Taipei, Jan. 13 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou said Tuesday that the Republic of China and Ireland have enjoyed close exchanges in recent years and that the two sides are now negotiating on signing an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation to further boost bilateral trade. The president noted that… – Continue reading
In its recent Asia-Pacific Residential Review, global property consultancy Knight Frank has said that Hong Kong and Singapore have the highest tax burdens on foreign property investors. It notes Singapore and Hong Kong have imposed taxes on foreign property buyers, such as additional duties, as a “macro-prudential tool … to… – Continue reading
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), on Monday, introduced a new system that will allow financial institutions and tax authorities in other countries to securely send reports on financial accounts held by U.S. citizens to the IRS under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The new system, dubbed the… – Continue reading
CDE Op-Ed CommentaryGiven the recent problems American trading companies are having in establishing bank accounts in Hong Kong, viable alternatives need to be found. These issues, which are directly related to the American IRS carrying out extensive investigations in Hong Kong concerning breaches of the new FATCA regulations, have made… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — Australia is set to become the newest entrant to the Islamic debt market this year as a solar-power joint venture seeks to sell a debut sukuk in Malaysia’s offshore tax haven of Labuan. SGI-Mitabu, run by The Solar Guys International and Mitabu Australia Pty, has revived a plan… – Continue reading
Already on the radar of governments and regulatory bodies around the world, recent developments with respect to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan are raising further the profile of oil and gas companies globally with both tax authorities and the… – Continue reading
The US Foreign Account and Tax Compliance Act is a complex piece of legislation that has, unsurprisingly, triggered a number of enquiries in recent months from advisers seeking to understand the implications for them and their clients. So, what do you need to know? Fatca is a US Internal Revenue… – Continue reading
An announcement is expected imminently on the terms of the long-awaited revised tax treaty between Italy and Switzerland, reports say. According to a report from the ANSA news agency, the push to complete the treaty follows the parliamentary approval of Italy’s new voluntary disclosure program, which allows Italian residents to… – Continue reading
Chinese nationals and companies operating overseas, who hold their fortunes outside of China, will soon be required to pay taxes on their worldwide earnings come Feb 1. Part of Beijing’s New Year resolution to crack down on tax avoidance and evasion, the general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) and new penalties will… – Continue reading
New Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) rules have entered into force in Canada, requiring certain financial intermediaries to report incoming and outgoing transfers of CAD10,000 (USD8,446) or more to the Canada Revenue Agency. On January 7, 2015, Revenue Minister Kerry-Lynne D. Findlay announced the launch of the CRA’s EFT initiative. Effective… – Continue reading
New Delhi, Jan. 11: US President Barack Obama’s visit during Republic Day is expected to set the tone for closer engagements with India as the two nations look to boost bilateral trade to a targeted $500 billion. Obama is the first US President to not only attend the 26th January… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — The number of Americans renouncing U.S. citizenship increased 37 percent in the three months through December and the annual total reached a record level, data published Tuesday showed. The trend likely is accelerating because of a 2010 law that gives the Internal Revenue Service unprecedented access to U.S…. – Continue reading
Now that the Republicans have regained the control of the Senate that they lost in the 2006 midterm election, conservatives are salivating about the prospect of “real” or “genuine” tax reform. Conservatives believe that reforming the tax code by making it more efficient, more coherent, more transparent, and more equitable;… – Continue reading
SPECIAL REPORT: IS AMERICA LOSING IT’S CORPORATE SECTOR? Corporate inversions have been the dominant tax issue over the last year and have forced a serious evaluation of the U.S. corporate tax system. While there is widespread agreement that the U.S. corporate tax code is out of step with our global… – Continue reading
South Africa has lost out on billions in tax revenue in the past decade as large corporations, wealthy individuals and criminal syndicates slipped nearly R1-trillion out of the country. A Washington DC research and advocacy group, Global Financial Integrity, believes South Africa suffered “illicit financial flows” totalling more than $122-billion… – Continue reading
The President of the Chartered Institute of Nigeria (CITN), Mr Anthony Dike, on Sunday called for synergy between tax institutes and government to combat double taxation in the country. Making the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, the CITN president said that the… – Continue reading
Kenya, India to ratify double taxation agreement NAIROBI, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) — Kenya and India will soon ratify an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation, officials said on Tuesday. India’s Deputy High Commissioner to Kenya Sushil Singhal told Xinhua in Nairobi that the ratification of the agreement signed in… – Continue reading
