Aparajita Basak, the manager, of research analytics, innovation and knowledge centre at Frost & Sullivan, talks about the use of tax havens across the world for Indian black money. What kind of role do tax havens play in black money in terms of Indian companies and individuals? Across the world,… – Continue reading
Investigators for the Australian Tax Office and their lawyers were told by a judge last year that if they travelled to the Cayman Islands they could be locked up. A year earlier the Tax Office had suffered a setback. It lost a case in the Grand Court of the Cayman… – Continue reading
Delhi Tribunal holds that the mere fact that one of the steps in a transaction resulted in capital loss for the taxpayer would not make the series of transactions a sham. Karnataka High Court holds that shares bought at a premium, and sold at a lower value to individuals (ex-employees… – Continue reading
The hollowing out of tax collected for public purposes by rich and poor nations is not confined to technology and mining companies, according to a major leak of secret tax agreements covering more than 340 companies around the world. The documents, published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, include… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: After reaching a significant breakthrough in information exchange on bank accounts with Switzerland, the Narendra Modi government has now turned the heat on European tax haven Cyprus as part of its fight against black money. The government wants to drop a provision in the tax treaty between the… – Continue reading
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) – Barbados says it seeking to hold talks with Colombia on a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA). Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development Minister Donville Inniss, said that although Bridgetown had recently initialled a TIEA with Bogota, neither side considered the TIEA an alternative to… – Continue reading
BEPS Action 10: Proposed modifications to Chapter VII of the Transfer Pricing Guidelines relating to low value-adding intra-group services On 3 November 2014, the OECD, as part of its work on the Action Plan to address Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (‘BEPS’), released a Discussion Draft in relation to Action… – Continue reading
After the US bailed out the insurance conglomerate AIG in 2008, the company’s employees kept to business as usual—which included setting up complex tax structures to avoid taxes in Europe and Japan. In 2008, the company was on the brink of a bankruptcy that would have created huge losses throughout… – Continue reading
The black money brouhaha is turning rapidly into a whitewash special. Part of the first report of August 2014 submitted by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the issue of black money stashed in foreign banks reveals very little fire behind all the smoke. It says that… – Continue reading
G20 leaders are under pressure to go further in their efforts to crack down on tax avoidance after the revelation that thousands of companies, including several major Australian firms and multinationals operating in Australia, have legally avoided tax with complicated deals negotiated through Luxembourg. The chairman of a Senate inquiry… – Continue reading
Americans in Canadian plans no longer have to fill out paperwork to qualify for tax deferral The Internal Revenue Service recently simplified the filing procedures for Americans with Canadian registered retirement plans and allowed for those plans to qualify as “tax free” savings. Under the change, the IRS said that… – Continue reading
Beijing (ANTARA News) – The Chinese government has agreed to exempt Garuda Indonesia from business tax after the national flag carrier flies to China for ten years. The agreement will take effect next year, Indonesian Ambassador to China and Mongolia Soegeng Rahardjo said here on Wednesday. Under article 8 of… – Continue reading
The Writ Petition filed by the NDA Government in mid-October consists of two parts. The first part deals with the issue of Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement [DTAA], the information obtained from Liechtenstein through Germany and confidentiality obligations of Indian Government under the said DTAA. I had dealt extensively on this… – Continue reading
The Australian tax office wants comments on a 2016 plan for buyers of some property worth more than AUS$2.5m sold by foreigners to withhold 10% for the tax office Overseas owners selling prime property in Australia may have 10% taken out as part of the deal, under tax proposals being… – Continue reading
Tax treaty rules on ‘permanent establishment’ should be changed in order to ensure companies are taxed in the jurisdiction where their economic activity takes place, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has said.05 Nov 2014 Corporate tax Tax Tax Disputes and Investigations TMT Advanced Manufacturing & Technology Services… – Continue reading
Tax avoidance, or the use of legal arrangements to reduce tax, is rife. According to the Australian Tax Office (ATO), Australian companies in 2012 sent almost A$60 billion to related parties in tax havens. Singapore and Ireland topped the list of countries where businesses send their money. A recent report… – Continue reading
Switzerland’s tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) with Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man have entered into force and will be effective from January 1, 2015. The Swiss Federal Council announced on November 3 that the treaties entered into force on October 14, 2014. They are the first of Switzerland’s… – Continue reading
Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman William Tseng (曾銘宗) is leading a group of officials on a trip to the US in an effort to confirm details of the US’ Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and to ink a tax treaty with Washington. Officials said Vice Minister of Finance Wu Tang-chieh… – Continue reading
ICC has expressed concern that the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Action Plan on combating Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“BEPS”), mandated by the G20, may inadvertently incur severe collateral damage on compliant taxpaying companies of all sizes as a result of well-meaning measures undertaken unilaterally by states… – Continue reading
High Court refuses special leave application in capital gains tax dispute The High Court has refused the special leave application by the taxpayer in a case involving the liability to capital gains tax (CGT) of a ‘limited partnership’ formed in the Cayman Islands. The application for special leave followed the… – Continue reading
Public institutions providing finance to businesses in developing countries are channelling billions of euros through secretive tax havens, a report published today (4 November) has found. Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) in Europe and the World Bank’s lending arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), are playing an increasingly dominant role in… – Continue reading
The taxation of a person is based on two principles: Source and Residence. A person for tax purposes includes an individual, trust, company, partnership and any form of business arrangement one chooses to take on. It should be noted that with globalisation, there is a constant mix of these two… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI/BERNE: Accounts inherited from family members as also from previously-constituted trusts or companies have come to the fore in a big way, as India seeks further details from Switzerland about those suspected to have ‘unaccounted’ wealth parked in the Swiss banks. Hundreds of individuals and entities, including 627 names… – Continue reading
