Majilis, a lower chamber of Kazakhstan’s Parliament has ratified the Agreement to Avoid Double Taxation between Kazakhstan and Qatar, Tengrinews reports citing Bnews.kz. Double taxation occurs when tax is levied by two or more jurisdictions on the same declared income in the case of income taxes, asset in the case… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI, DEC 25: India will look at removing Cyprus from the blacklist of countries that do not share details about tax evaders after examining information given the island nation. India had blacklisted Cyprus last year for not sharing information about tax evaders. “They (Cyprus) have given some information. We are… – Continue reading
For centuries the inner workings of the Vatican Bank have been cloaked in secrecy. That was before Pope Francis, who has pledged to restore public confidence in the administration of the Roman Catholic Church. This week we learned the United States and the Holy See have brokered a FATCA agreement… – Continue reading
Nilesh Ashar, partner and head of Tax for KPMG in the UAE, analyses the impact of investment regulations and tax laws on foreign businesses foraying into the Middle East. In the last decade, the Middle East region has witnessed significant economic growth, primarily driven by the surge in oil revenues…. – Continue reading
As part of the Indonesian Government’s drive to improve tax administration and compliance, the Ministry of Finance recently announced that, following a proposal from the Director General of Taxation (DGT), it has placed a temporary ban on overseas travel by senior personnel of 147 companies and 21 individuals. The action… – Continue reading
The Budget pensions overhaul has hit the overseas pension market as new rules have been proposed which would remove the requirement for qualifying recognised overseas pension schemes (Qrops) to provide an income in retirement. Current rules around Qrops require that 70% of the amount transferred from a UK scheme has… – Continue reading
Japan has remained a cornerstone of Pakistan’s economy for the past many years. Japanese Companies have invested in all sectors across Pakistan. Be it auto, trading, manufacturing, infrastructure development, packaging, steel manufacturing, indenting, etc a large number of Japanese Companies have a strong presence in Pakistan. Pakistan’s Investment and Corporate… – Continue reading
BARBADOS AND THE Republic of Rwanda have taken a giant step in the strengthening of their bilateral relations. This has come with the signing of a Double Taxation Agreement on the Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income. It took place on… – Continue reading
The decision by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the possible future adoption by parliament of the bill dissolving a convention between the governments of Ukraine and Cyprus on the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of tax evasion regarding income tax and the related protocol does not… – Continue reading
Jakarta. A leading business lobby with strong ties to the administration of President Joko Widodo has called for a tax amnesty, in which the authorities will waive off past taxes and penalties to conglomerates and individuals parking billions of dollars worth of funds overseas, in a bid to reinvest that… – Continue reading
*Ernst & Young LLP, New York, NY The BEPS beat plays on. Congratulations to the OECD for meeting (mostly) the ambitious goals for release of their reports on seven action items in September 2014 – right on schedule on September 16. The documents released on September 16 relate to Action… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The finance ministry is planning to rush through a Cabinet note seeking permission to sign an accord with the US on exchanging investment information before a December 31 deadline, ahead of President Barack Obama’s visit to Delhi at the end of January. The government has got the goahead… – Continue reading
More countries are requiring an exchange of client information In 2014, we saw a marked increase in transparency regarding foreign assets. The United States took the lead, and other countries followed suit. It looks like we’ve reached the tipping point, that is, “the magic moment when an idea, trend, or… – Continue reading
The Embassy of the State of Qatar in Banjul Friday joined the people of Qatar to commemorate the National Day of Qatar, which is on 18 December every year. Qatar National Day is an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the tremendous efforts made by Qataris’ ancestors, who endured severe hardships… – Continue reading
The CBDT has signed its first bilateral advance pricing agreement or APA with Japan. The APA regime was introduced in 2012 and it allows taxpayers and tax authorities to determine in advance, an appropriate transfer pricing methodology for a given set of transactions. Payaswini Upadhyay has the exclusive details. The… – Continue reading
Two case studies on how one can use the exemption method or the credit route Homi Mistry December 20, 2014 Last Updated at 22:06 IST Imagine this. You are an Indian working for one of the IT majors and have been recently transferred to the UK. Six months into the… – Continue reading
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan and South Korea are now more prepared to sign economic agreements, such as investment insurance and double taxation prevention pacts, South Korea’s representative to Taiwan Cho Baek-sang said yesterday. Cho made the comment at the first Taiwan-South Korea humanities exchange conference, held by the de facto… – Continue reading
