INSTITUTIONAL investors from three countries that are G20 members have called on this week’s summit to ensure transparency and disclosure are part of the G20’s talks on tax avoidance. The investors, including multi-billion dollar companies from the United Kingdom, Canada and France, and non-G20 nation The Netherlands, made the call… – Continue reading
India will soon put its signature on an agreement for exchange of information to curb tax evasion after refusing to sign the multilateral pact along with 51 nations in Berlin last month. Finance Ministry officials told Deccan Herald that the government was currently in the process of completing the internal… – Continue reading
NGO report calls for central listing of beneficial owners of EU firms and trusts The European Union should introduce a centralised public register revealing the identities of beneficial owners of companies and trusts, according to a pan-European report to be published today. Hidden Taxes: the EU’s Role in Supporting an… – Continue reading
The European Union’s 28 member states are seeking agreement on the proposed introduction of a common anti-abuse clause in the Parent-Subsidy Directive (2011/96/EU). The plans were discussed at a meeting of the EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) on November 7, 2014. The proposed anti-abuse clause would allow member… – Continue reading
Spain negotiated the largest rate reductions in its tax treaties with developing countries, out of 15 EU nations scrutinised for their record on international tax-dodging in the wake of the Luxembourg Leaks scandal. Developing countries were missing out on billions of much needed-revenue as a result of the tax rate… – Continue reading
A new report on tax transparency across 15 EU states highlights hidden profits People in Europe and in developing countries are being robbed. One trillion euro is lost to tax dodging every year in the EU, with billions being lost from developing countries each year for the same reason. It… – Continue reading
India will soon put its signature on an agreement for exchange of information to curb tax evasion after refusing to sign the multilateral pact along with 51 nations in Berlin last month. Finance Ministry officials told Deccan Herald that the government was currently in the process of completing the internal… – Continue reading
12/11/2014 – The OECD released today its new Strategy for Deepening Developing Country Engagement in the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project, which will strengthen their involvement in the decision-making processes and bring them to the heart of the technical work. The BEPS Project aims to create a coherent… – Continue reading
November 12: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) today released a report addressing the role of developing countries with respect to the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project. As noted in today’s OECD release [PDF 259 KB], the BEPS project is intended to address tax planning strategies… – Continue reading
According to Bill Thompson, tax partner at Minter Ellison, Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) — the base erosion referred to as the tax base and its implications for future tax structures — will be a key focus at the G20 Summit in Brisbane, with possible rapid changes to the… – Continue reading
The UK has agreed to put forward a proposal to close its patent box tax break, which allows income from the commercial exploitation of intellectual property (IP) to be taxed at 10%, in a concession to German concerns about artificial shifting of profits between European countries.12 Nov 2014 Intellectual Property… – Continue reading
The European Union should harmonize tax practices better to counter the sweet deals that countries like Luxembourg have used to attract multinationals and the super-rich, the EU’s executive chief said Wednesday. European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker denied allegations that he was part of the problem since he had been prime… – Continue reading
The C20 (Civil Society 20) is calling on G20 leaders to take action this weekend to improve the lives of the most vulnerable in society. C20 chair Tim Costello said the group was looking for an outcome on Sunday that clearly demonstrates G20 leaders’ commitment to fairness by taking concrete,… – Continue reading
Treasurer Joe Hockey has made tax avoidance by the world’s largest companies one of the cornerstone issues for discussion by the world’s most powerful leaders at the G20 summit in Brisbane this week – but it appears he still has some way to go to convince those closer to home… – Continue reading
Patent boxes allow firms to pay much lower taxes on profits from patented inventions, but critics say it gives UK too much of a fiscal advantage George Osborne’s move removes one of the potential flash points between the UK and Germany before this week’s G20 summit in Brisbane. Photograph: Pa… – Continue reading
Northern Ireland is a serious player in the international market to attract more foreign investment. The comprehensive requirement: can Northern Ireland offer a competitive combination of access to markets, favourable domestic costs including employment costs, an adequate infrastructure base, a stable society and taxation policies that help to ensure attractive… – Continue reading
The European Union should complete its four tax probes before it can “decide what to do next,” EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said. “Maybe in the beginning of the second quarter of next year we will have results on at least some of those open cases,” Vestager told reporters after… – Continue reading
