You know those annoying “We Agree” television ads by the fossil fuel corporate giant Chevron? The ones where an actor playing a student or a concerned member of a community “agrees” with supposedly noble objectives of this multinational? Those ads make me feel like puking. The objective of this campaign… – Continue reading
Companies can be more competitive in the U.S. if they’re based outside the country, said the chief executive officer of a company that is moving its tax address outside the U.S. Heather Bresch, the CEO of Mylan Inc., described her company’s proposed tax inversion as a shield against a takeover… – Continue reading
Expats have a range of choices – so how do they find a safe home for their assets? The traditional use of offshore centres as a way of enabling better tax planning – and even tax evasion – has all but fallen away. An increasing desire for countries to share… – Continue reading
Hybrid entities have long been a tool for corporate tax planning. While tax authorities have fought the use of such hybrid mismatches for tax planning purposes, national efforts to prevent the use of hybrid mismatches have not proven to be very efficient, explain Michael Graf and Timothy Santoli, of Dentons… – Continue reading
Seventy percent of corporate tax professionals said they favor lowering the U.S. corporate tax rate, even if that means their companies would have to give up tax loopholes, according to a new study. The study, released Thursday by the Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters, gauged the opinions of… – Continue reading
TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Financial Supervisory Commission’s (FSC, 金管會) chairman Tseng Ming-chung (曾銘宗) met with the U.S. treasury from Nov. 2 till Nov. 5 and signed an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) that will see Taiwanese financial institutions directly providing 4,273 Taiwanese green-card holders… – Continue reading
G20 guide: what to expect Brisbane residents will experience “longer travel times” as G20 forces roads and bus stations to be closed in the CBD and South Bank. Autoplay ONOFFVideo feedbackVideo settings G20: full coverage The global coalition against corruption – Transparency International – hopes Sunday’s G20 closing statement in… – Continue reading
Brisbane (Australia) (AFP) – The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on Friday forecast competition heating up among countries wanting to attract revenue from big digital companies like Apple and Google, even as a row rages over Luxembourg’s arrangements with multinationals. Closing corporate tax loopholes and endorsing a common reporting… – Continue reading
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has nominated global tax avoidance as one of the key issues on the agenda for this weekend’s G20 summit in Brisbane. Major companies including Google and Apple have faced strong criticism over their efforts to lower their tax bills by shifting profits to jurisdictions with low… – Continue reading
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Shantelle P. Kitchen, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (“IRS-CI”), announced today the indictment of MARTIN DUNKI, a former client advisor and Senior Vice… – Continue reading
The British Virgin Islands (the “BVI”) has now enacted legislation which allows for the implementation of its commitments under the Model 1B (i.e. non-reciprocal) intergovernmental agreements with the United States, signed on 30 June 2014, (the “US IGA”) and with the United Kingdom, signed on 28 November 2013, (the “UK… – Continue reading
Taipei, Nov. 13 (CNA) Taiwan’s financial authorities have found that there are 4,273 bank accounts in Taiwan whose holders are obligated to report assets to the United States tax authorities, Taiwan’s top financial regulator said Thursday. Tseng Ming-chung, chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission, said most of the account holders… – Continue reading
IRS announces relief for accounts opened recently by non-residents aliens Jeffrey S. Freeman, J.D., LL.M notice on October 16, 2014 (Notice 2014-59, 2014-44 IRB) the IRS announced changes to the temporary regulations issued earlier this year under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The changes provide relief from withholding… – Continue reading
Sears Holdings and Pinnacle Entertainment have become the latest US companies to announce that they are considering establishing real estate investment trusts (REITs), to unlock tax advantages that have been considered by some companies as an alternative to a corporate inversion. REITS do not pay corporate tax as long as… – Continue reading
HCMC – Foreign exchange control is a paramount concern of all foreign investors entering into Vietnam, as regulations on capital inflows and outflows have a great influence on operations and profit. Foreign exchange control includes transferring capital into and out of the country, opening and using bank accounts, borrowing foreign… – Continue reading
With U.S. interest rates remaining at historic lows, yield-starved investors have continued allocating massive amounts of capital to exchange traded products offering exposure to master limited partnerships (MLP). So popular are MLP ETFs and exchange traded notes (ETNs) that the asset class has not endured a month of net outflows… – Continue reading
The US Treasury has opened a new front in its war against offshore tax evasion. But for some it amounts to financial imperialism. Americans with legitimate bank accounts outside the country, and foreigners working in the United States, have begun receiving letters from their banks in Paris, Tokyo, Johannesburg and… – Continue reading
