WASHINGTON—The United States is one of the world’s most secret financial jurisdictions, according to a watchdog group’s new global ranking. The Tax Justice Network, an international think tank based in the United Kingdom, on Monday unveiled the 2015 Tax Secrecy Index, which lists the countries that most allow financial secrecy… – Continue reading
At the end of this year an amnesty for UK tax resident persons whose offshore income and gains have not been disclosed to HMRC closes, and it is important the implications are understood according to Michael Crowe, a director at Grant Thornton in the Isle of Man. In the UK’s… – Continue reading
TORONTO, Nov 2 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Switzerland, Hong Kong and the United States have the world’s worst records on combating financial secrecy that allows the wealthy to dodge taxes or hide their money, according to a study released on Monday. Most countries’ secrecy score improved in recent years as… – Continue reading
Faced with outrage from over a dozen otherwise placid Caribbean nations, D.C. officials are backtracking on a plan to openly call out countries it says allow big U.S. businesses to skip out on paying local taxes. At issue is a change to existing tax law made through the 2016 D.C…. – Continue reading
IRDA norms on retrocession viewed as being restrictive Top foreign reinsurers, namely Swiss Re, Hannover Re and Scor Re would soon be applying to the insurance regulator for opening branch offices in India. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) on Friday came out with the regulations for registration and… – Continue reading
BACKGROUND The IRS recently released IR-2015-116 announcing its offshore compliance programs have generated $8 Billion. More than 54,000 taxpayers subject to U.S. worldwide income and disclosure requirements have come in from the cold to participate in IRS offshore remediation disclosure programs since 2009. The IRS also urged taxpayers with non-compliant… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) are yet to exorcise the ghost of minimum alternate tax, or MAT. These offshore asset managers, based out of financial centres like Singapore, Hong Kong and New York, will now have to convince the Indian tax office that they do not have “place of business”… – Continue reading
HONG KONG (CNNMoney) A record 1,426 Americans gave up their citizenship in the third quarter, according to new government data. That puts the number of Americans who have renounced their citizenship at a whopping 3,221 so far this year. In 2014, a record 3,415 Americans gave up their passports, according… – Continue reading
Over the past decade, many Indian business families have organised themselves under trusts — a bankruptcy remote structure — to preserve wealth, protect the rights of various members, and plan for the next generation. Now, this arrangement is coming under strain for families with members staying in the US, the… – Continue reading
NDRC’s easing of restrictions will likely facilitate Chinese companies’ entrance into international debt capital and loan markets. Introduction On 14 September 2015, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) issued the Circular on Promoting the Reform of the Filing and Registration System for Issuance of Foreign Debt by Enterprises (the… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Over the past decade, many Indian business families have organised themselves under trusts — a bankruptcy remote structure — to preserve wealth, protect the rights of various members, and plan for the next generation. Now, this arrangement is coming under strain for families with members staying in the US…. – Continue reading
A major investigation based on the use of foreign bank cards in the Netherlands has led to the arrest of 11 people on tax evasion charges. The seven men and four women were identified after officials carried out a major data mining project involving cards attached to foreign bank accounts…. – Continue reading
How analytics will nab cheaters. Tomorrow is the Australian Taxation Office’s official cutoff for 2014-15 personal tax returns. Will you be tempted to tell fibs about your income? How will the tax man ever know? Take note: it may already know – or at least can find out – a… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Often accused of being an offshore financial centre misused for round tripping, Mauritius today assured India that it will “walk the extra mile” to ensure that its reputations as clean and trusted jurisdiction is upheld at all costs. “We will put in all the necessary efforts and walk… – Continue reading
Blast waves: smoke billows from the site of an explosion that reduced a parking lot filled with new cars to charred remains at a warehouse in northeastern China’s Tianjin municipality. Most of Bermuda’s major insurers and reinsurers had significant exposures to this disaster. (Photograph by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo) Tianjin… – Continue reading
The Department of Justice announced today that Luzerner Kantonalbank AG (Luzerner), Habib Bank AG Zurich (HBZ), Banque Heritage S.A. and Hyposwiss Private Bank Genève S.A. (Hyposwiss Geneva) have reached resolutions under the department’s Swiss Bank Program. These banks will collectively pay penalties totaling more than $25 million and continue to… – Continue reading
