Macau and New Zealand have signed a tax-sharing information agreement, with the OECD stating that the city had exchanged tax information with 34 jurisdictions in 2018 Macau (MNA) – Macau has recently signed a tax-sharing information agreement with the government of New Zealand. According to a release from the Cabinet...
Guardia di Finanza, a financial police authority in Italy, has sent letters demanding Swiss lenders to reveal the the names of bankers working in the country, Bloomberg has reported. The authority wants to know more about the business that these banks entertain in Italy, in particular which type of business,...
Opening a company on the other side of the world is no longer a dream, but a reality touched by many businessmen from different countries. An offshore company in the UAE today is one of the best opportunities for legal earnings in a developed country with low taxes. The opening...
European Union lawmakers released a report on Wednesday (Feb. 27) recommending that the EU create a police unit dedicated to the investigation of tax and financial crimes, as well as a watchdog organization to fight money-laundering, according to a report by Reuters. The report, which is the result of a...
European Union lawmakers released a report on Wednesday (Feb. 27) recommending that the EU create a police unit dedicated to the investigation of tax and financial crimes, as well as a watchdog organization to fight money-laundering, according to a report by Reuters. The report, which is the result of a...
Swedbank, one of the largest banks in Sweden, has hired professionals services firm EY to investigate the bank’s possible involvement in large scale money laundering. According to media reports in Sweden, over the period of nearly ten years the bank facilitated approximately $5.8 billion worth of suspicious transactions. The transactions...
With more complicated company structures being used, it has become increasingly more difficult to establish who the ultimate beneficial owners of entities are. In light of the new regulation, do you believe that the Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) Register can help in any way to prevent financial crime? The UBO...
Businessman Genius Kadungure was back in court yesterday for continuation of his $22 million tax evasion case. Kadungure was represented by Jonathan Samkange when he appeared before Harare regional magistrate Vongai Guuriro. Prosecutor Shephered Makonde told the court that investigations have been completed. He said a trial date will be...
KARACHI: Property tax collection by provinces surged 31.34 percent to Rs7.38 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year of 2018/19, official data showed on Friday. Finance ministry’s data showed property tax collection amounted to Rs5.624 billion during the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. Sources in...
KARACHI: The income tax law has made it mandatory for taxpayers to declare foreign income and assets in order to avoid penalty, Vishno Raja Qavi, former chief tax policy, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), said on Thursday. He was highlighting the key points of Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) at...
The Mauritius International Financial Centre (IFC) claims to be the first jurisdiction globally to offer a regulatory landscape for the custody of digital assets. This is according to communication from the country’s integrated regulator for the non-bank financial services sector and global business, the Financial Services Commission (FSC). The FSC...
The benefits of Guernsey as a fund domicile. Guernsey is one of the world’s largest offshore finance centres, with a thriving funds industry. Almost 1,000 investment funds, and well over 2,000 sub-funds, are currently administered in the island. The current value of funds under management and administration in Guernsey is...
ISLAMABAD: The government decided to convert almost all the prize bonds into registered instruments in a move to keep record of investors and curb tax evasion and money laundering, sources said on Friday. Presently, prize bonds can be purchased from open market and used as an instrument to evade taxes....
Apple has settled a ten-year tax battle with France, agreeing to pay a reported half a billion Euros ($570M) in back tax. The French government had accused Apple of evading or avoiding tax due on sales made in France. The line between tax evasion, which is illegal, and aggressive tax-avoidance,...
Prime Minister’s adviser in charge of tax reform Faisal Derbal has revealed that tax evasion is estimated to reach TND25 billion (around USD8.3 billion) in Tunisia. He denied, during a press conference in the government’s headquarters, rumors circulating about the tax evasion value rising to double of the mentioned number...
Supreme Court verdict a slap in the face for SKAT A case that has been going on for almost ten years has now come to an end, and the outcome has not been favourable to Danish taxpayers. The SKAT tax authority took Microsoft to court because it felt the company...
For facilitators in Malta, it’s business as usual. A former employee of Mossack Fonesca has been extradited to Germany on charges relating to revelations from the Panama Papers, an unprecedented leak of over 11 million files from the database of the world’s fourth biggest offshore law firm at the time....
