Taxes on wages have risen by about one percent for the average worker in OECD countries between 2010 and 2014, even though the majority of governments did not increase statutory income tax rates, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD’s) Taxing Wages 2015 report. According to the… – Continue reading
PARIS: It is the latest problem to hit HSBC over a tax evasion scandal at its Swiss private bank. HSBC said it intends to appeal the French magistrates’ decision, which it said was “without legal basis and the bail is unwarranted and excessive.” HSBC’s Swiss bank is under investigation in… – Continue reading
Listed companies in developed market could be avoiding as much as $82b annually London: Listed companies in developed markets are avoiding at least $82 billion (Dh301 billion) of tax a year by using tax havens and other minimisation strategies, according to detailed analysis of more than 1,000 businesses. The revelation… – Continue reading
Belgium has not asked Russia to lift the embargo on its food products, and such issues should be discussed between the EU and Russia, says Belgian Foreign Minister and Council of Europe Committee of Ministers Chairman Didier Reynders. “Belgium pursues its policy in solidarity with the European Union, and therefore… – Continue reading
Mylan-Perrigo deal would combine two generic drugmakers that recently left the U.S. for Europe. NEW YORK — In a deal that would combine two generic drugmakers that recently left the U.S. for Europe, Mylan says it wants to buy Perrigo for $205 per share, or $28.86 billion. Shares of both… – Continue reading
EU’s Highest Court Rules on Information Exchange On 19 March 2015, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) handed down a significant judgment on the application of EU competition law to information exchange between competitors. The case was an appeal from the European Commission’s 2008 decision to fine banana importers Dole,… – Continue reading
Cross border tax fraud and tax evasion by High Net Wealth Individuals (HNWI) are serious problems for many jurisdictions. For many years exchange of information between countries has been solely upon request. In practise this procedure is not efficiently working as it requires foreseeable relevance, thus ‘fishing’ for information is… – Continue reading
Government questions dividend imputation and company tax rate Australian investors appear to have dodged a bullet, with the government’s first paper on tax reform discussing the dividend imputation system but falling short of attacking it outright as an idea that has outlived its usefulness. David Murray’s inquiry into the Australian… – Continue reading
Luxembourg’s Direct Tax Administration has published a circular on February 12 clarifying issues relating to residency certificates for Luxembourg funds. These are applicable to both UCITS and non-UCITS funds regulated by Luxembourg’s investment fund legislation of December 17, 2010, which transposed the UCITS IV Directive, as well as Specialised Investment… – Continue reading
The initiative means to lobby for a harmonization of Corporation Law in Europe to tackle tax evasion and re-fund public spending. About 40,000 Spanish citizens have signed a petition demanding measures against front companies and tax heavens in Europe, explained the activists in charge of the initiative Saturday. Beyond Spain,… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS: Fresh efforts at bolstering economic and trade relations between Belgium and Qatar kicked-off on a high note as Belgium’s Princess Astrid, representative of the King of Belgium, met Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin… – Continue reading
Bern and Brussels have clinched a deal to exchange bank account data in an effort to tackle tax fraud. The agreement comes after a recent report exposed the global economic damage caused by offshore accounts. Switzerland and the European Union are teaming up to crack down on tax cheats, officials… – Continue reading
In case of mobile employees, it is vital to plan their assignments after factoring residential status in India Residency is mostly the trigger for taxation in every country, with every country having it’s own rules for taxation. Similarly, each sovereign nation has its set of rules for determining residency. For… – Continue reading
The present French Tax Update will focus on (i) certain noteworthy tax courts decisions issued in the last months of 2014 and in the first months of 2015, and (ii) the so-called projet de loi Macron (Draft Macron Law) adopted by the Assemblée Nationale in February 2015 and now discussed… – Continue reading
Things just got worse for HSBC. Its private banking arm faces new criminal charges after a French magistrate officially requested that the Swiss bank be brought to trial over a suspected tax-dodging scheme for wealthy customers, the Guardian reports. The request for trial comes after a series of allegations against… – Continue reading
Under Article 185, § 2, B of the Belgian Code on revenue taxes, an international group may ask for its taxes to be reduced by so-called excess profits, which are registered in the account of the Belgian entity as a result of the benefits of being part of an international… – Continue reading
The differentiation between tax avoidance, tax evasion and the moral duty to pay tax for the betterment of society has been intentionally screwed by politicians and bureaucrats. This is nothing new. I wrote an couple of articles several years ago questioning the terminology of ‘morally repugnant’ tax avoidance when it… – Continue reading