Australia’s largest bookmaker, Tabcorp, has called for less gambling advertising, which it argues is harmful to the community, and delivered its annual attack on international betting operators for paying minimal tax. Tabcorp’s business, which includes horse racing, sports wagering, Keno and a substantial media unit, remains the market leader in… – Continue reading
FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, is up and running. If you have foreign accounts or foreign assets, it is an important law that has changed banking and privacy in radical ways. And it has done so worldwide, not just for Americans, but for anyone having even remote American… – Continue reading
Case involving Dr Brian Mulrean and firm Keveney Monahan settled confidentially An accountant who sued a Dublin dentist for just under €50,000 in professional fees told a judge he had to navigate his way through 41 offshore and local bank accounts. Barrister Jeananne McGovern said in the Circuit Civil Court… – Continue reading
(MENAFN – Arab Times) The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) model has spurred the rise of a global automatic exchange of information, informed Hannah Shipley, Director at Ernst & Young, while speaking about FATCA and its implications during a business panel discussion held at the Kuwait Chamber of… – Continue reading
The yuan in Hong Kong rose the most in more than two weeks on speculation China’s central bank intervened to prop up the currency after its discount to the Shanghai spot price widened. Large Chinese banks sold dollars in the offshore market in early Asian trading hours Thursday, according to… – Continue reading
The earnings momentum of Taiwanese banks has tapered off this year due to China’s slowing economy and yuan devaluation, CIMB Securities Ltd said on Tuesday. Overseas earnings, which drive 35 percent of local banks’ pretax profits, might not see a hefty increase this year as in previous years, as banks… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Direct Taxes ( CBDT), India’s apex direct taxes body, has said investors will not face any tax on capital gains on offshore rupee bonds. “It has been decided that capital gains, arising in case of appreciation of rupee between the date of Issue and… – Continue reading
(October 28, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) “I and my family members have no secret accounts in Dubai banks,”said the Rajapaksa ‘Crown Prince’ Namal when the media published reports about a secret account in a Dubai bank of a son of a VVIP. The media reports stated that the Sri… – Continue reading
Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, who played a key role in the bailout of UBS Group and in the U.S. dispute over offshore bank accounts, announced she won’t run for re-election to Switzerland’s government. Speaking at a press conference in Bern on Wednesday, she said she has told her government colleagues that she… – Continue reading
For many years, policymakers have criticized the strategies that American corporations use to reduce their taxes by shifting income and capital offshore. The impetus behind these strategies is the U.S. corporate income-tax rate — at 35 percent, the highest of any industrialized nation, easily surpassing countries such as the U.K…. – Continue reading
With new UK domicile rules coming into force in April 2017, Luca should consider an offshore bond to protect his assets from income tax and CGT, writes Gordon Andrews of Old Mutual Wealth. THE CASE Luca is 52. He is Italian, but he has been living in the UK for… – Continue reading
(CNS Business): The use of Cayman Islands funds as a wealth management tool for high net worth Latin American families was debated last week at the STEP LatAm Conference in Brazil, where kidnapping is a constant worry for the wealthy and demand for outbound investments is fuelled by privacy and… – Continue reading
National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), the largest lender by assets in the United Arab Emirates, bought Royal Bank of Scotland’s offshore loan book in India for 3 billion dirhams ($816.8 million) in October, the bank’s chief executive Alex Thursby said in a conference call on Wednesday. The bank is… – Continue reading
When considering which foreign assets are reportable under FATCA, one of the most commonly misunderstood and overlooked is the contribution to foreign pensions. Whether you are a U.S. citizen who worked abroad or a foreign national resident in the U.S., you may very well have some type of foreign pension…. – Continue reading
The Bank of Butterfield has agreed to buy the multibillion dollar private banking trust and investment arm of rivals HSBC Bermuda. The move means Butterfield will acquire the Bermuda Trust Company Ltd as well as the trust and investment business of HSBC. At the end of last year, HSBC’s trust… – Continue reading
The new non-resident capital gains tax came into force in Guernsey on 6 April 2015. The rules intend to capture disposals of residential property in the United Kingdom by all non-residents. These notes provide a summary of who and which property is affected, and describe how a new UK tax… – Continue reading
On October 5 the OECD published recommended measures that purport to tackle BEPS – Base Erosion Profit Shifting. Exporters around the world need to take note of the latest recommendations of the OECD. Any business that uses overseas agents or warehouses should take note. A company resident in country A… – Continue reading
