Multinational enterprises (MNEs) producing or selling their products in China have had to contend with the commercial, legal, and tax challenges of managing how their intellectual property (IP) is used in relation to their Chinese operations. Regulatory approvals for joint ventures operating in China have often required that IP rights… – Continue reading
At their meeting in Salzburg, Pierre Gramegna, Austrian Finance Minister Hans Jörg Schelling, Liechtenstein Prime Minister and Finance Minister Adrian Hasler, the Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf and Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble employed in particular with international tax policy, the fight against tax optimization models overlooking the BEPS Initiative… – Continue reading
In an assessment of money laundering and terrorism financing risks, Luxembourg scored in the bottom half of a ranking of 152 countries carried out by the Basel Institute on Governance, reports the Luxemburger Wort. The institute says that its AML (Anti-Money Laundering) Index is the only such review carried out… – Continue reading
What has happened? On 2 October 2014 the Senate referred an inquiry into corporate tax avoidance to the Senate Economics References Committee for inquiry and report. The Committee conducted public hearings1 in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra and received submissions from a number of senior executives from high profile multinational corporations… – Continue reading
The director of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, Pascal Saint-Amans, has praised The Bahamas for its “tremendous progress” in adopting Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) standards and paving the way for automatic exchange of information between the US and The… – Continue reading
India opposed the proposal saying it impinges on the sovereign rights of developing countries in taxation New Delhi: An international proposal to make arbitration mandatory and binding under mutual agreement procedures (MAP) in tax treaties has been dropped after India strongly opposed it. Last year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation… – Continue reading
Ireland has made “little or no” effort over the past four years to create a corruption-free playing field for global trade, violating its “obligation to combat cross-border bribery”, reports the Irish Times. The Transparency International Exporting Corruption report, released on Thursday, found that Ireland, along with countries such as Russia,… – Continue reading
LUXEMBOURG On September 5, 2014, the Ministers of Finance of France and Luxembourg signed an amendment (Lux Amendment) to the double tax treaty entered into between France and Luxembourg on April 1, 1958, as amended by the 1970 exchange of letters and by the 1970, 2006, and 2009 protocols (FR/Lux… – Continue reading
On 17 June 2015, the European Commission launched a public consultation on further corporate tax transparency, which suggests a variety of tax transparency measures including country-by-country reporting (see here). The consultation is intended to gather feedback on which companies should offer more tax transparency and to whom. The deadline for… – Continue reading
The governments of emerging Asian economies need to look at new revenue streams to make their economies more competitive and boost living standards, the OECD said in a new report, reports Tax News. The report, Revenue Statistics in Asian Countries: Trends in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, notes these countries’… – Continue reading
Aug. 19 — Tax authorities and practitioners around the world are awaiting a Canadian court’s ruling on the legality of Canada’s legislation to comply with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. The Federal Court of Canada is due to issue by Sept. 30 a ruling on the validity of the… – Continue reading
South African companies who do direct and indirect business with US organisations, whether in South Africa, Africa, Europe or further afield, must comply with the United States Foreign Account Tax and Compliance Act (FATCA,) or risk being excluded from lucrative markets the world over, reports the Cape Business News. This… – Continue reading
The Australian Senate inquiry into tax avoidance has released its interim report, which makes 17 recommendations, including the introduction of a mandatory tax reporting code. The Senate Inquiry into Corporate Tax Avoidance was referred to the Economics References Committee in October 2014. The first hearing was conducted in April 2015,… – Continue reading
At first glance the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project is difficult to understand. There has been no decline in corporate tax revenues in recent years, and nations already possess a variety of tools to respond to erosion when needed. BEPS is thus drawing an inordinate amount of… – Continue reading
Key developments Taxpayer bears onus of proving taxable income in Court – 11 August 2015 Rigoli v FC and T Background The Commissioner issued default assessments to the taxpayer in respect of the 1994 – 2001 income years, based on income estimates drawn from an expert report. The taxpayer initially… – Continue reading
19/08/2015 – Increasing tax revenues and ensuring sustainable domestic resource mobilisation will be critical as emerging Asian economies seek to boost the provision of public goods and services and improve economic growth and living standards. Revenue Statistics in Asian Countries: Trends in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines shows that the… – Continue reading
