Category: Jurisdiction

Firms issuing offshore bonds hit a company law hurdle

NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 11:   Indian companies looking to raise money abroad through offshore bond issuances to overseas investors are in a bind, thanks to the new company law requirement around private placement of securities. They are now looking up to the Corporate Affairs Ministry (MCA) to provide clarity on whether… – Continue reading

More firms signing up with IRS

EVEN MORE Philippine companies have complied with a US tax law since a July 1 deadline, after which foreign financial institutions (FFIs) not yet registered with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) faced penalties. A list published by the IRS earlier this month showed that a total of 197 Philippine-based… – Continue reading

A. Samoa: Citizenship? No thanks: Government, delegate say it would hurt native rights

Several residents of American Samoa have argued in federal court that those born in the territory should automatically be granted U.S. citizenship, but the American Samoa government and its congressional delegate disagree. Tradition, land ownership Giving birthright citizenship to American Samoa would jeopardize the traditional way of life in the… – Continue reading

Caribbean-Based Investment Advisor Sentenced for Using Offshore Accounts to Launder and Conceal Funds

Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—September 5, 2014. Joshua Vandyk, an investment advisor, was sentenced today to serve 30 months in prison for conspiring to launder monetary instruments, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Vandyk, a U.S. citizen, and Eric St-Cyr and Patrick Poulin, Canadian citizens, were indicted by a grand… – Continue reading

Vadnais Heights Investment Advisor Pleads Guilty To Tax Evasion

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A 43-year-old Vadnais Heights investment advisor pleaded guilty to accusations that he spent clients’ money on personal items instead of investing their funds, the United States Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday. Joel William Carlson, who was charged on Aug. 4, pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of tax evasion… – Continue reading

Canada, UK Tax Authorities To Deepen Cooperation

The tax authorities of the United Kingdom and Canada are to deepen cooperation to establish a stronger mutually beneficial relationship, senior officials from both Government have said. Canada’s Revenue Minister, Kerry-Lynne D. Findlay, met with David Gauke, the UK’s Financial Secretary to the Treasury, in London on September 8. Findlay… – Continue reading

Schumer to release offshore tax bill

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) released legislation Wednesday seeking to roll back the tax benefits for companies that reincorporate abroad. Schumer’s bill takes aim at a maneuver known as earnings stripping, a process by which U.S. subsidiaries can take tax deductions on interest stemming from loans from a foreign parent. The… – Continue reading

Jack M. Mintz: Ending corporate tax inversions is ill-advised. The answer is tax reform

Retroactive legislation curtails tax-avoidance schemes but undermines faith in a government that changes the rules of game after an investment is made The temperature is rising in the United States over corporate inversions. U.S. Treasurer Jacob Lew is looking to pass retroactive law to undo recent corporate restructurings and, with… – Continue reading

United Kingdom: Recent Chinese Tax Changes Affecting The Shipping Industry

On 1 August 2014, the “Provisional Measures on the Collection of Tax on Non-Resident Taxpayers Engaged in International Transportation Business” (2014 No.37 Notice, the “New Regulations”) came into force. The New Regulations could have a significant impact on owners as they seek to streamline and tighten up the regulations in respect of… – Continue reading

Small island nations Mauritius and Seychelles considered good prospects for foreign direct investment

(Seychelles News Agency) – According to a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Seychelles and Mauritius are two of the most attractive small island developing states for foreign direct investment (FDI) due to the competitive advantages they offer to foreign capital. SIDS which are… – Continue reading

Federal Court hands down software tax decision

The Federal Court has handed down its decision in the case of Task Technology v Commissioner of Taxation in relation to the tax treatment of specific software payments. The case related to payments made by Task to CaseWare International Inc (CWI) for the right to market and distribute CWI software to end users… – Continue reading

Banking without borders

This article was first published in the 2nd quarter 2014 edition of Personal Finance magazine. You might need a bank account in a foreign country for all sorts of reasons. As Gerrit Viljoen, financial planner at Ultima Financial Planners, says: “More and more South Africans have business interests and property… – Continue reading

Can inheritance tax work?

