Category: USA

Paradise Papers reveal unethical tax avoidance by tech companies

Under President Trump’s political and economic climate, stocks and the economy have been soaring. Trump constantly aims for three percent GDP growth as a result of cutting corporate income and individual income taxes, which aims to encourage spending across different family incomes. However, these corporations the tax cuts favor have… – Continue reading

US Senate Presents A Different Take On Tax Reform

The Senate Finance Committee released its tax reform plan on November 9, presenting a draft bill with marked differences to that agreed by the House Ways and Means Committee on the same day. The proposal was drafted by Finance Committee Republicans under the leadership of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin… – Continue reading

These Universities Benefit From an Offshore Tax Loophole

Universities are always looking for new ways to increase returns on their endowments. The hunt for lucrative investments has reportedly led several institutions offshore. College endowments are typically exempt from federal taxes. However, when income is earned on an endowment outside of the core educational mission, it can be subject… – Continue reading

Apple defends moving offshore profits to the tax haven of Jersey

The company known for the ‘double Irish’ scheme is moving its subsidiaries’ tax residency. A set of leaked documents from offshore law firm Appleby has revealed that Apple stashed $250 billion in Jersey, a tiny island off the coast of France known for being a tax haven. The tech titan… – Continue reading

Republicans Reveal US Tax Reform Law

On October 2 the US Government released the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, setting out in legislation its plans for comprehensive reform of the US tax code. For businesses, the bill will bring about a landmark shift to a territorial corporate tax system, replacing the current worldwide tax basis regime… – Continue reading

Grenada Gears Up For FATCA

Grenada’s Inland Revenue Division has completed a series of training exercises for its staff and the island’s financial institutions in preparation for the start of reporting under the US Financial Account Tax Compliance Act. Reporting by FIs under FATCA is governed by a November 2016 inter-governmental agreement between the US… – Continue reading

Report: Huge Mass. companies keep billions of dollars offshore

General Electric, Boston Scientific and other major Massachusetts-based companies are accused of keeping billions of dollars in offshore accounts to avoid taxation in 2016, according to a new report. In fact, the practice extends to 366 of the companies on the Fortune 500 list, according to the Massachusetts Public Interest… – Continue reading

CbCR obligations for Italian entity members of US groups

Concerns have arisen over a temporary misalignment between the US country-by-country reporting regime and Italian legislation. Antonella Della Rovere and Federico Vincenti of Valente Associati GEB Partners explain. An agreement for the automatic exchange of country-by-country reports (CbCR) between Italy and the US (Agreement) came into effect on September 27… – Continue reading

Greek Revenue Services, US IRS Sign Agreement for Tax Data Exchange

The US IRS announced this week on its website that the US has entered into a bilateral competent authority agreement with Greece to exchange country-by-country reports on multinationals. The agreement between the IRS and the Greek Independent Authority for Public Revenue, signed September 27, puts into effect a 2015 deal… – Continue reading

100 Organizations Urge Congress to Reject Giant Tax Loophole for Offshoring and Tax Avoidance

GOP Leadership’s Proposal for a “Territorial Tax System” Would Encourage Corporations to Send Jobs Offshore and Avoid Paying Taxes. WASHINGTON – Today, 100 organizations sent a letter urging members of Congress to reject a proposal that would allow U.S. multinational corporations to pay little to nothing on their offshore profits…. – Continue reading

Trump’s corporate tax reform plan could neuter Ireland’s advantage

President Trump on Wednesday this week announced a sketchy Republican tax reform plan that covered just 9 pages and he proposed that the headline federal corporate rate should be cut from 35% to 20%. However, there is a risk to Ireland’s low 12.5% corporate tax advantage. The average rate of… – Continue reading

United States: California Expands Voluntary Disclosure Program for Out‑of‑State Trusts

At a Glance… On September 25, Governor Brown signed into law Senate Bill No. 813, which updated the California Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP) to include out-of-state trusts with California beneficiaries and non-resident partners of out-of-state partnerships, and to allow the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) to waive the S Corporation or… – Continue reading

U.S. companies urge EU to refrain from unilateral moves on Web tax

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union’s plans to increase taxes on digital firms risks undermining the bloc’s growth and stifle global efforts to find common solutions, U.S. companies operating in the EU said on Tuesday. Critics say online firms such as Google (GOOGL.O) or Facebook (FB.O) pay too little tax… – Continue reading

Armenia insists on signing double taxation agreement with USA

YEREVAN, September 25. /ARKA/. Until 2022 Armenia will conclude agreements on the exclusion of double taxation with 8 more countries and will pursue an agreement also with the United States to abolish double taxation, Armenian finance minister Vardan Aramyan said at a press conference on Monday. So far Armenia has… – Continue reading

US set to lose $12bn in tax take by 2027 if multinationals relocate overseas

Tax inversions by US multinationals attempting to shift profits into lower tax jurisdictions could cost the US up to $12bn (£7.4bn) in lost corporate tax revenues by 2027, according to figures released by the US Congressional Budget Office There were 11 major corporate inversions from 2014-2015, although two significant inversions… – Continue reading

Republicans launch worldwide campaign in bid for territorial taxation

Letters calling for the elimination of FATCA, among other tax issues, will be presented to the White House in about two weeks’ time. A global political organisation with affiliation to the Republican Party has recently launched a petition and letter writing campaign in protest of “citizenship-based” taxation – partly in… – Continue reading

US Hearing On Improving IRS Appeals Process

On September 13, the US Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee launched a hearing on improving the resolution process for taxpayer disputes and appeals with the Internal Revenue Service. The hearing is said to be the fourth in a series of attempts to reform and improve the IRS appeals process. “In… – Continue reading

