In early April 2016 files leaked from a large Panama-based law firm (known as the ‘Panama Papers’) brought to the attention of many the ways in which offshore companies and structures can be used to obscure the identity of beneficial owners, some of whom have used such entities to avoid… – Continue reading
Local banks will report account holders with American citizenship to the IRS beginning in September The Knesset Finance Committee on Monday approved a series of regulations by the Finance Ministry, paving the way to full implementation of the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, which was signed between the two… – Continue reading
The Panama Papers have put the spotlight on tax avoidance once again. This is, of course, not a new issue. Before that, we had Swiss Leaks and BVI Leaks. You may be asking: how does tax avoidance work and why have policymakers struggled to rein it in? Firstly, it is… – Continue reading
Slovakia and the United States can now exchange information for tax purposes more easily, thanks to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA) agreement signed in Bratislava on July 31, 2015. “The objective of the agreement is to prevent tax evasion and tax frauds and improvement of tax collection,” the… – Continue reading
Tax executives at U.S.-based multinational companies are having a hard time adjusting to the new rules demanded by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting plan, also known as OECD BEPS, according to a new survey. While OECD BEPS is not a requirement in the… – Continue reading
Multinational companies are making strides in preparing for radically changed cross-border tax and transfer-pricing reporting rules as compliance deadlines near, research by Thomson Reuters suggests, but uneasiness remains amongst tax executives about their readiness. The new rules will require multinational enterprises with annual revenues of €750 million ($830 million) or… – Continue reading
A recent paper from the Tax Foundation (TF) pointed out that, while most Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries lean more on tax revenue from consumption taxes, the United States relies more on individual income tax, while raising relatively little from consumption taxes. The TF noted that “this… – Continue reading
THE RECENT LEAK of millions of documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca served as a reminder of what wealthy Americans should already know: Hiding assets offshore can be risky and hiding them from Uncle Sam is a crime. Yet law-abiding folks continue to stash money offshore for reasons that… – Continue reading
UBS (UBSG.S) has been ordered by Switzerland’s tax agency to provide France with tax information, the Swiss bank said on Tuesday, adding that it expected other countries to file similar requests. Since the financial crisis, cash-strapped governments around the world have clamped down on tax evasion, with authorities probing Swiss… – Continue reading
U.S. Companies Will Be Required to Disclose Relevant Financial Data on Country-by-Country Basis to Tax Authorities but not to Public WASHINGTON, DC – Today the U.S. Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published a rule, which will become final tomorrow, requiring the U.S. parent company of large, public and… – Continue reading
Government most likely not to access bank data of Argentines in States despite deal As the whitewash bill is set to be approved this week, the government seeks to sign an assets deal with the United States to have access to data of the bank accounts of Argentines in the… – Continue reading
New Zealand is poised to toughen its disclosure rules for offshore trusts in the wake of the massive data leak known as the “Panama Papers.” Tax expert John Shewan on Monday released a report recommending a big increase in the amount of information disclosed when a foreign trust sets up,… – Continue reading
The Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament has recently approved the bill between the Kingdom of the Netherlands, on behalf of Curaçao, and the United States to improve the international liability and the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The Dutch Parliament also approved the bill proposal… – Continue reading
British multinational companies face new withholding taxes that may cost hundreds of billions of euros a year if U.K. voters decide to leave the European Union, international tax specialists say. A so-called Brexit “would have a major impact” on British corporations that have subsidiaries in the EU, said Daniel Gutmann,… – Continue reading
For most Americans, the term “money laundering” conjures an image of boxes of currency flown to the United States via seaplane—or former dictators paying cash for multimillion-dollar homes in swanky communities. Virtually no one would associate money laundering with two men from North Dakota. But in a lawsuit filed by… – Continue reading
Montreal-based clothing maker Gildan earned $396 million in profit last year, but paid just over $6 million in cash taxes — a rate of about two per cent. Drug maker Valeant, based in nearby Laval, Que., booked $1.1 billion in profit in 2014 but paid only $110 million in tax…. – Continue reading
On May 31, 2016, the Washington Department of Revenue (DOR) Appeals Division released a Determination (No. 15-0251, 35 WTD 230) denying a German pharmaceutical company’s business and occupation tax (B&O) protest. The administrative law judge (ALJ) ruled that while the nondiscrimination provisions contained in Article 24 of the US-Germany Income… – Continue reading
