The tax base in India is set to widen with more people coming forward to pay taxes after unaccounted for cash lost its anonymity following the note ban, finance minister Arun Jaitley said today. “A move towards digitisation, an increase in the number of tax assessees and tax returns filed… – Continue reading
The Indonesian government on Tuesday issued a regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) to end bank secrecy in the country, with officials of tax offices allowed to directly access bank accounts owned by both Indonesian citizens and foreigners. Perppu No. 1/2017 on financial information access for taxation purposes was signed… – Continue reading
OECD announced that another important step has been taken to implement country-by-country (CbC) reporting requirements, as signatories to the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the Exchange of CbC Reports (the CbC MCAA) activated their automatic exchange relationships. The OECD also signalled that additional jurisdictions will nominate partners with which they… – Continue reading
The American Institute of CPAs has sent a list of six tax regulations to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that it wants the Treasury Department to review under an executive order from President Trump calling for reducing overly burdensome tax regulations. Trump signed an executive order last month on identifying such… – Continue reading
Lebanon became the 111th jurisdiction to sign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters on May 12, 2017. The OECD describes the Convention as the most powerful instrument for international tax cooperation. It provides for all forms of administrative assistance in tax matters: exchange of information on… – Continue reading
FATCA is unfair to Europe because the US government is not playing fair with tax information by failing to swap data. Members of the European Parliament are calling for the American IRS to give them information on European taxpayers with cash and investments in the US. The argument hinges on… – Continue reading
The CBEC will be rechristened as the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and will supervise GST and Customs activities and provide the government policy inputs. Ahead of the planned GST rollout from July 1, the government is strengthening the body responsible for detecting tax evasion and will… – Continue reading
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) launched the Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme (SVDP) in October 2016, providing taxpayers with the opportunity to make good on any tax and/or exchange control contraventions of which they may be guilty in relation to offshore investments. The nine-month window period opened on October 1,… – Continue reading
The IMF has urged Ireland to ensure that it has a broad tax base, particularly in the context of international tax reform and domestic pressures to reform the Universal Social Charge (USC). The IMF has published the findings of its latest mission to Ireland. It noted that healthy economic growth… – Continue reading
The global campaign against money laundering combined with the Panama Papers made the Caribbean islands of sun, sand and offshore banking a near no-go zone for the world’s biggest banks. So the British Virgin Islands has a solution: a bank to service offshore companies, many of them from China, locked… – Continue reading
The U.K’s diverted profits tax was dubbed the ‘Google Tax’ even before its introduction in April 2015. Yet instead of netting foreign tech companies engaged in complex tax planning such as California-based Google Inc., only U.K. multinational companies outside the technology sector have issued warnings so far over the tax… – Continue reading
Major U.S. multinationals are pushing the Trump administration to deepen the tax break it has already tentatively proposed on $2.6 trillion in corporate profits being held offshore, a key piece in Washington’s intricate tax reform puzzle. As President Donald Trump tries to deliver on his campaign promise to overhaul the… – Continue reading
Jacking up the top income tax rate to levels last seen in the late 1980s – just as company taxes are cut – will create a perfect storm for high income earners to engage in tax avoidance, including through increased use of property negative gearing. Policy experts are ringing alarm… – Continue reading
Money laundering offences usually consist of conduct which seeks to conceal the criminal origin of wealth. When it was first introduced into the legal order in the 1980s, the principal objective of anti-money laundering legislation was to combat the introduction of the proceeds of drug dealing into the legitimate economy… – Continue reading
Panama needs to require greater due diligence from financial and banking institution to tackle tax fraud in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal, a United Nations official has said. “The main component of illicit cash flows at the global level is tax fraud,” UN rights expert Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky… – Continue reading
India has called for enhanced international cooperation to address illicit cross- border financial flows, tax evasion and “hawala” transactions as it stressed that the world’s governance architecture for cooperation in taxation has not kept pace with globalisation. “Raising awareness on the important issue of International Cooperation on Tax matters is… – Continue reading
