There can be no straight jacket formula to determine what is meant by “provision of service,” which may include where services are i) provided; ii) rendered; or iii) utilized. The expression ‘provision of services’ is much wider than ‘provision of rendering of services,’ and covers the services even if they… – Continue reading
Indians nowadays are increasingly buying properties overseas, particularly in London, New York, Singapore and Dubai. It is critical for them to study foreign exchange regulations and tax provisions of the relevant country as well as India before they make buying decisions. Some of the important aspects to be noted in… – Continue reading
Faced with outrage from over a dozen otherwise placid Caribbean nations, D.C. officials are backtracking on a plan to openly call out countries it says allow big U.S. businesses to skip out on paying local taxes. At issue is a change to existing tax law made through the 2016 D.C…. – Continue reading
Vancouver real estate is a Mainland Chinese buyers’ market, study says Groundbreaking study shows 70 per cent of detached homes sold in a six-month period on Vancouver’s west side went to Mainland Chinese buyers; many of them housewives or students with little income. The dominant influence of Chinese investors in… – Continue reading
Suggest Easwar panel on Income Tax Act should also make safe harbour profit margins more realistic The justice R V Easwar committee on the Income Tax Act set up last week would do well to clarify whether payments for software should attract income tax or service tax, and make safe… – Continue reading
The justice R V Easwar committee on the Income Tax Act set up last week would do well to clarify whether payments for software should attract income tax or service tax, and make safe harbour profit margins more realistic, tax experts said. Tax demands based on ‘excessive’ advertising and promotional… – Continue reading
A Financial Action Task Force (FATF) delegation visits Israel this week to consider Israel’s application for membership. “Israel is working tirelessly to upgrade its standing as a regional leader in the struggle against money laundering and financing of terrorism through persistent regulatory changes and a more effective regime. Up until… – Continue reading
IRDA norms on retrocession viewed as being restrictive Top foreign reinsurers, namely Swiss Re, Hannover Re and Scor Re would soon be applying to the insurance regulator for opening branch offices in India. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) on Friday came out with the regulations for registration and… – Continue reading
The most common error NRIs commit while filing tax returns is to use the status of residents in India. Non-resident Indians (NRIs) in the UAE enjoy the twin advantages of not having to pay tax in their country of domicile and most sources of income are exempted from tax in… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) are yet to exorcise the ghost of minimum alternate tax, or MAT. These offshore asset managers, based out of financial centres like Singapore, Hong Kong and New York, will now have to convince the Indian tax office that they do not have “place of business”… – Continue reading
Barbados’ reputation as a home of “serious” business and a “significant” player in international business is being enhanced with the adoption of a United States law which targets non-complaint US taxpayers with foreign accounts, Minister of International Business Donville Inniss has contended. In fact, Inniss suggested that the Foreign Accounts… – Continue reading
HONG KONG (CNNMoney) A record 1,426 Americans gave up their citizenship in the third quarter, according to new government data. That puts the number of Americans who have renounced their citizenship at a whopping 3,221 so far this year. In 2014, a record 3,415 Americans gave up their passports, according… – Continue reading
Over the past decade, many Indian business families have organised themselves under trusts — a bankruptcy remote structure — to preserve wealth, protect the rights of various members, and plan for the next generation. Now, this arrangement is coming under strain for families with members staying in the US, the… – Continue reading
NDRC’s easing of restrictions will likely facilitate Chinese companies’ entrance into international debt capital and loan markets. Introduction On 14 September 2015, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) issued the Circular on Promoting the Reform of the Filing and Registration System for Issuance of Foreign Debt by Enterprises (the… – Continue reading
Washington, Oct 30 : India and the US have agreed to continue their engagement on the vexed issue of a totalization agreement for the purpose of avoiding double taxation of income with respect to social security taxes. “There is steady progress on the issue,” Minister of State for Commerce &… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Over the past decade, many Indian business families have organised themselves under trusts — a bankruptcy remote structure — to preserve wealth, protect the rights of various members, and plan for the next generation. Now, this arrangement is coming under strain for families with members staying in the US…. – Continue reading
BRITISH taxpayers forked out £45million in foreign aid spending to countries classed as tax havens in just one year, it emerged today. Nations such as Belize, Marshall Islands, Seychelles and Vanautu – which are all included on a European Commission ‘blacklist’ of international tax havens – have all received cash… – Continue reading
