A former Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB) chairman yesterday urged the Government to resist “disingenuous” international pressure, after this nation was accused of single-handedly undermining the global “war on tax dodgers”. Michael Paton told Tribune Business that the Bahamas needed to remain steadfast and meet the commitments it has made… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Aiming to curb tax evasion and avoidance, India has operationalised the Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with Seychelles, one of the major sources of foreign investment into the country. The agreement will enable the authorities of both nations to provide assistance through exchange of tax and banking information,… – Continue reading
The following is a bolded checklist of important situations that may “trigger” a tax review by a skilled United States tax professional. Many of these situations also require a simultaneous review by a foreign tax professional. It is generally best practice for these tax professionals to work together to minimize… – Continue reading
The Australian government shouldn’t rely on leaks like that of the Panama Papers to pick up on tax evasion, it should consider stronger action. The federal government showed some leadership earlier this year by announcing the establishment of a public register of beneficial ownership of companies, with the aim of… – Continue reading
Whether they indulged in legal tax avoidance or evaded taxes under the counter, leaked documents of a Panamanian firm revealed quite a lot in April about a number of Pakistani politicians and businessmen. Tax evasion has of late become synonymous with Pakistan because of its failure to overcome its taxation… – Continue reading
Slovakia, the current president of the EU council, challenges finance ministers from all the EU member states to introduce mandatory disclosure rules for intermediaries including accountants who seek to profit from the promotion, design or implementation of tax avoidance schemes The proposals were outlined in a ‘presidency issues’ note presented… – Continue reading
The council will be chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and will make all the major decisions on the implementation of the new regime. The Union Cabinet on Monday notified and approved the formation of the Goods and Services Tax Council, the body that will oversee various issues regarding the… – Continue reading
Tax havens have become increasingly formidable players in the global economy. With increased globalization and financialization of the global economy, tax havens have become important players in the world economy. According to a report by Tax Justice Network, $21 to $32 trillion is stashed offshore. According to the World Bank, the GDP… – Continue reading
According to a new report, secretive offshore tax avoidance practices are on the rise among multinational businesses. The report, released from the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition (FACT), finds that these practices put investors at risk because they are caught off guard when governments act to collect the lost… – Continue reading
A recent 2016 tax reform in Japan (“Reform”) has introduced stringent Japanese Transfer Pricing Documentation Requirements, which require the preparation/filing of: (i) a Master File, (ii) a Country-by-Country Report, and (iii) a Local File, as well as (iv) a “Notification of the Ultimate Parent Entity.” Any ultimate parent company (“Parent… – Continue reading
Current rules allow over 100,000 wealthy residents to pay a lower rate of tax, even if they have lived in UK for many years. The Government is risking more than £6bn of tax revenue by changing rules governing non-domiciled taxpayers, an international law firm has warned. Pinsent Masons said that… – Continue reading
Top officials from India and Mauritius will meet in Port Louis this week to discuss revival of free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations that were suspended three years ago by New Delhi. The talks were suspended to build pressure on Mauritius to expedite the double taxation avoidance agreement. Deliberations on two-way… – Continue reading
Israel has signed on as a member of the OECD’s international tax treaty, and as a result the Tax Authority will automatically receive information about bank accounts held by Israelis abroad. Israel, meanwhile, will automatically release information about foreign citizens who have bank accounts here to the governments of countries… – Continue reading
The Special Administrative Region yesterday signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with Ireland, according to an announcement by the Financial Services Bureau. The agreement was inked by the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong Vai Tac and Ireland’s Ambassador to China, Paul Kavanagh. According to the Secretary, the… – Continue reading
Pakistan and Switzerland would exchange information on tax evasion once the contracting state exhausts all regular sources of information available under the internal taxation procedure. On August 31, 2016, the Federal Cabinet approved initialed draft for revision of the Convention between Pakistan and Swiss Confederation for the avoidance of double… – Continue reading
Potential slice of the Apple pie stems from Commission’s invitation to EU tax authorities. BRATISLAVA — The €13 billion clawback of unpaid taxes from U.S. tech giant Apple has piqued the interests of EU finance ministers, who have today asked the European Commission for more details on the potential share… – Continue reading
