Plan ‘is to reduce the risk that owners will outlive their retirement funds’ The Finance Bill has changed the tax rules in relation to Approved Retirement Funds (ARFs), the structures into which many people move their defined contribution pensions on retirement. In 2011, the Government increased the “imputed or notional… – Continue reading
Officials from the Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have been meeting with representatives of the PPP/ PFI industry to discuss the implications for infrastructure projects of possible restrictions to interest relief.24 Oct 2014 Corporate tax Tax Projects Construction Advisory & Disputes Infrastructure UK Europe In a report on… – Continue reading
By the wide margin of a 250-76 vote on October 16, the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament passed a decree law to introduce a voluntary disclosure program for undeclared assets and funds held abroad or in Italy. Under the new program, such taxpayers would be allowed to declare… – Continue reading
Move intended to make Ireland more attractive to firms wanting to bring key decision makers The Government is to relax the rules governing a special tax incentive scheme to attract foreign executives into Ireland after just 31 individuals availed of the scheme last year. The move, contained in the Finance… – Continue reading
The Gibraltar Betting & Gaming Association (GBGA) is continuing its challenge against changes to the United Kingdom’s regulatory and licensing changes for gambling-service providers by asking for a judicial review of a recent High Court decision which went against the GBGA’s interests, specifically challenging whether the new 15% “UK point… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Leading Swiss banks are trying to distance themselves from some of the dodgy Indian clients who have twisted rules and could be a cause of embarrassment in future. At least four individuals — three based in Mumbai and one in Delhi — holding the famously anonymous Swiss numbered accounts,… – Continue reading
The European Union Court of Justice (CJEU), Europe’s highest court in matters of EU law, ruled against the Italian government in a dispute related to the Italian taxation on gambling. According to the CJEU, Italy’s tax legislation operates in conflict with Article 52 and Article 56 of the Treaty on… – Continue reading
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Liechtenstein wants to lure wealthy Muslims to its private banks as it seeks to revive an industry hurt by the loss of the nation’s status as a tax haven. The principality of 37,000 people nestled between Switzerland and Austria will hold its first Islamic finance conference on… – Continue reading
Measures to ensure people who are not on social welfare or paying tax get relief on water charges will be brought forward at the committee stage of the Finance Bill, the Finance Minister has said. This follows controversy when it emerged that thousands of people would not be able to… – Continue reading
“The issue of substance and taxation is, and always will be, a core column of the Irish taxation system,” Michael Noonan, Ireland’s Finance Minister, said at his Department’s Tax Policy Conference on October 21, 2014, underscoring that Ireland’s strategy is to play fair but play to win. Beginning by discussing… – Continue reading
Countries that work together like Ireland and the US “need to be cognisant” of the impact their tax policies have on each other, new US Ambassador to Ireland Kevin O’Malley said in a speech yesterday. He said cross-border mergers can make the Irish and American economies stronger, but that “these… – 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
23/10/14 – After a comprehensive review in October 2012, the OECD Working Group on Bribery asked France, through a series of concrete recommendations, to intensify its actions to fight the bribery of foreign public officials and undertake important reforms. In October 2014, the Working Group welcomed several significant reforms, including:… – Continue reading
A week after a high-level delegation of the revenue department met Swiss authorities in a bid to persuade them to assist with details of the 700-odd Indians who are reported to have bank accounts with the HSBC Bank in Geneva, the NDA government is set to send the first batch… – Continue reading
In June, the European Commission (“EC”) announced the opening of three investigations into tax rulings in Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands and, in particular, into tax rulings applied by Ireland to Apple, by Luxembourg to Fiat Finance and, last, by the Netherlands to Starbucks. In October 2014, the EC announced… – Continue reading
Liechtenstein wants to lure wealthy Muslims to its private banks as it seeks to revive an industry hurt by the loss of the nation’s status as a tax haven. The principality of 37,000 people nestled between Switzerland and Austria will hold its first Islamic finance conference on Oct. 28 and… – 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
(Reuters) – A key witness in the federal tax evasion trial of a top Swiss bank executive took the stand on Thursday to testify against his former boss, Raoul Weil, who is accused of conspiring to conceal up to $20 billion in U.S. taxpayers’ assets in secret offshore accounts. The… – Continue reading
