Category: Europe

EXCLUSIVE: HMRC tells retailers “play by the rules” or face the consequences

HMRC has warned convenience retailers to “play by the tax rules” or face the consequences as new stats show a disproportionate amount of tax evasion is committed by convenience stores. While accounting for less than 1% of businesses, convenience stores and newsagents now account more than 6% of all incidents… – Continue reading

Turkey: Turkey Updates Rules On Double Taxation Prevention Treaties For Independent Professional Services

Turkey has clarified rules for taxing income derived from independent professional services (and similar activities) carried out within Turkey, by residents of countries which have double taxation prevention agreements with Turkey. The number of days a company’s employees spent in Turkey will now become the only basis for calculating the… – Continue reading

EU to investigate UK tax loophole for multinationals

Inquiry to centre on George Osborne’s 2013 rule change that allows resident multinationals to shift income offshore The EU is to launch an investigation into a British government scheme that may help multinational firms pay less tax, the Guardian has learned. Margrethe Vestager, the EU competition commissioner, will announce on… – Continue reading

French Lawmakers Adopt 2018 Finance Bill

French deputies have adopted at first reading the 2018 Finance Bill, which includes several of the Government’s key tax measures. The bill, adopted by the National Assembly on October 24, will reduce compulsory levies by EUR10.3bn (USD12.1bn) by the end of 2018. The bill includes the abolition of the wealth… – Continue reading

Google loses 6 year battle, must pay tax on remittances made to Google Ireland

Bad news for the world’s favourite search engine. On Tuesday, the Indian tax office gained an upper hand in its six-year-long battle with Google India in a ruling that would set a precedence for some of the other multinational companies. The rift owes its origin to the arrangement and fund… – Continue reading

PANA committee calls for increased focus on virtual currencies, new technologies such as FinTech

The European Parliament’s PANA Committee has approved draft recommendations calling for increased scrutiny and regulation of emerging technologies, including virtual currencies and FinTech. The committee also approved a report delving into the findings of an 18-month probe into breaches of EU law in relation to money laundering, tax avoidance and… – Continue reading

Bahamas Converts Finland Taxation Deal To Automatic

THE Bahamas yesterday upgraded its tax information exchange agreement with Finland to the automatic variety, as it bids to meet global standards by September 2018. K P Turnquest, deputy prime minister, signed the Protocol to Amend the Tax Information Exchange Agreement between the Bahamas and Finland, with the latter’s ambassador… – Continue reading

International information exchange system to help fight tax evasion: Slovak officials

BRATISLAVA, Oct.18 (Xinhua) — International information exchange system could help fight tax evasion, said President of Slovak Financial Administration Frantisek Imrecze at a press conference here on Wednesday. According to Imrecze, the information exchange system has been available to the Slovak Financial Administration since Sept. 30, the Slovak tax office… – Continue reading

Switzerland agrees to share tax information on multinationals

ZURICH (Reuters) – Switzerland said on Wednesday it would start sharing information on the activities of multinationals in its territory with other countries in 2020, joining an international push to fight tax evasion. The new measures will force about 200 large companies in the low-tax haven to prepare country-by-country reports… – Continue reading

Report: Huge Mass. companies keep billions of dollars offshore

General Electric, Boston Scientific and other major Massachusetts-based companies are accused of keeping billions of dollars in offshore accounts to avoid taxation in 2016, according to a new report. In fact, the practice extends to 366 of the companies on the Fortune 500 list, according to the Massachusetts Public Interest… – Continue reading

Revenue receives just 11 tax scheme alerts in six years

Exemptions make the mandatory disclosure regime a joke, says MEP Matt Carthy The Revenue Commissioners have received just 11 reports of potentially abusive tax-avoidance schemes since Ireland made it mandatory in early 2011 for transactions giving “aggressive” tax advantages to be disclosed to authorities. The disclosure by Minister for Finance… – Continue reading

CbCR obligations for Italian entity members of US groups

Concerns have arisen over a temporary misalignment between the US country-by-country reporting regime and Italian legislation. Antonella Della Rovere and Federico Vincenti of Valente Associati GEB Partners explain. An agreement for the automatic exchange of country-by-country reports (CbCR) between Italy and the US (Agreement) came into effect on September 27… – Continue reading

New Japan-Denmark DTA To Waive Cross-Border Tax

The Japanese and Danish governments announced on October 11 that they had signed a new agreement for the avoidance of double taxation in Tokyo. The Japanese Ministry of Finance said: “This Convention wholly amends the existing Convention, which entered into force in 1968, by revising the taxation on business profits,… – Continue reading

Danish bank accused of Russia money laundering

Denmark’s top lender, Danske Bank, played an “organised” role in a Russian money-laundering scam, French prosecutors have said. The Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris said the bank’s branch in Estonia helped to move €15 million of “money from organised fraud and tax evasion” in Russia into France and other… – Continue reading