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Sept 10, CMC – Government and opposition legislators are to meet here on Monday as the deadline for meeting the September 30 deadline for passing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance ACT (FATCA). Caribbean financial executives have in the past bemoaned what they deem as an uneven… – Continue reading
The Vanuatu Government says it’s considering introducing an income tax to broaden its revenue base to help pay for vital public services. A government spokesperson John Sala says a government analysis has indicated a 17 percent income tax rate could apply to those earning more than 750 thousand vatu or… – Continue reading
A legislative amendment in the UK this week will give the British government the power to publish details of tax payments made by UK-based multinational corporations on a country by country basis, as tax authorities try to clamp down on the abuse of tax laws and aggressive tax avoidance. The… – Continue reading
Denmark pays up to £1m for documents from anonymous source and plans to investigate up to 600 Danes who may have evaded tax Denmark has become the first country in the world to apparently buy data from the Panama Papers leak, and now plans to investigate whether 500-600 Danes who… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) are lobbying the government to resolve problems related to the India-Singapore tax treaty and general anti-avoidance rules (GAAR), worried about their investment in equities. FPIs fear after April 1, 2017, when both the renegotiated India-Singapore treaty and GAAR come into force, they will face challenges…. – Continue reading
President Joko Widodo remarked that Indonesia supports the implementation of automatic exchange of financial information in tax matters between countries. This, he said, would lead to enhanced income for the developing countries. “Indonesia encourages an international tax system that is fair and transparent,” President Joko Widodo said in his speech… – Continue reading
The tax authorities of Singapore and Australia have agreed to share financial account information to fight tax evasion. In a joint statement on Tuesday (Sept 6), the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) announced that they have entered into a Competent Authority Agreement on… – Continue reading
The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) is the priority initiative for The Bahamas Government in its global regulatory tax compliance regime. The Bahamas committed to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) CRS for the automatic exchange of Information in 2018. The optional… – Continue reading
The G20 summit in China has stressed the need for international tax cooperation to achieve ‘a globally fair and modern international tax system’, after US President Obama warned of the risks if countries ‘race to the bottom’ in tax policies At a press conference at the conclusion of the summit,… – Continue reading
European Union countries should better coordinate tax rules to avoid hitting corporations too hard, the Slovak presidency of the European Union has proposed. This would be an effort to provide more balance to an EU campaign against tax avoidance by multinational companies. The proposal will be discussed at an informal… – Continue reading
A NEW online disclosure facility has launched today giving offshore evaders a last chance to settle tax on their wealth hidden offshore ahead of new data sharing arrangements and tougher penalties being introduced. The Worldwide Disclosure Facility (WDF) is the final chance for those few still dragging their feet to… – Continue reading
The international tax landscape has been changing rapidly and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has agreed on a base erosion and profit shifting (Beps) action plan that could affect businesses operating in the UAE. The plan addresses the issue of artificial shifting of profits and its proposals… – Continue reading
The Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters is set to come into effect in Brazil on October 1, 2016, following the publication of Decree No. 8842 in the Official Gazette on August 30. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Convention is the… – Continue reading
Officials said around 192 requests had been sent to a number of countries, while another dozen were being processed as part of their investigation. The Income Tax Department on Sunday said it had invoked several tax information treaties and made around 200 requests to collect banking- and finance-related evidence on… – Continue reading
One disadvantage of United States citizenship is that all income from whatever source, worldwide, is subject to taxation. This is true regardless of how one obtains American citizenship; indeed, there are many “accidental Americans” who, by dint of having been born to a person with American citizenship, are technically American… – Continue reading
After state aid inquiries into Amazon and McDonald’s, EU looks again at Luxembourg The European Commission may open a fresh investigation into tax rulings offered by Luxembourg as early as this week, as EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager continues her clampdown against corporate tax avoidance. Luxembourg is already awaiting a… – Continue reading
Malcolm Turnbull will push for a crackdown on multinational tax avoidance when he meets with world leaders at the G20 summit in China. But Labor have accused Mr Turnbull of not having a strong plan for confronting corporate tax avoidance at home, let alone abroad. The prime minister will arrive… – Continue reading
India and Vietnam on Saturday inked a dozen of agreements, including protocol on double taxation avoidance agreement, to foster better ties between the two sides. India and Vietnam on Saturday inked a dozen of agreements, including protocol on double taxation avoidance agreement, to foster better ties between the two sides…. – Continue reading
