Category: USA

Dpm Pledges ‘Most Stringent Controls’ On Ownership Registry

THE Deputy Prime Minister yesterday promised that the proposed Beneficial Ownership registry will have “the most stringent controls”, amid industry concerns over the lack of prior consultation. K P Turnquest told Tribune Business that it was “not an unreasonable guess” to suggest that the Bahamas would follow the Cayman Islands’… – Continue reading

Voices The IRS is taking off its velvet gloves for offshore holdings

Ferreting out people who want to hide their assets and income overseas is nothing new for the Internal Revenue Service. And for roughly nine years, the agency has sponsored programs tailored to those taxpayers who were prepared to come forward and disclose their unreported foreign assets and income in exchange… – Continue reading

Roskam bills to protect taxpayers from unjust seizures clears House as part of IRS revamp package

Legislation led by U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) to reform Internal Revenue Service (IRS) civil asset forfeiture tools and his other priorities to protect taxpayers cleared the U.S. House last week as part of a larger IRS modernization initiative. The House on April 18 passed the Taxpayer First Act, H.R…. – Continue reading

Even the CBO Says the GOP Tax Reform Will Incentivize Corporate Offshoring

The Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the new tax law suggests it could incentivize companies to offshore investments and jobs, which is directly at odds with GOP claims about the tax law. After the release of the GOP’s tax reform plan, several outlets, including the Prospect, noted that new tax… – Continue reading

Four years of monitoring have crushed tax fraud in Indiana

Officials say fraudulent claims fell off quickly after new technologies took the state off attackers’ easy-target list. With tax season comes attempted fraud, as crooks use false identities to try to trick all levels of government into sending them refund checks. There are ways to fight back, though, and Indiana… – Continue reading

Accidental Americans’ fight to stop double taxation

PARIS — Tom Wallis was born here and has spent his entire life in France, but it turns out that the 40-year-old entrepreneur from Grenoble owes tens of thousands of dollars in taxes to the United States. Wallis’ mother was French, but he holds U.S. citizenship through his American father…. – Continue reading

CBO confirms GOP tax bill will worsen offshore tax dodging

Saving American jobs from going overseas was the cornerstone of candidate Trump’s populist campaign for president. “We’re just shipping company after company after company is leaving this country and leaving jobs behind,” Trump said in March of 2016. “And I’m going to get it stopped.” In October of 2017, while… – Continue reading

GDT reminds firms to mind US tax act FATCA

The General Department of Taxation on Friday issued a statement reminding Cambodian financial institutions to comply with the reporting requirements of the US’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Cambodia and the US have signed an agreement to enforce FATCA, which mandates that financial institutions holding certain amounts of money… – Continue reading

IRS To Close Door On OVDP For Offshore Tax Dodgers

US taxpayers who have failed to declare their offshore money will lose the chance to confess to the Internal Revenue Service later this year. The IRS has announced that the Overseas Voluntary Disclosure Program will close on September 28. In the 10 years the OVDP has run, 56,000 taxpayers have… – Continue reading

New Report Expected to Reveal Naturalized U.S. Citizens in Africa Who Failed to Disclose Their Income or File Taxes

NEW YORK —Globe Afrique Media and Communication has initiated a research on naturalized US citizens living and working abroad, especially in African countries who have either refused to file US federal and state taxes or are under-reporting their income and assets. In a recent assessment conducted by Globe Afrique, hundreds… – Continue reading

Financial institutions must file accounts reports

HEADS of financial institutions face a fine of up to $10,000 or two years in prison if they fail to make the necessary accounts reports. The reminder came in a statement from the Ministry of Finance, Trade and Investment this week. It stressed that the deadline is approaching for filing… – Continue reading

IRS Reminds Taxpayers to Report Virtual Currency Earnings

The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently published a document reminding taxpayers that income derived from virtual currency transactions must be reported on income tax returns. The IRS states that taxpayers who fail to report virtual currency earning may be audited or made liable for “penalties and interest.” IRS… – Continue reading

Professional Fee paid by Deloitte India to Its US and Singapore Entities Not Taxable in India, No TDS: ITAT [Read Order]

Granting tax relief to Deloitte India, the Mumbai bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) held that the provisions relating to Tax deduction at Source (TDS) are not applicable to the professional fee paid by them to its Group Entities in US and Singapore. The division bench of the… – Continue reading

Peru: President Admits Using Offshore Firm to Avoid Taxes

Peru’s under fire President, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, admitted using an offshore company to avoid paying US taxes ahead of an impeachment vote on Thursday. The septuagenarian leader’s disclosure came during a marathon seven hour testimony to a congressional investigative committee on Friday as he attempted to disentangle himself from an… – Continue reading