The IRS on 12 August 2015 released Rev. Proc. 2015-40 with respect to requesting competent authority (CA) assistance, and it is generally effective for CA requests filed on or after 30 October 2015. Rev. Proc. 2015-40 updates and supersedes Rev. Proc. 2006-54. The IRS concurrently released Rev. Proc. 2015-41 as… – Continue reading
PwC’s views on the Government’s discussion document seeking feedback on proposals for GST and offshore online purchases Following on from the much anticipated Government’s discussion document seeking feedback on proposals for the collection of GST on online purchases of services and intangibles this morning, we are pleased to share our… – Continue reading
FOR MANY YEARS countries around the world have been engaging in the automatic exchange of information in order to tackle offshore tax evasion and other forms of non-compliance. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has been active in facilitating automatic exchange of information by creating the legal framework,… – Continue reading
FATCA was enacted into law by section 501(a) of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employments (HIRE) Act 2010 as a revenue offset to help pay for the continuation of unemployment benefits for workers laid off during the 2008-2010 financial crisis. In July 2008, the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations… – Continue reading
THE START OF THE implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliant Act on July 1, 2014, combined with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) adoption of the common reporting standard, the support by the European Union of the automatic exchange of information (AEI), and the strong support by… – Continue reading
IN THE LAST TEN YEARS the international community has tried to pressure Barbados into signing tax information exchange agreements. Successive administrations, however, have resisted by continuing to show preference for double taxation treaties. That has not stopped the pressure, and some would argue that in some ways the global players… – Continue reading
Subsidiaries in Luxembourg of food group had no staff and assets at year’s end of €1.3bn In its 2014 accounts Glanbia Luxfin, a subsidiary of Irish food group Glanbia, reported profits of $14.2 million and tax of $4,175, while Glanbia Luxinvest reported profits of €2.9 million and tax of €38,863…. – Continue reading
On 1 April 2015 Cyprus and South Africa signed a Protocol amending their existing double taxation agreement (“DTA”), which was signed in 1997 and has been in force since 8 December 1998. The Protocol amends the 1997 DTA in three areas, namely the definition of residence, withholding taxes on dividends… – Continue reading
In its Resolution of March 25, 2015, on the Annual Tax Report (2014/2114(INI)), the European Parliament renewed its commitment to combating tax havens and tax avoidance. To be sure, most aspects of the resolution have been discussed before. Bundling these aspects into one comprehensive package, however, provides an intriguing snapshot… – Continue reading
Financial Services Minister Hope Strachan said yesterday that the landscape of the country’s financial services industry would be strengthened as a result of the nation’s compliance with the tax information exchange agreements such as the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), saying that she was fairly satisfied that The… – Continue reading
The Finance Ministry of Ukraine has proposed that the limit for transactions subject to control under transfer pricing rules should removed and will provide a simulation in the short presentation on tax reform that will be prepared by September. The ministry also proposed that the upper limit of fines for… – Continue reading
Tax Commissioner Pierre Moscovici has confirmed that the European Commission has no plans, formal or informal, to harmonize corporation tax rates across the European Union. In a written question to the Commission, Jonathan Arnott, a UK Member of the European Parliament, asked the Commission to confirm its latest position on… – Continue reading
The private equity industry has long been known for its ability to take advantage of tax rules. But international changes are set to have an impact on their businesses. After a string of multinationals such as Apple, Google and Starbucks came under fire for paying minimal tax on their British… – Continue reading
The Senate inquiry into multinational tax avoidance will table an interim report today detailing some of its findings after holding five public hearings and receiving more than 100 submissions from some of the world’s largest companies including Apple, Microsoft, BHP, Rio Tinto and Google. The final report is due to… – Continue reading
In short… The current balance of competences between the EU and the UK on tax is quite intricate, with a tension between member states’ desire to determine their own tax systems and the EU-led aim of a level playing field. The EU most obviously influences member states’ indirect taxation (particularly… – Continue reading
Luxembourg currently has 76 income tax treaties in force, and there are 29 treaties under negotiation. Tax treaties can provide a legal framework not only for the avoidance of double taxation and fiscal evasion, but also for international administrative cooperation between Luxembourg and its treaty partners in terms of mutual… – Continue reading
IT IS the corporate equivalent of burning the American flag. A “tax inversion” is a manoeuvre in which a (usually American) firm acquires or merges with a foreign rival, then shifts its domicile abroad to reap tax benefits. A spate of such deals last year led Barack Obama to brand… – Continue reading
On 16 June 2015 the Department of International Tax Cooperation (the “DITC“) of the Cayman Islands government announced that it was moving forward with the implementation of the OECD Common Reporting Standard (“CRS“), via the introduction of Cayman Islands domestic law, by October 2015. The CRS represents a significant step… – Continue reading
