ISLAMABAD: Transparency International (TI) has urged the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to investigate evasion of tax, and call for information about the Pakistani investors who have succeeded to transfer Rs430 billion investment on the purchases of properties during the year 2013 and 2014. In a letter written to NAB chairman,… – Continue reading
On February 24, Seychelles became the 85th signatory of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, reports Tax News. The Convention is described as a comprehensive multilateral instrument to tackle tax evasion and increase transparency. In a statement, the OECD… – Continue reading
Pharmaceutical companies want the finance minister to increase tax concessions across the board as also bring in more clarity on amendment to the rollback of advance pricing agreements (APA), applicability of roll back benefit, impact on on-going assessment, applicability of roll back provisions on bilateral APAs etc. In a pre-budget… – Continue reading
In a February 20 letter to US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R – Kentucky), the National Foreign Trade Council and other leading business organizations urged action on pending bilateral double taxation agreements (DTAs) and protocols. A coalition of ten business organizations, including the Business Roundtable, National Association of Manufacturers,… – Continue reading
KPMG in India through its survey, has tried to understand the expectations of India Inc. on various parameters such as policy reforms, clarity on indirect transfer tax provisions, applicability of MAT on foreign companies, amendment in the tax regime for REITs/ InvITs, deductions allowed to individuals, etc. Over 200 senior… – Continue reading
Al Tamimi & Company – Advocates and Legal Consultants Surabhi Singhi Kataria Tax planning has always been a topic of international debate and adjudication. The borderlines between permitted tax planning/avoidance and unlawful tax evasion have occupied the centre stage across the globe with several modern economies emphasizing the need for… – Continue reading
The breathless conundrum for IP companies is four-fold: not only should royalties be taxed at a low rate in order to maximise profits; but also research and development (R&D) or acquisition costs should be considered as allowable expenses to the maximum possible effect, whilst also the jurisdiction where the IP… – Continue reading
MCC interviews three attorneys from Mourant Ozannes. Hayden Isbister is a partner and head of the Corporate practice in the Cayman firm. He specializes in investment funds, general corporate and commercial work. James Burch is a partner and leads the Structured Finance/Banks practice in the Cayman Islands, and Tim Dawson… – Continue reading
When combined with aggressive tax planning, Hong Kong’s onshore-offshore tax regime often results in a reduced tax burden for taxpayers that operate through Hong Kong companies by pricing intra-group transactions. This has led to heightened transfer pricing scrutiny from the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department in recent years. In order… – Continue reading
The British Virgin Islands is the most popular offshore jurisdiction, with favourable business regulations, a prosperous economy and a stable political situation. British Virgin Islands IBC, is a limited liability company which conducts its trading and business outside the British Virgin Islands and is intended for offshore activities. It takes… – Continue reading
The signing of a double taxation agreement (DTA) protocol between Switzerland and Italy, which includes a provision for the exchange of information upon request, has fueled an expectation that the Italian Treasury will be able to collect substantial additional tax revenue this year. While it could take up to two… – Continue reading
A country known for its clocks, chocolate and most importantly banks, the agreement by Switzerland’s government to share details of those super-secret bank accounts is one that will change the world at large. Gone are the days of the elusive Swiss bank account. The arrival of Common Reporting is upon… – Continue reading
INTRODUCTION 2015 is with us and looming is the 30 June 2015 deadline for the first reports of FATCA information under the reporting regimes that have been put in place in both Guernsey and Jersey to ensure compliance with the US/Guernsey and US/Jersey Intergovernmental Agreements regarding FATCA (“the US IGAs”)…. – Continue reading
First there was money laundering, then foreign-exchange rigging and now tax evasion. Politicians and analysts are asking if big banks became too big to manage from being too large to be allowed to fail HSBC Europe’s biggest bank, has endured a string of scandals and paid millions in penalties to… – Continue reading
Mr. Akhilesh Ranjan, Joint Secretary Ministry of Finance, and also Competent Authority for the Government of India, spoke this past week at the Pacific Rim Tax Institute, February 19-20, reaffirming India’s commitment to a new non-adversarial tax regime to encourage foreign investment and fair treatment of taxpayers. Mr. Ranjan’s appointment,… – Continue reading
Pact on information exchange in tax treatment Paris, February 25 – An important tax treaty signed between Italy and Switzerland is evidence of the “change of a crucial paradigm,” in banking secrecy with global implications, Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the center for tax policy and administration at the OECD told… – Continue reading
