Industry welcomes move by Singapore’s financial regulatory authority to go public with tax criticism of ARFP passport scheme. They say it could force Australia and Korea into a corner. Industry figures have welcomed a move by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to go public with the reasons it declined… – Continue reading
Look out, Thomas Piketty. Here comes Gabriel Zucman. With a slim new book that has the feel of Piketty’s bestselling “Capital in the 21st Century,” Zucman, a baby-faced 28-year-old University of California-Berkeley economist, is taking his own swing at global capitalism. His target: tax havens that he says hide $7.6… – Continue reading
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is ranked third in the world for the number of financial institutions per-country that have now signed up to report under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). IRS figures report 8,525 Luxembourg firms have registered with the FATCA portal, and the total is surpassed… – Continue reading
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has denied involvement in sweetheart deals that allowed hundreds of multinationals to slash their tax bills by locating to Luxembourg, despite being prime minister of the country for almost 20 years, reports the Financial Times. Facing questions from a committee of EU lawmakers set up… – Continue reading
Since 2011, €5.5bn held in secret bank accounts abroad has been ‘legalised’ by the tax office, generating over €600m for the treasury, according to the tax office’s latest report, according to Dutch News. Seven out of 10 people who had illicit savings in foreign accounts were over the age of… – Continue reading
Galway Bay FM Newsroom – Supermac’s boss Pat McDonagh has spoken out against McDonald’s alleged tax avoidance schemes which could have reportedly cost the EU almost 4 billion euro. It follows a meeting of the European Parliaments TAXE Committee today to investigate the 3.7 billion euro tax avoidance. It’s alleged… – Continue reading
More than 90 jurisdictions, including all 34 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) and the G20 members, have committed to implement the Common Reporting Standard for automatic exchange of tax information (“CRS”). Building on the model created by FATCA, the CRS creates a global standard… – Continue reading
EU committee set up to investigate aggressive tax planning concludes its report in weeks Lobbyists representing internet company Facebook could be banned from entering the European Parliament following a request by the parliament’s special committee on tax to revoke access to multinationals who refused to cooperate with the committee’s inquiries…. – Continue reading
Malta provides an outstanding opportunity for private equity and venture capital managers. It has a flexible LP structure, an extensive network of double tax treaties, a favourable local tax regime and experienced service providers who can provide a cost-effective solution,” comments Felicity Cole (pictured), Head of the Funds Department at… – Continue reading
Transparency International called today on European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to publicly support legislation that would allow citizens to scrutinise the corporate taxes paid by multinational companies to governments. Juncker will appear tomorrow in front of a special tax committee at the European Parliament to defend the Commission’s track record… – Continue reading
Consolidation in Europe’s private-banking industry is inevitable as pressure from clients and regulators increases costs, McKinsey & Co said in a study published yesterday. Pressures on profit margins could force private banks to cut costs and review the number of booking centers they operate, the New York-based consultancy said. The… – Continue reading
Anne Berner, who serves as Minister of Transport and Communications, serves on the board of a Luxembourg firm involved in tax planning. This is the first time a Finnish minister has been known to have been involved in such a company. Finland’s Transport minister is a board member at a… – Continue reading
Whole regions of England are now owned by holding companies in tax-havens “from Panama to Luxembourg, and from Liechtenstein to the South Pacific island of Niue.” Private Eye’s interactive map mines Land Registry information to find the properties owned by “companies, arms dealers, oligarchs, money launderers and others who use… – Continue reading
“Luxembourg is famous for two things: its steel industry and its rose cultivation industry”. This quote from an Italian guidebook of the 1930s was uttered by Luxembourg’s Finance Minister Pierre Gramegna at the annual conference of the Luxembourg Directors’ Association on 17 June 2015[1]. The economic outlook of the tiny… – Continue reading
Note: This article was published by Bloomberg BNA in Tax Planning International European Tax Service Vol. 17 No. 7 July 2015 Introduction The recent LuxLeaks scandal has once again focused political attention on tax planning practices of multinationals (“MNEs”). It comes in the wake of the European Commission investigation of… – Continue reading
Luxembourg recently published a bill to implement the new anti-hybrid rule and the general anti-abuse rule (GAAR) of the EU Parent Subsidiary Directive (PSD). The bill closely follows the wording of the PSD. A similar Dutch bill is expected on 15 September 2015. While the Dutch bill may differ from… – Continue reading
EU commissioner urges member states to ensure fair share of tax is paid EU economics commissioner Pierre Moscovici reiterated his commitment to re-launch the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base yesterday, urging all EU member states to ensure that companies pay their fair share of tax. Speaking following a meeting of… – Continue reading
