In what could be a significant development moving forward, UBS has provided the IRS with tax records and offshore accounts. UBS Group AG has come to an understanding with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS), following a disagreement over client accounts in Singapore that had alleged tax evasion. The latest… – Continue reading
Foreign private equity investors typically set up offshore pooling vehicles for routing investments into India, which offer them twin advantages of ease of administration and single window compliance with the Indian regulatory regime. Setting up such pooling vehicles in a tax favourable jurisdiction ensures that the interposition of the pooling… – Continue reading
To check abuse of double taxation, India signs agreement with Belgium. The decision regarding this was taken in a meeting chaired by Narendra Modi. The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the signing of a protocol amending an agreement between India and Belgium for avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal… – Continue reading
On 9 May 2016, Singapore passed the Income Tax (Amendment No. 2) Act 2016 (Amendment Act). This is a first step towards the implementation of the Common Reporting Standards (CRS) developed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) into Singapore law. The legislation sets up the legal framework… – Continue reading
With just days remaining until Britain decides on its EU membership, the UK is at a crossroads. It has a historical choice to make, with various consequences attached to the decision on the 23rd of June on whether it becomes the first ever country to leave the EU. Those consequences… – Continue reading
Singapore is to join the international base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) project as a ‘BEPS associate’ and will adopt the minimum standards under the plan including country-by-country reporting. International tax Tax Corporate tax Tax Disputes and Investigations Asia Pacific South east Asia BEPS refers to the shifting of profits of… – Continue reading
The seeds of Canadian corporations hiding billions of dollars in offshore tax havens were sown more than 40 years ago, after the Canadian government pursued a series of tax treaties with tiny Caribbean and European nations. The 92 tax treaties now signed with countries such as Barbados, Jamaica and Malta… – Continue reading
A new double tax treaty between France and Singapore will be of particular help to French companies operating in Singapore, especially in the construction industry, an expert has said. Franck Lagorce, an expert in French tax at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-law.com was commenting following an announcement from… – Continue reading
Multinationals suspected of routing Australian profits via Singapore will be outed to tax authorities, with the low-tax nation this week signing up to the global plan to fight tax evasion. Companies including big miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto as well as technology giants Apple and Google, have admitted using… – Continue reading
Montreal-based clothing maker Gildan earned $396 million in profit last year, but paid just over $6 million in cash taxes — a rate of about two per cent. Drug maker Valeant, based in nearby Laval, Que., booked $1.1 billion in profit in 2014 but paid only $110 million in tax…. – Continue reading
The Bank of Russia could sign a deal with China to set up an offshore banking center in June, the central bank’s first deputy governor said Friday. ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) — China is expected to pick a clearing bank for all yuan exchange operations in Russia in order to make… – Continue reading
The quest by the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to improve the ease of doing business in Nigeria and diversify the nation’s economy on Wednesday received a boost. This followed the passage of “a Bill for an Act to Provide for the Domestication and Enforcement in Nigeria of the Avoidance of… – Continue reading
Under the new tax framework, Singapore will implement minimum standards aimed at preventing “aggressive tax planning” by multinationals. Locally headquartered multinationals will soon have to file reports broken down by country as well as income and taxes to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS). In a statement on Thursday… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The government has constituted a working group to examine the “consequential issues” arising out of the changes in India’s tax treaty with Mauritius.The India-Mauritius Double Taxation Avoidance Convention was amended last month to introduce a levy to prevent investors from using the island nation as a shelter to… – Continue reading
CHENNAI: The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax, is what Albert Einstein had famously said. Amid the long list of taxation categories, to assimilate what is taxable and what is exempted is hard. Even harder is to pay them, of course. As the June 15… – Continue reading
Last month the government announced an amendment to the Double Tax Avoidance Agreement between India and Mauritius. The DTAA was signed between the two countries in August 1982 and notified in December 1983. For the past thirty-three years it has been a key factor affecting foreign investment flows into India…. – Continue reading
Sydney-A new report by Oxfam said Australia’s federal government lost an estimated 5 billion US dollars in revenue in 2014 as a consequence of tax avoidance by multinational corporations with Australian operations. The non-governmental organization said in its report that investments from Australian-based big companies in tax havens globally grew… – Continue reading