With American taxpayers newly able to easily secure more favorable US tax treatment for Canadian retirement plans, American Citizens Abroad had requested that such treatment should be extended worldwide to all foreign pensions and retirement savings. Under the recent change, many Americans and Canadians with registered retirement savings plans and… – Continue reading
November 10: The IRS has posted a draft version (as of November 7, 2014) of Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification, and a draft version of the instructions for a requester of Form W-9. Read the draft Form W-9 [PDF 109 KB] and the draft instructions [PDF… – Continue reading
DUBLIN — In a sprawling conference center on the outskirts of the Irish capital, more than 20,000 people from the global tech industry gathered last week to sign deals and swap contacts. Despite the throngs of startups, American heavy hitters like Peter Thiel, and executives from Facebook and Twitter, talk… – Continue reading
The recent decision of the U.S.Tax Court, in Gerd Topsnik, (2014) makes it clear that an “informal” surrender of a Green Card, while recognized under immigration laws is not recognized for tax purposes. As stated in Checkpoint, ” The Tax Court held that because the taxpayer did not formally abandon… – Continue reading
Regardless of how M&T Bank Corp.’s planned acquisition of Hudson City Bancorp plays out, one thing is clear: M&T will end up with a much stronger system for fighting money laundering. Buffalo-based M&T and New Jersey-based Hudson City Bancorp still want to complete their $3.7 billion merger – a marriage… – Continue reading
If you have a bank account anywhere outside the U.S., chances are you will receive a letter saying that your bank must hand over the details of any American accounts, including yours. The letters vary with the country and with individual institutions. But the overall message is that the IRS… – Continue reading
Kansas City businesswoman Cheryl Womack, who was indicted last December on tax-related charges, has filed a request to delay her change-of-plea hearing originally scheduled for Wednesday. At issue is the Tax Information Exchange Agreement application, which acts almost like a search warrant and enables the government to obtain foreign-based documents… – Continue reading
November 10: The IRS has posted a draft version (as of November 7, 2014) of Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification, and a draft version of the instructions for a requester of Form W-9. Read the draft Form W-9 [PDF 109 KB] and the draft instructions [PDF… – Continue reading
For five straight quarters, states have collected more in tax revenues than at their pre-recession peak. But the fiscal recovery has been uneven. There are still 29 states where tax collections have yet to return to their pre-recession heights, according to a new Pew Charitable Trusts analysis. Overall, state tax… – Continue reading
The US Treasury has opened a new front in its war against offshore tax evasion. Overseas banks are being ordered to cooperate with the US Treasury and help identify which of their customers might owe the government taxes – a move that some equate to a form of “financial imperialism,… – Continue reading
KUWAIT, Nov 8 (KUNA) — Senior commercial officer at the U.S. Embassy Dao Le said that Kuwait is a major partner especially in the field of energy, adding that Kuwait will maintain this position well into the medium term, as there is no other alternative for the US. Therefore, Kuwait… – Continue reading
Irish lawmakers on Thursday debated new legislation that will close one tax incentive but expand another amid controversy over international corporate tax avoidance following an investigation into deals made by multinationals in Luxembourg. As part of the Finance Bill, Dublin would end the contested “Double Irish” system but a separate… – Continue reading
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has added another 12,760 foreign financial institutions to the latest Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) list. The FATCA list is the US government’s definitive database of overseas financial institutions complying with the reporting tax information laws that started in July 2014. The current list,… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON: The United States Treasury has opened a new front in its war against offshore tax evasion. But for some it amounts to financial imperialism. Americans with legitimate bank accounts outside the country and foreigners working in the US have begun receiving letters from their banks in Paris, Tokyo, Johannesburg… – Continue reading
The US Treasury has opened a new front in its war against offshore tax evasion. But for some it amounts to financial imperialism. Americans with legitimate bank accounts outside the country, and foreigners working in the United States, have begun receiving letters from their banks in Paris, Tokyo, Johannesburg and… – Continue reading
After the US bailed out the insurance conglomerate AIG in 2008, the company’s employees kept to business as usual—which included setting up complex tax structures to avoid taxes in Europe and Japan. In 2008, the company was on the brink of a bankruptcy that would have created huge losses throughout… – Continue reading
From 1970 to 2011, US$2 trillion from Latin America and the Caribbean have been funneled to offshore tax havens. It’s money that moves behind the scenes, in illicit financial flows (IFF). These transnational transfers come from three sources of illegal funds: corruption (bribery), money laundering (contraband, trafficking of drugs, weapons,… – Continue reading