NUMBER OF THE WEEK: 3,415. The number of people who renounced their citizenship in 2014 according to IRS data. This is one of the five highest totals on record since the U.S. Congress passed the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act in 2010. In the past five years, more than 10,000… – Continue reading
A team of journalists from 45 nations who investigated documents leaked by a former systems engineer working for banking giant HSBC’s Geneva, Switzerland branch, found HSBC managed secret bank accounts for criminals, drug traffickers, tax dodgers, politicians and celebrities. The documents, covering the period from 2005 to 2007 revealed, according… – Continue reading
Divock Origi is among top European players who have been named for allegedly evading tax in Belgium. According to Sport24, Origi, son of former Harambee Stars goalkeeper turned striker Mike Okoth and who has been loaned to French side Lille, is among players being investigated by Belgium tax authorities for… – Continue reading
HSBC is under fire, after a large cache of leaked bank files revealed that it helped clients evade taxes and conceal millions of dollars. The files, which cover the period 2005-07, amount to the biggest banking leak in history, shedding light on some 30,000 accounts holding almost $120bn. HSBC was… – Continue reading
Latin-American politicians Horacio Cartes (president of Paraguay), Álvaro Noboa (former president of Ecuador), and Alejandro Andrade (Venezuela’s ex-national treasurer) have one thing in common: they all possessed, until at least 2007, secret accounts with HSBC’s private Swiss bank. This according to the Swissleaks report published on Sunday, February 8, which… – Continue reading
This week, almost 200 taxpayers in Belgium received a detailed information request regarding their transfer prices. For the third year in a row, this coordinated audit effort is organised by the specialised audit team at the Belgian tax administration. Downsized transfer pricing audit team The transfer pricing audit cell is… – Continue reading
The European Commission is currently conducting in-depth investigations into whether national tax rulings breach the EU’s competition rules. Whilst the spark for these investigations was the “Luxleaks” scandal, in December 2014 the Commission sought information from all Member States as part of a much larger campaign to attack what the… – Continue reading
New Delhi, Feb. 4: The notification of a social security deal with Norway – often called totalisation agreements — may pave the way for a similar pact with the US that has been hanging fire for a decade. Under the pact, employees sent by Indian firms to Norway on a… – Continue reading
In 2014, China continued to develop its taxation system affecting domestic and crossborder transactions. This “Legal Flash – Special Edition 2014” highlights the most significant tax updates of the year. Please see our monthly legal flashes for more information and analysis here. Taking a step-forward on anti-avoidance provisions, the State… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — The European Union is investigating Belgium’s tax deals with multinational corporations, potentially dragging dozens more companies into widening probes of sweetheart fiscal pacts handed out by national governments. Building on investigations of Apple Inc. in Ireland and Amazon.com Inc. in Luxembourg, the European Commission is targeting Belgium’s so-called… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – The European Commission is investigating a Belgian system allowing companies to reduce their tax bills significantly, it said on Tuesday, widening its inquiry into tax deals struck with multinationals across the European Union. The Commission, which rules on competition and subsidies in the European Union, said deductions granted… – Continue reading
This story has been updated. At her confirmation hearing Wednesday, attorney general-designate Loretta Lynch said she has been “very aggressive” in pursuing white-collar crime. “At the outset, no individual is ‘too big to jail.’ And no one is above the law,” said Lynch. Yet according to a new report from… – Continue reading
New Delhi, Jan. 23: India and the US have failed to make much progress in the totalisation pact that addresses the the problem of the double payment of social security taxes by Indian software professionals in America, dampening expectations surrounding President Barack Obama’s visit this weekend. Top officials said discussions… – Continue reading
SUCCESSFUL INTERNATIONAL STRUCTURES in most cases begin with choosing the right jurisdiction to host a company that will form part of an international business. Depending on the company’s activities, the choice will depend on the range of double taxation treaties and the availability of tax reliefs followed by a host… – Continue reading
The man who blew the whistle on the HSBC tax scandal tells Sky he first raised concerns seven years ago, when Labour was in power. Herve Falciani, the man who exposed a tax scandal at HSBC by leaking thousands of account details from a Geneva branch, says he first raised… – Continue reading
Countries are competing to lower their tax rates to please the corporate giants, but the result is a massive collective loss of revenue. Only international coordination can wipe out the practice and defeat the negative influence of the Big Four accounting firms. Tax havens have long existed in the popular… – Continue reading
