Meredith McBride in Hong Kong Though base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) took the front seat during meetings between global leaders on November 15 and 16 at the G20 forum, country leaders also expressed concern over the taxation of intellectual property (IP). Patent box regimes in particular were mentioned as… – Continue reading
Martin Lock was formerly the top withholding-tax specialist at the Tax Office, a role that encompassed oversight of profit shifting by multinationals. He is one of many former officers who have voiced their concerns to Fairfax Media about the challenge of arresting the slide in tax receipts from multinational companies… – Continue reading
Former treasurer Peter Costello and Future Fund chairman appears before the Finance Estimates committee at Parliament House. Photo: Andrew Meares Former treasurer Peter Costello has offered some veiled advice to the Abbott government on how to collect more tax revenue, saying it would be easier to tighten Australia’s domestic tax… – Continue reading
Background In July 2013, the G20 Finance Ministers, including Australia, fully endorsed the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) Action Plan. As a result of the Action Plan, the Australian government encouraged a new commitment to focus resources on investigating international business structures to ensure companies pay tax in the… – Continue reading
The Tax Office denied Macquarie Group a controversial tax deduction related to offshore subsidiaries that resulted in a long-running and costly court battle, while at the same time allowing other taxpayers to claim the deductions, a report finds. A report from inspector-general of taxation Ali Noroozi, released by the government… – Continue reading
Oxfam director Winnie Byanyima says what is on the table is not enough to stop poor countries being ‘bled dry’ Moves by G20 nations to tackle corporate tax avoidance are welcome but will only begin to uncover the full problem while leaving poor countries still vulnerable to exploitation, tax justice… – Continue reading
A high-profile businesswoman accused of using Cayman Islands bank accounts to dodge more than $7 million in taxes is seeking to challenge the use of information obtained by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service through a tax information exchange request. Cheryl Womack, a Kansas City businesswoman who has a home and… – Continue reading
The growing crackdown on tax avoidance risks ushering in a broader suppression of international tax competition, harming the interests of all taxpayers. An inevitable consequence of economic globalisation is that supply chains and financial linkages have become dispersed across geographic space, and producers now strive to provide customers with quality… – Continue reading
The Cayman Islands is touted as one of the world’s top 10 finance hubs. The chief reason that the Caribbean hotspot holds such cachet is an epic perk it provides – freedom from income tax. twitter To get more Money more often, why not follow us on Twitter? We’re @FairfaxMoney… – Continue reading
Why does Stephen Mandel, the newly minted Minister of Health, think it’s a good idea for Alberta taxpayers to support the lifestyles of wealthy Australian businessmen who earn more than $13 million a year; their executive teams who get ridiculous bonuses and stock options; and the Australian economy as a… – Continue reading
The ability of multinational companies to shift profits into low-tax jurisdictions is undermining governments’ ability to raise revenue. But the cross-border policy solutions are complex. Curbing international tax avoidance has become a focus of G20 discussion this week, after last week’s revelation that major companies including Ikea, AMP and Pepsi… – Continue reading
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has nominated global tax avoidance as one of the key issues on the agenda for this weekend’s G20 summit in Brisbane. Major companies including Google and Apple have faced strong criticism over their efforts to lower their tax bills by shifting profits to jurisdictions with low… – Continue reading
Treasurer Joe Hockey has called multinational companies who avoid paying tax “thieves” whose actions worsen inequality and make it harder for governments to fix poverty. Mr Hockey told reporters in Brisbane on Thursday that this weekend’s Group of 20 leaders summit would focus on ensuring that “companies pay tax where… – Continue reading
Future Fund chairman Peter Costello has defended the amount of tax the sovereign wealth fund pays, saying it has ‘sovereign immunity’ when it invests overseas. The government-owned Fund was named along with other Australian companies for using Luxembourg as a base in which to lower global taxes in one of… – Continue reading
November 13: Taxation Ruling (TR) 2014/6—issued yesterday by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)—sets forth the Commissioner’s view on the application of the reconstruction provisions as contained in Australia’s new transfer pricing rules. The significance of these reconstruction provisions is that they authorise the Commissioner to re-price, reconstruct or disregard a… – Continue reading
India will soon put its signature on an agreement for exchange of information to curb tax evasion after refusing to sign the multilateral pact along with 51 nations in Berlin last month. Finance Ministry officials told Deccan Herald that the government was currently in the process of completing the internal… – Continue reading