Multinationals have come under fire yet again over their tax arrangements in some European countries, as the continent moves closer to a pan-European regime to combat tax avoidance. On Friday, European economy and finance ministers and central bankers (known as an ECOFIN meeting) gathered in Luxembourg to discuss what the… – Continue reading
Speaking at an informal meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) in Luxembourg, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna once again expressed Malta’s opposition to tax harmonization. “Taxation remains a sensitive area for Malta, not only because of its obvious role in the revenue collection process, but also as an important… – Continue reading
The finance ministers of 11 euro zone countries willing to introduce a financial transactions tax (FTT) are expected to make progress on the thorny issue in a meeting on Saturday in Luxembourg, Italy’s economy minister said. Germany and France proposed the tax in 2012, in the midst of the euro… – Continue reading
LAND including Riverside Retail Park, the Cockhedge Centre and the former site of Mr. Smith’s is owned by companies based in offshore tax havens it has been revealed. Companies are often based offshore to gain from three tax loopholes, including no capital gains tax, no inheritance tax and no stamp… – Continue reading
This week, MEPs discussed a draft report on tax rulings, with a view to a vote in the next plenary session in Strasbourg. The report proposes a comprehensive overhaul of corporate tax practices as part of the EU’s battle to tackle tax avoidance. Parliament’s special committee on tax rulings (TAXE)… – Continue reading
(CN) – A loophole in Italy’s criminal code that routinely allows tax evaders to dodge prosecution may run afoul of EU law when the scofflaws’ conduct hurts the EU budget, Europe’s highest court ruled Tuesday. The case in question involves a group of individuals who Italian prosecutors believe ran a… – Continue reading
Switzerland will allow stolen data acquired through official means to form the basis for a request for assistance but will help India only for post-2011 bank accounts, that too as long as Swiss courts don’t interfere Geneva: Switzerland’s proposed changes on treating stolen information have generated much optimism in India… – Continue reading
More than £375 million of land and property in Milton Keynes was bought by offshore companies between 2005 and 2014, according to research by Private Eye. The purchases are registered in a number of different countries, some of which are often described as tax havens. The countries buying the most… – Continue reading
The European Commission is refusing to hand over documents to MEPs investigating whether EU member states are using special tax regimes that favour large multinational corporations such as Facebook and Amazon. EU economics commissioner Pierre Moscovici wrote to the European Parliament’s special committee on tax rulings (TAXE) this week claiming… – Continue reading
HMRC reintroduces Australian fund to Rops listEU member states are lobbying the European Commission to prevent it from disclosing information on tax rulings to a European Parliament probe, reports the EU Observer. EU economics commissioner Pierre Moscovici, in a letter sent Monday (31 August) to the head of the parliament’s… – Continue reading
The Luxembourg tax authorities released a final version of an administrative circular and an updated administrative circular to implement provisions under the FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) regime concerning the automatic exchange of information between Luxembourg and the United States. An intergovernmental agreement (IGA), that follows the Model 1… – Continue reading
Almost 173,500 financial institutions from around the world have signed up to report customer information to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Around 2,230 registered with the FATCA portal in the past month, according to the IRS. At least one financial institution… – Continue reading
The Luxembourg tax authorities issued a circular providing guidance and rules for issuing certificates of tax residence and access to application of income tax treaty provisions for the avoidance of double taxation for Luxembourg “undertakings for collective investment” or UCIs. The circular sets forth guidance for SICAVs / SICAFs and… – Continue reading
THE African continent has been under the surveillance for Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) for quite some time now. The report prepared by the former South African President, Mr Thabo Mbeki, who chaired the AU High Level Panel on IFF in early February 2015, clearly states that the multinational companies (MNCs)… – Continue reading
At their meeting in Salzburg, Pierre Gramegna, Austrian Finance Minister Hans Jörg Schelling, Liechtenstein Prime Minister and Finance Minister Adrian Hasler, the Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf and Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble employed in particular with international tax policy, the fight against tax optimization models overlooking the BEPS Initiative… – Continue reading
In an assessment of money laundering and terrorism financing risks, Luxembourg scored in the bottom half of a ranking of 152 countries carried out by the Basel Institute on Governance, reports the Luxemburger Wort. The institute says that its AML (Anti-Money Laundering) Index is the only such review carried out… – Continue reading
