We consider the retirement options for three top expat destinations – New Zealand, Bahrain and Singapore Retiring overseas is an aspiration for many expats, especially after they have spent much of their working life outside the UK. But while you may think you know what’s involved, there are many things… – Continue reading
A new HMRC taskforce has been launched to go after wealthy tax cheats in Northern Ireland. Investigators from HM Revenue and Customs will use Land Registry and Merchant Acquirer data to identify those with “badges of wealth” such as large houses, aeroplanes, boats and undeclared offshore bank accounts, which are… – Continue reading
FATCA will have an impact on virtually all trusts regardless of whether they have any US connection. Trustees must consider their status under FATCA as soon as possible to ensure that they comply with its provisions. What is FATCA? FATCA is an anti-avoidance measure introduced by the US authorities which… – Continue reading
FATCA will have an impact on virtually all trusts regardless of whether they have any US connection. Trustees must consider their status under FATCA as soon as possible to ensure that they comply with its provisions. What is FATCA? FATCA is an anti-avoidance measure introduced by the US authorities which… – Continue reading
Banks and other financial companies want the new Conservative government to cut the cost of complying with a swath of new regulation, according to a survey by the Confederation of British Industry, reports The Guardian. When the employers’ lobby group asked firms what the government should do to help the… – Continue reading
VAM Funds has entered into a partnership with UK-based Close Brothers Asset Management (CBAM) to meet a rising demand for discretionary fund management services from international advisers. The tie-up will see three of CBAM’s products, which are normally available only in the UK, become available internationally through VAM Discretionary Funds…. – Continue reading
Transnational agrochemical and seed giant Monsanto has reiterated its desire to merge with fellow chemical-producing behemoth Syngenta, a company that has already rebuffed three previous purchase attempts by Monsanto. Announcing unexpectedly positive third quarter earnings late last week, Monsanto said that it is still seeking ways to woo Switzerland-based Syngenta… – Continue reading
The UK’s Supreme Court has ruled that a KPMG scheme to enable dealer group Pendragon to recover VAT on demonstrator cars sold as used cars was “abusive” of the law. Its decision earlier this month has overturned a previous Court of Appeal ruling on the scheme, which Pendragon used on… – Continue reading
The UK’s largest bank HSBC has clung on to a place in the world’s top 10 banks, in a year which saw the global banking model under increasing threat. HSBC fell to ninth place from fifth last year with 153 billion dollars (£97 billion) of Tier 1 capital at hand,… – Continue reading
The Unified Patent Court (UPC) Agreement will not be ratified in the UK this year, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has confirmed. In a statement sent to Out-Law.com, the IPO ruled out ratification of the Agreement this year but said that it intends to complete the “domestic preparations” for ratification… – Continue reading
Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), an international intergovernmental organization created to combat money laundering has recently issued guidance in the form of a report titled ‘Guidance for a Risk-Based Approach to Virtual Currencies’ for closer monitoring of cryptocurrency exchanges. The report discusses about various benefits associated with… – Continue reading
HMRC will not face a judicial review over its handling of HSBC-backed tax evasion after a campaign group dropped its fight to take the tax office to court. Online campaign group Avaaz initiated judicial review proceedings in May, but has ended its efforts after deciding it had little prospect of… – Continue reading
DUBAI: This week the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) published their 2015 National Strategic Assessment. The Assessment presents a comprehensive picture of the threat to the UK from serious and organised crime, and helps to inform the work of the NCA and their international partners, including in the UAE. Some… – Continue reading
The boss of discount chain B&M has been handed a huge pay rise after floating the company on the London Stock Exchange. Chief executive Simon Arora, who bought the bargain-basement bazaar now known as the ‘new Woolworths’ a decade ago, will earn a basic salary of £575,000 this year. That… – Continue reading
The ownership and use of land in Scotland has been thrust back on to the political agenda by the publication of the land reform bill, which was introduced to the Scottish parliament on Tuesday. Covering topics as diverse as tenant farming, offshore companies, deer management and common land, the bill… – Continue reading
Introduction The UK Finance Act 2015 received royal assent on March 26 2015. This included final legislation for the introduction of a capital gains tax charge on non-residents who dispose of UK residential property. The new charge applies to such disposals made on or after April 6 2015. This update… – Continue reading
The Turks and Caicos Islands is compliant with the Global Forum’s standards on exchange of tax information said its Minister of Finance today, Thursday, 25 June 2015. The Honourable Washington Misick was responding to a European Commission (EC) document that appeared to list 30 territories across the world that it… – Continue reading