Irish Finance Bill 2014: Last Sunday The New York Times in an editorial following the decision in Budget 2015 to eliminate the Double Irish tax dodge from 2021, said “Ireland, which for years used policies like the Double Irish to attract multinational businesses, appears uninterested in true reform. It will… – Continue reading
A banker from the Swiss private bank Vontobel has been detained in Poland in connection with German football manager Uli Hoeness’s tax evasion activities. Vontobel has confirmed knowledge of the arrest. The Swiss citizen was arrested by police in Warsaw on Wednesday and released on bail a day later. A… – Continue reading
In a decision on June 11, 2014, the French Administrative Supreme Court held that a French national residing in Monaco may be subject to social taxes on property income (dividends, interest, property income, etc.) if the French national qualifies as French tax resident under French national law (Article 4 B… – Continue reading
By insisting, as he did yesterday, that other countries can follow Ireland’s lead in closing corporate tax loopholes, Michael Noonan risks being seen to over-egg the pudding. The Finance Minister rightly shut the door on the so-called ‘Double Irish’ tax loophole favoured by multi-national corporations last week in the Budget…. – Continue reading
LUXEMBOURG — On the first floor of a rust-colored building near the main railway station, Marius Kohl spent years engineering this country’s most valuable export: tax relief. As head of a federal agency called Societes 6, Mr. Kohl approved thousands of tax arrangements for multinational corporations, sometimes helping them save… – Continue reading
The “blanket assumption” of tax avoidance that HM Revenue & Customs makes when it approaches Personal Service Companies has been left in tatters by its own research. Stephen Herring, head of tax at the Institute of Directors, revealed this tendency of HMRC to regard PSCs as “automatic evidence of some… – Continue reading
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has recommended a number of direct tax reforms to build on the French Government’s efforts to improve the nation’s competitiveness in Europe. The report points out that the tax wedge (the cumulative burden of taxes on workers) in France is among the… – Continue reading
For now, while the benefit for American corporations to buy or merge and move overseas may be over, as evidenced by AbbVie cancelling its merger with Shire Pharmaceutical, that doesn’t mean that consolidation within the industry is through. A new research report from Merrill Lynch features three top companies, dubbed… – Continue reading
BERN/NEW DELHI: To comply with global norms, Switzerland today began consultation process for unilaterally amending bilateral tax treaties to allow exchange of information when there is a request from another country. Amid rising international pressure, including from India, Switzerland has been taking steps to share tax information as well as… – Continue reading
The stock of foreign investments in Romania, representing all foreign investments made, minus outflows related to these investments, grew by only 1.4%, or EUR 832 million, in 2013, to a total of EUR 59.96 billion, according to local financial newspaper Ziarul Financiar. This is the lowest growth rate since the… – Continue reading
The lower house of Parliament has approved legislation that allows the exchange of information about banking accounts with other countries. The bill is a prerequisite for the implementation of the FATCA agreement with the United States which will require Czech financial institutions to inform US authorities about account owned by… – Continue reading
On October 15th, 2014 the Minister for Finance announced the Luxembourg Budget 2015. The announcement followed the presentation made the day before by the Prime Minister Xavier Bettel who presented a policy statement entitled “Package for the Future” which provides some overall public finances policy statements for the period 2015… – Continue reading
Facebook was today facing a fresh row over offshore tax avoidance as UK accounts showed it paid no corporation tax for the second year in a row while granting shares worth tens of millions of pounds to London staff. Research firm eMarketer estimates Facebook’s London operation in Euston made £371… – Continue reading
ITR Correspondent • • • The G20 and OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project has rarely been out of the headlines during 2014. At the heart of the BEPS project is the assumption international tax rules make it possible for profits to be taxed in countries that are… – Continue reading
Dyson, the engineering company best known for its vacuum cleaners, is in dispute with HMRC over a possible £1m income tax bill for founder and owner James Dyson. Dyson disclosed in company accounts that it had set aside the eight-figure sum in relation to its dispute with HMRC, the Financial… – Continue reading
Mark Davies is not happy that accidents are going to cost you as much as intentions Recently, the government issued a consultation document on new legislation to extend HM Revenue & Customs’ powers of retribution for undeclared income and gains hidden offshore. It believes that offshore tax evasion is difficult… – Continue reading