Oxfam is urging world leaders at the G20 to crack down on tax havens, saying poorer countries are losing $100 billion a year through tax avoidance. It’s expected that an announcement will be made this week on a strategy for countries that are not members of the G20 or OECD… – Continue reading
Prime Minister Narendra Modi would attend the G-20 summit later this week where world leaders would come together for discussing issues including automatic exchange of tax information, taxation of large companies operating digitally, and a comprehensive strategy for strong, sustainable and balanced growth. Official sources said that the leaders will… – Continue reading
There must be a level playing field when it comes to taxation so that Gibraltar will suffer the burdens of compliance but not the benefits of having a compliant tax system, said the GSD Opposition this week. “That would simply place Gibraltar at a significant disadvantage and would be unacceptable,”… – Continue reading
11/11/2014 – Southeast Asia’s over-reliance on natural resources like oil, gas, minerals and wood for economic growth is unsustainable over the long term and is causing environmental damage that will hurt future prosperity if left unchecked, according to a new OECD report. Towards Green Growth in Southeast Asia finds that… – Continue reading
ovember 10: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) last week published a discussion draft on Action 10 (Proposed Modifications to Chapter VII of the Transfer Pricing Guidelines Relating to Low Value-Adding Intra-Group Services) as an additional deliverable under the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) action plan…. – Continue reading
Only a third of financial institutions now believe that their FATCA compliance efforts will now be completed within budget, according to a new survey by Thomson Reuters. Undermining the costs involved appears to be a common problem, with 27% of organisations surveyed saying that they expect their FATCA compliance spend… – Continue reading
The 2013 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) peer review report states that Cayman Islands has developed its standards rapidly, and has proven its long-standing commitment to adhering to the highest standards of regulations. KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 10, 2014: The often scrutinised Cayman Islands — having long been associated… – Continue reading
Those who live in glass houses do well not to throw stones, and Ireland’s predilection for such tax schemes as the “double Irish” probably makes it the last place to cast aspersions at Luxembourg’s creative approach to assisting what is now euphemistically called “tax planning”, once “tax avoidance”. Having sensibly… – Continue reading
India, keen to go ahead with a global tax pact to curb tax avoidance by companies, is expected to push for negotiations of some provisions of the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) agreement at the meeting of heads of states of G20 nations to be held in Brisbane… – Continue reading
On November 3, 2014, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published its discussion draft on the proposed modifications to Chapter VII of the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Tax Administrations. These proposed modifications have been developed in connection with Action Point 10 of the Action… – Continue reading
DUBLIN — In a sprawling conference center on the outskirts of the Irish capital, more than 20,000 people from the global tech industry gathered last week to sign deals and swap contacts. Despite the throngs of startups, American heavy hitters like Peter Thiel, and executives from Facebook and Twitter, talk… – Continue reading
The Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) ensures that we have learnt the lessons from the banking crisis. Unless we accelerate the work on improving the rules so that they are adequate to an environment of globalisation, we will destroy the support for the European integration and that will be the end… – Continue reading
With the imminent dawn on tighter tax and social security controls Spanish and other cross border workers are being urged to make sure they know their rights and obligations. The Chronicle commissioned a briefing report from Hassans (see page 4) which sets out key issues. It was reported earlier this… – Continue reading
Vivek Prasad, chief commissioner of Income-Tax – III, Mumbai said they were striving to rid themselves of the unwarranted epithet of ‘tax terrorists,’ and said with regards to tax morality, base erosion, profit shifting and GAAR (general anti-avoidance rules) they were on a learning curve and are evolving beyond the… – Continue reading
A long-awaited free trade agreement between Australia and China could be signed soon, federal Trade Minister Andrew Robb says, despite negotiations still raging. Mr Robb, who is in China, said it was his “expectation” the agreement would be signed after the G20 leaders meeting of the world’s richest nations, which… – Continue reading
Minister of International Business Donville Inniss and his advisers must be congratulated on getting this country elected as a vice-chair of the Global (Tax) Forum of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) at a recent meeting in Germany. Minister of International Business Donville Inniss and his advisers must… – Continue reading