G20 leaders are under pressure to go further in their efforts to crack down on tax avoidance after the revelation that thousands of companies, including several major Australian firms and multinationals operating in Australia, have legally avoided tax with complicated deals negotiated through Luxembourg. The chairman of a Senate inquiry… – Continue reading
FATCA compliance is going to cost more than anticipated, research has revealed More than half (55%) of financial organisations now expect to exceed their original budget to adhere to the new rules, while only 35% believe they will stay on budget, a survey from Thomson Reuters has found. The Foreign… – Continue reading
A source revealed that in order to settle the investigation into whether Bank Leumi Le-Israel (LUMI) BM helped Americans evade taxes, New York’s banking regulator will ask for over $300 million. The head of the state’s Department of Financial Services, Benjamin Lawsky, is looking for an amount that surpasses what… – Continue reading
Onetime Texas billionaire Sam Wyly and the estate of his late brother Charles just can’t seem to outsmart the Securities and Exchange Commission. Their latest attempt to evade the consequences of their allegedly fraudulent offshore trust scheme failed Monday, when U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin of Manhattan, in a ruling… – Continue reading
The Writ Petition filed by the NDA Government in mid-October consists of two parts. The first part deals with the issue of Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement [DTAA], the information obtained from Liechtenstein through Germany and confidentiality obligations of Indian Government under the said DTAA. I had dealt extensively on this… – Continue reading
Nov 5 (Reuters) – Israel arrested 14 people, including a senior UBS investment adviser, as part of an investigation into Israelis allegedly holding undisclosed bank accounts with UBS worth hundreds of millions of euros, the Tax Authority said on Wednesday. All 14 had been released on bail soon after their… – Continue reading
The Bahamian government yesterday took a “critical step” in complying with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) by signing an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the U.S. During a press conference held at the Ministry of Financial Services, Minister of Financial Services Ryan Pinder stated that industry consultation represents the… – Continue reading
Apple is debuting €2.8bn of bonds as the iPhone maker seeks to fund another round of shareholder rewards without using overseas cash that would be subject to US repatriation taxes. The technology company is offering €1.4bn of eight-year notes and €1.4bn of 12-year securities, a source said. Goldman Sachs Group… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Most of the world’s biggest companies get a failing grade for transparency and are far too secretive about how they operate, despite mounting pressure for business to stand firm against bribery, corruption and tax avoidance, a survey has found. Transparency International, the leading… – Continue reading
Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman William Tseng (曾銘宗) is leading a group of officials on a trip to the US in an effort to confirm details of the US’ Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and to ink a tax treaty with Washington. Officials said Vice Minister of Finance Wu Tang-chieh… – Continue reading
(From left) Stephen Ross, Raghad Al-Khudhari, Kristin Konschik and Husain Al- Ghareeb KUWAIT: A child born in the United States, even taken out of the US after an hour or two after birth, is a US citizen and therefore subject to a recent tax law being implemented by the US… – Continue reading
It was anticipated that with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US, uncertainty over FATCA implementation would come to an end. However, the Indian government is yet to make any announcements on the FATCA implementation after giving an in-principle approval to FATCA Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) -Model -1, few… – Continue reading
Private sector arm of DfID and other EU development institutions channel significant investments to offshore havens, study finds More than two-thirds of the investments made by the private sector arm of the UK’s aid programme last year were channelled through “notoriously secretive” tax havens, according to a report that calls… – Continue reading
Apple Inc. (AAPL) is gearing up for its first bond offering in euros as the iPhone maker seeks to fund another round of shareholder rewards without tapping overseas cash that would be subject to repatriation taxes. Banks hired by the world’s most valuable technology company have started gauging investor interest… – Continue reading
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) became law in March 2010. However, as with many things “government,” several extensions were provided for guidance and regulations to be promulgated. FATCA targets tax non-compliance by U.S. taxpayers with foreign accounts and focuses on the reporting: (1) by U.S. taxpayers about certain… – Continue reading
High Court refuses special leave application in capital gains tax dispute The High Court has refused the special leave application by the taxpayer in a case involving the liability to capital gains tax (CGT) of a ‘limited partnership’ formed in the Cayman Islands. The application for special leave followed the… – Continue reading