21/10/14-Tax administrations will play a central role as governments move to implement the measures they have agreed to counter offshore evasion and combat tax avoidance by multinational enterprises. Global initiatives like the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project and the move toward automatic exchange of financial account account… – Continue reading
Estonia will issue identity cards allowing access to its digital services to people residing outside the Baltic nation as it seeks to boost foreign investment. Lawmakers in the capital Tallinn voted unanimously with no abstentions to let foreigners seek e-residence status to be able to set up a company in… – Continue reading
Internet giant plays down speculation it is considering closing Bermudan arm Google has played down speculation in France that it is considering shutting its Bermudan arm and boosting its operations in Dublin, following the closure of the Double Irish tax loophole in last week’s budget. Le Monde yesterday reported that… – Continue reading
There may some benefits to the closed-down loopholes Unbearable pressure was exerted on this State by our neighbours in Europe to take action unilaterally to close down corporate tax avoidance loopholes such as the Double Irish, upon which time was called in last week’s budget. The pressure and the Irish… – Continue reading
Around 33,000 Britons are likely to receive letters from the taxman telling them they owe the government, on average, £155,000 as the HMRC starts cracking down on tax avoidance in line with new powers granted under the Finance Act 2014. According to law firm Winckworth Sherwood, the first batch of… – Continue reading
There is a common misunderstanding in the charity world that tax avoidance, and its ugly sister – tax abuse, cannot be regarded as applying to charities except where charities are ‘hijacked’ to line the pockets of wealthy ostensible donors. But that is simply not the case. A charity which seeks… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government has never said that it will not reveal the names of Indians who have undeclared income parked in foreign bank accounts. “The Congress will be embarrassed by the names when we reveal them in court,” said Mr Jaitley in an exclusive… – Continue reading
Echegaray says account holders can take part in country’s fiscal amnesty If Argentines who hold 4,040 undeclared bank accounts in Switzerland don’t normalize their fiscal status and pay their debts, the AFIP tax bureau will file a complaint before the Office of Economic Crime and Money-Laundering (PROCELAC) requesting it investigates… – Continue reading
Lump sum taxation, the tailor-made measure tax regime designed to attract wealthy foreigners to Switzerland, is facing a crucial test as voters head to the polls on November 30 to decide whether or not to abolish the system for good. Proponents of the initiative say lump sum taxation is unfair… – Continue reading
A Residence Programme (“TRP Rules”) has been introduced with effect from 1 July 2013 for individuals who are nationals of the EU, EEA or Switzerland (but not Maltese nationals) in terms of Legal Notice 270 of 2014 and Articles 56(23) and 96 of the (Malta) Income Tax Act, Chapter 123… – Continue reading
DALLAS (CN) – Former Texas billionaire Sam Wyly filed for bankruptcy protection after a federal jury ordered him to pay as much as $400 million for using offshore trusts to hide stock trades. A noted philanthropist and contributor to Republican causes, Wyly, 77, of Dallas, made his fortune… – Continue reading
Switzerland and Italy may agree amendments to their existing double tax agreement by spring 2015, Vieri Ceriani, Italy’s chief negotiator, has said. With the appointment of a new Government in Italy, Ceriani said that the provisions being sought by Italy, in particular on the division of taxes collected from Italian… – Continue reading
With the BJP government arguing that the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement entered into with Germany in 1995 by the then Congress government was the constraining factor in disclosing details of black money stashed abroad, the Congress Saturday hit back saying over a dozen pacts with similar confidentiality clause were signed… – Continue reading
The tide of tax inversions has started to recede, taking with it a substitute for real growth at some of our biggest companies. AbbVie Inc. just decided to bail out of an acquisition that would have moved its headquarters overseas where corporate tax rates are lower than U.S. rates. AbbVie… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Italian luxury fashion house Prada SpA said on Monday its chairwoman Miuccia Prada and her husband, chief executive officer and fellow shareholder Patrizio Bertelli, are being investigated by Italian authorities over past taxes. The Hong Kong-listed company said in a statement it had been informed by the Italian… – Continue reading
New figures from HM Revenue & Customs reveal that almost five times more tax revenue is lost as a result of illegal activity than through avoidance. In fact, the figures show £3.1bn was lost in 2012-13 as a result of avoidance, compared with a total of £15.4billion from criminal attacks,… – Continue reading
