Paying employees in gold bullions to avoid tax will not be permitted under the first use of the general anti-abuse rule (GAAR). The GAAR advisory panel stated that the use of gold as payments for employees is “abnormal and contrived” and “not a reasonable course of action”. “We can see… – Continue reading
APAs were recently implemented in the Croatian tax legislation. Our Transfer Pricing team briefly presents the main points of the Croatian legislation related to an APA. Transfer pricing legislation was introduced in Croatia by way of the Corporate Income Tax Act (CIT) on 1 January 2005. However, the Croatian tax… – Continue reading
Italy is the most complex jurisdiction in Europe and comes in first place globally for ‘tax’ complexity, while Greece is most complex in the world for ‘compliance.’ Italy and Greece are among the five most complex jurisdictions in the world for Accounting and Tax compliance, according to TMF Group’s inaugural… – Continue reading
The OECD has praised Luxembourg’s tax regime for its predictability, although it sounded a warning about the volatility of tax revenues from the financial sector. In its latest assessment of the Luxembourg economy, the OECD said that Luxembourg’s strong economic performance was due partly to “business-friendly regulations, a predictable tax… – Continue reading
THE BENEFITS OF NON-DOMICILE STATUS An individual who is resident but not domiciled in the UK does not pay tax on overseas income and gains, as long as they are kept outside the UK and are not used to provide benefits in the UK. This is called the remittance basis… – Continue reading
The European Commission launched legal proceedings against Portugal, Bulgaria, and Cyprus for not adopting, in their national laws, European Union legislation requiring all EU countries to exchange tax rulings granted to multilateral companies. The legislation was adopted in the wake of the 2014 LuxLeaks scandal that revealed more than 100… – Continue reading
Switzerland has signed an agreement on the automatic exchange of tax information with Singapore, and is this week hosting a working meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes. The agreement with Singapore was signed by the Deputy State Secretary of Switzerland’s State Secretariat… – Continue reading
Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has explained the country’s approach to tax evasion during a hearing of the European Parliament’s PANA Committee, and said Ireland is “a strong supporter of international tax reform efforts.” Donohoe was one of several European finance ministers who appeared before the committee on July 11…. – Continue reading
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble defended his opposition to pending European Union legislation that would force large multinational companies to publicly disclose, on a country-by-country basis, their taxes paid and profits. Schauble, who testified before the EU Parliament’s Panama Papers investigative committee July 11, said public reporting of companies’ tax… – Continue reading
Among the products purchased by the Ministry are: Onesource Benchmark and Onesource TP Loan Module. Thomson Reuters and Ministry of Taxes of the Republic of Azerbaijan have signed an agreement under which the Ministry will use Thomson Reuters tax solutions aimed at implementing tax control in the sphere of transfer… – Continue reading
Tax executives are worried about some of the risks to their companies from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project and U.S. tax reform proposals. A recent survey by Ernst & Young polled 901 tax and finance executives in 69 jurisdictions around the world… – Continue reading
Sri Lankan companies that violate transfer pricing rules can be fined up to two percent of the total value of transactions between related parties in case of non-disclosure of any required information under the new tax law. The new law also provides for the Commissioner-General of Inland Revenue to impose… – Continue reading
The OECD has released for stakeholders’ comments two new discussion drafts as part of its base erosion and profit shifting work. The first draft builds on the OECD’s final report on BEPS Action 7 (on preventing the artificial avoidance of permanent establishment status). The final Report on Action 7 of… – Continue reading
A. Introduction In February 2017 Cyprus Tax Department has announced that the current practice regarding profit margins between related Company loans will be abolished by the 30th June 2017. The announcement indicates that the minimum acceptable margins will apply up to 30th June 2017, and as from 1st July 2017… – Continue reading
Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) reported on Tuesday that local financial institutions required to report under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) are now 100 per cent compliant. FATCA is United States legislation designed to target US taxpayers holding accounts and assets outside that country and are non-compliant with US… – Continue reading
A Europe-wide crackdown on tax avoidance schemes is set to have a “chilling” effect on recruiters and intermediaries marketing such schemes. The Guardian reported this week that the European Commission will publish proposals tomorrow to force financial intermediaries to automatically disclose any new cross-border tax schemes offered to clients. According… – Continue reading
President Donald Trump and Republican leaders in Congress will soon confront a complex challenge for tax reform: how to limit U.S. corporate tax avoidance schemes that take advantage of low tax rates in foreign countries. Congressional and administration staff have begun to examine options to address profit-shifting schemes that include… – Continue reading
The Government of Australia has announced it is taking steps to become a global financial services leader by loosening a number of policy standards. One includes removing the double tax that currently implemented on digital currencies. The Australian Government has announced it will no longer be imposing a double tax… – Continue reading
The new Common Reporting Standard (CRS) regime will apply to most Australian managed investment schemes from 1 July 2017. Additional procedures for collecting information from new investors will need to be introduced from this date and additional work will be required in respect of existing investors. Overview of CRS Many… – Continue reading
SOUTH Australia is set to become the most competitive tax jurisdiction for commercial investment in Australia according to Collier’s International’s latest Radar research. The boast is prompted by the introduction, on July 1, of the state government’s second stamp duty reform which will come into effect as part of comprehensive… – Continue reading
The Internal Revenue Service has updated its online registration system for the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act to allow foreign financial institutions to renew their agreement with the IRS. FATCA was included as part of the HIRE Act of 2010, requiring foreign banks and other financial institutions such as hedge… – Continue reading