Australia – Transfer pricing reconstruction not limited to “exceptional circumstances” November 12: The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) today finalised a transfer pricing ruling that sets forth the Commissioner’s position on application of the reconstruction provisions, as outlined in section 815-130 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. The ruling—TR 2014/6—covers… – Continue reading
The C20 (Civil Society 20) is calling on G20 leaders to take action this weekend to improve the lives of the most vulnerable in society. C20 chair Tim Costello said the group was looking for an outcome on Sunday that clearly demonstrates G20 leaders’ commitment to fairness by taking concrete,… – Continue reading
Treasurer Joe Hockey has made tax avoidance by the world’s largest companies one of the cornerstone issues for discussion by the world’s most powerful leaders at the G20 summit in Brisbane this week – but it appears he still has some way to go to convince those closer to home… – Continue reading
A long-awaited free trade agreement between Australia and China could be signed soon, federal Trade Minister Andrew Robb says, despite negotiations still raging. Mr Robb, who is in China, said it was his “expectation” the agreement would be signed after the G20 leaders meeting of the world’s richest nations, which… – Continue reading
The days of multi-national companies avoiding tax could be numbered. The issue is on the G20 Summit’s Brisbane agenda next week and Trade Minister Andrew Robb believes all countries will work together to come up with a solution within the next 12 to 18 months. “A consequence of self interest… – Continue reading
Investigators for the Australian Tax Office and their lawyers were told by a judge last year that if they travelled to the Cayman Islands they could be locked up. A year earlier the Tax Office had suffered a setback. It lost a case in the Grand Court of the Cayman… – Continue reading
Moving overseas, or returning to Australia after a stint abroad, is not just a lifestyle or career decision. It also has far-reaching financial implications that are invariably overlooked until years later. While these often involve what to do with retirement money overseas or the tax implications of selling assets owned… – Continue reading
Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan has rapidly abandoned several agreements with multinationals aimed at giving companies certainty about the tax they are required to pay in Australia in future years, after deeming they had misled and engaged in “aggressive tax planning”. Taxpayers can enter into a deal to lock in the… – Continue reading
The tax commissioner has rejected six agreements with multinationals in the past six months after deciding they had misled the Tax Office and engaged in “aggressive tax planning”. Multinationals can enter deals with the Tax Office to lock in the basis for pricing cross-border transactions, under so-called “advanced pricing agreements”,… – Continue reading
Directors of the Australian government’s Future Fund as well as PricewaterhouseCoopers, Macquarie and AMP could be forced to face a Senate inquiry into tax avoidance following a global investigation into secret tax deals in Luxembourg. Thousands of leaked documents published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists on Thursday revealed… – Continue reading
The Australian tax office wants comments on a 2016 plan for buyers of some property worth more than AUS$2.5m sold by foreigners to withhold 10% for the tax office Overseas owners selling prime property in Australia may have 10% taken out as part of the deal, under tax proposals being… – 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
Sydney is set to become the next offshore yuan trading hub and is likely to obtain a yuan clearing bank later in November, Reuters reported Monday. China will sign an agreement with Australia to establish a yuan trading center in Sydney and the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is highly… – Continue reading
High Court refuses special leave application in capital gains tax dispute The High Court has refused the special leave application by the taxpayer in a case involving the liability to capital gains tax (CGT) of a ‘limited partnership’ formed in the Cayman Islands. The application for special leave followed the… – Continue reading
iiNet says ‘your data could land in China’ Communications minister Malcolm Turnbull has told the telecommunications industry he doesn’t think Australian telecommunications carriers should be required to hold stored customer data within Australia. Data sovereignty has become a hot-button privacy topic in Australia with the rise of the cloud, and… – Continue reading
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has spruiked Australia’s economic credentials ahead of the upcoming G20 summit in Brisbane. The summit from November 15-16 will see 4000 international delegates from 20 major economies converge on the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre for talks on economic growth. Calling the summit “the world’s most… – Continue reading
The “Double Irish Dutch sandwich” sounds like something questionable you’d find on the menu at backpacker-run cafe. But it’s actually a notorious tax loophole in Ireland which allows huge multinational companies to get away with paying tiny amounts of tax through shifting money between multiple countries. For almost 30 years,… – Continue reading