TAIPEI, Taiwan — An agreement signed by Taiwan and Austria on avoiding double taxation and preventing tax evasion is expected to take effect next month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) announced yesterday. The latest announcement came after the Austrian parliament approved the pact on Dec. 17, MOFA’s Department of… – Continue reading
A discussion document on making dispute resolution mechanisms in international tax disputes more effective is does not provide enough answers to the questions it raises, an expert has said.19 Dec 2014 Tax Disputes and Investigations Tax Corporate tax International tax Europe Asia Pacific Middle East Africa It is “a disappointing… – Continue reading
There has been a recent surge in anti-tax inversion legislation discouraging companies attempting to shift corporate subsidiaries or headquarters to low-tax or tax-free countries. The issue was subjected to a great deal of publicity in April 2014 during the failed hostile takeover by Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) for AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) when Pfizer… – Continue reading
Taipei, Dec. 18 (CNA) Trade and investment between Taiwan and Austria is expected to get a boost when their double taxation avoidance agreement signed earlier this year takes effect next year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday. The agreement signed in July was passed by the Austrian parliament on… – Continue reading
Advance Agreements The so-called tax rulings and advance pricing agreements will be formalised by the introduction of appropriate provisions in the Luxembourg tax laws. By this means, Luxembourg will be able to offer as from 1 January 2015 a unified system providing taxpayers with legal certainty and a consistent and egalitarian… – Continue reading
The United States Council for International Business (USCIB) has warned that the United Kingdom’s proposal to impose a new tax on so-called “diverted profits” (DPT) would, if implemented, have a major impact on US-based multinational companies. The rules, contained in UK Government’s recent Autumn Statement, propose a 25 percent DPT… – Continue reading
Ukraine’s cabinet is to approve a bill to dissolve a convention made with Cyprus on the avoidance of double taxation, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk reportedly said on Wednesday. But sources in Nicosia said “it is not a final decision” and that the reported decision was “unexpected”. The new double… – Continue reading
Saudi Arabia will soon sign air transport agreements with 11 countries including Tanzania, Cote d’Ivoire, Zimbabwe, Uruguay and Mauritius as the Council of Ministers on Monday given the go-ahead to the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA). The Cabinet, chaired by Crown Prince Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense,… – Continue reading
An agreement to help crack down on cross-border tax evasion is being worked on by Singapore and Indonesia. The two nations are working on implementing the framework for the automatic exchange of information (AEOI) on tax matters, as they look to keep improving trade and investment ties. The move was… – Continue reading
December 17: The Dutch Ministry of Finance announced that a new regulation for the avoidance of double taxation between the Netherlands and Curaçao is expected to be effective beginning 1 January 2016. The Dutch government bill concerning this regulation is pending consideration by the Lower House. Once approved, the bill… – Continue reading
TOKYO, Dec 17 (KUNA) — Japan and Qatar have reached a substantive agreement on a bilateral tax treaty that will help businesses and investors avoid double taxation involving the two countries, the Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday. The agreement aims to clarify the taxation on cross-border investment and economic activities between… – Continue reading
To check illicit financial flows across borders, the government is renegotiating bilateral treaties with many countries to limit tax benefits to genuine investments and curb the routing of Indian money to safe havens, a senior Finance Ministry official said on Wednesday. While noting that the quantum of domestic black money… – Continue reading
Think tank targets key aspects of Republic’s role in multinationals’ tax affairs Key features of Ireland’s role in the tax affairs of major technology companies such as Google and Microsoft are being targeted by the OECD’s base-erosion and profit-shifting (Beps) project, it has emerged. Ideas being worked on by the… – Continue reading
Singapore’s Ministry of Finance say both parties enjoy “excellent cooperation” regarding tax matters, and have agreed to update the existing Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement as the next step. SINGAPORE: The Republic and Indonesia will be looking to increase cooperation on the sharing of tax information in the coming days,… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Bilateral investment treaties that the government will enter into from now on will have a provision preventing foreign investors to drag India to arbitration on any issues that have been settled by a judicial authority. Wiser from being dragged to arbitration in numerous cases, such as the Vodafone… – Continue reading
Defending the interests of the Swiss banking industry has not been the easiest challenge in recent years, particularly when it comes to tax. The role has fallen for the last five years to Patrick Odier, chairman of the Swiss Bankers’ Association (SBA), which has 317 institutional members and about 18,500… – Continue reading
