NEW DELHI: With a number of foreign jurisdictions taking exception to the term “tax haven” being used for them, CBDT has directed that the expression be omitted in treaty communications sent by India eliciting information in black money probe cases. The decision was taken recently by the Central Board of… – Continue reading
The government should immediately withdraw key tax avoidance provisions from the income tax law and investigate sources of foreign remittances under section 111(4) of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 and other blanket amnesty/immunity clauses in the tax laws through Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs). A tax lawyer Waheed Shahzad Butt told… – Continue reading
India and Maldives today signed two agreements for exchange of information with respect to taxes, and for avoidance of double taxation of income derived from international air transport. The agreements were signed during the visit of President of Maldives Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom to New Delhi. Gayoom is on a… – Continue reading
The agreement enhances the depth of the bilateral relations between UAE and UK. UAE, represented by the Ministry of Finance, or MoF, signed an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation with the United Kingdom, on Tuesday. The agreement aims to enhance the economic and trade relations between the two… – Continue reading
Panama is a tax haven, but Mauritius is one with which India has a comprehensive double tax treaty. This complicates matters more. In popular Indian imagination, a tax haven is generally associated with Switzerland and its numbered bank accounts. But tax havens are numerous, have grown in importance, and are… – Continue reading
The chief of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Monday that the Panamanian government is expected to cooperate in international efforts to prevent tax avoidance after the revelation of the so-called Panama Papers. OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria said in a press conference in Tokyo that… – Continue reading
ABU DHABI: UAE, represented by the Ministry of Finance (MoF), recently signed an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation and tax evasion on income with Jordan. The agreement aims to enhance joint cooperation in economic and tax fields, and encourage investment activities and trade exchange between both countries. The… – Continue reading
Tax avoidance on a grand scale is nothing new – the US President Barak Obama has led the way in tackling the issue head on with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) since 2010. FATCA demands non-American financial institutions should hand over details about accounts and investments controlled by… – Continue reading
The Swiss-run humanitarian organisation International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has allegedly been used without its knowledge to mask the true beneficiaries of offshore accounts whose details were leaked in the Panama Papers. According to revelations by the Swiss papers Le Matin Dimanche and SonntagsZeitung on Sunday, the ICRC… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Following the Panama Papers leak, India is seeking to restart talks with the Central American country on a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) that can help uncover information on wealth hidden away from public scrutiny. Talks with Panama on such an agreement aimed at information exchange on tax… – Continue reading
TOKYO — Measures to deter tax avoidance will be discussed at next week’s meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers in light of the release of the Panama Papers, including expanding an information-sharing agreement to include Panama and other countries. The release of leaked documents from a… – Continue reading
Despite best intentions of the government, there have been little or no takers for India-based fund managers In 2015, the Indian government took a commendable step by introducing a new provision in the Income-tax Act, 1961 (i.e. section 9A), to promote India as a fund manager jurisdiction, and to encourage… – Continue reading
BERLIN – A European Union official threatened Thursday to sanction Panama and other nations if they don’t cooperate fully to fight money laundering and tax evasion, after a leak of data showed the small country remains a key destination for people wanting to hide money. The 11.5 million documents from… – Continue reading
The release of the so-called “Panama Papers” – more than 11 million documents and personal files detailing financial information and offshore accounts of prominent individuals – dominated the international news cycle this week. It’s raised questions about the role of technology and the expectation of privacy. “We saw this in… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON: Underscoring the need for tax reforms in India, the US has said the proposed Goods and Services Tax ( GST) is of paramount importance. “Given India’s tremendous needs, its very low tax ratio, at 10 per cent of GDP, is notable. Accordingly, there is meaningful scope to address tax… – Continue reading
Much of the activity is legal, but it siphons away billions in tax revenue from government coffers The massive Panama Papers data leak shines a light not only on the dirty money being shuffled through tax havens, but also on the legal and common use of offshore accounts to significantly… – Continue reading
Lobby groups and business associations from Cyprus and India are working to build trade relations between the two countries with an eye to a new double taxation agreement that is being negotiated. The two sides see mutual benefits to their cooperation. The Indian High Commissioner Ravi Bangar said in an… – Continue reading
