Muscat: Tax authorities in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are starting to use sophisticated digital platforms that require taxpayers to submit data in real time or near-real time prompting companies in the GCC to enhance their digital capabilities. This is changing the way businesses collect, format and report tax information,… – Continue reading
Speakers corner: Delano asked Raymond Krawczykowski, partner and tax leader at Deloitte Luxembourg, “In your view, what have been the key changes in EU & Luxembourg tax rules in 2017, and what major shifts could be in store for 2018-19?” His response was clear: Beps and Atad. The Base Erosion… – Continue reading
Pakatan Harapan had unveiled an election manifesto earlier this month stating that they will restore the Sales and Service Tax (SST) after abolishing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) within the first 100 days of its administration. While the Prime Minister had pointed out earlier that Malaysia will only be… – Continue reading
European Union countries have agreed on new rules to crack down on cross-border schemes that help companies evade taxes. Tax professionals who fail to inform authorities about these ploys will be hit with penalties. European Union finance ministers on Tuesday backed transparency measures requiring financial advisors, accountants, lawyers and banks… – Continue reading
Egypt is to receive international support to implement new measures in the area of tax transparency and information exchange. Unveiled at a meeting on international tax reform in Cairo on March 7, the OECD and Egypt agreed a new project entitled “Enhancing Domestic Resource Mobilization in Egypt through a better… – Continue reading
According to Reuters, the European Union will soon remove Saint Lucia, along with the Marshall Islands and Bahrain, from its blacklist of countries deemed to be tax havens. The decision was made by the EU Code of Conduct Group of tax experts from the 28 member states following “specific commitments”… – Continue reading
THE GOVERNMENT recently held bilateral talks with the Code of Conduct Group (COCG) to discuss tax transparency and fair taxation in the territory. A press release from the Office of the Premier issued on Tuesday (February 27), said Premier Sharlene Cartwright Robinson and other TCI representatives met with the COCG… – Continue reading
EU MEPs have supported plans to require intermediaries promoting aggressive, cross-border tax schemes to report those plans to the authorities. Under the proposal, service providers who design or promote such plans would be required to provide details of their schemes in a central directory. The disclosed information would then be… – Continue reading
The OECD has recently launched a consultation on tackling the circumvention of its latest international tax transparency standard, the Common Reporting Standard, through the use by individuals of residency by investment (RBI), or citizenship by investment (CBI) schemes. These schemes typically entitle individuals to reside or gain citizenship through making… – Continue reading
Hong Kong (HKSAR) – The Inland Revenue (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 (the Ordinance) was gazetted today (February 2). The technical amendments on automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters (AEOI) (i.e. clauses 5 to 11) under the Ordinance will come into operation on January 1, 2019, while other provisions… – Continue reading
VALLETTA, Jan.11 (Xinhua) — The 2017 International Tax Co-Operation Report published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)showed Malta to be a tax compliant jurisdiction ,the Maltese Finance Ministry said on Thursday. “This is exactly what we have been stating all along in the face of unfair criticism… – Continue reading
HAMILTON, Bermuda (CMC) — Bermuda has signed a new tax agreement with the United States that premier David Burt says demonstrates the island’s continued commitment to transparency. Burt, who left here over the weekend for Jamaica, said the Country by Country Competent Authority Agreement signified that the PLP government had… – Continue reading
[Updated] The Government of Bermuda said they note that the Economic and Financial Affairs Council [ECOFIN] has “reaffirmed Bermuda’s status as a cooperative tax jurisdiction.” Premier David Burt said, “Once again the EU has recognized Bermuda’s status as a cooperative jurisdiction, despite the interest surrounding a hack on a global… – Continue reading
Bermuda and the UK recently signed an agreement providing for the automatic exchange of country-by-country reports. Bermuda is the first UK Overseas Territory to sign a CbC Competent Authority Agreement with the UK, which enables the automatic reporting of corporate income on a country-by-country basis for UK-related transfer pricing enforcement… – Continue reading
The OECD’s Global Forum recently adopted a plan of action to help developing countries participate in and benefit from the automatic exchange of financial account information for tax purposes. Under the plan, developing countries have been invited to undergo a preliminary assessment of their capacity to implement the Common Reporting… – Continue reading
A major new global transparency measure aimed at curbing cross-border tax evasion by requiring countries to share information on the wealth of each other’s nationals could be undermined by the abuse of residency- and citizenship-for-sale schemes. Tax justice campaigners say that some of these schemes are already being marketed as… – Continue reading
The Isle of Man’s critics ignore the great progress it has made in keeping its business above board. Last week the island received a ringing endorsement from the OECD. We have retained the top ’compliant’ rating by the global body reviewing tax transparency – one of only six countries worldwide…. – Continue reading