GOVERNMENT has a bill on the Parliament agenda allowing for automatic extradition for people wanted for tax evasion in foreign jurisdictions, announced Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi. He said on the Parliament agenda there is a miscellaneous bill to deal with allowing prosecution of tax evasion matters in a reciprocal arrangement… – Continue reading
The German upper house of Parliament, the Bundesrat, passed a bill June 2 to stymie tax evasion through letterbox companies as part of a wider crackdown on illegal tax practices in light of last year’s Panama Papers scandal. The bill, which will become law after being signed by the German… – Continue reading
A federal district court has ruled in favor of tax preparers who filed a class-action lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over its right to charge fees for Preparer Tax Identification Numbers, and the IRS may need to refund hundreds of millions of dollars in fees collected each year. In… – Continue reading
The OECD has released a document that will form the basis of the peer review and monitoring process of the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) Action 6 minimum standard. The minimum standard on preventing treaty shopping was included in the October 2015 report on BEPS Action 6. It is… – Continue reading
The Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) says tax avoidance schemes such as transfer pricing, base erosion and profit shifting appear to be on the rise in the country. Transfer pricing is regarded as a tax avoidance scheme in which multinational corporations shift profits to low tax jurisdictions and avoid taxes… – Continue reading
Russia will sign the OECD’s Multilateral Convention to implement tax treaty-related measures to prevent base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS), the Government announced on May 20. The Convention, developed by the OECD under Action 15 of the BEPS project, will transpose BEPS recommendations into over 2,000 tax treaties worldwide. According… – Continue reading
The WTO has published its fifth review of the trade policies and practices of Switzerland and Liechtenstein, in which it noted that the trade regimes in both countries remain generally open. Juan Carlos Gonzalez, Chairman of the WTO’s Trade Policy Review Body, commented: “On the positive side, the trade and… – Continue reading
The Hungarian parliament has approved an increase to the country’s advertising tax, despite concerns that the measure breaches European Union state aid rules. The new legislation increases the advertising revenues tax from 5.3 percent to 7.5 percent beginning July 1, 2017. However, because companies do not pay the tax on… – Continue reading
The UK Conservative Party has outlined plans to “legislate for tougher regulation of tax advisory firms.” In its Manifesto last week, the ruling Conservative Party said: “We have taken vigorous action against tax avoidance and evasion, closing the tax gap the difference between the amount of tax due and the… – Continue reading
Malaysia uses both progressive and flat rates for personal income tax, depending on an individual’s duration and type of work in the country. As expatriates may fall into either tax category depending on their work, it is important to understand Malaysia’s basic tax structure. The Income Tax Act of 1967… – Continue reading
Westpac has said that Australia’s new bank levy will cost it around AUD370m (USD275.7m) a year, and warned that “no company can simply ‘absorb’ a new tax.” In a letter to shareholders, Westpac chair Lindsay Maxsted described the tax as “bad public policy.” He said that the Government intends to… – Continue reading
New centre established to focus efforts on gaining better foothold in tax havens A unanimous Parliament yesterday agreed to significantly step up Denmark’s efforts to combat international tax evasion. Among the new initiatives are the establishment of a new centre that will consolidate efforts against tax evasion, more transparency regarding… – 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
A high percentage of UK executives are unaware of the impending introduction of new laws which could make a business’s failure to prevent tax evasion by its employees and agents a criminal offence, according to research by Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com. In a YouGov poll of more… – Continue reading
Governments are expanding their use of tax incentives to maintain their country’s international appeal to businesses, alongside the adoption of anti-base erosion and profit shifting measures, according to a survey from EY. EY’s survey of tax policy professionals in 50 countries found that, “While the long-term trend for countries to… – Continue reading
Germany will introduce “license barrier rules” as of January 2018. The new rules will limit the tax deductibility of license fees or royalty payments to foreign related parties that benefit from preferential regimes (“Patent Box”, “IP-Box”, “License Box”) which are incompatible with the “OECD nexus approach” (“unqualified preferential regimes”) (sec…. – Continue reading
A newly published federal draft law introduces Russia to a three-tiered approach to transfer pricing documentation and brings Russian regulations in this area in line with the OECD minimum standards under Action 13 of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan. The draft law, published by the Ministry… – Continue reading
Witnesses call for repeal of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act An agreement that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of Canadian banking records being sent to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service could violate the U.S. constitution, a congressional subcommittee heard Wednesday. Testifying before a subcommittee of the House Committee on… – Continue reading
Indian tax authorities have initiated a $4.75 billion penalty charge against Cairn Energy for failing to pay a capital gains tax demand of $1.58 billion on a 2006 transaction. Under Section 271(1)(c) of the Income Tax Act, Indian tax authorities can levy a maximum 200 percent penalty against transactions after… – Continue reading
The Thai Revenue Department announced earlier this month that new legislation effective from April 2 increases penalties for those taxpayers committing tax fraud or evading their tax liability. In a statement accompanying the enactment of the Revenue Code Amendment Act (No.45) B.E. 2560, the Department revealed that such fraudulent activity… – Continue reading
At the end of March 2017, the Ministry of Finance called for public discussion on a draft bill (the “Bill”) amending the Bulgarian Tax and Social Insurance Procedural Code (the “Code”). The Bill seeks to improve administrative cooperation in the Bulgarian tax sector. The first set of amendments relates to… – Continue reading
On 12/29/2016, Colombia’s Congress approved “Law 1819 of 2016”. The new legislation is a structural tax reform primarily aimed at increasing revenues for Colombia. Colombia suffered a loss of revenues when crude oil prices plummeted beginning in 2014. The loss of revenue created a negative impact on its economy; creating… – Continue reading
