The general anti-avoidance rule was first introduced in China under the 2008 CIT Law. It empowers Chinese tax authorities to make reasonable adjustments where an enterprise implements an arrangement without reasonable business purposes in order to reduce its taxable income or profit. According to the CIT Law’s Implementation Guidelines, “an… – Continue reading
Virtual currencies exploded onto the investment scene last year, due in large part to the astronomical rise in the popularity of Bitcoin and its many successors. Interest in this exciting new investment shows no signs of slowing, and soon cryptocurrency will be as ubiquitous as the other traditional securities traded… – Continue reading
Singapore’s tax agency has made two announcements recently concerning the automatic exchange of information on foreign taxpayers’ affairs, on the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. In respect of the OECD’s CRS, through which territories worldwide are to automatically exchange taxpayer data from this… – Continue reading
The European Central Bank on February 14 published an opinion (CON/2018/8) on a proposal from lawmakers in Slovenia on a draft law on the return of monetary funds to the country from designated “tax havens” and the imposition of a penalty tax, providing an outline of the proposed regime. Before… – Continue reading
KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has listed 400 Pakistanis who own real estate in UAE, sources told Geo News Wednesday, after the revenue minister announced an investigation into the matter. Geo News broke the story on February 6, 2018, in which it reported that the Pakistani individuals have… – Continue reading
Australia’s Board of Taxation has published the results of its review into the taxation of bare trusts. The Board considered whether, and how, to legislate in respect of what it said was the widespread practice of disregarding or looking through these trusts for income tax purposes. This practice is maintained… – Continue reading
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Pierre Moscovici said Monday that bank secrecy was no longer a reality in Europe since EU tax authorities automatically exchanged information about bank accounts opened within the bloc. “Bank secrecy no longer exists in Europe. If anyone has a bank account in Switzerland we are immediately being… – Continue reading
Tax Authorities in jurisdictions who have joined the OECD/G20’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) inclusive framework can now avail of Vizor’s new Country-by-Country (CbC) Reporting module to fully meet their obligations set out under Action 13. DUBLIN (PRWEB) FEBRUARY 11, 2018 Today, Vizor Software announced the launch of its… – Continue reading
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 7) — The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Wednesday said it will begin investigating Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno’s alleged failure to pay taxes. BIR Deputy Commissioner for Operations Arnel Guballa made this commitment in response to an order from the House Committee on… – Continue reading
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia on January 31 ruled in favor of Starr International Company in a case concerning an erroneous refund paid to the taxpayer, which the IRS sought to reclaim. In 2011, the IRS erroneously issued a USD21m refund to Starr International Company,… – Continue reading
SUBANG: The Inland Revenue Board (IRB) will this year put in place strong measures to deter tax avoidance and evasion by focusing on individuals and firms engaging in such misconduct. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Datuk Dr Sabin Samitah said the offences included those who engaged in aggressive tax planning, by… – Continue reading
The Spanish tax authority has published its annual tax and customs control plan for 2018, which details the tax compliance and enforcement measures that it intends to undertake in the coming year. The plan, published by the tax authority on January 23, features four key pillars: preventative measures, including a… – Continue reading
Also, multinational companies with a physical presence in Israel will soon get their first tax bill Israel will need to amend its corporate tax policies to counter the effects of US President Donald Trump’s tax reform, the head of Israel’s Tax Authority head acknowledged — but only slightly. “There will… – Continue reading
The heads of the Greek and Bulgarian tax authorities have met to discuss ways in which bilateral cooperation can be boosted with a view to reducing levels of tax avoidance and evasion, particularly with respect to Greek companies shifting profits to Bulgaria. “The major issue of tax avoidance by Greek… – Continue reading
The Swedish tax authority (Skatteverket), has published guidance on companies’ country-by-country reporting obligations with respect to short and extended tax years, and company divestments and restructurings. Under Sweden’s Tax Procedures Act, a group is not obligated to submit a CbC report if, according to its consolidated accounts, it has a… – Continue reading
Lionel Messi’s problems with the Spanish tax authorities are far from being over as the accounts of his foundation come under scrutiny. The tax authorities are investigating whether payments from FC Barcelona to Lionel Messi’s foundation were used to help the player evade taxes, Spanish daily El Mundo reported on… – Continue reading
Microsoft, Cisco might also benefit from GOP bill ‘loophole’ Law gives some firms edge in paring offshore cash tax tab Companies that stockpiled trillions of dollars offshore free of U.S. income tax may get one last break before paying up — provided their fiscal years don’t follow the calendar year…. – Continue reading