Another sophisticated loophole in the tax system means the removal of the “Double Irish” tax-avoidance strategy won’t actually have any real impact for US firms in Ireland seeking to lower their tax bills. An influential US tax journal has found that the Irish subsidiaries of US companies can easily opt… – Continue reading
The days of multi-national companies avoiding tax could be numbered. The issue is on the G20 Summit’s Brisbane agenda next week and Trade Minister Andrew Robb believes all countries will work together to come up with a solution within the next 12 to 18 months. “A consequence of self interest… – Continue reading
The main message from the Web Summit is that companies are here for the tech talent – and not just for corporation tax In a continent of slackers, Dublin and its Web Summit are shining exceptions. Or so said the world’s most powerful venture capitalist, Peter Thiel. The man most… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: India’s attempts to amend tax treaties with countries such as Mauritius may have drawn a blank so far, but its efforts are about to get a huge boost with several nations getting together to ramp up work on a global convention to plug treaty abuse. “Multilateral convention will… – Continue reading
Investigators for the Australian Tax Office and their lawyers were told by a judge last year that if they travelled to the Cayman Islands they could be locked up. A year earlier the Tax Office had suffered a setback. It lost a case in the Grand Court of the Cayman… – Continue reading
Subsidiary funds companies within Irish multinational, says spokesman RH did not feature in the leaked files, but accounts for one of its Luxembourg subsidiaries show it had multibillion-euro intra-group loans going in and out of the state. Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons Ireland’s largest indigenous multinational, building materials group CRH, has a… – Continue reading
Austria said the European Union should tax more kinds of trades at a lower rate to move forward with a financial-transactions tax among 11 willing nations. There is “clear movement” toward reaching a deal by year-end so the tax can start in 2016, Austrian Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling said…. – Continue reading
Minister confident as Luxembourg leaks overshadow finance ministers’ meeting in Brussels Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has said he expects the European Commission investigation into Ireland’s tax deal with Apple to be dropped, as he defended Ireland’s corporate tax regime yesterday in the wake of the Luxembourg leaks scandal. “My… – Continue reading
Up to 100 people have gathered in Brisbane for a rally to highlight the impacts of multinational tax avoidance, ahead of next week’s G20 leaders’ summit. Sitting in deck chairs, sipping mocktails and listening to the Beach Boys, the group recreated a tropical tax haven. They said they hoped “creative… – Continue reading
Ahead of next weekend’s G20 summit, the release of leaked documents showing Luxembourg’s facilitation of industrial scale tax avoidance by multinational corporations could not have been better timed. A cache of documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and released on Thursday, found hundreds of companies – including… – Continue reading
Delhi Tribunal holds that the mere fact that one of the steps in a transaction resulted in capital loss for the taxpayer would not make the series of transactions a sham. Karnataka High Court holds that shares bought at a premium, and sold at a lower value to individuals (ex-employees… – Continue reading
The hollowing out of tax collected for public purposes by rich and poor nations is not confined to technology and mining companies, according to a major leak of secret tax agreements covering more than 340 companies around the world. The documents, published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, include… – Continue reading
The Dutch tax rules are attractive to large multinationals. The same is true for countries such as the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Luxembourg. This writes the General Court of Auditors in a report, which was requested by the Second Chamber. The report was published today. Large multinationals search around the… – Continue reading
The global base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) rules, aimed at collecting a fair share of taxes from multinationals operating in different tax jurisdictions, are likely to be finalised by December 2015, a senior finance ministry official today said. “Work on BEPS is moving very fast. If things go on… – Continue reading
BEPS Action 10: Proposed modifications to Chapter VII of the Transfer Pricing Guidelines relating to low value-adding intra-group services On 3 November 2014, the OECD, as part of its work on the Action Plan to address Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (‘BEPS’), released a Discussion Draft in relation to Action… – Continue reading
Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan has rapidly abandoned several agreements with multinationals aimed at giving companies certainty about the tax they are required to pay in Australia in future years, after deeming they had misled and engaged in “aggressive tax planning”. Taxpayers can enter into a deal to lock in the… – Continue reading
Washington – While a major global campaign to cut down on tax evasion is picking up momentum, anti-poverty advocates say the initiative overlooks the world’s poorest countries. Last week, 51 countries from four continents agreed to systematically exchange tax information by 2017, with the aim of allowing authorities to quickly… – Continue reading