Revenue authorities need to be “vigilant” in monitoring the super-rich, according to research that called on many of them to improve their scrutiny of their richest taxpayers, reports the Financial Times. The study by the Paris-based OECD is a further sign of the pressure on tax departments to squeeze more… – Continue reading
A clarifying statement agreed by the UK Treasury and the Ministry of Justice about Guernsey’s position within the OECD bolsters the island’s attractiveness as a fund domicile, according to Guernsey Finance, the promotional agency for the island’s financial services industry. Representatives of Guernsey’s Government, the regulator, and industry bodies have… – Continue reading
The Swiss Federal Council has adopted a dispatch on the implementation of a tax information exchange protocol to its double tax agreement (DTA) with Italy. The protocol to the 1976 DTA was signed on February 23, 2015. It brings its information exchange provisions into line with the Organisation for Economic… – Continue reading
The regulatory environment surrounding the banking industry already constrains the behavior of banking groups in ways which obviate base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) risks, the International Banking Federation (IBFed) said in a paper released on August 7. Entitled Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS): Why International Banks Are Different,… – Continue reading
On August 11, 2015, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released its annual report addressing global tax administration. The OECD’s stated mission is to “promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.” The OECD describes its annual report as follows: Tax… – Continue reading
The first reporting cycle for the United States Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) kicked off with the 31 March deadline set by the US Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) for countries and territories such as Hong Kong that have a Model 2 Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA). Although the IRS has granted… – Continue reading
A “legislative requirement” for large businesses to publish their tax strategy could create commercial confidentiality risks IN an age where large corporates continue to engage in tax avoidance or aggressive tax planning, compelling businesses to disclose their tax strategies is, at heart, a good idea. There is a risk, however,… – Continue reading
The Australia government on 6 August 2015 released two exposure drafts in relation to its multinational tax integrity measures. In the 2015 budget, the government announced a package of measures to address multinational tax avoidance. As part of these measures, the two exposure drafts would: (1) introduce the new OECD… – Continue reading
The latest estimate of the tax potentially underpaid by the UK’s biggest businesses suggests that “the era of billion-pound tax settlements might be over” with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) increasingly focusing on mid-tier firms, an expert has said. Heather Self of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, was… – Continue reading
Only 23 percent of business leaders feel that recommendations from the OECD on base erosion and profit shifting will be successfully implemented, according to the findings of a new survey by Grant Thornton. Three quarters of business leaders would pay more taxes in exchange for greater clarity from authorities on… – Continue reading
Comparative Information on OECD and Other Advanced and Emerging Economies Tax Administration 2015, produced under the auspices of the Forum on Tax Administration, is a unique and comprehensive survey of tax administration systems, practices and performance across 56 advanced and emerging economies (including all OECD, EU, and G20 members). Its… – Continue reading
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has further updated its guidance material on the Australia-US FATCA Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA). This is especially important in relation to self-certification requirements. The ATO has followed the US interpretation that a FATCA self-certification must be obtained before a new individual account is opened. The OECD… – Continue reading
The EU Commission has confirmed its continued endorsement of Guernsey as a cooperative jurisdiction following a meeting between officials in Brussels, reports Guernsey Finance. This news was welcomed in Guernsey, which has a strong record in meeting international standards as a cooperative and highly transparent jurisdiction – including as an… – Continue reading
NAIROBI: The civil society in Kenya wants Parliament to join them in the push to end tax evasion through enactment of laws that enhance compliance from international trade. This, they argue, will boost revenue collection by the State. They say tougher laws will criminalise tax avoidance and spell harsher penalties… – Continue reading
THE OECD has published three reports outlining the framework for the automatic exchange of financial information between governments as part of its efforts to curb tax avoidance and evasion. In October last year, the organisation announced the agreement to automatically share tax information on individuals by the year 2018, to… – Continue reading
Hundreds of millions of tax dollars are flooding into exchequers across the world, as governments offer evaders a last chance to own up to undeclared accounts, reports the Financial Times. Taxpayers with funds stashed offshore are coming forward voluntarily in their tens of thousands ahead of new transparency rules that… – Continue reading