A new campaign to stop Africa from ‘bleeding’ is to be launched today in Nairobi by the Tax Justice Network-Africa (TJN-A), a coalition of researchers and activists focused on the harmful impacts of tax avoidance, tax competition and tax havens. The ‘bleeding’ is symbolic of a $50 billion, which is… – Continue reading
Another round of International Tax Compliance Required under the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard The Cayman Islands Department of International Tax Compliance (DITC) has notified Cayman financial institutions of its intention to move forward with implementing the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (CRS), with the introduction of local regulations by October 2015…. – Continue reading
The verities of international tax law are no more. The days of strong residence-based rules of corporate taxation are numbered. The age of the Permanent Establishment (“PE”) as the central concept of international tax is drawing to a close. That seems to be the message from the OECD International Tax… – Continue reading
Online retailer’s Luxembourg unit took £5.3bn sales from British internet shoppers, a rise of 14%, but Amazon.co.uk Limited recorded profit of just £34.4m Amazon’s booming UK business paid just £11.9m of tax last year, while the online retailer’s Luxembourg unit took £5.3bn of sales from British internet shoppers without being… – Continue reading
The Isle of Man’s Agreement for the Exchange of Information Relating to Tax Matters with the Government of the Italian Republic entered into force on 10 June 2015. The agreement was signed on 16 September 2013 in London between Eddie Teare, the Isle of Man’s Treasury Minister, and His Excellency… – Continue reading
A recent report by Americans For Tax Fairness looks at how Walmart, the world’s largest corporation, uses a vast network of subsidiaries and branches in overseas tax havens with two purposes: 1.) to minimize taxes owed on its foreign operations. 2.) most importantly, to avoid United States taxes on those… – Continue reading
The number of raids on premises carried out by HM Revenue & Customs during investigations into tax evasion has increased by nearly 20% from 500 in 2013/14 to 593 last year. According to international law firm Pinsent Masons, the number of such raids has trebled in the last four years,… – Continue reading
In late May, Amazon announced it had started to pay tax on its sales in the UK rather than in Luxembourg. This came about after Amazon restructured its tax structure in Europe in response, at least in part, to the UK’s diverted profits tax (commonly known as the Google Tax)… – Continue reading
Offshore investors in UK real estate face a range of tax obligations and charges to be managed. This briefing introduces some of the key tax aspects for investors using various offshore structures. UK tax on gains Gains realised by non-residents on the disposal of commercial (non-residential) UK real estate are… – Continue reading
Conor Hynes and Ronan Connaughton of Deloitte Ireland explore the impending changes arising from BEPS Action 7 and the Skandia case and provide insight on the potential tax impact for the insurance industry. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is attributed with the saying, “the only thing that is constant is change”…. – Continue reading
Turnover at UK and offshore investment companies has risen rapidly, with almost one in five fund managers being replaced in the past 18 months amid growing pressure to improve performance, reports the Financial Times. Figures from the Association of Investment Companies showed that 18 per cent of funds had appointed… – Continue reading
The UK tax system is about to experience one of its biggest ever upheavals. From April 2016, there could be two tax jurisdictions for income tax for the first time. We can’t definitively say what will happen yet, because the current Scotland Bill is still subject to negotiation – and… – Continue reading
U.K. tax authorities raided nearly 19 percent more premises in the last year as a number of high-profile global tax cases sparked a crackdown on evasion. Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs carried out 593 property raids in the year through March, up from 500 in 2013-14, according to data compiled… – Continue reading
Companies appear similar in structure to those firms in the ‘Luxleaks’ controversy DCC plc, the London-listed support services group which has its headquarters in Dublin, has a number of inter-company financing entities in Luxembourg that have total assets of more than €1 billion. The entities, some of which are Irish… – Continue reading
Switzerland remained the leading offshore asset booking centre in 2014, but with the rising new wealth generation in the Asia-Pacific region and its proximity to booking centres such as Hong Kong and Singapore, the country is expected to face increasing competition, reports Gulf News. Switzerland booked US$2.4 trillion (Dh8.8 trillion)… – Continue reading
Dubai: Switzerland remained the leading offshore asset booking centre in 2014, but with the rising new wealth generation in the Asia-Pacific region and its proximity to booking centres such as Hong Kong and Singapore, the country is expected to face increasing competition. Switzerland booked $2.4 trillion (Dh8.8 trillion) in wealth… – Continue reading
FATCA – Which Countries Are In And Out The controversial US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) law is set to start from July 1, 2014, so with less than 21 days to go, here’s a look at which countries are in and who is outside of the tax network…. – Continue reading