Hundreds of policymakers, business executives, and senior tax officials met at the OECD International Tax Conference to discuss the recommendations proposed under the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project and their impact on trade and investment. The conference, which was held in Washington DC on June 6-7, 2016, was… – Continue reading
Most American policymakers believe the U.S. corporate tax system needs reforming – and the facts back up their view The United States’ 39 percent combined statutory corporate tax rate is the highest among the largest 50 economies. The American tax and accounting system has trapped over $2 trillion of deferred… – Continue reading
New U.S. Treasury regulations aimed at curbing tax inversions, where U.S. companies acquire foreign counterparts and headquarter abroad, seem to be working. But their broader goal – to keep American corporate capital at home – has failed. Consider the recent mergers-and-acquisitions activity. Chicago-based CF Industrial Holdings and Netherlands-based OCI called… – Continue reading
It was quite a revelation when leaked documents, made public in April, showed that Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm, had helped 14,000 clients worldwide create offshore accounts to conceal assets or dodge taxes. On Monday, a report by The Times found that there were at least 2,400 clients based… – Continue reading
HMRC is consulting on whether a secondary adjustment rule should be introduced into the UK’s transfer pricing legislation, as the government department continues its clampdown against tax avoidance. The adjustment aims to counter multinationals that do not use the arm’s length principle, reversing any cash benefit that a multinational gains,… – Continue reading
Foreign portfolio investors based out of the US have collectively approached the India with a request to amend the India-US tax treaty, exempting them from paying capital gains tax , people close to the development said. These investors — mainly pension funds —are those who had invested in Indian equities… – Continue reading
NASHVILLE – Gov. Bill Haslam signed a measure into law Friday that statutorily phases out the Hall Income Tax and sends Tennessee on its way to income tax-free status by January 2022. First sponsored in 2012 by state Sen. Mark Green, R-Clarksville, the proposal to remove the tax on income… – Continue reading
The U.S. is under international criticism because under its Intergovernmental Agreement (known as IGA) reciprocal exchange accords, the U.S. has already transmitted information on those who are tax residents outside the U.S. to respective national tax authorities under the IGA. The spotlight is on the U.S. because the U.S. has… – Continue reading
A group of tax havens have accused larger countries like the United States of “hypocrisy” when it comes to cracking down on tax avoidance. With the issue of offshore finance high on the agenda in light of the fall out from the so-called Panama Papers scandal, world leaders convened in… – Continue reading
According to reports, the International Monetary Fund is aiding the Ukrainian government in its efforts to fix the country’s weak anti-money-laundering regulations. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is aiding the Ukrainian government in its efforts to fix the country’s weak anti-money-laundering regulations, the IMF said in a… – Continue reading
NEW YORK — U.S. multinational companies are saving $100 billion a year by shifting their profits overseas to lower their tax bills, according to a study released Tuesday that found that corporate tax-dodging is a bigger problem than previously estimated. Most U.S. companies pay far less than the country’s 35… – Continue reading
Tensions between the EU and the US over tax follow investigations into Apple in Ireland The US should be added to a new European blacklist of tax havens being drawn up by the European Commission, according to a report commissioned by the Green group in the European Parliament. The report,… – Continue reading
Governor Jack Markell will extend Delaware’s hospitality (home to more corporations than people) to Blockchain firms. Speaking at the Bitcoin community’s event in New York, Consensus 2016, Democratic Governor Jack Markell announced an initiative by the U.S State of Delaware to embrace the blockchain industry. His plan is to provide… – Continue reading
The US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio has dismissed a case brought by Senator Rand Paul (R – Kentucky) and a group of individuals, who attempted to make several challenges to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts… – Continue reading
The government of the British Virgin Islands (“BVI”) has recently clarified the filing deadlines under the various automatic exchange of information regimes in a number of bulletins and press releases. UK FATCA / UK CDOT The BVI government has advised that BVI Reporting Financial Institutions will be able to enrol… – Continue reading
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday said he is interested in working with other lawmakers to see if an agreement on international tax reform can be reached as soon as this year. “I’m game to do it because I think it’s really important for American competitiveness,” he said at… – Continue reading
