After years of deliberation and debate spanning two administrations, the Tax Information Exchange (United States of America) Bill, 2016, also known as the Foreign Account Taxpayer Compliance (FATCA) Bill was passed in the Senate on March 7, 2017. This following its unanimous passage in the House of Representatives, two weeks...
Investigation is linked to Panama Papers and part of money laundering allegations Eleven banks and eight private homes and offices across Germany have been raided by police and tax investigators as part of a wide-ranging investigation into tax evasion. The raids, which began at dawn on Wednesday and went on...
Hassans has held seminars, attended by close to 200 people, aimed at clarifying the key points of the recently signed tax treaty. Three main takeaway points were discussed in particular Hassans summarised them as follows: Takeaway #1: It doesn’t matter whether or not you are registered in Spain – whether...
Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said that the foreign companies will be required to have local partners for doing business in Bangladesh as the government wants to bring them under the tax net. ‘No foreign company can do business alone here any longer,’ he told reporters on Thursday after...
The HMRC has successfully argued two cases in the First-tier Tribunal involving the use of offshore trusts to avoid tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs). The case was brought against Hyrax Resourcing Limited and Curzon Capital Limited. The Tribunal decided in both cases that the disguised remuneration arrangements being promoted...
Globalisation of the economy has resulted in a shift in the way Singapore corporations operate – from local country-specific business models, to global integrated supply chains which centralise functions at a regional or global level. Singapore, in particular is a popular location to house regional and global operations, due to...
Broadening of tax becomes a far cry on the face of the fact that the government machinery becomes ineffective by even enforcing return on the registered taxpayers. Today, less than 50 percent of the registered taxpayers in all the streams of revenue are filling their return and the remaining are...
The power to levy tax in Nigeria, being a federation, is shared between the Federal, State and Local governments. To avoid double taxation, the tax system spells out which government unit (federal, state or local) has the power to levy tax on specific persons and matters. The Federal Inland Revenue...
KARACHI: Number of tax return filers has increased around seven percent year-over-year to hit the record 1.96 million for the tax year 2018 as the government extended the deadline of filing three times to April 30, sources said on Wednesday. The FBR received 1,963,348 returns by April 30, 2019, which...
KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has documented Rs75 billion worth of properties during the first nine months of the current fiscal year of 2018/19 under a tax amnesty scheme; although the revenue collection fell a quarter year-on-year on uncertainty about the concessions, sources said on Tuesday The sources...
THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) will run after 19 service providers that employ unregistered foreign workers, and have initial tax discrepancies totaling P1 billion. In a statement on Monday, the tax bureau said it had created a task force to probe companies that employ foreigners for possible violations of...
The AML Council is seeking additional powers to combat financial crime, including the lifting of the bank secrecy law, which would allow it to check all accounts regardless of transaction thresholds. The Philippine AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council) is seeking additional powers to combat financial crime as part of the BSP...
Eleven Thai restaurateurs failed to declare $12 million cash income, drove luxury vehicles, had designer handbags and Rolex watches, prosecutors allege. At the High Court in Wellington on Monday, the 11 pleaded not guilty to 64 charges of evading or attempting to evade income and GST tax, filing false tax...
Karel De Gucht, former federal minister and European commissioner, has lost a legal battle with the tax authorities over what they claimed was tax evasion. The tribunal of first instance in Ghent was ruling on a dispute between De Gucht and his wife Mireille Schreurs on one side, and the...
Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has assured Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission that he would consider addressing the issue of double taxation against investment in listed companies, BSEC said on Tuesday. The minister gave the assurance at a meeting with officials of the market regulator held at the BSEC office...
In late December, news of Refaeli’s potential indictment came about. Her mother, who was her modeling agent, was also subject to the money-laundering scheme, according to reports. Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli, who has been investigated by the nation’s Tax Authority since 2015, will have to pay taxes for the roughly...
Not just the ultimate holiday stop, Mauritius is also a preferred jurisdiction for fund managers looking to establish African-focused funds, say Michael Denenga and Nicole Paige, partners at Webber Wentzel. “A scenic island off the coast of Africa, Mauritius’ main competitive advantage is its proximity to the jurisdictions that African-focused...
A new mechanism aimed at creating a more favorable tax environment for enterprises and countries involved in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been established. Tax officials and experts from dozens of countries and international organizations have gathered in China from April 18 to 20 for the first Belt...
Assad’s uncle ‘Butcher of Hama’ to stand trial on graft charges in France The uncle of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad is to stand trial in France on charges of building up a big property empire in the country using funds from Syrian state coffers, legal sources said on Wednesday. An investigating...
Whistleblowers across the European Union have won greater protection under landmark legislation aimed at encouraging reports of wrongdoing. The new law, approved by the European Parliament on Tuesday, shields whistleblowers from retaliation. It also creates “safe channels” to allow them to report breaches of EU law. It is the first...
HMRC sent 1,414 requests to professional services firms demanding confidential information on clients suspected of tax evasion in the 12 months to 31 March 2018, according to law firm RPC. The production orders are issued by HMRC’s Criminal Investigation Directorate to force third parties, such as accountants, lawyers and other...
The UK has published a policy paper setting out the direction for HMRC’s updated strategy for offshore tax compliance, offshore tax compliance strategy: No Safe Havens 2019. In the document, published alongside the chancellor’s Spring Statement, HMRC said it will use hefty punishments for those who enable offshore tax avoidance....
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....
Britain’s wealthiest families paid $1.2 billion in tax in the last financial year at a time when the state revenue contributions of the world’s richest individuals and corporations are coming under increasing scrutiny. Campden FB totalled the tax bills for 2017-18 of the 21 families of significant wealth as conservatively...
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...
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard is taking legal action against his wealth manager following a crack down on tax avoidance schemes. The former Liverpool captain is among hundreds of investors who have launched a £100m lawsuit against HSBC’s private banking division, claiming it defrauded them, The Times has reported. Composer Lord...
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...
