Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., has introduced legislation that would amend the Tax Code to disqualify movie and TV producers from receiving tax credits from the federal government if any of the production is done outside the United States. The bill, known as the Film Incentive Reform Act, would amend Section… – Continue reading
Tax authorities in Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka state, are looking into why Amazon India does not pay value-added taxes – as required under the VAT Act, 2003 – on goods stored in its warehouses. The investigation was first reported by Deccan Herald late last month. Now the matter has… – Continue reading
Cyprus transposed the EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive1 into domestic legislation when it updated its tax laws in preparation for EU membership in 2004. The Income Tax Law and the Special Contribution for the Defence of the Republic Law provide a liberal system of double taxation avoidance, which also extends to non-EU countries,… – Continue reading
While Senate Democrats continue to examine specific legislative proposals to deter US multinationals from using corporate inversions to move their tax residence abroad, Republicans remain insistent that any specific anti-inversion legislation should be explicitly linked to comprehensive tax reform. A new bill has been put forward by Charles Schumer (D… – Continue reading
Platforms could be hit with a £10m bill in order to make sure they comply with new EU tax rules, the Tax Incentivised Savings Association (Tisa) has warned. Tisa technical director Jeffrey Mushens said the incoming EU VAT law, which goes live in January 2015 and is aimed at online… – Continue reading
HONG KONG, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) — China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government supports the new global standard for automatic exchange of financial account information which can enhance tax transparency and combat cross-border tax evasion, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury KC Chan said here Monday. “It… – Continue reading
ALTHOUGH Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa’s 2014 Fiscal Policy Review statement announced last week seeks to widen government’s revenue inflows, analysts contend that there is need to seriously curb illicit financial flows (IFFs) from Zimbabwe if the economy is to experience the anticipated growth. Illicit financial flows through tax evasion, bribery,… – Continue reading
The Centre is likely to take a final call on the controversial General Anti Avoidance Rule (GAAR) only by next February. The decision may well be announced by finance minister Arun Jaitley in his next Budget presentation. “The finance ministry has started holding discussions on the issue but no hurried… – Continue reading
Factors to consider in deciding which type of incorporation is best for you AS TAX LAWS continue to evolve, so do choices of entity. Being mindful of the alternatives is critical to achieving tax benefits. Both S corporations and Limited Liability Companies (LLC’s) are flow-throughs, which have long been a… – Continue reading
A senior Democratic tax writer said Friday that the Obama administration could take unilateral action targeting offshore tax deals before Congress leaves town for the midterm elections. Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) said that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told a group of House Ways and Means Democrats on Wednesday that the… – Continue reading
The Obama Administration, along with a couple senators, have been leading a campaign of moral indignation against “inversions.” In tax terms, inversions are a U.S. incorporated company changing its residence to a lower tax country to reduce the tax burden on its income. Because U.S. companies are taxed in the… – 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. High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not… – Continue reading
Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., has introduced three pieces of legislation to close tax breaks that enable U.S. multinational corporations to use so-called “inversions” in which they merge with a foreign company and move their tax domicile abroad to a low-tax country to reduce corporate taxes. Corporate inversions are used by… – Continue reading
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) released legislation Wednesday seeking to roll back the tax benefits for companies that reincorporate abroad. Schumer’s bill takes aim at a maneuver known as earnings stripping, a process by which U.S. subsidiaries can take tax deductions on interest stemming from loans from a foreign parent. The… – Continue reading
Retroactive legislation curtails tax-avoidance schemes but undermines faith in a government that changes the rules of game after an investment is made The temperature is rising in the United States over corporate inversions. U.S. Treasurer Jacob Lew is looking to pass retroactive law to undo recent corporate restructurings and, with… – Continue reading
On 1 August 2014, the “Provisional Measures on the Collection of Tax on Non-Resident Taxpayers Engaged in International Transportation Business” (2014 No.37 Notice, the “New Regulations”) came into force. The New Regulations could have a significant impact on owners as they seek to streamline and tighten up the regulations in respect of… – Continue reading
Now that we have new cabinet ministers to drive the economy forward, the next expectation is for martial law to be lifted so that foreign investors and tourists can feel more comfortable about returning to Thailand. Meanwhile, the junta is determined to quickly show the people some signs of genuine… – Continue reading
Noble Energy and Jordan recently signed a nonbinding agreement for the sale of 8.5% of Leviathan’s gas over the course of 15 years, for as much as $15 billion. By Avi Bar-Eli | Sep. 9, 2014 | 2:47 AM The preliminary deal for the sale of gas to Jordan from… – Continue reading
A multi-count indictment was unsealed this morning in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, against six individual defendants: Robert Bandfield, a U.S. citizen; Andrew Godfrey, a citizen of Belize; Kelvin Leach, a citizen of the Bahamas; Rohn Knowles, a citizen of the Bahamas; Brian De Wit, a citizen of Canada;… – Continue reading
U.S. companies are shifting their addresses abroad to reduce their taxes Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Monday the Obama administration will decide “in the very near future” what actions it can take to make it less profitable for U.S. companies to shift their legal addresses to other countries. A growing… – Continue reading
