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. Savers and investors who have kept assets offshore should make use of disclosure facilities to settle with the… – Continue reading
A ruling by the European Court of Justice that Spanish inheritance tax breaks the law by charging more to foreigners, could lead to a change in Spanish property taxation, lawyers believe The European Union’s highest court has ruled that Spanish inheritance tax breaks the law by charging foreigners more –… – Continue reading
Alex Lemond is among a new wave of New Yorkers trading in their Manhattan condominiums for beachside villas in Puerto Rico. The former hedge fund honcho moved to San Juan from New York last year, and his company, the Encanto Group, is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in developing… – Continue reading
(India and Switzerland are…) NEW DELHI: India and Switzerland are finding it difficult to break a deadlock over sharing information on secret bank accounts held in the European nation but both sides are close to finalising the first accord on a bilateral advance pricing agreement that will allow taxpayers to… – Continue reading
SUMMARY As per estimates, about 1-2% of the existing industry AUM of Rs 10 lakh cr comes from Canada and US-based investors. Indian AMCs have to register with the US SEC to market their funds in the US and follow SEC regulations to take fresh investments from the US citizens… – Continue reading
Pascal Saint-Amans, the Director of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) Center for Tax Policy and Administration, has visited Liechtenstein to discuss tax matters with Mauro Pedrazzini, Liechtenstein’s Minister of Social Affairs. Among other things, Saint-Amans’s visit focused on the adoption of automatic information exchange in tax matters… – Continue reading
Such bonds have advantages for expats who are moving from a low-tax to a high-tax environment, explains Charlotte Beugge Interest rates on savings accounts are at such low levels that many expats will be looking for an alternative home for their money. Currently, the best rate expat savers can get… – Continue reading
The constant battle raging between clever lawyers and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has led to the goal posts moving on a tax amnesty offer. After alleged abuses of the Employee Benefit Trust settlement arrangement (EBT) the scheme will be closed early, denying taxpayers the chance to settle their affair… – Continue reading
Audits may now be based on risk of tax evasion The government has dropped the Rs 15-crore threshold for referring transactions between a multinational company and its Indian subsidiary for compulsory scrutiny by the tax department. It might, instead, move towards a risk-based approach to identify international transactions prone to… – Continue reading
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A tough new ad from Democratic Sen. Al Franken accuses his Republican opponent’s business of avoiding taxes by headquartering overseas. But Republican Mike McFadden calls the ad “ridiculous” and “full of lies.” The ad marks a new Franken campaign strategy: directly attack McFadden for his business dealings…. – Continue reading
A Tax Information Exchange Agreement with Swaziland has been signed by the Manx government. The TIEA was signed in the island by Treasury Minister Eddie Teare MHK and by Senator Martin G. Dlamini, Swaziland’s Minister for Finance, in the African kingdom, and exchanged by post. Mr Teare said: ‘The signing… – Continue reading
British expatriates living here in Portugal are generally pleased to have left UK taxation behind them. However you still need to understand how the UK tax regime may continue to affect you and your heirs, and follow any proposed tax reforms. There are a few changes at the moment that… – Continue reading
PRESSURE is mounting both within and outside Parliament for the government to introduce dedicated legislation to ban transfer pricing when it is used as a tax-avoidance measure to shift profit offshore. South Africa is estimated to lose tens of billions of rand annually from the abuse of transfer pricing by… – Continue reading
Stopgap efforts to prevent corporate tax inversions won’t fix the underlying problems With Congress about to return for a final push before the midterm elections in November, one topic on everyone’s lips is so-called corporate inversions. The practice, where a large U.S. company buys a smaller foreign company in order… – Continue reading
Dutch bank ABN AMRO has criticized a new report, The Fair Banking Guide, published by the Dutch BankWiser (EBW) after an investigation into international tax avoidance in the Dutch banking sector. “ABN AMRO considers the report to be of such poor quality that it does not wish to react to its… – Continue reading
Israel announced on August 24 that it has signed a new tax treaty with Germany. Israel announced on August 24 that it has signed a new tax treaty with Germany. It still needs to be ratified by the Knesset and the German Parliament and is expected to become effective on… – Continue reading
(Seychelles News Agency) – The Seychelles has become an early adopter of an agreement launched by the G5 group of countries – the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain – to automatically disclose details of individuals who have taxable income kept in offshore accounts. According to a press statement by Her Majesty’s… – Continue reading