In late October, public and private sector representatives from Eastern Europe and Central Asia met to discuss collaborating on the implementation of the OECD’s recommendations on base erosion and profit shifting. The meeting was hosted in Tbilisi by the Georgian Ministry of Finance and the Georgia Revenue Service, in co-operation… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Often accused of being an offshore financial centre misused for round tripping, Mauritius today assured India that it will “walk the extra mile” to ensure that its reputations as clean and trusted jurisdiction is upheld at all costs. “We will put in all the necessary efforts and walk… – Continue reading
Blast waves: smoke billows from the site of an explosion that reduced a parking lot filled with new cars to charred remains at a warehouse in northeastern China’s Tianjin municipality. Most of Bermuda’s major insurers and reinsurers had significant exposures to this disaster. (Photograph by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo) Tianjin… – Continue reading
HSBC is moving its derivative trading book from London to Hong Kong in a bid to cut costs arising from tight regulations in the UK and EU, The Telegraph reports. Trading staff will stay put in London, but interest rate swap trades will be increasingly booked in Hong Kong. It… – Continue reading
Russia’s Ministry of Finance has given its reaction to the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) reports. The Director of the Department for Tax and Customs Policy at the Ministry of Finance, Ilya Trunin, said in a televised interview for Russia 24 that, in 2014, Russia adopted several new… – Continue reading
Switzerland stands on a provisional Russian tax havens list: The document lists 119 countries and territories which do not ensure the exchange of tax information with Russia Russian authorities consider. If the document actually come into force as planned in the form of a regulation, threaten Russian investors in Switzerland… – Continue reading
Most double tax avoidance treaties between two countries attempt to repel probable abuse of benefits under the pacts. Incorporating a clause for limitation of benefits (LOB) in the treaty is the usual practice adopted for checking such abuses. LOB provisions are for denying benefits of the tax treaty to those… – Continue reading
(MENAFN – Arab Times) The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) model has spurred the rise of a global automatic exchange of information, informed Hannah Shipley, Director at Ernst & Young, while speaking about FATCA and its implications during a business panel discussion held at the Kuwait Chamber of… – Continue reading
Viet Nam’s milk price is more expensive than that of many regional countries. Statistics from the department showed that Viet Nam has 13,000 foreign direct investment companies of which 4,098 transactions having signs of transfer pricing. — File Photo HA NOI (VNS) — The Ministry of Finance yesterday in Ha… – Continue reading
Hong Kong needs more double tax agreements to grow its exchanged-traded funds (ETFs) market, according to a new report from the Financial Services Development Council. Although there are currently over 100 ETFs listed in Hong Kong, the territory has been overtaken in Asia by Tokyo and Shanghai. The report recommends… – Continue reading
The tax authorities continue to abide by the principle of “what is not forbidden is allowed”, using contradictory norms of the Russian Tax Code to their advantage. As a result, there is a surge in tax audits by territorial tax authorities during which they check whether prices charged in transactions… – Continue reading
The yuan in Hong Kong rose the most in more than two weeks on speculation China’s central bank intervened to prop up the currency after its discount to the Shanghai spot price widened. Large Chinese banks sold dollars in the offshore market in early Asian trading hours Thursday, according to… – Continue reading
The declining trend in the income tax department’s estimates of alleged income suppression by multinational companies would get buttressed, thanks to the new set of transfer pricing (TP) rules issued earlier this week. Currently, transfer pricing adjustments become necessary when the transaction price with related parties abroad reported by a… – Continue reading
Republican and Democratic lawmakers vowed on Thursday to push for the ratification of eight tax treaties which have been held up for years because of one Republican senator’s objections, despite support from companies that want consistency in rules for how to do international business. U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky… – Continue reading
The Ministry of Finance yesterday announced establishment of Transfer Pricing Inspection Agency under the Inspection Department of the General Taxation Department. This aims to fight against complicating transfer pricing which has resulted in budget revenue’s losses. The agency will act as a counselor for the Taxation General Department to work… – Continue reading
The earnings momentum of Taiwanese banks has tapered off this year due to China’s slowing economy and yuan devaluation, CIMB Securities Ltd said on Tuesday. Overseas earnings, which drive 35 percent of local banks’ pretax profits, might not see a hefty increase this year as in previous years, as banks… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Direct Taxes ( CBDT), India’s apex direct taxes body, has said investors will not face any tax on capital gains on offshore rupee bonds. “It has been decided that capital gains, arising in case of appreciation of rupee between the date of Issue and… – Continue reading