St. Kitts and Nevis is one of 30 countries placed on the European Union’s black list for not doing enough to fight tax evasion. The EU’s executive Commission published the list Wednesday (June 17). The blacklisted countries figure on at least ten of the EU’s 28 member nations’ lists of… – Continue reading
Britain will not adopt new EU measures to tackle large-scale tax avoidance by multinational companies, the financial secretary to the Treasury has said. Brussels hopes to implement a longstanding tax harmonization plan to set common rules across member states, thereby closing legal loopholes multinationals currently exploit. A German member of… – Continue reading
David Gauke, financial secretary to the Treasury, told representatives from the European Parliament that Britain would reject plans to combat tax avoidance by multinationals According to the Guardian, German MEP Michael Theurer said, “He was very clear that the UK is insisting on tax competition”. The European Commission’s plan to… – Continue reading
Business lobby group BusinessEurope has withdrawn its previous support for a proposed European common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) due to changes that make it mandatory for multinational companies. UK business lobby group the Institute of Directors has described the CCCTB as “unhelpful political populism”. “European business fully shares the… – Continue reading
Business and politicains all want it but welfare reform demand from London has thrown up an unexpected hurdle If corporation tax were cool, Eamonn Donaghy of KPMG in Belfast would be the Bono of his world – half quiet tax accountant, half buccaneering campaigner with a nifty sideline in high-level… – Continue reading
Britain’s welfare bill can be reduced without eliminating the safety net – but not with a series of crude caps or freezes, explains Spencer Thompson. Today’s public finance statistics show progress towards reducing the deficit. Net borrowing has fallen by almost a quarter on a year ago, partly driven by… – Continue reading
Fears are growing that Scotland may be becoming a magnet for money-launderers following allegations linking shell companies there to a $1bn (£634m) fraud in the ex-Soviet republic of Moldova. The swindle allegedly emptied three of Moldova’s leading banks of almost all their funds. Investigators say a key role was played… – Continue reading
Following the expiration of the 29 May 2015 notification deadline with the Cayman Islands Tax Information Authority (the “TIA”), the next step for all Cayman Islands Reporting Financial Institutions (each an “RFI”) is to submit a return (the “FATCA Return”) setting out certain details of any US Reportable Accounts that… – Continue reading
Alongside an imminent price rise in houses in Britain (The Economist) and several other factors to take into account in considering moving to Malta, your domicile status and subjectivity to UK inheritance tax should also feature in the picture. It is useful to know that neither permanently leaving the UK… – Continue reading
The European Union 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive has been officially published in the European Journal. The scope of the 4th Directive is wider than its predecessor and covers all gambling services, it will review and revamp the UK Money Laundering Regulations which were established 2007. The 4th Directive will, however,… – Continue reading
Britain’s taxing question is whether to maximise revenues or face more austerity. Given the scale of state spending that’s the stark choice facing chancellor George Osborne if he wants to balance the books in this parliament, says James Sproule We are once again considering the tax options facing the chancellor… – Continue reading
Blatt’s all folks!’ was probably the pick of the tabloid headlines following the announcement that Sepp Blatter intends (finally) to step down as president of Fifa. Over the course of the next few months, he won’t be the only person anxiously awaiting the outcome of the current investigations into alleged… – Continue reading
The European Commission is set to adopt an Action Plan to tackle corporate tax avoidance and promote growth-friendly taxation in the Single Market despite an uphill battle against global giants such as Apple and Starbucks, as well as some hypocritical member states. The European Commission’s plans unveiled Wednesday include a… – Continue reading
Whether a UK taxpayer is classed as Scottish for the purposes of the Scottish rate of income tax (SRIT) will depend on whether that person is resident in Scotland in any particular tax year, according to draft guidance published by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The SRIT will take effect… – Continue reading
US companies have regained their appetite for controversial foreign takeovers that allow them to move overseas and escape US taxes, in spite of a White House crackdown to restrict so-called tax inversions last year, reports the Financial Times. According to several senior corporate advisers in the US and Europe, demand… – Continue reading
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has warned the increasing tensions generated by a planned crackdown on tax avoidance could have strong repercussions on the industry. Simon Henry, the FTSE 100 group’s chief financial officer, has urged political leaders to ensure global tax rules are not fragmented, claiming that a change… – Continue reading