Regulators have updated guidelines regarding a little-known area of tax accounting that has become a political hot potato in recent years. Transfer pricing, as the process is called, refers to the price paid by one unit of a company to another for goods, services, intellectual property or financial transactions such… – Continue reading
Business editor Duncan Foulkes quizzes three prominent Isle of Man businessmen on their thoughts ——————– Chris Eaton, Chief Executive Officer, The ILS Group There is no one major issue or initiative that faces the CSP and TSP sectors in 2015. Rather, they face more of a continued barrage of supra… – Continue reading
British Members of Parliament (MPs) have questioned the Government’s unilateral decision to push for the introduction of a Diverted Profits Tax (DPT) ahead of the completion of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD’s) work on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). In a debate held in Parliament on… – Continue reading
CAIRO, Jan 9 (KUNA) — The Arab League on Friday lambasted Israel for retaining the Palestinian tax revenues, terming the move as “theft and collective punishment” of the Palestinian people. In a press statement today, Assistant Secretary-General for Palestine and Occupied Arab Territories Affairs Mohammad Subeih stressed the necessity of… – Continue reading
The Northern Ireland assembly would be given the power to set its own corporation tax rate from April 2017 if draft legislation published by the UK government is passed.09 Jan 2015 Corporate tax Tax UK Europe The Corporation Tax (Northern Ireland) Bill forms part of last month’s Stormont House Agreement… – Continue reading
CBDT to make provisions for MAT and reduce tax liability on Reits Jayshree P Upadhyay | New Delhi January 9, 2015 Last Updated at 00:50 IST Real estate investment trusts (Reits), notified last year, have so far found few takers due to taxation-related issues. To address this, the Central Board… – Continue reading
The UK is proposing to introduce a unilateral, non-OECD co-ordinated anti-BEPS provision, referred to in the media as the “Google Tax”, with effect from 1 April 2015. The draft provision is very complex, and it will be time consuming to assess its potential impact on many common cross-border business structures…. – Continue reading
Taiwan’s Strait Exchange Foundation (SEF) chairman is scheduled to hold negotiations with his Chinese counterpart on the Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income on Jan. 13, reports our Chinese-language sister newspaper Commercial Times. The agreement will possibly… – Continue reading
The Model 1B Intergovernmental Agreement signed between the Cayman Islands and the United States, sees those entities considered Financial Institutions (FI) that fall under FATCA, and have not registered with the IRS (to obtain a Global Intermediary Identification Number (GIIN), prior to 22 December 2014) now facing possible penalties (withholding)… – Continue reading
2014 marked a significant increase in the enforcement efforts by the IRS and Department of Justice against non-compliant U.S. taxpayers who failed to report their off-shore bank accounts and earnings. Grand Jury proceedings have been in full force and various criminal proceedings have been instituted. IRS investigations continue to increase… – Continue reading
January 8 2015 As of 2003, Israeli tax residents are subject to tax in Israel on their worldwide income, including passive income (i.e., interest, dividends and capital gains) generated in their offshore bank accounts. Although more than a decade has passed, many Israeli residents have still not reported on income… – Continue reading
Q: Reader Neill Clift of Washington, saying he and his wife are British immigrants with U.K. pensions from when they worked in that country, wrote that FinCen 114 and IRS Form 8938 filing obligations feel like “traps set for us and expect additional traps to be set. Is there any… – Continue reading
As Chinese individuals and companies head overseas in greater numbers, the country’s tax authorities are starting to follow. The Beijing billionaires who set up cryptically named companies in the British Virgin Islands to hold their fortunes are in the cross hairs. So are the Guangdong salesmen living and working in… – Continue reading
From Premier International Tax Library With the publication in September of Notice 2014-52, the IRS has made it extremely difficult for any foreign corporation that is not primarily engaged in an active business to acquire a U.S. business in exchange for its stock without risking being transformed into a U.S…. – Continue reading
A delegation from the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) visited Israel last week to meet representatives of the Israel Tax Authority. Sources inform “Globes” that the purpose of the meeting was to implement the agreement for the exchange of information between Israel and the US concerning the accounts of US… – Continue reading
CRA has launched the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) initiative, introduced in the 2013 Budget as one of several new measures to crack down on international tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance. Read: Top 10 tax changes of 2014 Effective January 1, 2015, certain financial intermediaries, including banks, have to report… – Continue reading