Georgia and South Korea have recently signed a double tax agreement, which allocates taxing rights to the two countries to prevent the double taxation of the same income. The agreement was signed by Georgian Finance Minister Nodar Khaduri, and South Korea’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Yoo II-Ho,… – Continue reading
African governments should embrace meaningful bilateral investments agreements to foster sustainable economic growth on the continent. The call follows a report by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) on investment policies and bilateral investment treaties by Africa, indicating a huge gap between most of signed treaties and their actual… – Continue reading
As “Panama Papers” expose the world’s most prominent people engaging in murky deals, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday told the Indian industry to become more “transparent and credible” in its functioning. “With the G20 (countries’ new global transparency standard) and FATCA (the US’ Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) coming… – Continue reading
Indonesia’s Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) is warning it will annul the investment permits of foreign companies that are proven to be avoiding payment of taxes. “We are ready to revoke the principal licenses, but to prove a transfer pricing, as a tax-avoidance practice, is not the BKPM’s job. It is… – Continue reading
Premier Li Keqiang’s message to the country’s tax and financial authorities is crystal clear: The ongoing landmark tax reform must reduce burdens on all industries. One month before the May 1 deadline of a sweeping reform that seeks to replace China’s decadeslong business tax with a value-added tax, Li visited… – Continue reading
The Panama Papers–the biggest leak of financial data in history–has blown the lid off offshore tax havens, again. This time, those in the limelight include twelve current or former world leaders, many celebrities, and wealthy persons who are using offshore tax havens to hide their wealth. In scope, this is… – Continue reading
Stock market regulator investigates over 50 companies for violating long-term capital gain mechanism for tax evasion The stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is raging a war on tax evasion on the platform of stock exchanges. It is investigating more than 50 companies for violating long-term… – Continue reading
United Kingdom Budget The United Kingdom (UK) Budget: was handed down on 16 March 2016. Some of the key measures announced include: a reduction in the corporation tax rate to 17 per cent by 2020 (previously due to fall to 18 per cent) more details on the implementation of Base… – Continue reading
Luxembourg’s state prosecutor has launched a judicial inquiry into allegations of money laundering involving hundreds of millions of dollars against Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB). The prosecutor said on Thursday that the inquiry followed evidence that funds held by the Malaysian government in offshore accounts in Singapore,… – Continue reading
Pakistan and Afghanistan on Wednesday completed first round of talks on the convention of avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion and mutually agreed on the initial draft of the convention. Sources told the Business Recorder on Wednesday that the negotiations between Afghan and Pakistani tax authorities were… – Continue reading
Barely two weeks after e-commerce major Flipkart dragged the Uttarakhand government to court for imposing a 10 per cent entry tax in the state on goods purchased from e-commerce firms, the Gujarat government passed a similar bill on Wednesday. The bill proposes to levy entry tax on goods purchased through… – Continue reading
Both the US and the global forum working on automatic exchange of information under OECD have endorsed the data safeguards put in place by India New Delhi: India’s tax systems have withstood international scrutiny over data confidentiality and other safeguards put in place by the government before the revenue authorities… – Continue reading
UNITED NATIONS, March 30 (Xinhua) — Stopping abuse of tax havens and promoting global tax cooperation will help create a fairer global society, Jeffrey Sachs, U.S. economist and UN special adviser on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) told reporters here Wednesday. Sachs made the statement at a press conference here… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Industry chamber Assocham today suggested the government to introduce the equalisation levy as part of Indian Income Tax Act itself and not as a separate chapter in the Finance Act as it would only increase cost of doing business. “Introducing equalisation levy separately under Finance Act and not… – Continue reading
The government is cutting the tax on real estate investment trusts (REITs) to boost local use of the financial mechanism that employs commercial properties like malls, hospitals, warehouses, hotels and office buildings as underlying assets. Indonesia only had two REITs created in the country in the past nine years, namely… – Continue reading
Kenya has received global recognition from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), following the appointment of James Karanja, a career Kenyan tax administrator to lead the recently established Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) Secretariat. TIWB is a global scope initiative, that was launched mid last year at the… – Continue reading