Thanks in part to past concerns that globalization could lead to double taxation, corporations have numerous techniques at their disposal to reduce their tax bills, including the placement of subsidiaries and spinoff holding companies in low-tax jurisdictions. The Group of 20 wants to change that. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation… – Continue reading
As for the central message that an NRI/PIO want to hear from Modi’s most important budget of his term can be best summed by what he said during an event in central park New York “May the force be with you “Veni Vidi Vici!” he came, he saw and he… – Continue reading
Close to three dozen private equity firms which used investment entities based in Mauritius to route money into Indian portfolio companies have received income-tax notices for payment of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) on the capital gains accrued to them for sale of such shares, according to Business Standard. MAT is… – Continue reading
Not long after the U.S. Department of Justice’s Tax Division (“DOJ”) made international headlines in 2009 for its bombshell announcement that it had entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the United Bank of Switzerland (UBS), lawmakers in Washington, D.C. began reviewing the testimony of hundreds of UBS’s U.S. clients… – Continue reading
The differentiation between tax avoidance, tax evasion and the moral duty to pay tax for the betterment of society has been intentionally screwed by politicians and bureaucrats. This is nothing new. I wrote an couple of articles several years ago questioning the terminology of ‘morally repugnant’ tax avoidance when it… – Continue reading
The major challenges facing the IRS today are its budget situation, which affects both service and enforcement, IRS commissioner John Koskinen told the Tax Section of the New York Bar Association. “No challenge is more critical than our budget situation,” he said. “Our funding has been reduced every year for… – Continue reading
Jersey’s chief minister Ian Gorst has formally expressed his “disappointment” with statements from Labour Party leader Ed Miliband about tax transparency and disclosure efforts by UK overseas territories. In an open letter to the Opposition leader, Gorst said the Island government had reiterated “many times” in past discussions with the… – Continue reading
The government has been able to instil a positive sentiment in the country. Various policy initiatives like Make-in-India, aimed to make India a manufacturing hub, and the Clean India campaign; updating age-old laws and tweaking the Goods and Services Tax to a more acceptable form, introducing greater clarity in the… – Continue reading
The amendment of matriculation tax law in 2013 signaled a relevant change for charter operations in Spain: the possibility for non EU flagged vessels to be licensed in the Balearics, this change will allow not only EU but Non EU flagged vessels to operate from the Balearic Islands. Alex Chumillas… – Continue reading
São Paulo, Brazil. International transfer pricing is able to take place in Brazil, outside of the OECD While Brazil is not a member of the OECD, many multinational groups there are able to successfully navigate international transfer pricing standards, yielding effective results The economic view of Brazil has always been… – Continue reading
Bahrain and India have signed agreements to increase co-operation in the areas of education, investment, defence and other sectors. It took place during the first meeting of the India-Bahrain High Joint Commission (HJC) in New Delhi, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication. The Bahrain… – Continue reading
IRA plans can be excellent ways to save for retirement, but there are some investments to avoid if you want to take full advantage of IRA tax savings. Two that come immediately to mind are tax-exempt municipal bonds and high-yielding stocks from foreign countries with dividend withholding taxes. Tax-exempt municipal… – Continue reading
This is the time of the year for millions of Americans to begin the annual ritual of gathering information about income, taxes, charitable giving, health insurance, expenses and sundry other items, and prepare to send mountains of information to the IRS –and to those who prepare their tax returns. Overseas… – Continue reading
Attempt to plug every gap makes the system unworkable – Norton Rose Fulbright. JOHANNESBURG – A tax expert has warned against over-complicating tax legislation in an attempt to block every loophole or perceived underpayments of tax, as it makes the tax system “unworkable”. Andrew Wellsted, director at Norton Rose Fulbright,… – Continue reading
When I consider what’s likely to have the most impact in tax this year, I keep coming back to the massive shift in attitude by tax authorities in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Usually changes in the tax world are incremental, but what is going on now… – Continue reading
Switzerland and neighbouring Italy have revised a double taxation agreement which includes provisions for the exchange of information in line with the standards of the Organisation for Economic Development and Co-operation (OECD). The accord and a roadmap for the amendment of tax rules on cross-border workers as well as improved… – Continue reading
Santo Domingo.- The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Dominican Republic’s Internal Taxes Agency (DGII) have begun a process to exchange bilateral financial and tax information, as part of the on Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Law (FATCA). A delegation of the IRS’ International Cooperation Program led by its senior manager… – Continue reading