For many years, policymakers have criticized the strategies that American corporations use to reduce their taxes by shifting income and capital offshore. The impetus behind these strategies is the U.S. corporate income-tax rate — at 35 percent, the highest of any industrialized nation, easily surpassing countries such as the U.K…. – Continue reading
MUMBAI: The government is set to ease a few pre-set conditions for offshore fund managers to allow private equity investors to shift base to India without attracting a tax on capital gains by relaxing safe harbour rules, people familiar with the matter said. The government is likely to allow a… – Continue reading
THE NUMBER of Slovak companies with ownership registered in a tax haven decreased in the first half of 2015 by 112, to a total of 4,250. The biggest outflows were recorded in Monaco and the British island of Jersey. The declining trend of companies selecting a tax haven for their… – Continue reading
Citing the need to boost job growth locally and around the United States, Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, has introduced legislation that would close tax loopholes that encourage companies to send jobs overseas and that would make companies reveal their outsourcing. The idea behind the legislative package is to provide greater… – Continue reading
Lawmakers at the European Parliament are set to vote on a controversial series of proposals to harmonize the corporate tax system in Europe in a move that will put them on a collision course with some member states which favor sovereignty over taxation. The EU lawmakers on the TAXE committee… – Continue reading
Legal Week’s latest offshore supplement covers the banking regulations and litigation cases shaping the offshore world In the competitive offshore world, where several financial hubs are chasing the same work, reputation has become a badge by which law firms market their wares. This supplement from Legal Week includes research from… – Continue reading
Coca-Cola might owe an additional $3.3 billion in federal income taxes following an audit, says the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Following a five year audit of the company, the IRS concluded that the company’s strategy of lowering its taxable income through transfer pricing, underestimates the amount the company should’ve been… – Continue reading
Foreign companies with Indian shareholders won’t have to pay taxes here for their worldwide income unless they are managed from India on an everyday basis. If these foreign companies are managed from outside India, whether or not they are promoted by resident Indians, they will have to pay taxes in… – Continue reading
Since the initiation of the U.S.Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) which originally began in 2009 and the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures first offered on September 1, 2012, the IRS recently reported that more than 54,000 taxpayers have come forward and the result is more than $8… – Continue reading
Bermuda is battling hard to make its voice heard in Washington’s corridors of power as the controversy around hedge fund reinsurers rumbles on. The Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR) had a team of company tax directors in the US capital city to brief congressional staff on its position… – Continue reading
DOZENS of Winchester properties worth more than £100 million are owned by firms based in offshore tax havens. High street shops, restaurants, care homes, a health clinic and even a single parking space are owned by companies benefitting from low tax regimes overseas. Burma Road student village, sold by the… – Continue reading
The UK’s “tax gap” has fallen to £34 billion, according to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) following a series of crackdowns on evasion and avoidance by businesses and individuals. The numbers show the shortfall fell to 6.4% from 6.8% of tax due for 2013/14, remaining static in cash terms at… – Continue reading
The Indian government’s initial unsuccessful efforts to unearth billions of dollars of undeclared foreign assets – some believed to be hidden in Swiss banks – highlight the complexity of vehicles used to move money illicitly. Earlier in the year, a new law on black money came into effect. It included… – Continue reading
The UK’s overall tax gap for the 2013-2014 financial year was 6.4%, HMRC revealed today, continuing a downward trend over the last few years The difference between the amount of tax collected and that which is owed, the tax gap has fallen from 8.4% in the 2005-2006 financial year to… – Continue reading
The New York billionaire is aiming his financial might at members of Congress who aren’t willing to cut deals on corporate tax policy. Sure, Carl Icahn might make money—lots of money—on his $6 billion stake in Apple Inc. if a political campaign he announced Wednesday to cut taxes on companies’… – Continue reading
David Cameron threw the proverbial cat among the pigeons in July when, with a steely glare at the UK property industry, he warned that the UK must not become “a safe haven for corrupt money from around the world” and that “there is no place for dirty money in Britain”…. – Continue reading
The company that is not a taxi company, which has drivers that are not taxi drivers, who carry people around that are not clients, Uber, is not only killing the taxi business, it is also avoiding paying taxes. The company uses a trick known as “the double-Dutch.” It is perfectly… – Continue reading