Apple Europe Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Apple Inc., said it expects to pay more tax in the UK and paid an extra GBP136m for prior years up to September 26, 2015, after an extensive audit by HM Revenue and Customs. In its end-of-year accounts made up to April… – Continue reading
The case of Development Securities (No. 9) Ltd and other v HMRC [2017] UKFTT 0565 is the latest in a line of cases concerning the UK corporate tax residence of offshore companies. The case once again highlights the difficulties in preserving an offshore company’s non-UK tax resident status, whilst giving… – Continue reading
The Internal Revenue Service is looking to tax early adopters of cryptocurrencies who profited from it. Now the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has set its sights on the early adopters of cryptocurrencies, particularly those who earned from the blockchain technology. The IRS is concerned that between 2013 and 2015, only… – Continue reading
Non-compliance “interventions” by the Irish Revenue yielded EUR492m (USD594m) last year, according to the latest figures published by the tax authority. Revenue has published its preliminary results for 2017. They show that Revenue completed 646,633 compliance interventions during the year. There were 24 criminal convictions for serious tax and duty… – Continue reading
More than 100 companies with international operations are being asked for the first time to give the Tax Authority marks for its performance. Taxpayers in Israel rarely have the opportunity to rate the performance of the Israel Tax Authority. Even if they did, they would be apprehensive about doing so… – Continue reading
A joint investigation by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and related agencies has led to the retrieval of nearly Bt9 billion in luxury car tax and a case against tax-avoiding importers would soon be submitted for prosecution, DSI deputy chief Pol Lt-Colonel Korrawat Panprapakorn said on Tuesday. Korrawat reported… – Continue reading
‘Globes Israel’ claims that a secret department was set up in France’s tax authority specifically to investigate French Jews for tax evasion. The French have set up a secret department within their tax authority that employs 20 Hebrew speakers in order to find out if Jews are trying to evade… – Continue reading
On December 15, 2017, the CRA released the final version of Information Circular IC 00-1R6 – Voluntary Disclosures Program (“VDP”) for income tax, after receiving and considering community input on the June 2017 draft version. This article summarizes the important differences between the draft and the final ICs and discusses… – Continue reading
Introduction As the government continues to grapple with a budget deficit and strained public finances, there remains considerable pressure on HMRC to crack-down not only on tax evasion, which is illegal, but tax avoidance, which HMRC refers to as “bending the rules of the tax system to gain a tax… – Continue reading
On December 13, 2017, the Indian income-tax department reportedly conducted surveys at bitcoin exchanges across the country to assess the risk of individuals who may have evaded taxes. Surveying Indian Exchanges Typically such surveys are conducted by the department without prior warning and include relatively extensive scrutiny of the assessee’s… – Continue reading
The Cypriot tax authority has extended until January 15, 2018, the deadline for multinational corporations to submit their notifications concerning country-by-country reporting for 2017. The deadline had been December 31. In December 2016, Cyprus issued a decree introducing CbC reporting obligations for multinational enterprises with consolidated group revenue of EUR750m… – Continue reading
South Africa compared favourably in the World Bank and PWC’s recently released report titled Paying Taxes 2018, coming in 46th overall. However, in respect of time to complete a company income tax audit (31,6 weeks), the country falls short of regional and global averages (21,8 weeks and 27,3 weeks respectively)…. – Continue reading
Ahead of the CRS agreement, the procedure enables Israelis to disclose unreported income without facing criminal proceedings. As reported last month by “Globes,” ahead of the anticipated implementation of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) agreement for automatic exchanges of information between tax authorities, and given the Israel Tax Authority’s stepped… – Continue reading
On 11 September 2017, His Honour Judge Colin Bishopp handed down his judgement in the case of The Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs –v- (1) Root2tax Limited (2) Root3tax Limited (in liquidation) [2017] UKFTT 0696 (TC). The Root2 judgement concerned HMRC’s application to the First Tier Tax Tribunal… – Continue reading
The source said the Milan prosecutors suspected Gucci may have paid taxes on profits generated by sales in Italy in another country with a more favourable tax regime. MILAN – Italian tax police have visited the offices of fashion company Gucci for fiscal checks as part of an investigation by… – Continue reading
Island tax expert Greg Jones has issued a warning saying he believes the UK taxman has ‘bulked up’ and is starting to ‘flex his muscles.’ Mr Jones, a director of KPMG at its offices in Athol Street, Douglas, has analysed the UK Budget in this special report for Business News:… – Continue reading
