Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro asks exporters to refrain from tax avoidance schemes, especially transfer pricing. Tax avoidance will cause losses to the state because it reduces tax revenues. “Transfer pricing has constantly reduced our tax revenues. I urge exporters to stop this practice because it is strongly related… – Continue reading
PETALING JAYA: Public Bank Bhd and PT Bank Central Asia, Tbk, Indonesia have entered into a non-exclusive memorandum of understanding on business collaboration. The primary objective of the collaboration is to leverage upon the respective strengths expertise and networks of Public Bank and Bank Central Asia to enable the two… – Continue reading
11/11/2014 – Southeast Asia’s over-reliance on natural resources like oil, gas, minerals and wood for economic growth is unsustainable over the long term and is causing environmental damage that will hurt future prosperity if left unchecked, according to a new OECD report. Towards Green Growth in Southeast Asia finds that… – Continue reading
Beijing (ANTARA News) – The Chinese government has agreed to exempt Garuda Indonesia from business tax after the national flag carrier flies to China for ten years. The agreement will take effect next year, Indonesian Ambassador to China and Mongolia Soegeng Rahardjo said here on Wednesday. Under article 8 of… – Continue reading
The Foreign Ministry has confirmed that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo will attend the G20 Summit in Brisbane, Australia on Nov. 15 to 16, burying speculation about his attendance at the event. “After much deliberation, the president has decided to attend the G20 Summit, as he acknowledges the significance and strategic… – Continue reading
Bellary: While Union finance minister, Arun Jaitley has warned the Congress it could be embarrassed once the names of people holding illegal foreign accounts are made public, local mining industry sources say the BJP too could be in for some embarassment as its once powerful leader and jailed mining czar,… – Continue reading
Indonesia’s tax chief is pushing for access to personal bank accounts and wants to track car and home purchases in his fight to catch evaders and boost revenue. The department is asking parliament to amend the banking law to give it the right to get lenders to reveal customer account… – Continue reading
By Jung Min-ho Seung Eun-ho Chairman of Korindo Group Prosecutors are investigating allegations that the head of Korindo Group, a Jakarta-based conglomerate, and his sons have evaded taxes. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said Monday that the group’s Chairman Seung Eun-ho and his two sons are suspected of evading… – Continue reading
Transfer pricing continues to be a critical issue for the Indonesian Tax Office (“ITO”). In an effort to provide much needed clarity on transfer pricing practices, particularly in relation to transfer pricing audits, the ITO issued PER 22[1] to provide guidance to auditors on what they should be focusing on in… – Continue reading
This article was first published in the 2nd quarter 2014 edition of Personal Finance magazine. Most people accept that they have to pay taxes in their country of residence. But citizens of the United States and green card holders who live outside that country – even if they have never… – 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
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
Marcel Bruehwiler, chief executive officer of UBS AG (UBSN)’s Belgium unit, was charged in Brussels as part of a probe into a multibillion-euro tax fraud, accelerating the latest tax-evasion inquiry facing the Swiss bank. Bruehwiler was charged with criminal organization, money laundering, illegal practice of the profession of financial intermediary… – Continue reading
The Financial Services Authority (OJK) has proposed that the government demand reciprocal cooperation with the US regarding the latter’s request to apply its Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) in the country. FATCA is a law that the US has unilaterally imposed on the rest of the world to prevent… – Continue reading
May 7th, 2014 (InsideCostaRica.com) Tax evaders and privacy advocates beware – Costa Rica and 46 other countries signed up yesterday to automatically share banking, financial, and tax information in what the OECD is touting as a major step towards cracking down on global tax evasion. The Declaration on Automatic Exchange… – Continue reading
Calls for crackdown as investigation finds huge Indonesian corporations evading tax through network of secret shell companies in British Virgin Islands and other tax havens Giant Asian logging companies that make billions from destroying rainforests use a labyrinth of secret shell companies based in a UK overseas territory, the British Virgin… – Continue reading
• Partnership creates end-to-end solution for enabling and ensuring FATCA compliance, including: data consolidation, indicia identification, additional KYC data/document capture, alerts/notifications and dashboards to monitor compliance, withholding calculations and remittance, and tax reporting. Banking analytics, risk and compliance pioneer, iCreate, today announced a strategic partnership with tax information reporting leader,… – Continue reading
Batam, Riau Islands (ANTARA News) – Indonesias finance ministry is preparing four strategies to withdraw funds worth Rp1,500 trillion kept in Singaporean banks, an official stated here on Wednesday. “We are preparing four strategies,” remarked Deputy Minister of Finance Bambang Brodjonegoro. The four strategies are tax incentives, eradication of double… – Continue reading
The days of multinational companies being able to use the Double Irish Dutch Sandwich to avoid taxation may soon be coming to an end, with the G20 group of nations looking to create a reporting standard to allow for automatic exchange of tax information. In the official communique coming at the end… – Continue reading