A recent Tax Court decision1 addressed the tax consequences to a Finnish citizen of wages she received while working as an employee in the United States on behalf of her country’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations. The case involves Sole Abrahamsen, a Finnish citizen, who began working at Finland’s Permanent… – Continue reading
From 6 April 2013 an individual’s residence status for UK tax is determined using the statutory residence test (SRT). The SRT flowchart overleaf is designed to assist in determining the residence status of individuals. The legislation and guidance is lengthy and the flowchart and notes can only give a brief… – 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. C Three US companies seeking to use controversial takeovers to cut their US tax bills hold at least… – Continue reading
The verdict serves as reference for invoking treaty abuse provisions in the absence of General Anti-Avoidance Rules Mukesh Butani September 7, 2014 Last Updated at 22:33 IST In a ruling demonstrating wise judicial discipline, the Delhi High Court (HC) recently upheld non-taxability of sale of shares in an offshore company… – Continue reading
Antony Ting describes it as “like finding treasure”. It was 18 months ago when the powerful US congressional committee blew the lid on Apple’s aggressive corporate tax structure, which allowed it to funnel $US44 billion dollars out of the countrythrough a network of tax haven subsidiaries. Dr Ting, a senior… – 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
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
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
(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
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
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
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
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
A high ranking Spanish politician has claimed that the Spanish government misses out on EUR1bn (USD1.3bn) of tax revenues each year as a result of Gibraltar’s tax regime. Iñigo Méndez de Vigo, Spain’s Secretary of State for the European Union (EU), made the claim during an interview with the country’s… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has not requested for negotiations on exchange of information for restitution of any ill-gotten money presumably stashed in Swiss banks, said Swiss Ambassador to Pakistan and Afghanistan Marc George on Monday. The statement from the Swiss ambassador follows claims by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar that talks would be held with… – Continue reading
This article was first published in the 2nd quarter 2014 edition of Personal Finance magazine. Most people accept that they have to pay taxes in their country of residence. But citizens of the United States and green card holders who live outside that country – even if they have never… – Continue reading
BEIRUT: Some bankers have said that European states are expected to follow the example of the United States and ask their citizens abroad to disclose their bank accounts to European financial authorities in a bid to combat tax evasion. “It’s not official yet but we expect some European countries to adopt similar… – Continue reading
I n July, the American pharmaceutical giant AbbVie, maker of the world’s top-selling drug – the arthritis treatment Humira – reached a blockbuster deal to acquire European rival Shire, best known for the attention-deficit medication Adderall. The merger was cheered by Wall Street, not for what the deal will do… – Continue reading
An effort to control tax havens for those hiding their assets overseas has resulted in broad brush impacts on hard-working expatriate Americans living and working out of country. The previously delayed Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is now in full swing effective July 1, 2014. In an attempt to close a… – Continue reading
An innocuously named species of transaction has inspired a political furor this summer. After a number of U.S. companies announced plans to move overseas in so-called inversion deals, Sen. Carl Levin proposed banning them outright. President Barack Obama called the companies unpatriotic. Because of the controversy, Walgreen Co. backed away… – Continue reading
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is consulting on the design of a proposed new strict liability criminal offence for those who fail to declare taxable offshore income and gains. Under the plans, magistrates could be given the power to impose an unlimited financial penalty and a custodial sentence of up… – Continue reading
This article, by Chris Horlacher, was originally published by The Dollar Vigilante. Many Canadians, referred to as snowbirds, spend three to six months each year in the United States. If they think to consult a tax adviser at all, they’re usually told that as long as they spend less than… – Continue reading
(Editor’s note: As the summer holidays wind down, we thought readers might appreciate a chance to revisit some of the stronger, and more controversial, items that have been published on this news channel since the start of what has been an eventful year.) Since the financial crisis, governments worldwide have… – Continue reading
Microsoft’s stash of cash stored overseas, not subject to US taxes, is growing. In its latest regulatory filing, the software giant said it has now stockpiled $92.9 billion offshore and that this money could have cost the company $29.6 billion in taxes, but didn’t. That compares to $76.4 billion from… – Continue reading
David Glen, head of tax at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Scotland, analyses the effects independence will have on Scottish taxes. While it is obvious that a Yes vote will result in substantial change to the tax system, as Scotland begins to develop its own independent tax regime, perhaps what is less clear… – Continue reading
Several recent high profile deals have directed media and public attention to the topic of “tax inversion,” whereby a company moves its headquarters overseas (usually in an M&A deal) in order to reduce its tax burden. According to the Wall Street Journal (citing Thomson Reuters) there have been 22 such… – Continue reading
CFOs of multinationals need to prepare by assessing how much their companies engage in profit shifting to cut their taxes. Do you have responsibility, whether direct or dotted line, for the tax function in your company? Does your company have, or plan to have, operations outside the United States? If… – Continue reading
Microsoft is the most recent member of the get-your-money-out-of-the-country club. The technology giant is facing scrutiny amid findings that it is housing nearly $92 billion offshore in an effort to avoid as much as $29 billion in US taxes. Annual filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission exposed that the… – Continue reading