The conditions for becoming tax-resident and tax non-resident vary from country to country and depend on such things as length of stay, type of accommodation, location of family, and nationality. In most tax systems, presence of an individual in a country for 183 days or more in any 12-month period… – Continue reading
The Luxembourg Government is to provide the European Commission with a list of the tax rulings issued by its tax authorities, along with a list of the beneficiaries of its concessionary tax regime for intellectual property (IP) income. Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel announced that the decision had been made… – Continue reading
The European Commission has announced that its ongoing inquiry into advance tax rulings will be expanded to cover all European Union member states. The Commission said on December 17 that it will ask member states to confirm whether they offer tax rulings. If they do, they will be requested to… – Continue reading
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. Brussels has widened a probe into corporate tax rulings to include all 28 member states amid heightened scrutiny of sweetheart tax deals granted to businesses by national… – Continue reading
An investigation into tax rulings provided by certain EU member states is to be widened to cover all member states, according to a press release from the European Commission.17 Dec 2014 Tax Disputes and Investigations EU & Competition Tax Public procurement and state aid Corporate tax International tax UK Europe… – Continue reading
* EU to examine tax arrangements across bloc * Several deals with multinationals already under scrutiny * Questions asked of new Commission President Juncker (Adds Luxembourg reaction, background) By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS, Dec 17 (Reuters) – European Union competition regulators have asked all 28 member countries for details of… – Continue reading
Around the world, countries are desperately seeking ways to stop multinational companies from earning profits within their borders without paying taxes on them, while stashing trillions in tax havens like the Cayman Islands. The British government, after a search, says it knows how to tax the profits Google earns in… – Continue reading
A new leak of confidential documents expands the list of big companies seeking secret tax deals in Luxembourg, exposing tax-saving maneuvers by American entertainment icon The Walt Disney Co., politically controversial Koch Industries Inc. and 33 other companies. Disney and Koch Industries, a U.S.-based energy and chemical conglomerate, both created… – Continue reading
President Putin’s surprise amnesty allowing Russians with cash stashed abroad to bring it back home with no penalty may be a windfall, but then maybe not. The US, Mexico, Italy, Kazakhstan, and many others have tried it with varied success. When financial crises hit, governments have tried to reel in… – Continue reading
Argentina and Belgium have separately accused HSBC bank’s Geneva branch of setting up a network of offshore accounts to help their citizens avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes. The Belgian charges were filed Monday and the Argentine charges were announced Friday. HSBC, formerly known as Hong Kong & Shanghai… – Continue reading
UPDATE 1-Argentina charges HSBC with aiding tax evasion via Swiss accounts AFIP said it received the information on the secret accounts from France, which last week placed HSBC’s Swiss private banking arm under formal investigation for possibly aiding tax evasion. “We denounce the existence of an illegal platform created by… – Continue reading
French magistrates examining whether the bank helped wealthy clients avoid a new tax, the European Union Savings Directive French judges have put the Swiss branch of HSBC under official investigation over allegations that Britain’s biggest bank helped wealthy clients avoid taxes. It was revealed on Friday that the unit had… – Continue reading
The European Union’s 28 member states are seeking agreement on the proposed introduction of a common anti-abuse clause in the Parent-Subsidy Directive (2011/96/EU). The plans were discussed at a meeting of the EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) on November 7, 2014. The proposed anti-abuse clause would allow member… – Continue reading
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights.http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9afd1680-52e3-11e4-9221-00144feab7de.html#ixzz3IYBSVmwd For decades, regional authorities such as Wallonia have had to show great creativity in… – Continue reading
Wealth inequality is growing worldwide, according to a new report by Credit Suisse. A greater share of wealth is being held by a smaller number of ultra-rich families worldwide as larger inheritances, family trusts, and similar arrangements to avoid taxes help the ultra-wealthy gain a greater portion of total capital… – Continue reading
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Brussels has challenged Luxembourg over a tax ruling offering potentially illicit support to a Fiat subsidiary, opening a… – Continue reading
Clients of UBS AG (UBSN), Switzerland’s largest bank, have led a five-fold surge in the number of Canadian residents reporting hidden offshore income over the past eight years. Almost 6,000 taxpayers came forward in the past 12 months as part of the Canada Revenue Agency’s voluntary disclosure program to report… – Continue reading
