Category: North America

Our Swiss dilemma

With new laws in place, recovery from Swiss banks can be little easier provided the government shows sincerity in taking action against tax dodgers   Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar in recent days has expressed the government’s firm conviction to bring back untaxed money of “US$ 200 billion” stashed in… – Continue reading

Franking credits a key part of Australia’s economic machine

The sharemarket has settled into a consolidation phase at between 5400 and 5600 index points, mirroring changes in overseas markets. While analysts are confident the current reporting period will not produce unexpected changes to their forecasts, international political instability makes further upward movement in prices unlikely. Compared with overseas markets… – Continue reading

Investors Should Be Aware Of Cameco’s Dispute With The Taxman

The Canada Revenue Agency is speeding up the frequency of reassessments of Cameco’s tax returns in what may be an attempt to pressure Cameco to settle out of court. Cameco’s cash is being tied up as they are required to remit 50% of each disputed bill. Cameco could ultimately be… – Continue reading

Obama in a stew over corporate tax inversions

Barack Obama, presiding over an unusually dismal post-recession economy, might make matters worse with a distracting crusade against the minor and sensible business practice called “inversion.” Obama gave a 2013 speech regretting that Maytag workers in Illinois lost their jobs when the plant moved to Mexico but rejoicing that more… – Continue reading

American corporations using tax inversion lack patriotism: Letter

Letter-writer Hank Brennan correctly states that tax inversion is a tax avoidance, rather than evasion (“Inversion not a crime,” Reader Forum, Aug. 11). However, like boards of directors off-shoring American corporations as they earlier off-shored American jobs, he is looking at only one stakeholder: stockholders. There are three other stakeholders… – Continue reading

How Convenient: Vessel Registration and Mortgages in the Republics of the Marshall Islands and Liberia

Two registries of significant interest to shipowners are the registries of the Republics of the Marshall Islands and Liberia. Significantly, insofar as it does not conflict with the statutory laws, each country has adopted the non-statutory general maritime laws of the United States. This gives added certainty to shipowners, particularly… – Continue reading

Swiss Banks Return To The United States

Swiss Banks Return To The United States by Julie Zaugg in New York, swissinfo.ch A handful of Swiss banking institutes have started to re-engage with the United States off-shore market – entirely within the law. Their assets under management (AUM) are seeing a spectacular increase. At UBS the AUM has risen… – Continue reading

Canadians File Suit To Block FATCA And Prohibit Handover Of U.S. Names To IRS

A lawsuit has been filed by several Canadian citizens against the Canadian Attorney General in Federal Court in Canada. The legal claim challenges the constitutionality of the agreement the Canadian government struck with the United States. The controversial deal between nations was inked under FATCA—the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act…. – Continue reading

IRS Updates FATCA Withholding Agreements for Foreign Partnerships and Trusts

The Internal Revenue Service has updated the Withholding Foreign Partnership and Withholding Foreign Trust agreements as part of the process of implementing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA. FATCA, which was included as part of the HIRE Act of 2010, requires foreign financial institutions to report on the… – Continue reading

SDN Threatens Profits at Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO); Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) Under Fire for Tax Evasion

NEW YORK – According to industry insiders there is a battle waging over Software-Defined Networking (SDN) that is a way to build corporate networks without the networking gear built by companies such as Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) and Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR). The battle pits network equipment manufacturers against a string of companies… – Continue reading

Gibraltar must prepare for FATCA or risk facing consequences

Gibraltar’s financial community must immediately prepare itself for FATCA or it risks getting caught up in the legislation’s strict international net, says an authority from the jurisdiction. Helvetic, a fund adminstrator based in the British overseas territory, says many financial institutions in the area are underestimating the compliance costs of… – Continue reading

The offshore world: Past, present and future?

The reputation of many jurisdictions, or so called ‘tax havens’, has been attacked by other nations, most which fail to apply the same policies that they advocate for others. Over the last two decades, International Financial Centers (IFCs) have made vast changes to their laws and their enforcement, aiming to… – Continue reading

Real estate taxes soar along with home prices

One side effect of soaring home prices: Real estate taxes are soaring too. The government provides many incentives to homeownership, including the mortgage-interest deduction and capital gains exclusion. But the interest deduction is generally limited to interest on $1.1 million in mortgage debt. And the capital gains exclusion is limited… – Continue reading

Fattah Jr. released on bail following U.S. indictment on theft, fraud and tax-evasion charges

The son of a congressman, who could face time in prison following his federal indictment on theft and tax-fraud charges, was released on bail Tuesday afternoon. Chaka Fattah Jr., 31, is accused of everything from tax fraud to stealing from the Philadelphia School District as part of the wide-ranging indictment… – Continue reading

Germany Brings FATCA Law Into Force

Germany’s Ministry of Finance announced that a law enabling the implementation of the United States’ Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) has come into force. The ministry said that the FATCA-USA Implementation Regulation, known in German as FATCA-USA-Umsetzungsverordnung or FATCA-USA-UmsV, entered into force on July 23, 2014. Germany signed the… – Continue reading

How REIT Spinoffs Will Further Erode the Corporate Tax Base

While Congress has been obsessing about tax inversions, it turns out another—potentially more important–tax avoidance technique is getting increased attention from the business community: Spinning off tangible assets into Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). If these deals become widespread, they’d be another nail in the coffin of the corporate income… – Continue reading

British Virgin Islands: The Impact Of FATCA On British Virgin Islands Funds

In March 2014, the British Virgin Islands Government announced that it had concluded negotiations with the US with respect to a Model 1B Intergovernmental Agreement with the United States (the IGA). The IGA (which was eventually signed on 30 June 2014) provides the framework for the implementation of the US Foreign… – Continue reading

United States: FATCA Implications For Offshore Investment Funds And Their US Investment Managers

FATCA Background The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) was enacted in response to concerns that US taxpayers were avoiding US tax by using offshore financial institutions to hide assets and avoid reporting income.  Generally, FATCA imposes due diligence, information reporting and withholding obligations on non-US financial institutions (“FFIs”) and… – Continue reading

Channel Islands and BVI hold two-thirds of UK property offshore vehicles

Property in England and Wales worth £122bn or more is held through companies in offshore tax jurisdictions where ownership is tricky to establish, according to Land Registry data analysed by the Financial Times. The detailed report showed that around two-thirds of the 91,248 foreign-company owned properties were held through the… – Continue reading

The difference between a telecoms network and real estate? About $3.2 billion

Tax avoidance, the American way. Little Rock, Arkansas-based telco Windstream has caused a stir by announcing a novel scheme to reduce the amount of federal taxes it has to pay. It intends to spin off certain network assets into a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT). In so doing,… – Continue reading