To ensure location-based profits stay on shore. Treasurer Joe Hockey has promised to direct the Tax Office to target multinational businesses who charge Australians more for technology and ship the profits offshore to avoid tax. In a pre-G20 speech this morning, Hockey outlined the ways the Government plans to tighten… – Continue reading
Fund houses have started asking foreign investors and distributors to furnish necessary details to comply with Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Fund houses have started collecting necessary information from foreign investors about their tax residency status in order to comply with the requirement of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act… – Continue reading
Multinational corporations that use complicated schemes to avoid paying tax in Australia are set to be targeted, with Treasurer Joe Hockey demanding the Commissioner of Taxation “double his efforts”. Mr Hockey has also warned Australians with offshore investments to once again disclose their unreported foreign income to tax authorities before… – Continue reading
Seven Dutch financial institutions may be involved in evading taxes and are ‘extremely vague’ about what they do to ensure this does not happen, the Dutch Fair Bank Guide said on Wednesday. ABN Amro, Aegon, Delta Lloyd, ING, NIBC, Rabobank and Van Lanschot emerge as potential tax avoiders in research… – Continue reading
This article was first published in the 2nd quarter 2014 edition of Personal Finance magazine. Your tax liability in the country in which you live and/or work depends on the tax laws of that particular country. Countries can levy taxes on a residence basis, because you live in the country,… – Continue reading
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has held the first round of negotiations with the Swiss tax authorities to revise the Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation vis-a-vis Taxes on Income and clauses pertaining to exchange of information. On the conclusion of the visit of senior tax officials to… – Continue reading
Last year, $20 trillion disappeared into secret off-shore tax havens across the world — an amount that can save 3.6 million lives annually. A study conducted by the UK-based NGO, ONE, has found that corruption, tax evasion and corporate malpractices is leading to monetary losses of the scale that could… – Continue reading
HMRC looking at new laws that mean failing to declare offshore becomes a crime By Michelle McGagh, Sep 3, 2014 Tales of benefit cheats regularly hit the headlines with salacious details of how they’ve spent their ill-gotten gains – typically foreign holidays and flash cars – but we never seem… – Continue reading
The Indian government’s bid to unearth black money stashed away in hidden offshore accounts is starting to pay off. The government believes around £350 billion is hidden in undeclared bank accounts and investments outside the country and wants to bring the tax owed on the money back to India. Nine… – Continue reading
COMPLICATED transfer pricing legislation remains a burden and has become an increased risk for multinational firms doing business in SA and the rest of the continent. Transfer pricing is the price charged for goods and services in cross-border transactions between two companies within the same multinational group. Companies can become… – Continue reading
A recent business report in European CEO calls Bermuda a “world leader in the ILS market,” focusing on recent growth in that sector in painting the island as a “premier financial jurisdiction.” The report, written by Greg Wojciechowski, CEO of Bermuda Stock Exchange, opens by saying, “Most people’s first thoughts of… – Continue reading
The British Virgin Islands’ (BVI) corporate statute is ideally suited for international listings. BVI companies have been used widely for listings on international stock exchanges in New York, London, Singapore and Oslo. They have been especially popular for listings on the world’s most successful growth market, the LSE’s Alternative Investment… – Continue reading
The Seychelles is the latest country to commit to the automatic exchange of tax information as part of a scheme piloted by the Group of Five (G5) nations. The G5 pilot is aimed at deterring and cracking down on tax evasion. The five countries – the UK, France, Germany, Spain,… – Continue reading
South Korea’s tax agency is looking into allegations that actor-singer Jang Keun-suk, who is popular throughout Asia, evaded paying taxes on income he earned in China, sources said Tuesday. The National Tax Service (NTS) launched an investigation after obtaining documents from the prosecution regarding suspected tax dodging by an agency… – Continue reading
A useful – and legal – scheme for people who haven’t paid their dues to the taxman is being restricted, reports Alison Steed Expats who have failed to pay their taxes may find the attractive option of using the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility (LDF) blocked, thanks to changes made to it… – Continue reading
Bank of China Ltd., the nation’s fourth-biggest by market value, hired four banks to help arrange its first offshore sale of subordinated securities that will count as capital under the country’s new banking rules. The four include Bank of China’s own investment-banking arm, the people familiar with the matter said, asking… – Continue reading
TRANSFER pricing occurs whenever there is a transaction between two business enterprises which are part of the same group of companies or are controlled by a common person. In simple terms we refer to such parties as related parties. The business enterprises can include companies, limited liability partnerships, partnerships, branches,… – Continue reading