On December 1, 2014, Treasury and the IRS issued Announcement 2014-38 which provides relief to those countries which have reached FATCA Intergovernmental Agreements (IGAs) in substance, but have not signed such agreements. Background In 2012, Treasury and the IRS released Model 1 and Model 2 IGAs to implement the Foreign… – Continue reading
(MENAFN – Arab News) Ernst & Young one of the world’s leading professional services organizations hosted the 12th annual tax seminar on recent updates on Saudi Arabian zakat regulations and corporate income tax Law and its bye-laws in Jeddah on Thursday. Over 100 executives bankers and accountants attended this Seminar…. – Continue reading
Something strange happened in 2014 — Americans became very interested in corporate tax policy. It started in the spring, when U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which produces blockbuster drugs like Lipitor and Viagra, floated a possible merger with its British-based rival AstraZeneca. Normally a merger of that size would make a… – Continue reading
In prior advisories, we have discussed the new withholding tax law commonly known as “FATCA” (standing for “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act”). (See “FATCA’s July 1 Effective Date Has Arrived; Last-Minute Guidance Has Been Issued” and “Last Substantial Package of FATCA Regulations Released; Deadlines Approaching”.) To help implement FATCA, the… – Continue reading
Law360, New York (December 15, 2014, 5:52 PM ET) — Coming guidance from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s base erosion and profit shifting project on the implementation of the country-by-country reporting of financial information for transfer-pricing purposes will seek to make those reports as broadly accessible to governments… – Continue reading
The government’s plans to implement a Diverted Profits Tax (DPT) have been questioned by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of taxation at the body, said nobody wants profits that should be subject to UK tax “escape the net”. As a result, he believes it is… – Continue reading
Gains derived from the sale of Mexican public debt instruments listed abroad between two foreign tax residents will soon be exempt from Mexican tax. Currently, for Mexican income tax purposes, any gains derived from the transfer of publicly-traded bonds, securities and other credit instruments are treated as interest. If the… – Continue reading
The wise thing is to forget the past, bring reforms to prevent generation of black money Considering other man’s point of view is Decency — George Orwell This quality seems to be in short supply in India although it is the most needed even to understand any black money retrieval…. – Continue reading
IN TAX, the latest global buzzword is “BEPS” or base erosion and profit shifting. BEPS refers to the practice of multinational corporations (MNCs) of shifting profits from high tax jurisdictions to low tax jurisdictions as a tax mitigation strategy. In February 2013, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)… – Continue reading
Around the world, countries are desperately seeking ways to stop multinational companies from earning profits within their borders without paying taxes on them, while stashing trillions in tax havens like the Cayman Islands. The British government, after a search, says it knows how to tax the profits Google earns in… – Continue reading
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is suffering massive revenue loss of Rs 361 billion per annum on account of estimated tax expenditure in direct taxes, ie, equivalent to 1.6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a result of exemptions and concessions to various sectors. Former Finance Minister… – Continue reading
Dubai: Hong Kong and the UAE will soon start negotiations to sign an investor protection agreement on a bi-lateral basis, John C Tsang, Financial Secretary of Hong Kong told Gulf News during his visit to the UAE. “The agreement will create a lot more comfort for people who are investing… – Continue reading
Just how the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is impacting on the lives of Americans in sometimes unintended is illustrated in the tax troubles of the Mayor of London. Boris Johnson, a former British MP, has dual British and US nationality. He was born in New York but… – Continue reading
The Income Tax Department has informed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Black Money that prosecution proceedings for non-furnishing of account details by Indians stashing black money abroad are in progress in 27 cases (under Section 276 D of the I-T Act) and has even filed a case in court… – Continue reading
Fiji is looking at reviewing its existing taxation agreements with other countries in the coming months. Fiji Revenue and Customs Authority chief executive, Jitoko Tikolevu, said these reviews are long overdue. As a consequence, negotiations for the review of Fiji’s Double Tax Agreement (DTA) with Malaysia was completed this week…. – Continue reading
MONTREAL – The problem is not that Bombardier Inc. played a complex shell game since at least 2010 by refinancing and redirecting US$500 million of its financing activities to Luxembourg, a notorious tax haven. It’s that it does so legally — and is hurting its home country despite being one… – Continue reading
There’s big news from across the pond. The U.K. government’s Autumn Statement (formerly known as the pre-Budget report), released December 3, promises to change how multinational corporations will be taxed – and offers a cautionary tale for would-be U.S. tax reformers. Britain will introduce a “diverted profits” tax, targeting corporations… – Continue reading