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore is updating guidelines on an accounting practice mired in controversy for helping multinational companies minimize their tax bills, as the city-state moves more in line with a crackdown by Western governments on aggressive tax avoidance. International taxation has come under scrutiny since a quirk of “transfer… – Continue reading
With substantial amendments to SA transfer pricing legislation in April 2012 – as well as a lack of any subsequently updated or final Practice Note from SARS – much uncertainty still surrounds the realm of transfer pricing in SA, says Lauren Hart, of Webber Wentzel, in an analysis on the… – Continue reading
India enacted transfer pricing rules in 2001, which require companies to conclude international transactions with associated enterprises at an arm’s length. The legislation is primarily targeted at large business groups who engage in base erosion and profit shifting to avoid paying corporate income tax in India. This article is the… – Continue reading
Many factors influence a foreign buyer’s decision to purchase residential real estate in the United States. Generally, most of these decisions tend to be driven by concerns over political and economic uncertainty in the buyer’s home country. Most foreigners do not leave their home country, family, and friends for trivial… – Continue reading
On December 28, 2014 Ukrainian Parliament has adopted the Draft law No. 1264-1 “On amending the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding improvement of tax control over transfer pricing” as of 22.12.2014 (the Draft Law). In order to become effective, the Draft law has to be signed by the President of… – Continue reading
Overseas property buyers have to pay significantly more tax than domestic buyers in Singapore and Hong Kong, making them the most costly places for foreigners to invest in residential real estate in Asia Pacific, says Knight Frank Singapore and Hong Kong are the most costly places for a foreigner to… – Continue reading
The 4,029-page tax code is so complex both parties want to revise it. On business tax reform, they share surprising common ground, raising the potential for partial tax reform to be enacted this year. As the 114th Congress convenes this week, it has a golden opportunity to rid itself of… – Continue reading
The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) has published an updated consolidated e-Tax Guide on the country’s transfer pricing regime. The e-Tax Guide, which was released on January 6, 2015, is divided into three main parts. Part I of the Guide provides background on the treatment of related-party transactions and… – Continue reading
With particular reference to issues associated with the requirements of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has updated Publication 515: The Withholding of Tax on Nonresident Aliens and Foreign Entities. It is specified that the Publication is for withholding agents who pay… – Continue reading
THE South African Revenue Service (SARS) has already begun to tackle the erosion of the tax base through profit shifting, which was addressed in an interim report of the Davis tax committee that was released last month for public comment. SA loses billions of rand in revenue annually through the… – Continue reading
A tax information exchange agreement signed between the Isle of Man and Lesotho has come into force. The government says it’s part of its programme of developing closer economic and taxation co-operation with other countries around the world. It was signed in September 2013 in London by Treasury Minister Eddie… – Continue reading
PM’s trip to principality comes after Catalan ex-leader’s revelations about hidden accounts Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is expected to sign an agreement that will include a system for automatically sharing tax information between Andorra and Spain during an official two-day visit to the principality that begins on Wednesday. The agreement… – Continue reading
New research shows that 2014 saw many fundamental changes across the global tax system as governments look to reform their regimes for the long term, complying with new OECD guidelines, whilst significantly clamping down on multinationals in light of increasing public media scrutiny. The research was undertaken by Taxand, a… – Continue reading
SINGAPORE – On December 9, 2014, Singapore became the first country in Southeast Asia to sign an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) on tax information sharing with the United States. The signing follows an in substance agreement reached between Singapore and the US in May 2014. Most countries around the world have… – Continue reading
Barbados appears to be moving into full financial information-sharing mode as the world’s most powerful countries put their foot down on tax evasion. It is already known that last November Government signed an Inter Governmental Agreement with the United States (US) to exchange information on their citizens who have thousands… – Continue reading
Data as of a week before deadline The total number of Indian financial institutions who have signed up with the American tax authorities under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was less than 500 as per data from less than a fortnight ago. There were a total of 442… – Continue reading
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is planning to introduce amendments to the income tax law in next federal budget (2015-16) to effectively deal with the transfer pricing issues of non-resident companies. Sources told Business Recorder on Monday that the first meeting of the FBR’s transfer pricing unit would be… – Continue reading