AMMONNEWS – The weekly meeting Finance Minister Ezzedine Kanakrieh holds with heads of financial departments focused on steps adopted to crackdown on tax and customs duty evasion among other procedures, according to a statement. It said today’s meeting focused on the preparation of the final account for 2018, due to...
ISLAMABAD: In order to move against owners of offshore assets abroad, the FBR has sought powers of provisional assessments for creation of tax demands against those who never bothered to declare anything in Pakistan. These tax demands could be shared with the jurisdictions of OECD countries that might pave the...
The Director-General Intelligence and Investigation-Inland Revenue department has unearthed tax evasion worth Rs170 billion throughout Pakistan last year ISLAMABAD: Around 20% of the overall tax evasion and fraud cases involving billions of rupees have been resolved by the tax department during 2018. The Director-General Intelligence and Investigation-Inland Revenue department has...
The Portuguese Parliament voted in favour of a proposed government resolution approving the agreement to eliminate double taxation with Angola, the Portuguese press reported on Friday. The parliament unanimously approved an agreement between Portugal and Angola on mutual administrative assistance and co-operation in fiscal matters signed in Luanda on 18...
KUWAIT CITY, Jan 13: The Fatwa and Legislation Department has submitted to the Council of Ministers a draft law that allows banks to declassify the data of their customers, as provided by the CRS Convention on Join Reporting, reports Al-Rai daily quoting sources. The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) is an...
KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has detected tax evasion of around Rs2 billion by sugar mills through suppressing sales, sources said on Wednesday. In its ongoing drive against tax concealment by sugar mills, the revenue authority recovered around Rs500 million from one sugar mill and issued another five...
KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has sought explanations from the resident Pakistanis regarding their undeclared foreign assets, sources said on Tuesday. These assets were identified under the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEoI), they added. Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) Karachi summoned around 100 people from Sindh Region to appear...
Mumbai: For many rich Indians, 2019 has begun on an awkward note. Jersey, one of their favourite tax havens, is questioning the lack of ‘substance’ in the nameplate firms set up to either hold undisclosed money, or invest in other countries. In the last few days, service providers in Jersey...
The United States Department of Justice has charged four people with crimes allegedly brought to light by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism’s Panama Papers expose, according to a DOJ announcement published earlier this month. They are the first US criminal charges stemming from the ICIJ’s 2016 investigation, which reported...
One month after the Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR) ruled that back office support services qualify as “intermediary” support services and not exports, officers of the indirect tax department have started issuing preliminary notices to captive units of multinationals and Indian companies exporting offshore support services. AAR’s directive meant several...
KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is dragging its feet over actions against Pakistanis who couldn’t declare offshore investments to evade taxes despite that the tax authority has stumbled upon critical financial data under an international treaty, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Insiders said the apex...
The US government announced charges on Tuesday against four men it said laundered money and arranged tax avoidance schemes through the Panama firm at the centre of the “Panama Papers” scandal. The four were affiliated with Mossack Fonseca, the law firm that helped thousands of clients around the world move...
KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) stepped up efforts to net undisclosed property investments as the newly-constituted authority to curb real estate tax evasion brought the amnesty for the sector to an end, sources said Saturday. They said the amnesty to whiten undocumented money used for transactions of immovable...
After global index puts Israel in top third of most financially secretive countries, NGO calls for more public scrutiny and regulations to stop rich from hiding their assets Israel must immediately move to pass regulations against tax evasion and money laundering if it is to protect its credit rating and...
Ireland and Malta have agreed to close the “Single Malt” – an aggressive tax planning structure in which some multinational corporations use a company incorporated in Ireland but tax-resident in Malta. The Competent Authority Agreement – entered into as per the provisions of Article 24 (mutual agreement procedure) of the...
The Income-Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has said NRIs do not need to reveal details of their foreign bank accounts and assets to Indian authorities. The tribunal has also ruled that the onus is on the I-T Department to prove an assessee has parked undeclared income arising from India in foreign...
Introduction – Offshore funds and Canada Revenue Agency’ reach Gone are the days when offshore bank accounts were outside the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)’s reach. With the advent of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), CRA automatically receives financial information of Canadian taxpayers who own bank accounts or assets in other...