US And Liechtenstein To Negotiate Double Tax Treaty

The governments of Liechtenstein and the United States have recently discussed the possibility of beginning negotiations for a bilateral double tax avoidance treaty. According to a Liechtenstein Government statement issued on March 15, “the fight against financial and tax crime” was the main focus of recent talks between Liechtenstein Foreign… – Continue reading

Cryptocurrencies vs. Banks: Advantage of Decentralized Financial Systems

Decentralized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have strong advantages over centralized financial systems, primarily because of their ability to function and operate without a single point of failure, which hackers and bad actors can target. Transaction processing On Feb. 19, Jameson Lopp, the lead engineer at multi-signature Blockchain security firm… – Continue reading

High net worth expats in UAE increasingly applying for second passport

High net worth residents in the UAE are increasingly applying for second passports to avail of maximum visa-free travel opportunities, expand businesses and avoid double taxation, experts have said. According to companies involved in citizenship programmes, most of the demand for second citizenship programmes is coming from Indians, Pakistanis, Syrians… – Continue reading

Amazon Inc. Paid Zero in Federal Taxes in 2017, Gets $789 Million Windfall from New Tax Law

From a decades-long strategy of exploiting state sales tax loopholes to its ongoing “HQ2” sweepstakes, Amazon’s leaders have rarely turned down a chance to use the tax system as the source of their competitive advantage. The online retail giant has built its business model on tax avoidance, and its latest… – Continue reading

IRS creates a team to find cryptocurrency tax evaders (US Cryptocurrency Tax Regulations)

It is a known fact that many of the cryptocurrency traders, as well as investors, are not paying taxes. The reason for this is that there is no proper legal framework to pay taxes. Moreover, the exchanges are not compliant with the tax laws. Owing to this very reason, investors,… – Continue reading

Swiss Taxpayer Wins US Tax Treaty Refund Dispute

The United States District Court for the District of Columbia on January 31 ruled in favor of Starr International Company in a case concerning an erroneous refund paid to the taxpayer, which the IRS sought to reclaim. In 2011, the IRS erroneously issued a USD21m refund to Starr International Company,… – Continue reading

Sherman Secures Treasury’s Commitment to Pursue U.S.-Armenia Double Tax Treaty

Secretary Mnuchin Commits During Congressional Testimony to Assign Treasury Department Officials to Work on Bilateral Accord WASHINGTON—Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, during Congressional testimony Tuesday before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, agreed – in response to direct questioning by Representative Brad Sherman (D-CA) – to commit Treasury Department officials to… – Continue reading

US tax overhaul could see $2 trillion repatriated: UN

The recent U.S. tax overhaul could prompt U.S. multinationals to repatriate around $2 trillion (1.6 trillion euros), making a significant impact on global foreign direct investment, the U.N. said on Feb. 5. The forecast from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) came just over a month after… – Continue reading

Bermuda Ranked 36th In Financial Secrecy Index

Bermuda is ranked 36th in the 2018 Financial Secrecy Index, which was recently released by the UK-based Tax Justice Network, who stated that some of the world’s “important providers of financial secrecy” are “mostly not small, palm-fringed islands as many suppose, but some of the world’s biggest and wealthiest countries.”… – Continue reading

Israel set to adjust tax policies to counter Trump reform, tax chief says

Also, multinational companies with a physical presence in Israel will soon get their first tax bill Israel will need to amend its corporate tax policies to counter the effects of US President Donald Trump’s tax reform, the head of Israel’s Tax Authority head acknowledged — but only slightly. “There will… – Continue reading

Netherlands Confirms Tax Treaty Negotiation Priorities

The Netherlands will seek to resume discussions towards double taxation avoidance treaties with several countries in 2018, including the United States, the Government has said. The Dutch Government will attempt to begin tax treaty talks with at least seven countries this year, including Australia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Morocco, Austria,… – Continue reading

Tax Haven Giants – Switzerland and US – ‘Looting’ Countries

“Financial secrecy provided by the U.S. has caused untold harm to the ordinary citizens of foreign countries,” said the Tax Justice Network. While European Union, EU, officials busied themselves with listing 17 countries or overseas colonies as being dicey tax havens – notably excluding Switzerland and the United States from… – Continue reading

US Inc. urges Jaitley to reduce tax uncertainty for MNCs

Washington–Ahead of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s last full Union Budget, the US-India Business Council (USIBC) has urged him to further reduce tax uncertainty for multinational companies and foreign investors, even as Indian industry has voiced its own areas of concern. In a memorandum submitted to Jaitley, the USIBC has said… – Continue reading