American citizens residing in Malta as well as some Maltese migrants were urged to get their US tax affairs in order during an information session on the US FATCA legislation. Jonathan Phyall, Senior Legal & Compliance Officer at APS Bank explained that an agreement signed between the Malta and US… – Continue reading
Switzerland and neighbouring Italy have revised a double taxation agreement which includes provisions for the exchange of information in line with the standards of the Organisation for Economic Development and Co-operation (OECD). The accord and a roadmap for the amendment of tax rules on cross-border workers as well as improved… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — HSBC Holdings Plc, struggling to contain a political storm over the bank’s facilitation of tax evasion through its Swiss unit, said Chief Executive Officer Stuart Gulliver paid taxes after setting up his own Swiss account and keeping his legal residence in Hong Kong. The bank, reacting to an… – Continue reading
Tax collections, so maintains the Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar, have improved significantly and he cited a healthy growth rate of around 13 percent in one of his recent press conferences. Sources within the Ministry of Finance, however, revealed to Business Recorder, but on condition of anonymity that the… – Continue reading
According to Peter Willey, EY’s Channel Islands Head of Tax, the Channel Islands are likely to be impacted by decisions being made now in other jurisdictions. EY recently surveyed its tax policy leaders in 32 jurisdictions to ask them to forecast the tax policy outlook for 2015 in their jurisdiction…. – Continue reading
UK, US, Australia, Brazil, India- governments of developed and developing countries are battling profit shifting by MNCs such as Amazon, Google, Apple and Starbucks. The allegation- MNCs are shifting profits to jurisdictions where there is little or no tax to be paid. The solution- OECD’s BEPS action plan which, among… – Continue reading
Certainty and reduced litigation on transfer pricing (TP) issues will be the cornerstone of creating a non-adversarial tax regime in India. The authors believe that Budget 2015 ought to lay out a roadmap to achieve this goal for TP issues – Recent positive progress on the Advance Pricing Agreement (APA)… – Continue reading
Islamabad: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has rejected allegations by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader that he transferred $4 million to his son in Dubai to avoid taxes. In an open letter to the PTI chairman Imran Khan, the finance minister also refuted the claim that he has been dragging his… – Continue reading
The economic downturn across the world and rising public debt seems to have led various governments, globally, to focus on curbing erosion of the tax base by shifting profits to overseas jurisdictions. Several revenue authorities, globally, were of the view that companies have structured their intra-group contractual arrangements in a… – Continue reading
India’s decision to negotiate bilateral advance pricing agreements (APAs) with the U.S. is a welcome move. Prospectively, negotiations will increase certainty and uniformity in the application of India’s transfer pricing laws to related-party transactions carried out by U.S. multinational corporations (MNCs). In this article, we discuss some of the important… – Continue reading
The Business Council of Australia says that the Tax Office is holding company directors and management to account about their tax affairs, despite there only being one company in the nation with a top risk rating. “There is ongoing [Australian Taxation Office] scrutiny of corporate boards,” the BCA said in… – Continue reading
Opposition says final withholding tax on property should be reintroduced The Opposition’s shadow ministers for finance and economy, Mario de Marco and Claudio Grech respectively, have called on the government to reintroduce the option of choosing capital gains tax, or a 12% final withholding tax on the sale value of… – Continue reading
It’s been tough for investors in the U.S. to get much income from their portfolios from traditional sources like fixed-income investments, and so dividend stocks have gotten a lot more popular in recent years. Although there are thousands of U.S. stocks that pay dividends, many international companies also have lucrative… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: A delegation of British Department for International Development (DFID) and Her Majesty Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will hold dialogue with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on future course of action to further strengthen bilateral cooperation. The DFID is a department of the British government that leads the UK’s… – Continue reading
On 17 July 2013 the Minister of Finance appointed a tax review committee, headed by Judge Dennis Davis (the “Davis Committee”) to make recommendations for possible tax reforms in South Africa (“SA”). The Davis Committee was required to take into account recent international developments and, in particular, to address concerns… – Continue reading
The UK’s Diverted Profits Tax “is being rushed into law for short-term political reasons and against the Government’s own rules on setting business taxes,” the Institute of Directors (IoD) has said. The IoD pointed out that, in 2010, the Coalition introduced a Corporate Tax Road Map, which committed the Government… – Continue reading
America is experiencing a significant issue with its number of corporations, with a recent report from the Tax Foundation showing that the number is the lowest it’s been in four decades. The report, titled “America’s Shrinking Corporate Sector,” points to recently released IR data showing there were 1.6 million C… – Continue reading