Further corporate tax reforms may be needed to Luxembourg’s tax regime for foreign companies if it is to maintain its appeal while responding to international tax initiatives, the International Monetary Fund has said. The IMF said that evolving international tax transparency and anti-tax avoidance rules at OECD/G20 and EU levels,… – Continue reading
The Criminal Finance Act 2017 received Royal Assent on April 27, 2017, making its way onto the statute book before the halting of Parliamentary business ahead of this year’s general election. As well as giving enforcement agencies further powers to recover the proceeds of crime and tackle money laundering, the… – Continue reading
Norbert Walter-Borjans has been busy turning himself into the public scourge of German tax cheats and foreign tax havens. Having already riled Switzerland by buying CDs with stolen bank account data – and then accusing the Alpine state of spying on his tax offices – North Rhine-Westphalia’s finance minister criticized… – Continue reading
Guidance on new financial reporting standards are to be published on the Ministry of Finance website later this month, the Alternative Investment Management Association said yesterday. The news came in an update on Aima Bermuda’s knowledge networking session on common reporting standards held last month. A spokesman for Aima said… – Continue reading
Norway’s Ministry of Finance has released a consultation on a proposal to further strengthen the nation’s restrictions on interest deductions within groups. The regime, introduced in 2014, is intended to prevent groups from establishing subsidiaries in lower tax territories from which to lend capital to companies in a higher tax… – Continue reading
Sub-Saharan African countries should look to tap tax revenues outside natural resources, to finance stimulus measures that could reinvigorate their ailing economies, a new report from the International Monetary Fund says. The IMF’s Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa report, released on May 9, notes that growth in the Sub-Saharan… – Continue reading
Brazil’s Senate is considering the introduction of a new wealth tax on high net worth individuals. Senator Vanessa Grazziotin presented draft legislation for the tax on millionaires to the Senate this week. Under Bill 139/2017, the tax would apply to individuals with a net worth of more than 8,000 times… – Continue reading
Malaysian individuals and entities that have bank accounts overseas will soon see their financial information being shared with other countries and tax authorities in an effort to boost global transparency and tax compliance. This requirement is part of the automatic exchange of financial account information set out by the Organisation… – Continue reading
Newly-elected French president Emmanuel Macron has committed to reducing the rate of corporation tax from its current level of 33.3% to 25%, with the aim of bringing it in line with the EU average within five years Reductions in the rate of corporate tax will begin in stages from 2018… – Continue reading
Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison’s 2017 Budget focused on measures to cool the housing market and crack down on tax avoidance. Morrison handed down the Budget on May 9. He said the the budget would return to a surplus in 2020-21 and remain in surplus over the medium term. The Budget… – Continue reading
The governments of Japan and Russia on April 28 announced they have agreed the text of a new double tax agreement that would replace the 1986 pact between Japan and the former USSR. In a statement following a visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Moscow, the Japanese Finance… – Continue reading
Malta denies claims A data leak has revealed information about 70,000 offshore companies in Malta, a German state minister claimed this morning. North Rhine-Westphalia finance minister Norbert Walter-Borjans said the data also included information about several German corporations and up to 2,000 German taxpayers. Tax authorities in the city of… – Continue reading
The OECD has launched a disclosure facility allowing the reporting of potential schemes to circumvent the Common Reporting Standard, the new international standard for the automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters. The facility is part of a wider three-step process the OECD has put in place to… – Continue reading
The federal government has pledged to create more fairness for businesses and “level the playing field” through a series of budget measures directed at tackling Australia’s so-called “black economy”. The government gave its “black economy taskforce” the job of investigating how individuals and businesses use cash payments in December 2016,… – Continue reading
The United States continues to be a magnet for immigration, with nearly 8 million new immigrants settling here between 2008 to 2014 — and some of these new immigrants are high-net-worth individuals who are unprepared for the intricacies of the U.S. tax law, according to Seth Entin, a shareholder at… – Continue reading
Luxembourg and Cyprus on Monday signed a bilateral convention for the elimination of double taxation. Luxembourg’s Finance Minister Pierre Gramegna was on a working visit in Nicosia and signed the convention with his Cypriot counterpart Harris Georgiades. Cyprus was the last EU member state not to have a tax convention… – Continue reading
European Union presidency holder Malta has launched a new attempt to salvage pending EU legislation designed to eliminate withholding taxes for cross-border interest and royalty payments in the EU single market. One of the key hurdles the Interest and Royalties Directive has faced in the Council of Economic and Financial… – Continue reading