Turkmenistan and the UK signed an intergovernmental convention in Ashgabat on avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion from taxes on income and capital gains, said the Turkmen foreign ministry in a message June 10. According to the ministry, the signing ceremony took place as part of a… – Continue reading
Pending before the United States Senate are a number of tax treaties. Seven of these are bilateral treaties between the U.S. and a foreign country, in this case Chile, Hungary, Japan, Luxembourg, Poland, Spain, and Switzerland. ATR urges all Senators to support these routine, yet important treaties that protect against… – Continue reading
Ahead of India’s rolling out of anti-tax avoidance regulations, Cyprus has shown eagerness to amend the bilateral tax treaty allowing New Delhi to tax capital gains. In turn, has pitched to be taken off the blacklist or being considered a “notified jurisdiction” for not sharing tax information, which implies increased… – Continue reading
The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday approved an anti-tax evasion bill, which, if passed into law, would subject all companies registered overseas to the 17 percent corporate income tax. While supportive of the legislation, the committee voted 7-5 in favor of allowing the Cabinet to set the implementation date to avoid… – Continue reading
The Indian government has signed up to a scheme to clamp down on tax evasion and corruption launched by Europe’s biggest nations, Britain’s government said on Wednesday. Signatories to the scheme – announced in April by Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain – undertake to give one another free access… – Continue reading
Most American policymakers believe the U.S. corporate tax system needs reforming – and the facts back up their view The United States’ 39 percent combined statutory corporate tax rate is the highest among the largest 50 economies. The American tax and accounting system has trapped over $2 trillion of deferred… – Continue reading
The double taxation avoidance agreement between Singapore and France entered into force on June 1, 2016. Under the deal, withholding tax on dividends would be capped at 15 percent in general; and at five percent where the beneficial owner is a company that owns directly or indirectly at least ten… – Continue reading
Recent news of India and Mauritius signing a Protocol to amend their 33 year old tax treaty caused seismic changes in the tax world. Though not completely unanticipated, the change is significant for foreign investors to go back to the drawing board and reassess their structures. The tax treaty between… – Continue reading
SANTIAGO, June 7 (Xinhua) — The Foreign Relations Committee of the Chilean Senate approved Monday legal proposals to eliminate double taxation with China and three other countries. Chile and China first signed an agreement over the matter on May 25, 2015 in Santiago. “China is our main trading partner and… – Continue reading
In a step forward, Cyprus has said it is “very close” to revising the bilateral tax treaty with India as the island nation has accepted “in principle” proposals made by the Indian side on taxing capital gains. Cyprus, a source of significant foreign fund flows into the country, said rising… – Continue reading
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says his country and Switzerland have a “shared priority” in fighting tax evasion and the practice of squirreling away “black money” in Swiss banks. Modi spoke Monday to reporters alongside Switzerland’s president in a brief stop in Geneva as part of a five-country trip. Modi’s… – Continue reading
The FBR has proposed powers through Finance Bill 2016-17 for entering into treaty with bilateral or multilateral forums for exchange of information to ensure prevention of tax evasions in the aftermath of Panama Leaks disclosure that many Pakistani influential owned offshore companies abroad. In totality, the FBR took tax measures… – Continue reading
Iran is to launch an offshore bank on one of its Gulf islands “within a month”, according to a report by the official IRNA news agency, as it continues to seeks ways around restrictions on international payments. The bank will be set up on Kish Island, which has been developed… – Continue reading
PBOC says move is aimed at smoothing out money market fluctuations China’s central bank has tightened the way it calculates reserve requirements for banks dealing in offshore yuan, saying on Friday that it wanted to increase flexibility in liquidity management for financial institutions and help smooth out fluctuations in money… – Continue reading
Hungary’s State Secretary for Economic Development and Regulation István Lepsényi and Turkmenistanʼs Minister for Economy and Development Bazarov Batyr signed a double taxation avoidance agreement yesterday in Budapest, according to reports. Hungary and Turkmenistan initiated negotiations on the matter last year to allow for a more transparent and favorable business… – Continue reading
Asia Pacific The January – March edition of tax highlights for the Asia Pacific region highlights industry developments from Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore including: Australia’s new tax system for Managed Investment Trusts The final stage of China’s B2V reform to be rolled out from… – Continue reading
In an ongoing effort to increase transparency by multinational enterprises (MNEs), India joined Canada, Iceland, Israel, New Zealand and the People’s Republic of China in becoming the 39thsignatory to the OECD ‘s Multilateral Competent Authority agreement for the automatic exchange of Country-by-Country reports (CbC MCAA). The Country-by-Country Reporting Agreement was… – Continue reading