The former PwC employee turned whistleblower behind the LuxLeaks scandal that implicated Luxembourg in industrial tax avoidance went on trial in the tiny European duchy on Tuesday. Antoine Deltour, 30, a former auditor at global accounting firm PwC, is accused of stealing documents from his employer before he quit the… – Continue reading
On October 5, 2015, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) issued final tax policy recommendations stemming from its Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. The reports, endorsed by the G20 Finance Ministers on October 8 and by the G20 leaders at their November 15-16 summit, consist primarily… – Continue reading
A federal prosecutor in New York has opened a criminal investigation involving the Panama Papers — a trove of materials from a Panamanian law firm that show a massive, secretive world of offshore industry. In a letter to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara wrote… – Continue reading
History shows us that tax evasion can have terrible effects, from economic inequality to societal collapse. In a world seemingly inured to financial scandals, the Panama Papers leak has reminded us of their capacity to shock. This huge document dump, which has revealed thousands of offshore accounts held in the… – Continue reading
Genesis of CbC Reporting and How it will Affect U.S. Multinational Enterprises Country-by-country (CbC) reporting is essentially exactly what it sounds like: a report that shows every country where a multinational enterprise (MNE) operates and allocates income, earnings and pays taxes. The CbC report regulations proposed by the Internal Revenue… – Continue reading
Overview If you have been reading my articles on JD Supra for a while, you will know that I love Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music. Nevertheless, the Hall and Oates song Private Eyes, is a more fitting song to describe the state of offshore planning in Tax Havens than “Oye Como… – Continue reading
Gibraltar, a tiny British territory at Europe’s southern tip, is famous for its geography — a huge limestone rock — that appears on the Prudential logo. It’s a global center for offshore banking, with the trappings of wealth to prove it: Luxury high-rises tower over super yachts in Gibraltar’s marina. The… – Continue reading
The U.S. Treasury Department is finalising new tax rules aimed at combating the use of shell companies to evade taxes, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said on Saturday amid increased pledges by global finance leaders to cooperate on tax issues. In a statement to the International Monetary Fund’s steering committee,… – Continue reading
Less than two weeks after publication of the Panama Papers, a year-long investigation by hundreds of news organizations around the world, including the Star, cast a bright light on the world of offshore tax havens, a new report from Oxfam reveals how much money the 50 largest U.S. corporations have… – Continue reading
TOKYO — Measures to deter tax avoidance will be discussed at next week’s meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers in light of the release of the Panama Papers, including expanding an information-sharing agreement to include Panama and other countries. The release of leaked documents from a… – Continue reading
BERLIN – A European Union official threatened Thursday to sanction Panama and other nations if they don’t cooperate fully to fight money laundering and tax evasion, after a leak of data showed the small country remains a key destination for people wanting to hide money. The 11.5 million documents from… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON: Underscoring the need for tax reforms in India, the US has said the proposed Goods and Services Tax ( GST) is of paramount importance. “Given India’s tremendous needs, its very low tax ratio, at 10 per cent of GDP, is notable. Accordingly, there is meaningful scope to address tax… – Continue reading
Panama and the U.S. have at least one thing in common: Neither has agreed to new international standards to make it harder for tax evaders and money launderers to hide their money. Over the past several years, amid increased scrutiny by journalists, regulators and law enforcers, the global tax-haven landscape… – Continue reading
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued its most recent report on Belize on Monday, following its September 2014 mission to the country, led by Jacques Bouhga-Hagbe. Much of the economic data included in the report has been the subject of recent discussions in Parliament in the context of the 2016-2017… – Continue reading
March 31 — Minnesota Sen. John Marty (DFL) introduced legislation that would require corporations headquartered in 46 tax havens to be subject to the same taxation as domestic companies. While it’s still early in the legislative session—the bill was introduced March 29—a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce told… – Continue reading
Both the US and the global forum working on automatic exchange of information under OECD have endorsed the data safeguards put in place by India New Delhi: India’s tax systems have withstood international scrutiny over data confidentiality and other safeguards put in place by the government before the revenue authorities… – Continue reading
In a search for financial records of a U.S. taxpayer who allegedly parked undeclared income offshore, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) are seeking to enforce a summons against a U.S. branch of a foreign bank for records held by a foreign branch of… – Continue reading