The proposed Article 26 (exchange of information) of the convention on Avoidance of Double Taxation, being renegotiated between Pakistan and Switzerland, would bound the Swiss tax authorities to exchange all requested information, including confidential bank account information of Pakistanis maintaining Swiss accounts. Sources told Business Recorder here on Tuesday that… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Anxiety still prevails among foreign institutional investors (FIIs) with regard to General Anti Avoidance Rule (GAAR), which will come into effect from April 1, 2017. While the draft rules in GAAR may have cleared the air over retrospective taxation and treatment of Participatory Notes ( P-notes), experts say doubts… – Continue reading
The Commissioner of Taxation, Chris Jordan has assured the public it can have confidence in the compliance approach the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is taking to its wealthiest taxpayers. Following the release of tax details relating to about 300 private companies with incomes of $200 million or more, Mr Jordan… – Continue reading
In a search for financial records of a U.S. taxpayer who allegedly parked undeclared income offshore, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) are seeking to enforce a summons against a U.S. branch of a foreign bank for records held by a foreign branch of… – Continue reading
The Tax Department has signed 11 more Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) with taxpayers covering overseas transactions within group entities so as to reduce litigations. “Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has signed 11 unilateral APAs on March 28, 2016. With this signing, India has entered into 59 bilateral and/or unilateral… – Continue reading
ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates and the Republic of Finland have signed an agreement on the exchange of information for tax purposes between the two countries. The agreement was signed by Younis Haji Al Khoori, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, MoF, and Riitta Swan, Ambassador of Finland to… – Continue reading
The idea is simple. Firms make profits in one jurisdiction, and shift them across borders by exploiting gaps and mismatches in tax rules, to take advantage of lower tax rates and, thus, not paying taxes to in the country where the profit is made. There have been concerns across the… – Continue reading
Georgia and South Korea are stepping up bilateral cooperation to avoid double taxation, boost investments and increase economic cooperation. Georgia’s Finance Minister Nodar Khaduri plans to visit South Korea and sign a cooperation agreement on avoidance of double taxation, prevention of evasion of income and capital taxes. Double taxation is… – Continue reading
Indonesia hopes its plans for a tax amnesty will dissuade companies from channelling profits through overseas tax havens and shopping around for the most advantageous tax treaties, its finance minister said on Wednesday. Bambang Brodjonegoro said he suspected Indonesian firms of setting up “special purpose vehicles” (SPVs) to benefit both… – Continue reading
Authorities in China’s southeastern coastal province of Zhejiang cracked down on 115 cases of underground banking involving transactions totalling more than 900 billion yuan (HK$ 1.07 trillion) in 2015, state media reports. The success of the campaign underscored the efforts of Beijing to rein in illegal capital outflows, which hit… – Continue reading
Court cases likely over interpretation of the new levy proposed in the Budget for digital economy The government’s plan to expand the scope of equalisation levy proposed in the Union Budget, seeking to bring more transactions in the digital economy under the tax net, has left many e-commerce players fuming…. – Continue reading
In March 2010, the FATCA was enacted in the United States (“US“) for the purpose of preventing the non-compliance of US persons with US taxation laws through the participation and cooperation of foreign governments and financial institutions. FATCA Implementation in Malaysia On 30 June 2014, Malaysia reached an agreement in… – Continue reading
The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) has disclosed that 81 percent of respondents to a survey of South Korean companies professed that, although they were aware of the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project, they were not, as yet, making any preparations. The South Korean Government is preparing… – Continue reading
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has launched the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) also known as the common reporting standard (CRS) – a globally co-ordinated approach to disclosure of account information between tax authorities. It follows on from several country’s successful implementation of the US Fatca regulations… – Continue reading
This article’s title may be shocking and antagonize Indonesia’s staunch position of opposing tax evasion by way of tax havens. But, let’s look deeper. While there is no standard definition of a tax haven, it is generally defined as a state, country or territory where tax rates are very low… – Continue reading
With increasing number of people from multiple countries investing in India and vice versa, there is a need to have a system that could track all such financial transactions in a transparent manner. With increasing number of people from multiple countries investing in India and vice versa, there is a… – Continue reading
The Anti-Cybercrime Group of the Philippine National Police has joined the fight against big-time tax evaders after its help was sought by the Bureau of Internal Revenue. ACG director Senior Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar said in a statement Tuesday that BIR Commissioner Kim Henares enlisted the unit’s help, citing its expertise,… – Continue reading
