The Finance Act 2015 introduced certain gateway conditions for the new exemption from UK withholding tax on interest payments for “qualifying private placements.” The Qualifying Private Placement Regulations 2015 setting out the detailed conditions for relief have now been made. While January 1, 2016 was appointed as the effective date,… – Continue reading
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has askedMauritius to set up a ‘macro-prudential authority’ to monitor the offshore investments from the island. One of the largest destinations of such offshore investments is the Indian stock market. The proposed authority will have a central role for the banking regulator, the Bank of… – Continue reading
The second Protocol to the double tax agreement between Singapore and the United Arab Emirates entered into force March 16, 2016, and will become effective from January 1, 2017, lowering withholding tax rates and amending permanent establishment rules. The protocol, which was signed in October 2014, revises the terms to… – Continue reading
The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on Sunday advanced a bill to link tax evasion with money laundering. The bill would set certain types of tax evasion acts as predicate offenses, meaning they would be considered as part of the larger crime of money laundering. The bill, backed by… – Continue reading
THE digital economy has increased opportunities for digital commerce companies to reap substantial sales from a country without establishing a taxable presence in that country. Existing permanent-establishment (PE) rules in both domestic laws and tax treaties require some type of physical presence before a PE is established in another country…. – Continue reading
The Delhi government’s Trade and Taxes Department has initiated investigation into alleged tax evasion by the city’s top 10 traders. The move comes as the government is reportedly not satisfied with the role of the police in punishing Value Added Taxes (VAT) defaulters. “The department will file a charge-sheet against… – Continue reading
New Delhi: A new report on Indians stashing their black money in tax haven and assets abroad illegally is startling. As per a report in the Times of India, senior economists from the Bank of Italy have come up with an estimate on black money. The report states that Indians… – Continue reading
The investigation and prosecution of tax evasion has, in the last decade, grown from a specialised subcategory of law enforcement into a first-tier policy concern for the global community.Starting with the US government’s crackdown on Swiss bank UBS in 2008, there has been a steady drumbeat of news about prosecutions… – Continue reading
The GAAR guidelines should make it clear that it should be only used as a deterrent against tax avoidance schemes, and not a revenue gathering weapon in the hands of the tax officer. Accordingly, the guidelines should make it explicit that GAAR will be applicable only to artificial, abusive and… – Continue reading
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has issued a guideline asking its income tax offices across the country to start ‘scrutiny assessment’ of the tax returns submitted for the tax year 2015-16. As per the guideline, the taxmen have to complete the scrutiny assessment known as ‘return process’ by December… – Continue reading
The ways of doing business in a digital economy have evolved rapidly. Traditional tax norms, effective in addressing issues in a world before high-paced technological and e-commerce, are increasingly becoming outdated. Taxation of e-businesses has been a globally identified challenge with tax authorities acknowledging that corporates in this disruptive environment… – Continue reading
The Mauritius central bank said it has issued a banking licence to Bank of China , the first Chinese bank licensed to operate on the Indian Ocean island. Zhang Xiaoqing, who is leading a team setting up the Mauritius unit, said Bank of China wanted to provide financial services to… – Continue reading
On March 16, South Korean National Tax Service (NTS) Commissioner Lim Hwan-soo and Wong Kuen-fai, Commissioner of the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) of Hong Kong, met with each other and agreed to share their tax information immediately after their tax treaty becomes effective. The two countries’ negotiations for the treaty… – Continue reading
The government has signed five more advance pricing agreements with multinational firms. Of these, three are new agreements while two were renewals, according to consulting firm EY, which was involved in three of the deals. An Advance Pricing Agreement, or APA, is essentially a negotiated deal between a taxpayer and… – Continue reading
The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis, through its Inland Revenue Department has gone live with Vizor Software’s FATCA & AEOI solution, the FATCA Reporting Portal. Ottawa, Canada (PRWEB) March 17, 2016 Today, Vizor Ltd. announced that the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis has gone live with the Vizor… – Continue reading
The government said a foreign hedge fund with an Indian fund manager working in India will neither be classified as having a business connection in India nor as being located in India. “Under this regime, the fund management activity carried out through an eligible fund manager in India by an… – Continue reading
Belarus and Kazakhstan introduced amendments and additions to the intergovernmental double taxation agreement and thus updated the tax legislation, Belarus’ Taxes and Duties Minister Sergei Nalivaiko said after a ceremony to sign the protocol, BelTA has learned. The matter is about the protocol between the governments of Belarus and Kazakhstan… – Continue reading
THAILAND HAS no plan to adopt any time soon the three-tiered approach to transfer-pricing documentation recommended by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. However, large Thai multinational enterprises (MNEs) with subsidiaries operating in countries that are members of the OECD and/or Group of 20 will find that they will… – Continue reading