(October 28, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) “I and my family members have no secret accounts in Dubai banks,”said the Rajapaksa ‘Crown Prince’ Namal when the media published reports about a secret account in a Dubai bank of a son of a VVIP. The media reports stated that the Sri… – Continue reading
An income tax treaty between Italy and Hong Kong has entered into force, with the exchange of instruments of ratification. The official communication of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announcing this exchange was published in the official journal on 26 October 2015. BLACK LIST, WHITE LIST Italy’s “black list”… – Continue reading
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said that a total of 4,000 foreign investment (PMA) companies were under scrutiny over tax evasions. “Mostly, [the companies] practiced transfer pricing,” Bambang said at his office on Tuesday, October 27, 2015. Bambang explained that the probe was not about the potential of… – Continue reading
Australia’s corporate tax rate is higher than the global average, according to KPMG’s 2015 global tax rate survey, SmartCompany reports. While Australia’s corporate tax rate currently sits at 30 per cent, the global average sits at 23.68 per cent. The United States has the highest corporate tax rate at 40… – Continue reading
With effect from November 1, mutual fund investors will have to make additional declaration pertaining to foreign account tax compliance act (FATCA) and common reporting standards (CRS) for all new accounts opened, failing which their applications will get rejected. Under FATCA and CRS, Indian financial institutions will be required to… – Continue reading
The finance ministry on Tuesday set up a 10-member committee to review the Income-Tax Act to avoid litigation and improve ease of doing business, after solving past minimum alternate tax (MAT) cases and easing transfer pricing norms. The announcement came on a day when a World Bank report showed only… – Continue reading
(CNS Business): The use of Cayman Islands funds as a wealth management tool for high net worth Latin American families was debated last week at the STEP LatAm Conference in Brazil, where kidnapping is a constant worry for the wealthy and demand for outbound investments is fuelled by privacy and… – Continue reading
JAKARTA, Oct 28 (Reuters) – Indonesian conglomerate Lippo Group plans to shift two real estate investment trusts (REITs) with 35 trillion rupiah ($2.6 billion) in assets from Singapore to Indonesia next year in order to benefit from new tax breaks offered by Jakarta. Lippo’s move could be followed by at… – Continue reading
National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), the largest lender by assets in the United Arab Emirates, bought Royal Bank of Scotland’s offshore loan book in India for 3 billion dirhams ($816.8 million) in October, the bank’s chief executive Alex Thursby said in a conference call on Wednesday. The bank is… – Continue reading
Herve Falciani, the Frenchman wanted on charges of industrial espionage in Switzerland, has opted to skip his trial at the country’s top court and instead plead his case before a jury of journalists at a French hotel, less than a mile from the Swiss border. The Frenchman was the star… – Continue reading
The government on Tuesday set up a 10-member committee, chaired by former Delhi High Court judge R V Easwar, to identify provisions in the Income Tax Act that “lead to litigation and impact the ease of doing business” for resolution early next year in the Finance Bill, 2016. The government… – Continue reading
Come November 1, mutual fund investors will have to provide details and declaration pertaining to Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and common reporting standards (CRS) for all new accounts opened, failing which fund houses are likely to reject their applications. While some fund houses have already started this process… – Continue reading
Following the recent Irish budget statement (the “Budget”), the Finance Bill 2015 (the “Bill”) has been published and it implements the changes announced by the Irish Minister for Finance (the “Minister”). The Bill includes additional detail on: the new knowledge development box (“KDB”); and Ireland’s implementation of country by country… – Continue reading
After teasing the UK financial community — and the government — with a thinly-veiled threat to decamp from Britain, HSBC has continued to stoke speculation that it’s looking for more hospitable headquarters. Back in April, HSBC announced a review of whether to quit the UK, a somewhat provocative statement, coming,… – Continue reading
The Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC), headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, will meet on November 5 to take stock of the economic situation. Fiscal situation, external sector environment, financial sector reforms, rising non-performing assets and regulatory issues are likely to figure in the meeting, sources said. FSDC is… – Continue reading
Brazil has reduced from 20 percent to 17 percent the maximum income tax rate required to designate a location that meets the other requirements as a low-tax jurisdiction for transfer pricing and other tax purposes. The change was made via Ordinance 488/2014 of the Ministry of Finance, published in the… – Continue reading