Foreign ownership of new developments will be restricted, there will be steeper charges applied to purchases, less favourable tax treatment and charges on those with empty properties, in a raft of measures in the federal budget aimed at taking the sting out of the housing market. One measure to be… – Continue reading
Cyprus and Luxembourg, two of the EU`s financial centres, on Monday cautioned against the implementation of the proposed Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCTB) in the European Union. “Cyprus believes that we should be very cautious and very careful when it comes to corporate taxation,” Cypriot Finance Minister Harris Georgiades… – Continue reading
This article is the first of a series of articles that looks at tax aspects of the UK company which make it an attractive international business company, or “IBC”. This generic label, and its acronym, are normally associated with the BVI company, and its international competitors. An essential feature of… – Continue reading
Four of the most significant transnational organizations are working together to eliminate transfer pricing schemes and abuses. The four organizations—the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United Nations and the World Bank Group—are seeking to achieve global cooperation in tax matters. Transfer pricing is one… – Continue reading
Income tax has long been a progressive talking point in Seattle. Washington is one of just seven states without any income tax, and it relies heavily on sales and property taxes to fill the state coffers. As such, Washington earns the dubious honor of having the most regressive tax system… – Continue reading
THE Fiji Revenue and Customs Authority has uncovered a scam where companies hire graphic artists to manipulate the value of overseas invoices. Speaking on the global move towards greater financial disclosure, FRCA director corporate services Fazrul Rahman said a Fiji company was under the microscope for incorrect invoicing. “This Fiji… – Continue reading
Tokyo: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday assured that the Goods and Service Tax (GST) will be implemented on July 1, and there will be no significant change/increase in the price of goods, even as some services may encounter marginal hikes. When the GST comes into the picture, the sectorial… – Continue reading
Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos on Monday stressed the need to combat tax evasion in order to increase tax revenues and reduce tax rates. Tsakalotos was addressing a conference of the Independent Public Revenues Authority on the dispute resolution and the protection of tax payers. The Finance Minister explained that the… – Continue reading
Only a few days left for this financial year to end and tax filing deadline is striking the calendar. Indian Government has already taken many initiatives to simplify the tax filing process by introducing new ITR forms, online filing facility etc. Yet many taxpayers tend to make silly mistakes while… – Continue reading
Kuwait became the 110th jurisdiction to sign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters on May 5, 2017. The OECD describes the Convention as the most powerful instrument for international tax cooperation. It provides for all forms of administrative assistance in tax matters: exchange of information on… – Continue reading
EESC debate on taxation of the digital economy and the sharing economy European tax rules are not currently prepared for the digital economy. They need to be adapted to reality in order to offer the people of Europe a more prosperous future. This was the main message of the European… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: A complex web of 393 shell companies used for allegedly diverting funds unscrupulously to the tune of Rs 2900 crore has been unearthed by the CBI during its probe into such cases over the last three years. CBI sources said the shell companies were allegedly being used by… – Continue reading
It has been more than a year since the Australian government committed itself to remedying the nation’s double taxation scheme for cryptocurrencies. The delay in crafting a fix has left some observers wondering whether the issue had been set aside entirely. In a statement released this week, the government has… – Continue reading
Over $2.6 trillion is held as untaxed cash in offshore accounts by top US companies like Apple, Google, IBM, Pfizer, Pepsi and Coke, McDonald’s etc. according to a report by the Washington-based Institute for Tax and Economic Policy (ITEP). This is the highest-ever hoard held offshore by American companies and… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: India’s apex body for direct taxes has proposed new rules for bringing the value of unquoted shares on a par with the fair market value of underlying assets, seeking to prevent tax avoidance by firms that use the historical acquisition cost to set the price of unlisted stock…. – Continue reading
Days after it emerged that Italian tax agencies were pursuing online retail giant Amazon for taxes worth EUR130m (USD142m), it was revealed that Google will pay a EUR306m (USD335m) tax settlement. The payment relates to the tax periods between 2009 and 2015 and to an old dispute concerning tax years… – Continue reading
“The ball is in the Bahamas’ court” to meet its automatic tax information exchange commitments, a senior industry executive yesterday saying there is “no alarm” about this nation having to alter its approach. #Tanya McCartney, the Bahamas Financial Services Board’s (BFSB) chief executive, told Tribune Business that the private sector… – Continue reading