Now that we have new cabinet ministers to drive the economy forward, the next expectation is for martial law to be lifted so that foreign investors and tourists can feel more comfortable about returning to Thailand. Meanwhile, the junta is determined to quickly show the people some signs of genuine… – Continue reading

Government of Canada Strengthens Collaboration With the United Kingdom

Minister of National Revenue concludes two days of meetings in London LONDON, ENGLAND–(Marketwired – Sept. 9, 2014) – Canada Revenue Agency The Honourable Kerry-Lynne D. Findlay, P.C., Q.C., M.P., Minister of National Revenue, today wrapped up a successful two-day trip to London, England. During her visit, Minister Findlay met with David… – Continue reading

‘Vaccine’ tax avoidance scheme loses in court

A cynical tax avoidance scheme which “abused the reliefs” offered for research into life-saving vaccines to claim back £77m, has been rejected at a second tribunal. HMRC said investors in the scheme used a Jersey registered limited partnership which claimed to be involved in creating and exploiting intellectual property from… – Continue reading

Sars wins war on tax dodgers

Johannesburg – More than 260 cases of tax evasion were successfully prosecuted by the National Prosecuting Authority during the last financial year. Sars spokeswoman Marika Muller said about 330 tax-related criminal cases were finalised during the 2013/14 financial year, of which 267 were successfully prosecuted. Muller said to deter non-compliance, Sars… – Continue reading

Revered Catalan Leader Tarnished by Tax Investigation

Scandal Is an Embarrassment to Separatists Planning Independence Referendum BARCELONA— Jordi Pujol often said he discovered his mission for Catalonia while climbing a mountain as a boy and seeing the destruction wrought by the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s. Decades later, as Catalonia’s long-serving leader, Mr. Pujol presided over… – Continue reading

Airbnb pays tax on Australian profit offshore

Airbnb has joined other multinational tech companies by booking its Australian profits offshore through an Irish subsidiary. The move raises questions about how much local tax it pays and whether its rent-sharing model will run into trouble with regulators here. The private company, estimated to be worth $10 billion, has sought immunity from corporate… – Continue reading

UBS Appeals $1.4 Billion Bail in French Tax Evasion Probe

UBS AG (UBSN) asked a Paris appeals court to overturn a $1.4 billion bail looming over the Swiss bank as France steps up a two-year-old tax evasion probe. The hearing dragged on for nearly three hours as the parties argued the case. The court said it would decide on the… – Continue reading

Retired Co Fermanagh businessman pays up in £10.8 million tax deal

A retired businessman from Northern Ireland has made a 13.5 million euro (£10.8m) settlement with the tax man in the Republic – one of the largest ever. Anthony Cafferkey, from Lisnarick Road, Irvinestown, Co Fermanagh has been named and shamed on the latest defaulters’ list over his tax affairs. Listed… – Continue reading

Six Corporate Executives and Six Corporate Entities Indicted for Orchestrating a $500 Million Offshore Asset Protection, Securities Fraud, and Money Laundering Scheme Defendants Created Three Brokerage Firms in Belize to Assist U.S. Citizens in Fraudulent Manipulation Schemes of Publicly Traded Companies, Including Cannabis-Rx Inc. (CANA)]

A multi-count indictment was unsealed this morning in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, against six individual defendants: Robert Bandfield, a U.S. citizen; Andrew Godfrey, a citizen of Belize; Kelvin Leach, a citizen of the Bahamas; Rohn Knowles, a citizen of the Bahamas; Brian De Wit, a citizen of Canada;… – Continue reading

Russian police search National Reserve Bank over tax evasion

According to the data obtained by investigators, the bank’s executives evaded paying taxes amounting to over 380 million rubles ($10.2 million) in 2011 MOSCOW, September 9. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian police have been conducting searches in the Moscow office of National Reserve Bank (NRB) belonging to businessman Alexander Lebedev for the first… – Continue reading

Medtronic Has Biggest Stash Of Offshore Cash Among Inverters

Medical device giant Medtronic Inc. leads all corporate inverters in the amount of offshore cash waiting to be tapped if their tax inversion deals are consummated. Medtronic is buying Covidien and moving to Dublin, and it has $13 billion of cash outside the United States, according to a report from the Financial Times,… – Continue reading

SEC charges Belize ‘neighbors’ of summer market sensation Cynk

On Tuesday, the SEC and the Justice Department charged several companies claiming to be located on the same floor of an office building in Belize City with fraud and conspiracy. We may not have heard the last from Cynk Technology. On Tuesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department… – Continue reading