The finance ministry has notified that the equalisation levy (popularly known as Google tax) introduced in this budget, will come into force from June 1. As of now, it will apply to payments for online advertisements made by Indian business entities to non-residents (such as Google,Yahoo, Twitter, Facebook) where the… – Continue reading
India has asked the Netherlands to resume negotiations on amending their bilateral tax treaty as the government extends its efforts to plug loopholes in such accords to curb misuse. The Dutch tax treaty , which allows exemption from capital gains and a lower rate of tax on dividends, has led… – Continue reading
Foreign portfolio investors based out of the US have collectively approached the India with a request to amend the India-US tax treaty, exempting them from paying capital gains tax , people close to the development said. These investors — mainly pension funds —are those who had invested in Indian equities… – Continue reading
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) recognizes the efforts of an increasing number of tax authorities to revise their tax policies in response to the international guidelines outlined in the G20 mandated Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Base Erosion Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. ICC urges national governments to… – Continue reading
The unpopular Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) of the United States has set off a rash of similar legislation around the world, and Costa Rica has been eager to adopt these international asset reporting treaties, which many taxpayers consider overreaching and in violation of financial privacy. The Costa Rica… – Continue reading
The new tax treaty between India and Mauritius may achieve what last year’s budget tried to do, albeit unsuccessfully—encourage offshore fund managers to relocate to India, in the process making the country a fund management hub, much like London, Dubai or Singapore. With the new agreement restoring parity between domestic… – Continue reading
The Delhi HC has delivered path-breaking and bold verdicts, quashing proceedings initiated by CBDT and CBEC administrative guidance for assessments and subsequent denial of benefits. A question tax professionals are often asked is: Has the government done enough to address the situation on tax? Several negative catchphrases had peppered headlines… – Continue reading
The finance ministry expert panel is expected to pre-empt any potential confusion, assuage foreign investors facing twin changes in the tax regime New Delhi: The finance ministry is setting up an expert group to work out the modalities of implementing changes in the tax regime stemming from the withdrawal of… – Continue reading
The Panama Papers have recently drawn a great deal of investigation and public attention. Over 230,000 organizations and individuals were named as having set up offshore companies in tax haven like the British Virgin Islands, Panama, the Cayman Islands or the Bahamas. The public’s initial reaction was suspicion and anger toward… – Continue reading
Singapore and Cambodia have entered into a double taxation avoidance agreement to boost cross-border trade and investment between the two countries. The Agreement was signed on May 20, 2016, by Indranee Rajah, Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Law and Finance, and Aun Pornmoniroth, Cambodia’s Senior Minister of Economy and… – Continue reading
Japan and Panama have agreed the provisions of a bilateral tax information exchange agreement (TIEA), subject to further work on finalizing its text. Negotiation of the TIEA was initiated following the Japan-Panama Summit Meeting held on April 20 between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Panama’s President, Juan Carlos Varela…. – Continue reading
Dubai: UAE-based multinationals will start to feel the impact of the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) proposals that come into effect this year, a KPMG seminar on international tax developments has revealed. The BEPS proposals are focused on mitigating tax planning strategies that exploit gaps and mismatches in… – Continue reading
May 18 — Russia agreed to automatically share financial account information but passed up an opportunity the same day on a similar agreement to exchange company country-by-country reports. Russia signed the OECD’s common reporting standard (CRS) multilateral competent authority agreement May 12 at a meeting of tax administration heads in… – Continue reading
Tax Treaty between India and Mauritius for avoidance of double taxation had become a double non-taxation treaty. Under this treaty, India could not tax the gains from sale of shares in Indian companies by a Mauritius resident, who is also not subject to any tax in Mauritius as such gains… – Continue reading
In its fight against black money stashed abroad, India has signed a protocol with European Union member nation Slovenia to make changes to the Double Taxation Avoidance Convention between the two countries, an official statement said in New Delhi on Thursday. The protocol, for avoidance of double taxation and preventing… – Continue reading
Reports published last week, based on the Panama Papers, cast further light on New Zealand’s role as a location where wealthy individuals around the world are able to hide their fortunes. Last month the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released millions of leaked documents revealing that Panama-based Mossack Fonseca, the… – Continue reading