“Reportage about hacked data from global law firm Appleby has highlighted the substantial lack of media understanding of offshore investment structures and Bermuda’s long-time reputation for tax transparency and cooperation with international authorities,” the Bermuda Business Development Agency said. “Bermuda is committed to the exchange of relevant information to legitimate… – Continue reading
The commitment comes amid ongoing controversy over the use of complex tax arrangements following the Paradise Papers leak. The islands of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man have signed up to a joint commitment with the British and Irish governments to tackle tax evasion and abusive tax avoidance. The… – Continue reading
French finance minister Bruno Le Maire has urged countries to approve tougher sanctions against jurisdictions that do not adhere to standards in tax transparency in the wake of the Paradise Papers leak. Le Maire told reporters ahead of a meeting of European Union finance ministers in Brussels that such sanctions… – Continue reading
T&T faces possible sanctions after the Global Forum recognised this country as the only jurisdiction not considered to have made sufficient progress towards satisfactory implementation of the agreed tax transparency standards. Speaking at a media conference on Friday afternoon, Attorney General Faris Al Rawi said this has negative implications for… – Continue reading
The Irish Government has published an updated version of its International Tax Strategy, which provides an overview of the steps taken to meet international standards and sets out the Government’s position on global reform efforts. In his foreword to the Tax Strategy paper, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said: “In Ireland… – Continue reading
Private-bank assets held by StanChart in Channel island tax haven were moved to S’pore in 2015: report Singapore THE Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Monday declared its firm commitment to keeping the country’s financial centre clean and safeguarded from illicit activities. Singapore’s central bank and financial regulatory authority said… – Continue reading
Cisco Korea may have to share its key financial information starting next year as the government aggressively pushes to tackle the lack of transparency and tax-dodging practices by foreign enterprises, according to industry sources, Tuesday. “Though there still is much to be seen about the application of the revision, it… – Continue reading
(CNS Business): Premier Alden McLaughlin and Financial Services Minister Tara Rivers lobbied EU officials last week in an effort to keep the Cayman Islands off the latest Brussels list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions. During the visit to the European capital, the premier said, the delegation found that EU decision makers… – Continue reading
The 30 September 2017 is an important date for HMRC and its “relentless” clampdown on global tax evasion. First, it marks the coming into force of the landmark corporate offence of failure to prevent tax evasion under Part 3 of the Criminal Finances Act 2017. Secondly, it is the commencement… – Continue reading
On 29 August 2017, Greenland officially joined the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes. Greenland thereby declared its commitment to implement both the international standard of exchange of information on request and the standard on automatic exchange of financial account information. On 8 February 2017… – Continue reading
Commissioner-General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Godfrey Statia warned Guyanese businessmen against offshore tax evasion, saying that global systems are being increasingly networked to weed out tax cheats and report them to their home-countries. Addressing a luncheon organised by the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) at the Georgetown… – Continue reading
As of August 2017, 102 international Jurisdictions are committed to the implementation timelines of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). There are 49 Jurisdictions that are committed to the first exchange during 2017 and 53 Jurisdictions for 2018. The OECD is taking extra precautions to ensure that reportable financial information regarding… – Continue reading
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said tax incentives would help Hong Kong compete with other fund management centres The government will examine the existing tax concessions applicable to the fund industry to make Hong Kong into a diversified and competitive international fund management centre against its global counterparts, said the… – Continue reading
Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Sushil Chandra on Wednesday said that the tax exchange agreements with other countries was resulting in information pouring in at a fast pace, thus there was no escaping for the multi-national companies (MNCs) from fair taxation. “We have got wide (tax) information from… – Continue reading
Top ‘compliant’ rating given to Ireland, Norway and Mauritius Ireland has received one of the highest international ratings on tax transparency from the OECD. The organisation’s Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information is part of the implementation of the common reporting standards in the wake of the global… – Continue reading
Bill would require private companies with more than $100m in turnover to publicly release tax information Six hundred of Australia’s biggest private companies could finally be forced to publish their high-level tax information, under a new push by Labor to repair a notorious piece of legislation. Labor will introduce a… – Continue reading