The Government continues to move slowly on global tax evasion and no action is likely for four to five years, according to a statement by Revenue Minister Todd McClay. Companies like Facebook and Google have been under fire around the world for shifting revenue and profits to different jurisdictions to… – 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
Australians gamble more per capita than any other country in the world – and lose more too – so it’s no surprise that our gaming industry is getting flustered about the rivers of money flowing to the online black market. Tabcorp’s Paula Dwyer today called on the federal government to… – Continue reading
Tabcorp is pushing the Federal Government to even the playing field when it comes to wagering. Tabcorp’s chairman Paula Dwyer wants a ban on rival offshore betting companies operating in Australia. An estimated 14 per cent of betting by Australians is with non-licensed offshore operators, Ms Dwyer told shareholders at… – Continue reading
Did you hear the one about the billionaire mogul who thought the way to fix inequality was to cut corporate taxation? But wait, here’s the kicker – he’s one of the world’s biggest tax dodgers, but he wants a crackdown on the tax dodging of his competitors. The more we… – Continue reading
In a recent Senate Estimates hearing, Greens Senator Christine Milne probed ASIC representatives to explain why they consider Facebook Australia a ‘small’ company, especially considering the parent organisation is worth a staggering $US33.3 billion. Facebook Australia is a ‘small’ company by its own determination and it is registered as such… – Continue reading
Green Left Weekly and ActionAid will be co-sponsoring a Political Economy Society seminar at Sydney University on October 29 to discuss the case for greater international efforts to combat corporate tax avoidance before the G20 summit. Large corporations systematically avoid paying the statutory level of company tax — a low… – Continue reading
Christine Milne says Australian Securities and Investments Commission should target ‘smaller enterprise’ exemption Facebook Australia has not lodged annual accounts since 2009 because it says it is a smaller enterprise and exempt from having to file. Photograph: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images The Greens are calling on the Australian financial services watchdog… – Continue reading
Around $180 million in undeclared offshore income has now been recovered as part of the amnesty, the ATO said. A further $1 billion in assets has also been recovered. Photo: Louie Douvis The Tax Office is keeping a close eye on foreign banks as part of its push to stop… – Continue reading
Unprecedented international collaboration is needed to overcome a single-, isolated-country view to tackling base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) issues, Andrew Mills, Second Commissioner of Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for Law Design and Practice, has said. In a speech delivered at the Second Annual Tax Forum organized by the Tax… – Continue reading
Privacy Commissioner welcomes the news. The office of NSW Attorney-General Brad Hazzard has confirmed the government’s intentions to update the state’s privacy legislation to make it clear where agencies and healthcare providers stand when it comes to storing data offshore, particularly as part of cloud computing arrangements. The NSW Privacy… – Continue reading
When you buy an internet coupon deal from Groupon Australia you are likely to find the receipt says Groupon Zurich. You the customer reside here, the service which you are buying is provided here, Groupon has companies registered in Australia, yet the transaction routed through Zurich. Why? The corporate income… – Continue reading
“It is the world’s best tax amnesty, “ says Morris Maroon, Head of the National Tax Team of law firm Rockwell Olivier. “There are only months before the best opportunity to turn foreign wealth tax-clean will come to an end. We will then see if the predictions of a particularly… – Continue reading
Forty of Australia’s biggest companies will be asked to explain their tax affairs to a Senate committee investigating corporate tax avoidance. Companies shown, in a recent report, to have the lowest “effective tax rate” over the past decade and to operate the most subsidiaries in tax havens have been given… – Continue reading
Transactions within, rather than between, companies now accounts for about a quarter of Australia’s economic output, the Tax Office says. In a sign of the challenges facing the government’s crackdown on corporate tax erosion, the ATO said related-party dealings now amounted to more than a quarter of a billion dollars… – Continue reading
There are reportedly about to be major moves in the fight against tax evasion within the European Union. The region’s finance ministers are said to be close to an agreement on automatic sharing of bank data so that the authorities could spot tax dodging or illicit money flows more easily…. – Continue reading
Telstra’s billion dollar share buy back, which only made financial sense for zero-tax shareholders, has been a roaring success. So much so, a scale-back by almost 70 per cent of tenders was required and the firm paid out at the bottom of the agreed range — just $4.60 a share,… – Continue reading