Kazakhstan Signs FATCA Agreement with US

Kazakhstan and the United States have signed a Model 1 FATCA Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA), which will enable the automatic exchange of financial information on each country’s resident taxpayers to support tax enforcement efforts. The agreement was signed in Astana on September 11, 2017. Kazakh Minister of Finance Bakhyt Sultanov emphasized… – Continue reading

Multinationals would face mandatory tax on offshore profits, Steven Mnuchin says

Multinational corporations with profits held overseas would face a mandatory one-time tax as part of the planned Republican tax legislation, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday. “There will be a ‘deemed tax’ as a one-time charge,” Mnuchin said in an interview with Fox News at the Treasury. U.S. companies have… – Continue reading

U.S. not going to abolish double taxation with Armenia: envoy

PanARMENIAN.Net – The United States is not going to abolish double taxation with Armenia, U.S. ambassador to Armenia Richard M. Mills told reporters on Wednesday, September 13, Sputnik Armenia reports. According to Mills, the double taxation issue was raised by the Armenian government, and the United States has repeatedly noted… – Continue reading

Deadline for FATCA FFI agreement renewal quietly extended

The Internal Revenue Service has extended the deadline for foreign financial institutions to have renewed their FFI Agreements, it has emerged. As reported, the original deadline was 31 July. However, accounting industry sources have flagged up the fact that the Internal Revenue Service is now stating that the deadline for… – Continue reading

Banker’s Toolbox addresses beneficial ownership rules

Banker’s Toolbox, Inc., the leader in Bank Secrecy Act anti-money laundering compliance solutions for financial institutions, announced today the launch of its Due Diligence Manager solution for Beneficial Ownership. This extension of the existing BAM+ platform delivers exciting and holistic features including a completely flexible question builder and automated periodic… – Continue reading

US agrees to give Australia additional intelligence to chase tax avoiders

America has formally agreed to share detailed information of companies with the Australian government’s Tax Avoidance Taskforce. This means authorities get access to additional intelligence to track down US-based multinationals. This month, US authorities signed a country-by-country report exchange deal with Australia. It seeks to give authorities a broader picture… – Continue reading

US IRS Now Accepting CbC Reports

The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has begun accepting country-by-country (CbC) reports from multinational corporations. In June 2016 the IRS issued final regulations requiring CbC reporting by the ultimate parent entity of a multinational enterprise (MNE) group with revenue of USD850m or more in the preceding accounting year. The first… – Continue reading

US Think Tank Says Earning Stripping Regs Should Be Retained

Contrary to calls from businesses from the regulation’s withdrawal, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy has called on the US Treasury to fully implement and strengthen its final Section 385 anti-earnings stripping debt-equity regulations, designed to reduce the benefits of corporate tax inversions. The final regulations, released in October… – Continue reading

Multinationals Warned on Coke’s $41 Million Israel Tax Claim

Israel’s $41 million tax demand from the Coca-Cola Co. on royalties from its Israeli licensee could mark the start of a wave of claims against U.S. and other multinationals with similar business operations in the country. That could lead to a conflict with U.S. and other authorities about which country… – Continue reading

US, Turkmenistan ink deal to implement FATCA provisions

US Ambassador Allan Mustard and Turkmenistan’s Minister of Finance Gochmyrat Myradov signed an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) to implement the provisions of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), said the US Embassy in Ashgabat. The agreement underscores growing international cooperation to curb offshore tax evasion and marks a step forward… – Continue reading

US government delays Obama earnings-stripping rule deadline

The change converts tax-deductible interest payments employed by the schemes into taxable stock dividends. The U.S. government on Friday gave companies an extra year to comply with an Obama-era regulation meant to crack down on corporations that try to minimize their U.S. tax bills by shifting profits abroad to countries… – Continue reading

Montenegro and United States sign an Intergovernmental Agreement to implement FATCA provisions

Montenegro has shown its commitment to improving compliance with international tax standards. The FATCA Agreement is yet another example of a set of steps taken towards broadening the cooperation between the US and Montenegro and following the international standards of cross-border tax assistance. The US Ambassador, Margaret Ann Uyehara and… – Continue reading

Paris wants US corporations to pay fair share of taxes in EU

France wants Brussels to take a tougher stance on American multinationals working inside the European Union (EU) and force them to pay an appropriate amount of tax. “I can tell you that the times we live in are not for the weak,” French Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire said in… – Continue reading

Tax Rule Aimed at Corporate ‘Earnings Stripping’ Under Review

Obama-administration regulation drew criticism as overbroad Trump ordered review of tax rules that may pose undue burdens A federal rule aimed at limiting corporate “earnings stripping’’ for tax-avoidance purposes may pose an undue burden on taxpayers and may be changed or rescinded, according to a U.S. Internal Revenue Service notice…. – Continue reading

EU challenges Trump on tax avoidance ahead of G20 summit

The European Union has published a letter to EU heads of state, laying down a direct challenge to the Trump administration, on the issues of tax avoidance ahead of the G20 summit this weekend. The joint letter, sent by European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council president Donald Tusk… – Continue reading

Republicans debating remedies for corporate tax avoidance

President Donald Trump and Republican leaders in Congress will soon confront a complex challenge for tax reform: how to limit U.S. corporate tax avoidance schemes that take advantage of low tax rates in foreign countries. Congressional and administration staff have begun to examine options to address profit-shifting schemes that include… – Continue reading

‘Base erosion and profit-shifting’ agreement signed by reps of 67 countries (but not the US)

Senior officials and ministers from 67 countries and jurisdictions have signed an agreement that is designed to make it harder for multi-national companies to avoid tax through the strategic use of cross-border shifting of profits. The US was not among either the 67 countries to have signed the so-called Multilateral… – Continue reading