Ag: Bahamas ‘Riding Behind Competitors’ In Financial Services

THE Attorney General yesterday lamented that “riding behind our competitors” had caused “incalculable” damage to the financial services industry, accusing the former government of failing to act on tax information exchange changes. Carl Bethel QC, addressing the Senate, said the Christie administration had “done nothing’ for three years in relation… – Continue reading

Greek Revenue Services, US IRS Sign Agreement for Tax Data Exchange

The US IRS announced this week on its website that the US has entered into a bilateral competent authority agreement with Greece to exchange country-by-country reports on multinationals. The agreement between the IRS and the Greek Independent Authority for Public Revenue, signed September 27, puts into effect a 2015 deal… – Continue reading

Ireland Updates International Tax Strategy

The Irish Government has published an updated version of its International Tax Strategy, which provides an overview of the steps taken to meet international standards and sets out the Government’s position on global reform efforts. In his foreword to the Tax Strategy paper, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said: “In Ireland… – Continue reading

Small EU countries need tax competition tools to compensate for major disadvantages – Sant

Maltese MEP and former Prime Minister Alfred Sant said that small EU countries and islands use tax competition tools in order to compensate for major competitive disadvantages due to their limited endowments and distance from major markets. Along with Malta, even Ireland and Cyprus have notably expressed their great concerns… – Continue reading

Ireland Seeks Comment on International Tax Strategy Plans

The Irish government is inviting businesses and practitioners to provide feedback on its plans to update its international tax strategy, including how Ireland should incorporate the OECD’s transfer pricing guidelines into national law and implement the European Union’s anti-tax avoidance rules. The consultation, which runs until the end of January… – Continue reading

MAS issues stern money laundering warning; Jakarta starts StanChart probe

Private-bank assets held by StanChart in Channel island tax haven were moved to S’pore in 2015: report Singapore THE Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Monday declared its firm commitment to keeping the country’s financial centre clean and safeguarded from illicit activities. Singapore’s central bank and financial regulatory authority said… – Continue reading

EU finance ministers discuss plans for new taxation of digital firms

European Union plans for a new taxation system for digital companies, such as Skype and Amazon, both of which have European headquarters in Luxembourg, were discussed on Tuesday by EU finance ministers. A report from the European Commission in September said the effective average tax rate for a traditional international… – Continue reading

Business owners believe Irish tax code ‘is barrier’ to growth

Survey respondents cite high marginal rates and lack of staff reward schemes as negatives More than half of Irish business owners view the State’s tax code as a barrier to growth rather than a support, according to a survey by accounting and professional services firm Deloitte. Respondents cited Ireland’s high… – Continue reading

Change to intellectual property tax write-offs will boost revenues

Move on multinational tax arrangements expected to be announced in the Budget An important change to multinational tax arrangements is expected to be announced in Budget 2018, limiting the tax write-offs big companies can take up front on movements of valuable intellectual property to Ireland. The move could provide a… – Continue reading

StanChart said to be investigated over US$1.4bn Indonesian cash transfers from Guernsey to Singapore

Over 100 jurisdictions indicated they will sign up to a global framework for the exchange of tax data (CRS) at the start of 2016, but these won’t take effect in Singapore and Hong Kong until 2018 Regulators in Europe and Asia are believed to be investigating Standard Chartered – one… – Continue reading

E.U., Citing Amazon and Apple, Tells Nations to Collect Tax

BRUSSELS — European competition regulators on Wednesday mounted a push against tax avoidance by Silicon Valley giants, announcing plans to take Ireland to court for failing to collect back taxes from Apple and ordering Luxembourg to claim unpaid taxes from Amazon. The effort, which comes as the European Union considers… – Continue reading

Ireland to be dragged in front of Europe’s highest court for refusing to accept €13billion in Apple back tax

The cash would be enough to fund the entire health service for a year Ireland faces legal action for failing to recover €13billion euros in tax from US tech giant Apple after European competition authorities blasted the country over a sweetheart deal. The European Commission said Ireland had not recouped… – Continue reading

Russian Tax Service approves British Virgin Islands’ removal from offshore list

The Federal Tax Service (FTS) removes the British Virgin Islands (BVI) from the black list of ‘tax havens’. This change will affect the interests of Russian owners of the local companies. Leaving BVI for another offshore may help them keep their secrets, but not forever. Removal of the BVI from… – Continue reading

EU divided over radical tax reforms targeting tech giants

The EU is deeply divided over how to increase the tax take from tech giants such as Google, Apple and Amazon, who have recently come under fire for being perceived as not paying their fair share of taxes A controversial set of reforms spearheaded by French president Emmanuel Macron propose… – Continue reading