Valadao and Sherman call on Treasury to stop double taxation of U.S.-Armenia profits

U.S. Representatives David Valadao (R-CA) and Brad Sherman (D-CA) are collecting signatures on a bipartisan letter urging their Congressional colleagues to request that Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin renegotiate the existing, outdated Double Tax Treaty with Armenia, an obsolete Cold War-era accord, recognized today by the U.S. but not… – Continue reading

Valadao and Sherman call on Treasury to stop double taxation of U.S.-Armenia profits

U.S. Representatives David Valadao (R-CA) and Brad Sherman (D-CA) are collecting signatures on a bipartisan letter urging their Congressional colleagues to request that Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin renegotiate the existing, outdated Double Tax Treaty with Armenia, an obsolete Cold War-era accord, recognized today by the U.S. but not… – Continue reading

On the lookout for US taxpayers in Cambodia

The General Department of Taxation called last week on banks, insurance companies and microfinance institutions (MFIs) to accurately report the taxpayer identification numbers (US-TIN) of clients with US citizenship. The statement, issued on January 3 and signed by GDT’s general director Kong Vibol, said reporting accurate US-TIN numbers is necessary… – Continue reading

There Is a Raging Battle of Tax Codes with China and the US Starting the Race

The GOP tax bill that was signed into law by the white house late last year, significantly reduced corporate taxes which has piled pressure on other significant economies around the world to adjust so as not to lose investors to the United States. Just hours after President Trump signed the… – Continue reading

China to offer tax breaks to foreign companies after GOP tax bill

A 10% tax that China has slapped exclusively on foreign companies’ profits from equity investments will temporarily be waved if the earnings are plowed into government-targeted sectors, according to a statement issued Thursday by four central government ministries. The move will help retain foreign investment and stabilize cross-border capital flows,… – Continue reading

US tax reform breaks global rules, EU says

European finance ministers are worried. They say the United States’ big tax reform bill contains measures that would unfairly disadvantage European business and contravene global fair-taxation rules. Are they right? Last week, the finance ministers of Europe’s five biggest economies — Germany, France, the UK, Spain and Italy — wrote… – Continue reading

Bermuda Premier signs tax agreement with US, visits Jamaica

HAMILTON, Bermuda (CMC) — Bermuda has signed a new tax agreement with the United States that premier David Burt says demonstrates the island’s continued commitment to transparency. Burt, who left here over the weekend for Jamaica, said the Country by Country Competent Authority Agreement signified that the PLP government had… – Continue reading

Daily Tax Update – December 11, 2017: Treasury Analysis Asserts Tax Cuts Will Pay for Themselves

Treasury Analysis Asserts Tax Cuts Will Pay for Themselves: Today, the Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy released its analysis of the Senate’s tax reform plan. The one-page report used the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget projections of a 2.9% real growth rate over 10 years. The analysis expects the… – Continue reading

Will US Government Continue to Target Bitcoin Users for Taxes?

Coinbase, the world’s largest Bitcoin brokerage and wallet platform, has won a partial but significant victory in its fight against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), as Cointelegraph previously reported. Brief history of Coinbase v. IRS On January 15, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong revealed that the IRS sent the company a… – Continue reading

Tax Reform Must Level the Playing Field for American Companies

Multinationals have been getting away with not paying their fair share to the U.S. for too long, says this business founder With Washington pushing full-tilt on tax reform, it’s time to tackle the unfair tax advantage enjoyed by multinational enterprises. Addressing this longstanding problem could provide a unique opportunity to… – Continue reading

Hapoalim Canadian customers say bank aided tax evasion

114 taxpayers in Canada’s voluntary disclosure program say that the Israeli bank helped them evade taxes. As if the headache of the investigation by US authorities were not enough, Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI), managed by CEO Arik Pinto, discovered two days ago that Canada was also taking aim at it…. – Continue reading

Virtual Currency Exchanges and US Customers Beware, IRS is Coming: Expert Blog

In the aftermath of Satoshi Nakamoto’s groundbreaking paper in 2009, money began travelling via a new financial route – virtual currencies. The first Bitcoin exchange was established on February 6, 2010 where Bitcoin traded for the first time for 0.3 cents. Last June, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants… – Continue reading

Senate’s Offshore Tax Ideas Could Be a ‘Goldmine’ for Some Companies

Plan proposes 12.5% tax rate on intellectual-property income Bills ‘upend decades of U.S. tax policy’ on tight deadline U.S. companies that make billions of dollars from patents and other intellectual property held offshore would be eligible for a special 12.5 percent tax rate on those earnings under the Senate tax… – Continue reading