Aug. 28 — The hardest part about forming an offshore company in the Republic of Seychelles may be coming up with a catchy name.Luckily for applicants, that can be a multiple choice question.Seychelles, a nation of islands off the east coast of Africa, is gaining popularity as a tax haven,… – Continue reading
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. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5470f66a-32a8-11e4-a5a2-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz3CLJSNkJT The Spanish government has launched a blistering attack on Jordi Pujol, the former Catalan… – Continue reading
The fact is, America has the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world Many politicians in Washington are angry that some American companies are redomiciling in the UK, Canada and elsewhere. These “inversions” generally occur as a result of mergers with foreign firms, with tax being a big reason… – Continue reading
On 9 July 2014, Luxembourg Parliament voted a law aimed at allowing the issuance of the first Luxembourg sovereign Sukuk in response to the recent surge in investor demand for Sharia-compliant instruments. In a nutshell, the law authorizes a sale and buy-back transaction of real estate assets to a Special… – Continue reading
In Beezadhur v The Independent Commission against Corruption and anor [2014] UKPC 27, the Privy Council dismissed an appeal by a retired nurse who was charged with and found guilty by the Intermediate Court of Mauritius of five offences under sections 5(1) and 8 of the Financial and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2002… – Continue reading
On August 26, Burger King announced that it entered into an agreement to acquire Tim Hortons, Inc., the Canadian coffee-and-doughnut chain, in a transaction that will be structured as an “inversion” (i.e., Burger King will become a subsidiary of a Canadian parent corporation). The deal is expected to close in 2014… – Continue reading
Amazon has been accused of violating Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) laws in India by setting up business in the country. Seattle based Amazon.com, operating its business from Bangalore, is in confrontation with the Karnataka government’s commercial taxes department. While, the department argued that Amazon.com has violated FDI, regulations by making… – Continue reading
Baku, Fineko/abc.az. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has conducted consultations in Baku on the application of FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act). The Azerbaijani Ministry of Taxes informs that Service’s representatives were received by Deputy Taxes Minister Natig Amirov. “Consultations concerned the issues of information security in the process of… – Continue reading
An ex-Attorney General believes the financial services industry will survive even if the automatic exchange of tax information becomes the global standard, warning that this nation “can’t stand apart” from the initiative. #John Delaney, now managing partner at Delaney Partners, said the Bahamas’ resilience in withstanding previous global tax/regulatory initiatives… – Continue reading
More Swiss banks are dropping out of the U.S. banking program that the IRS supposedly uses to prevent American citizens from stashing cash overseas to avoid taxes. Known for 100 years as the original tax haven, free from the prying eyes of governments around the world, Swiss banks have provided… – Continue reading
The double tax agreement between Cyprus and Lithuania, which was signed in June 2013, is now in force and will take effect from 1 January 2015. Under the agreement there is no withholding tax on dividends paid by a company resident in Lithuania to a company (but not a partnership)… – Continue reading
Australian banks are stalling on a deal that will help expose tax evaders to global authorities. The information sharing deal, part of the G20 talks in Australia this year, requires banks to pass on information about their customers to the Australian Tax Office. The deal has been signed by more… – Continue reading
Another example of the “Too Big to Jail” doctrine: International tax evasion and fraud organised by UBS, Switzerland’s biggest bank. UBS, which had to be saved from failure in October 2008 by massive injections of Swiss public money, was involved in the LIBOR manipulation scandal, the currency markets manipulation scandal… – Continue reading
Americans living in Canada are in a rush to renounce their citizenship in the face of Washington’s invasive tax grab. OTTAWA – Thomas Jefferson is famously believed to have defined the price of freedom as eternal vigilance. The price of freedom from Uncle Sam is a lot steeper. Faced with… – Continue reading
More to the point, extant global financial architecture facilitates transfer of illicit money through the Hawala route first to a Tax Haven, only to launder it in specialised locations like London. “There are 42,800 persons – let me repeat, only 42,800 persons – who admitted to a taxable income exceeding… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – At least 10 Swiss banks have withdrawn from a U.S. program aimed at settling a tax dispute between them and the United States, Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag said on Sunday, quoting unnamed sources. Around 100 Swiss banks came forward at the end of last year to work with U.S. authorities in… – Continue reading