The offshore yuan was set for the biggest two-day decline in six weeks after China’s central bank reduced the currency’s reference rate and policy makers were seen preparing a levy on foreign-exchange transactions. The monetary authority has drafted rules for a so-called Tobin tax in an effort to curb currency… – Continue reading
President Barack Obama is heading to Cuba next week. When Air Force One lands on that island nation on March 20, Obama will become the first U.S. commander in chief to visit Cuba in 88 years. In advance of that historic visit, which the administration hopes will eventually lead to… – Continue reading
China’s chess game to seize control of the South China Sea may take an interesting turn if an influential businessman’s suggestion is followed and Beijing turns one of the disputed islands into its very own Cayman Islands-style offshore bank. The idea, as explained by The Washington Post, is to establish… – Continue reading
In a major clampdown, regulator SEBI has debarred over 1,000 entities from the capital markets after they were found to be misusing stock exchange platforms for tax evasion to the tune of more than Rs 15,000 crore. SEBI has also suspended trading in shares of as many as 167 companies,… – Continue reading
N.R. Narayana Murthy, Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Infosys, said here on Saturday that reducing friction for business and creating an easy-to-comply-with tax system can help shore up the Human Development Index (HDI) of the country. He also called for jailing people who do not pay tax as it is… – Continue reading
Mauritius plans to sell itself as a world class financial-services hub to investment companies in Asia and the Far East to win new business, an official said. The island-nation’s Financial Services Promotional Agency plans to market the country as an international financial center, or IFC, and is already collaborating with… – Continue reading
Fortune 500 firms may be avoiding $695 billion in U.S. income taxes on $2.4 trillion held offshore. What do Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have in common? Both seek an end to the use of offshore tax havens by corporate America. Bernie Sanders’ plan ends the ability of corporations to… – Continue reading
It’s not just the Indian banks that business tycoon Vijay Mallya has taken for a ride. The chairman of United Breweries (UB) group and promoter of now defunct Kingfisher Airlines also concealed in his election affidavit, filed before the Rajya Sabha, his business interests in offshore tax havens elsewhere. dna… – Continue reading
Uzbekistan and Finland signed a protocol on amendments to the Uzbek-Finnish intergovernmental agreement on avoidance of double taxation and prevention of income tax evasion, the Uzbek foreign ministry’s statement posted on its website said. Uzbekistan and Finland signed the agreement on the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of income… – Continue reading
Tax evasion has always been a criminal offence in India. Few know that this can even land you in jail. Persecution in any related offence can come under Chapter XXII of the Income-tax Act, 1961. Under this act, 3-6 months of rigorous jail will be given to offenders under these… – Continue reading
A move to check arbitrary decisions by the tax authorities may result in a huge fine for minor transgressions or mistakes while reporting tax, experts fear. In this year’s budget fine-print, the finance ministry has inserted a “new Section 270A (which) provides for levy of penalty in cases of under-reporting… – Continue reading
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY (BLOOMBERG) – The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sought to make UBS Group turn over records on an account in Singapore held by a US citizen, setting up a showdown with the city-state over its bank-secrecy laws and potentially opening a new front against offshore tax evasion… – Continue reading
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
Thailand and the United States signed an historic tax agreement today to promote tax transparency between the two nations. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), enacted in 2010, aims to combat offshore tax evasion and improve transparency on accounts held by US taxpayers in foreign countries. Under the agreement… – 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
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has notified a new convention inked between Pakistan and the Czech Republic for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to taxes on income of citizens of both countries. Sources said that the FBR has issued an S.R.O.1322(I)/2015… – 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
They are considering clubbing together to ship large amounts of US dollars to their offshore bank accounts as the result of a new Central Bank policy toward physical notes. The Central Bank recently stopped accepting physical dollar deposits from commercial banks, said several bankers at private lenders, who were not… – 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
1. New double tax treaty between Germany and the Netherlands: tax authorities now bear burden of proof regarding tax- evading or tax-avoiding arrangements A new Double Tax Treaty (DTT) has been in place between Germany and the Netherlands since 01 January 2016. Art. 23 of the DTT introduces an important… – Continue reading
The federal government of Nigeria and Qatar have signed an agreement for the avoidance of double taxation on income and capital gains for investments between the two countries. In addition to the elimination of double taxation on business income, similar treaties between Nigeria and other countries provide for a lower… – Continue reading
A “controlled foreign company” (CFC) is, as the name implies, a foreign company or subsidiary owned by a parent company which is situated in a country different from the parent company’s country of residence. The tax laws of many countries, including the Philippines, do not tax the CFC’s parent company… – 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