CYBERJAYA: The Inland Revenue Board (IRB) is in the midst of auditing 15 banks with offshore transactions in an effort to collect hundreds of millions of ringgit worth of taxes. IRB deputy chief executive officer (compliance) Abdul Manaf Dim said the auditing processes of the banks nationwide were among the… – Continue reading
Tax defaulters and prospective taxpayers have been advised to seize the opportunity provided by the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) or risk being exposed through data and a series of information-sharing agreements to which Nigeria is a signatory. The advice was given in Lagos yesterday at a one-day… – Continue reading
The UK government is planning to extend the time limit to 12 years for HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to investigate all offshore tax non-compliance, according to documents released as part of the Budget. A Treasury document entitled ‘Tackling tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance’ states that the government will consult… – Continue reading
If you are going to work in Luxembourg, you will probably have some queries on the tax system of the country. Do you have to pay tax in the Grand-Duchy? Which income will be taxed? What are the different types of taxes and rates that apply? To find answers to… – Continue reading
The Davis Tax Committee (the Committee) released a further report on “Tax Administration” on 13 November 2017 as part of the final six reports that were deliverable by the Committee. The report has five chapters covering: Governance of the South African Revenue Service Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Treatment… – Continue reading
UK Offshore tax evaders face much higher penalties for non-compliance under new HM Revenue and Customs rules. The legislation requires those with undeclared offshore tax liabilities to disclose them to HMRC before the 30th of September next year. When the Right to Correct rules come into force, offenders can expect… – Continue reading
114 taxpayers in Canada’s voluntary disclosure program say that the Israeli bank helped them evade taxes. As if the headache of the investigation by US authorities were not enough, Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI), managed by CEO Arik Pinto, discovered two days ago that Canada was also taking aim at it…. – Continue reading
Prosecutors and investigators from tax authorities have raided the offices of several senior officials from German carmaker Volkswagen. The move was part of an effort to scrutinize the firm in a tax evasion probe. Investigators on Tuesday night searched the offices of VW finance chief Frank Witter and human resources… – Continue reading
New Zealand’s new Revenue Minister, Stuart Nash, has said that the country will reduce or eliminate the goods and services tax exemption for low-value imports. Presently goods worth no more than either NZD226 (USD155.6) or NZD400 (depending on if they are subject to duty) are not subject to goods and… – Continue reading
Even Israelis residing overseas for three years are being required to pay tax in Israel on their income during that period. Quite a few Israelis who emigrated from Israel, lived abroad for certain periods, and did not report their income there, claiming that they are not residents of Israel, have… – Continue reading
Ghana is considering promulgating laws to criminalize the abuse of transfer pricing in its petroleum sector, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum Commission, Mr. Egbert Faible, has disclosed. According to Mr. Faible, the abuse of transfer pricing in the country’s budding petroleum sector was worrying and there was… – Continue reading
What more could the Indonesian tax authority do than simply pledge to investigate and verify information on taxpayers who sheltered their wealth secretly in offshore tax havens, as revealed last week through the leaked Paradise Papers. But the stated commitment is meaningless unless the government acts quickly and firmly to… – Continue reading
Goltsblat BLP advises that the Federal Tax Service (FTS) has approved BVI’s removal from the list of countries (jurisdictions) not exchanging information with the Russian Federation for tax purposes from 1 January 2018 (the relevant order is pending registration with the Ministry of Justice). A country’s removal from the FTS… – Continue reading
Goltsblat BLP advises that the Federal Tax Service (FTS) has approved BVI’s removal from the list of countries (jurisdictions) not exchanging information with the Russian Federation for tax purposes from 1 January 2018 (the relevant order is pending registration with the Ministry of Justice). A country’s removal from the FTS… – Continue reading
The EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council has adopted a Directive to create a new system to resolve double taxation disputes between EU Member States. This measure will afford taxpayers a transparent process with clear deadlines applicable to tax authorities involved to resolve cross-border double tax disputes within the EU…. – Continue reading
The difference between the tax due and that collected by the UK tax authority, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) – known as the “tax gap” – fell to a record low of six percent in the fiscal year 2015-16, according to official statistics released on October 26, 2017. HMRC pointed… – Continue reading
HMRC has warned convenience retailers to “play by the tax rules” or face the consequences as new stats show a disproportionate amount of tax evasion is committed by convenience stores. While accounting for less than 1% of businesses, convenience stores and newsagents now account more than 6% of all incidents… – Continue reading