LUXEMBOURG On September 5, 2014, the Ministers of Finance of France and Luxembourg signed an amendment (Lux Amendment) to the double tax treaty entered into between France and Luxembourg on April 1, 1958, as amended by the 1970 exchange of letters and by the 1970, 2006, and 2009 protocols (FR/Lux… – Continue reading
A case is pending before an appellate court in South Korea that could allow refunds of certain amounts of tax withheld on payments distributed to Luxembourg SICAVs. If the appeals are ultimately decided in favor of the SICAVs, they could be entitled to a refund of the difference between the… – Continue reading
On August 21, 2015 the Government of Liechtenstein issued a press release announcing that the Austrian Minister of Finance (Hans Jörg Schelling) has invited his German (Wolfang Schäuble), Swiss (Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf), Luxembourg (Pierre Gramegna) and Liechtenstein (Adrian Hasler) counterparts for the annual meeting of Ministers of Finance of the German… – Continue reading
(CS) German financial institution HSH Nordbank reportedly reached a 22-million-euro settlement with prosecutors in Cologne over setting up offshore companies through Luxembourg to hide client assets from tax authorities. Newspaper “Süddeutsche Zeitung” and broadcasters NDR and WDR first reported on the deal on Tuesday. Allegedly, HSH Nordbank approached the prosecutor’s… – Continue reading
Subsidiaries in Luxembourg of food group had no staff and assets at year’s end of €1.3bn In its 2014 accounts Glanbia Luxfin, a subsidiary of Irish food group Glanbia, reported profits of $14.2 million and tax of $4,175, while Glanbia Luxinvest reported profits of €2.9 million and tax of €38,863…. – Continue reading
In its Resolution of March 25, 2015, on the Annual Tax Report (2014/2114(INI)), the European Parliament renewed its commitment to combating tax havens and tax avoidance. To be sure, most aspects of the resolution have been discussed before. Bundling these aspects into one comprehensive package, however, provides an intriguing snapshot… – Continue reading
The private equity industry has long been known for its ability to take advantage of tax rules. But international changes are set to have an impact on their businesses. After a string of multinationals such as Apple, Google and Starbucks came under fire for paying minimal tax on their British… – Continue reading
It is the irony of ironies. Dollar for dollar, the tobacco companies appear to do more for Australian hospitals, roads and schools than any other group of foreign-controlled multinationals who operate in this country. An analysis of the financial statements of the three major tobacco companies here, Philip Morris (Australia)… – Continue reading
Luxembourg has proposed major corporate tax changes which would bring the Grand Duchy into line with recent updates to the Parent-Subsidiary Directive. The Luxembourg government released Bill 6847 (the Bill) on August 5 2015, which includes proposed tax measures for corporations and follows several recent announcements from Finance Minister Pierre… – Continue reading
Luxembourg currently has 76 income tax treaties in force, and there are 29 treaties under negotiation. Tax treaties can provide a legal framework not only for the avoidance of double taxation and fiscal evasion, but also for international administrative cooperation between Luxembourg and its treaty partners in terms of mutual… – Continue reading
Introduction In 1934 distinguished US jurist Judge Learned Hand famously opined that “one may so arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which will best pay the Treasury; there is not even a patriotic duty to… – Continue reading
As the Islamic financial industry continues to experience exponential growth, offshore financial centres (OFCs) are keen to market their value for the development of Islamic financial products. OFCs are working towards establishing comprehensive eco-systems to gain competitive advantages over other jurisdictions for Islamic finance. Most OFCs promote the element of… – Continue reading
The first reporting cycle for the United States Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) kicked off with the 31 March deadline set by the US Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) for countries and territories such as Hong Kong that have a Model 2 Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA). Although the IRS has granted… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WDAM) –This is a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. Two tax return preparers with offices located in California, Maryland and New York were sentenced today in Los Angeles for facilitating an offshore tax fraud scheme, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the… – Continue reading
LOS ANGELES (CN) – Two tax preparers convicted of running an offshore tax-fraud scheme were given federal prison sentences on Monday, the Justice Department said. David Kalai and his son Nadav, both principals of United Revenue Service, were convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service… – Continue reading
Fears of a VDP application giving rise to a ‘witch hunt’ are ill-founded. The rapid development in international tax transparency over the past two years in the form of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Common Reporting Standard (CRS) has caused many South African taxpayers to consider regularising… – Continue reading
The $100 billion is flowing across borders in search of takeovers and start-up ventures. Developing countries are losing around $100 billion a year in revenues because foreign investors are channelling profits through offshore zones to avoid tax, a study by U.N. think-tank UNCTAD said. “Tax avoidance practices therefore are responsible… – Continue reading