Scrap Withholding Tax & MAT on Japanese Companies In India: Suggests Minister, Embassy Of Japan

Minister, Embassy of Japan Mr. Isomata Akio asked India to exempt Japanese manufacturers, operating in India from withholding tax and Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) so that these do not evolve into being one of the trade barriers and stagger Japan from becoming India’s largest trade partner in times to come. Japan investments and technology… – Continue reading

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Publishes its Standards for the Automatic Exchange of Information

On July 21, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published its Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters. The report contains the OECD’s model competent authority agreement (CAA), the common standard on reporting and due diligence for financial account information (CRS) and commentaries on both the CAA and CRS.The… – Continue reading

The Abrahamsens’ Case Did Not ‘Finnish’ Well: Taxation of Government Employees

A recent Tax Court decision1 addressed the tax consequences to a Finnish citizen of wages she received while working as an employee in the United States on behalf of her country’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations. The case involves Sole Abrahamsen, a Finnish citizen, who began working at Finland’s Permanent… – Continue reading

CFTC Concerned Over Big Banks Transferring Trading Operations Offshore

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is wary of banks invoking guarantees on foreign swap deals, and is taking steps to scrutinize such activity. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is wary of US banks shifting their trading activities offshore and has urged other regulators to scrutinize banks involved in… – Continue reading

Doubts mount about Valeant Pharmaceuticals’ tax structures

MONTREAL – The disclosure by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. that it is under audit by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service is raising further doubts among tax specialists about the future of the Quebec-based drug company’s tax strategies. Valeant estimates it has achieved US$2.5-billion in tax and other “corporate structure” savings… – Continue reading

Searches at several Romanian companies in software sale tax evasion case

The police conducted on Monday morning, September 8, searches at several companies in Romania in a case of tax evasion in the sale of software. The searches took place at 7 places in Bucharest and Ilfov and Giurgiu counties, targeting the suspects’ homes and several companies. According to sources quoted by… – Continue reading

Millions of Americans in Canada downplay links to Uncle Sam

With the Canadian government’s decision to comply in July with a Washington tax crackdown on “U.S. persons” around the world, many Ameri-Canadians are feeling rising anger, fear and even hatred toward their powerful country of origin. That said, the self-identities of Americans in Canada have been more ambiguous than they… – Continue reading

Apple’s burden: a mountain of money it can’t really use

US companies can end up sitting on vast piles of untappable cash, held overseas for tax purposes. Success for the iPhone 6 would make things worse If, as expected, the launch of the new iPhone and Apple’s iWatch health monitor leads to record sales, more money than ever will pour… – Continue reading

Biggest tax inverters ‘have $21bn offshore’

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. C Three US companies seeking to use controversial takeovers to cut their US tax bills hold at least… – Continue reading

Delhi HC joins dots on indirect transfer debate

The verdict serves as reference for invoking treaty abuse provisions in the absence of General Anti-Avoidance Rules Mukesh Butani  September 7, 2014 Last Updated at 22:33 IST In a ruling demonstrating wise judicial discipline, the Delhi High Court (HC) recently upheld non-taxability of sale of shares in an offshore company… – Continue reading

Shifting sands: push for government to crack down on corporate profits

Antony Ting describes it as “like finding treasure”. It was 18 months ago when the powerful US congressional committee blew the lid on Apple’s aggressive corporate tax structure, which allowed it to funnel $US44 billion dollars out of the countrythrough a network of tax haven subsidiaries. Dr Ting, a senior… – Continue reading

California contractor gets prison in tax case

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California military contractor who failed to report millions earned from providing services in Iraq has been sentenced to four years in federal prison. Prosecutors say Nadim Saifan Jr. of Huntington Beach was sentenced Friday. He pleaded guilty in May to attempted tax evasion…. – Continue reading

FIFA audit panel asks member quizzed in Cayman Islands corruption case to explain his arrest

FIFA’s financial monitoring panel has asked one of its members to explain his arrest in a corruption case. Canover Watson was detained in his native Cayman Islands on Aug. 28 by police anti-corruption and financial crime units. Local media reported that Watson was quizzed about alleged money laundering and abuse… – Continue reading