MUMBAI: Are India-based back offices of multinationals merely brokers? And, are Indian companies providing services to foreign firms just commission agents? Going by the tax department’s definition, it appears that they are so — and not exporters. Several back offices at multinationals now face 18% Goods and Services Tax (GST)...
The Spanish Ministry of Finance is to inspect some 15,000 individuals who have engaged in cryptocurrency transactions over the last year, Spanish-language news outlet El Pais reported. The announcement follows on from the introduction of compulsory reporting of cryptocurrency transactions for Spanish taxpayers, and will investigate whether there is any...
While SARS is scrambling to meet collection targets, a new report estimates the country lost $37-billion in revenue to trade misinvoicing in five years. Trade misinvoicing is thought to be the largest component of illicit financial flows, draining developing countries of much-needed finances. In a new report, Global Financial Integrity...
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has revealed six tricks that multinational firms use to dodge paying tax. One of the schemes involves the firms exporting very cheaply and importing good very expensively. The authority reports that most firms also under-declare they pay to expatriates a move that reduces their profits and...
The foreign-invested enterprises which have been running large, prolonged losses and large related-party transactions, will be inspected for tax compliance. The General Department of Taxation (GDT) has just sent a document asking provincial and city Departments of Taxation to inspect and supervise groups, corporations, and companies, which reported big losses...
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) recently released the Income Tax (Transfer Pricing) Regulation 2018 (‘the Regulation’). The Regulation took effect from 12th March 2018 and replaces the Income Tax (Transfer Pricing) Regulations, 2012. The Regulation sets out the legal framework for the application of the arm’s length principle to...
The Swiss bank is on trial in France for its role in a tax evasion scandal Swiss bank UBS Group could be forced to pay up to €5.3bn in fines over allegations that it helped wealthy French clients conceal money from tax authorities. The double-pronged lawsuit has been brought against...
Companies avoid paying income tax by creating suppliers that don’t exist The Federal Tax Administration (SAT) has uncovered a new and “aggressive” tax fraud scheme involving more than 13,000 partners and shareholders of 600,000 companies, many of which are bogus. Unidentified media organizations and professional soccer teams are among the...
Japan’s National Tax Agency has obtained information on more than half a million accounts held by Japanese citizens and companies at overseas financial institutions. The move comes amid heightened public interest in how the wealthy use offshore havens to evade paying taxes at home. The Japanese agency will analyze the...
Under pressure from international organisations, the Australian government has flagged that it is getting ready to reform the concessionally-taxed offshore banking unit (OBU) regime, a move that will hit big banks and hedge funds. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) forum on harmful tax practices has raised concerns...
Many taxpayers in China have had questions about how the government would change the individual income tax (IIT) law since the amendment was passed earlier this year. Recently, however, the tax authorities released a draft of the amendment’s implementation rules and measures for comment. While the draft implementation rules and...
Jersey has tabled new laws to address the EU’s concerns over ‘economic substance’, the degree of real business activity carried out by companies registered in the Island. The new proposed requirements for an economic substance test for Jersey tax-resident entities have been published and are set to come into force...
THE BUREAU of Internal Revenue (BIR) may now notify taxpayers that their information was sent to a requesting foreign tax authority as investigation reaches the final stages. Revenue Regulation No. 22-2018 states that the Commissioner of Internal Revenue can opt to notify the taxpayer in writing that a foreign tax...
As part of the British Virgin Islands’ (“BVI”) ongoing commitment to international tax transparency pursuant to the Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”), the BVI Mutual Legal Assistance (Tax Matters) Act, 2003 has been amended by the BVI Mutual Legal Assistance (Tax Matters) (Amendment) Act, 2018 (the “Amendment Act”). The Amendment Act...
Internal Revenue Commission is now in partnership with an international auditing organisation to help tackle multinationals that are avoiding paying taxes, Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Charles Abel, pictured, says. He said that Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), under its ‘tax inspectors without borders’ programme, would help IRC...
The Antigua and Barbuda government is willing to amend the necessary laws to ensure that local financial institutions are able to share banking information of dual citizenship holders with the relevant authorities in their original country of birth, if this becomes necessary. Prime Minister Gaston Browne made the disclosure following...