The issue of tax havens is inherently international in scope. As a result, the government can use tax agreements to fight tax avoidance schemes. Unfortunately, tax agreements haven’t been used for that purpose. On the contrary, they have facilitated the outflow of Canadian money to offshore financial centres, and have… – Continue reading
Ghana loses nearly $2.1 billion dollars to tax evasion and incentives annually, reveals a study carried out by the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), a civil society organisation. According to the study, which was conducted on behalf of the National Coordinating Council of the Public Services International (PSI), there was… – Continue reading
CRUNCHERS SOUTH LONDON, a licensee of Crunchers Accountants, has become the first accounting service in the UK to receive the Fair Tax Mark award for reporting and paying fair corporation tax. The Fair Tax Mark, established in 2014, is an independent accreditation process that assesses companies’ corporation tax practices and… – Continue reading
The Government is being blasted as weak, for not taking action on companies dodging tax. Apple has been slapped with a $20 billion tax bill in Ireland, which has led to questions about whether tax avoidance is also happening in New Zealand. Prime Minister John Key said we could face… – Continue reading
Banks and financial institutions in India have got some breather as regards compliance under the US-enacted Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The Finance Ministry on Wednesday said that banks and financial institutions need not enforce “closure” of accounts by August 31, 2016 in respect of those cases where “self-certification”… – Continue reading
Turkmenistan and Germany signed an agreement on avoidance of double taxation with respect to income and property taxes in Berlin, the Turkmen Dovlet Habarlary(TDH) state news agency reported. According to the message, the signing ceremony took place as part of the two-day working visit of Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to… – Continue reading
Pakistan will sign Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters with OECD on September 14 as the Federal Cabinet formally approved this on Wednesday. Minister for Finance Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar termed the decision a historic one while briefing a crowded press conference regarding decisions of Federal Cabinet… – Continue reading
All involved in tax avoidance schemes will be penalised HMRC has recently published a consultation document, ‘Strengthening Tax Avoidance Sanctions and Deterrents: A discussion document’ which proposes sanctions aimed at everyone involved in the birth of tax avoidance schemes which are defeated by HMRC. This follows the government’s announcement at… – Continue reading
Today, we see more enthusiasm for tax reform in Indonesia. Although opposed by some civil society groups, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration continues to push its fiscal framework reform — which includes a tax amnesty and more incentives for taxpayers. Last year, the Finance Ministry issued a new tax holiday… – Continue reading
A coalition of Silicon Valley tech companies has urged the Dutch Government against making changes to the most “attractive” features of its corporate tax regime, warning that it risks damaging its traditionally strong tax competitiveness by doing so. The Silicon Valley Tax Directors Group (SVTDG), which includes more than 80… – Continue reading
Recent developments in the global business environment which are characterized by intense competition and rapid growth of multinational enterprises have led to new business models and structuring of business operations in order to meet the increasing demands of expansion on a global scale. Agency arrangements, as a way for enterprises… – Continue reading
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) entered into twenty (20) Unilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) with Indian taxpayers. Many of these agreements also have a “Rollback” provision in them, Ministry of Finance said. The 20 APAs signed in these two days pertain to various sectors of the economy like… – Continue reading
A bill containing measures to combat tax evasion is close to being endorsed by Costa Rica’s legislature, according to the country’s Ministry of Finance. The proposals in the Bill are to remove existing legal loopholes used to avoid paying taxes. Among the proposals is a requirement that businesses providing services… – Continue reading
Disclosures under the MAP are aimed at improving dispute resolution mechanism and are part of global initiative on base erosion and profit shifting. India will soon disclose the number of disputes being negotiated under the mutual agreement procedures (MAP) of tax treaties as well as details of the time being… – Continue reading
For the last three years, the international debate on tax policy was all about consensus. Led by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, countries across the globe agreed that aggressive tax planning by multinational corporations which pushed profits into low-tax countries – or indeed took profits outside the charge… – Continue reading
Gov’t sends bill to Congress to force banks to share account data automatically Described by government officials as a “lethal blow” to bank secrecy, Uruguay has sent a bill to Congress that will force banks to automatically provide the DGI tax bureau information on the accounts held by individuals and… – Continue reading