Amazon has refused to reveal how much it paid in total UK tax last year after it emerged it actually got a rebate of £1.3million. The online giant, which three years ago pledged to stop using a controversial tax avoidance scheme, admitted it had paid just £7million in corporation tax… – Continue reading
In an effort to create a ‘level playing field’, Asian economies are committing to new standards of transparency At the risk of losing some foreign investors, Asian jurisdictions are stepping up efforts to combat corporate tax avoidance to meet new global transparency standards. More than a dozen Asia-Pacific jurisdictions have… – Continue reading
Montenegro has shown its commitment to improving compliance with international tax standards. The FATCA Agreement is yet another example of a set of steps taken towards broadening the cooperation between the US and Montenegro and following the international standards of cross-border tax assistance. The US Ambassador, Margaret Ann Uyehara and… – Continue reading
Switzerland has signed an agreement on the automatic exchange of tax information with Singapore, and is this week hosting a working meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes. The agreement with Singapore was signed by the Deputy State Secretary of Switzerland’s State Secretariat… – Continue reading
The European Union has published a letter to EU heads of state, laying down a direct challenge to the Trump administration, on the issues of tax avoidance ahead of the G20 summit this weekend. The joint letter, sent by European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council president Donald Tusk… – Continue reading
The country has been rated as ‘Largely Compliant’ by the OECD-hosted Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF). Due to the rating, the country will not be included in the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions that will be prepared for… – Continue reading
A number of territories that had failed to demonstrate they have complied with international tax transparency standards have had their ratings upgraded by the OECD, following “fast-track” peer reviews. It said that the territories’ frameworks were reevaluated to assess whether recent progress would result in an upgrade to their ratings… – Continue reading
The OECD’s body for assessing compliance with international tax transparency standards plans to tell an upcoming summit in Hamburg, Germany, that Trinidad and Tobago is the world’s only tax haven. Group of 20 country leaders meeting last year in China asked that body, the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange… – Continue reading
Dutch tax authorities will publicly disclose the type and number of rulings awarded to corporations every year, the country’s deputy finance minister pledged. Eric Wiebes said during a June 1 plenary debate in the House of Representatives that he would require the country’s tax administration to issue an annual report… – Continue reading
At the end of March 2017, the Ministry of Finance called for public discussion on a draft bill (the “Bill”) amending the Bulgarian Tax and Social Insurance Procedural Code (the “Code”). The Bill seeks to improve administrative cooperation in the Bulgarian tax sector. The first set of amendments relates to… – Continue reading
Panama must continue to improve tax transparency and how it exchanges information relevant in tax matters to sustain growth in its economy, the International Monetary Fund has said. In the concluding statement for its Article IV visit, warned that the countries shift toward “increasing trade restrictions could lead to a… – Continue reading
The State Administration of Taxation (SAT) is about to hold Chinese citizens’ foreign account information in 101 countries and regions, as the regulation on the localization of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) in China was put into effect on January 1, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday. Under the… – Continue reading
The comprehensive Double Taxation Convention between Uruguay and the United Kingdom has taken effect from 1 January 2017. The United Kingdom and Uruguay signed a convention to avoid double taxation and prevent fiscal evasion related to taxes on income and on capital on 24 February 2016 in Montevideo. The document… – Continue reading
A parliamentary drive to force greater transparency on the UK’s offshore tax havens is being led by former Commons spending watchdog chairwoman Dame Margaret Hodge and ex-international development secretary Andrew Mitchell. The pair, backed by scores of MPs from across the Commons and supported by an alliance of charities, are… – Continue reading
Two reports on company taxation show that more than a third of the largest companies operating in Australia paid no tax in 2014–15 and that multinational tax evasion cost an estimated $4.8 billion that year. These reports show the fraud of the claims being made by the Australian government and… – Continue reading
Finance minister Bob Richards has expressed dismay at Oxfam’s claim that Bermuda is the world’s worst corporate tax haven. And the Progressive Labour Party joined him to condemn the report as “extremely disappointing”. Mr Richards pointed to “serial errors” in the global charity’s report on offshore centres, which found that… – Continue reading
A showdown between the Australian Taxation Office and the nation’s largest companies including Chevron, Crown and BHP Billiton is looming as the tax man hits seven large companies with tax bills amounting to $2 billion. On Friday, the ATO released its corporate tax transparency report for 2014-15, which includes limited… – Continue reading
