The Tax Justice Network’s misleading and error-ridden report “Who pays for our common wealth?” unfairly tarnishes the reputation of many Australian firms as well as the Australian Taxation Office, and risks setting back the tax reform debate that Australia desperately needs. The bottom line is that businesses have to accept… – Continue reading
Racing authorities have launched an investigation into allegations offshore bookmaker Betjack is failing to pay punters their winnings. The move comes as Betjack, based in tropical tax haven Vanuatu, gears up ahead of the spring racing carnival by hiring more sales staff for its Australian call centre, located on the… – Continue reading
A political advisor for the government of the former Vanuatu Prime Minister Moana Carcasses, French national Gilles Daniel, has had his Vanuatu citizenship revoked. Mr Daniel has already been deported from Vanuatu in 2005, but challenged his deportation, with the court ruling in his favour. The secretary of the Vanuatu… – Continue reading
David Murray’s financial system inquiry should push to remove withholding tax on non-residents’ deposits in Australian banks to help diversify the funding base of local banks and create more competition from foreign institutions. Next week’s report from the inquiry should also drive the development of a corporate bond market, back… – Continue reading
Australia’s taxing agency is doubling efforts to identify individuals with undisclosed foreign income and assets so they can participate in a streamlined tax program for individuals with offshore assets, the agency said Monday. The Australian Taxation Office said it is sorting through data to identify people with offshore assets so… – Continue reading
Australia’s largest coalminer, Glencore, paid almost zero tax over the past three years, despite income of $15 billion, as it radically reduced its tax exposure by taking large, unnecessarily expensive loans from its associates overseas. At up to 9 per cent, the interest rates on these $3.4 billion in loans… – Continue reading
One hundred of Australia’s richest people have taken advantage of a rare amnesty from the Australian Taxation Office – issued in March this year – to reveal their use of secretive offshore tax havens without severe punishment. There has also been a ”large number of expressions of interest” in addition… – Continue reading
Tax avoidance and money laundering charges against former CVC Limited chairman Vanda Gould, former Sunland chairman John Leaver and Swiss resident Peter Borgas have been dropped. The trio were arrested by Federal Police in October on allegations they used a complex network of companies in tax havens to avoid millions… – Continue reading
The overlap of Australia’s new transfer pricing laws with the thin capitalization rules is causing challenges and likely duplication of analysis for taxpayers – particularly for the arm’s length amount-of-debt test. Australia legislated comprehensive new transfer pricing laws in 2012[i] and 2013.[ii] These laws were passed in two installments: Subdivision 815-A, dealing with… – Continue reading
UK Government and HMRC Crack Down on Secret Bank Account Tax Evasion. Here, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde (L) chats with Osborne before the G20 round table meeting in Sydney.Reuters Britain’s government and its taxman have announced the net is closing on people who are evading tax… – Continue reading
G20 finance ministers speak loudly, mention big stick The world’s top 20 finance ministers have signalled once again that they’re sick of their taxes disappearing offshore and have signalled a strong intention to get their cash back. The ministers in question are all members of the Group of Twenty (G20)… – Continue reading
Finance ministers and central bankers from the world’s most powerful economies have vowed to crack down on offshore tax evasion by big multinationals. Bill English was among the who’s who of the finance world meeting in Sydney yesterday. New Zealand is not one of the G20 but was conferred unofficial… – Continue reading
The United States is pushing measures to close tax evasion loopholes with global co-operation at the G-20 summit in Sydney, Australia, where the group of 20 advanced and emerging economies are meeting. The U.S. is bent on reducing the loopholes used by MNCs to avoid tax. Just ahead of the… – Continue reading
The battle against offshore tax evasion is gaining momentum after Australia and the US struck a deal to combat tax-dodgers and G20 members prepared to sign off on a scheme for the automatic exchange of tax information. American Treasury Secretary, Jack Lew, and federal Treasurer, Joe Hockey, announced in Sydney… – Continue reading
In a world of widening inequality, it is perhaps the most pernicious injustice of them all. Multinational corporations and wealthy individuals avoiding tax on an unprecedented scale, shuffling assets, income and debt to the most favourable tax jurisdictions and confounding hapless authorities. It is impossible to identify exactly how much… – Continue reading
An $880 million payout to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has reignited the debate over whether global companies pay their fair share of tax in Australia. News was paid the money after winning a long-running legal battle with the Tax Office relating to a 1989 restructure of the media empire involving… – Continue reading
The Federal Labor Party has demanded the Government bring Australia’s international taxation regulations into line to deal with multinationals such as Apple and Google, which are siphoning billions of dollars of revenue out of Australia while paying only small amounts of local tax. In a statement issued this morning, Shadow… – Continue reading
INTRODUCTION On 31 January 2014 the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey jointly issued draft Guidance Notes (in conjunction with the Isle of Man) on the implementation of obligations arising under the intergovernmental agreements (“IGAs“) signed by each island with the UK in October 2013 and with the US in… – Continue reading
Multinational tax avoidance in the digital economy has become a hot political topic with public reports of companies such as Google, Apple and Starbucks not paying a “fair share” of tax. The G20 group of rich economies has commissioned the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to tackle corporate profit… – Continue reading
SEOUL, Feb. 17 (Yonhap) — South Korea’s tax agency said Monday that it imposed more than 1 trillion won (US$944.3 million) in taxes last year through an investigation into offshore tax evasion. A total of 1.08 trillion won was imposed as a result of its offshore tax evasion probe last… – Continue reading