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said that the issue over the disclosure of the names of those who have illegally stashed their black money abroad is not a debate over the admission of confidential information but is a matter pertaining to the unauthorized expose of the names in… – Continue reading
PARIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–On September 2, 2014, under the aegis of the President of the Commercial Court of Paris, LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton (“LVMH”) and Hermès International (“Hermès”) entered into a settlement agreement (the “Settlement Agreement”) aimed at restoring a climate of positive relations between them. “Communiqué – Distribution exceptionnelle… – Continue reading
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) — Leaders of Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam expressed satisfaction Monday with the progress in bilateral cooperations. In a joint statement issued in conjunction with the 18th Annual Leaders’ Consultation held here, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib and the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah welcomed… – Continue reading
Given a choice of priority, should Indian authorities be chasing black money in circulation within the country or the illicit billions held in foreign banks? It is a nobrainer. Money whisked away abroad is tiny compared with the unaccounted money within India. Yet, the political system has long been barking… – Continue reading
India today told Mauritius that it will not take any decisions that will “adversely impact” bilateral relations while reassuring the country that amendments to the bilateral tax treaty would be made only after considering the legitimate interests of both sides. This was conveyed by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Former minister of state for external affairs in the UPA regime, Preneet Kaur, figures in the list of 627 names of Indians holding accounts in foreign banks, which was submitted by the Centre to the Supreme Court. Kaur, wife of former Punjab CM and Congress’s deputy leader in… – Continue reading
If the Supreme Court insists on disclosures of all names, India won’t be able to sign any further treaties for exchange of information Vrishti Beniwal | New Delhi November 1, 2014 Last Updated at 00:29 IST India cannot amend its Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs) to drop the confidentiality clause… – Continue reading
At the September 2014 convention of American labor unions, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont specifically urged taxation of wealth, asserting that, “We need a tax system which asks the billionaire class to pay its fair share of taxes and which reduces the obscene degree of wealth inequality in America.” The… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Ahead of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s three-day visit to Mauritius from tomorrow, India today said amendments to the bilateral tax treaty with the island nation would be made only after taking into account the “legitimate interests” of both sides. Swaraj will also be visiting Male and hold… – Continue reading
The Supreme Court on Wednesday virtually thwarted fresh attempts by the Modi government to go slow on the black money probe, citing “sovereign powers to sign treaties”. The court sternly asked the Centre to “just go whole hog to unearth the money”, leaving other worries to the Special Investigation Team… – Continue reading
On a day when it furnished before the Supreme Court the full list of 627 Indians having accounts in foreign banks, the NDA government put off the signing of a crucial multilateral agreement aimed at facilitating access to financial information on taxpayers abroad. This has been prompted by the uncertainties… – Continue reading
Amid a debate on disclosure of names of suspected black money holders, Switzerland on Thursday said information exchanged under the Swiss-India tax treaty cannot be disclosed “in principle” to a court or any other body outside the proceedings of a “specific and relevant” case. The comments come at a time… – Continue reading
New Delhi,Oct 30 (TruthDive): Black money stashed abroad could have been easily got back if India had been a signatory to a UN convention of double taxation treaty agreements (DTAA). By signing to this convention, India can renegotiate DTTA and bring it in line with the country’s taxation law and… – Continue reading
Billionaire and Formula 1 head Bernie Ecclestone likes paying Swiss taxes. (Keystone) Formula 1 head and billionaire Bernie Ecclestone denies using Switzerland as a tax haven. In an interview with the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper, he says he did not come here to optimise his tax burden. The 84-year-old, who lives in… – Continue reading
New Delhi/Berne: Amid a debate on disclosure of names of suspected black money holders, Switzerland today said information exchanged under Swiss-India tax treaty cannot be disclosed “in principle” to a court or any other body outside the proceedings of a ‘specific and relevant’ case. The comments come at a time… – Continue reading
Ireland’s Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton is undertaking his first investment mission since the Government announced major changes to the corporate tax regime as part of Budget 2015. Bruton is visiting the East Coast of the US as part of a program of engagement by the Government with multinational companies on… – Continue reading
ASTANA. KAZINFORM – Senate’s plenary session has adopted the Law “On ratification of the Protocol between the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Government of the Republic of Belarus for the termination of the Agreement between the governments of the two states on the principles of indirect taxes… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Indian entities having businesses in the US risk higher penal taxes in the US on any fund transfer to the country if New Delhi fails to endorse a pact for information exchange by December 31 on grounds of confidentiality. New Delhi will find it difficult to sign the… – Continue reading
China has made significant strides in the past five years in building up its regulation in the area of double taxation avoidance, as well as implementation assurance techniques. Following the 2008 Corporate Income Tax Law, which laid the basis for anti-avoidance in China, the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) issued… – Continue reading
On Wednesday, when the Supreme Court accepted and handed over the sealed envelope from the government carrying the Swiss bank account details of Indians to the special investigation team, what seems to have won is the concern over the double taxation avoidance treaty (DTAT) and many such agreements that the… – Continue reading
The US policy is different. Moving away from the homeland doesn’t mean you are free from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). You are required to file your US tax returns every year, report your worldwide income to the IRS and pay any tax imposed by the US tax laws. Since… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court’s directive on sharing the names of overseas account holders has raised worries about India’s commitment to the confidentiality clause in various tax treaties and may impact remittances from the US. Any move to make the names public without prosecution may hamper signing of the Foreign… – Continue reading
Furious at what it sees as the Modi government’s flip-flops on the black money issue and selective revelation of names of Indians holding foreign bank accounts, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered it to disclose by Wednesday the names of around 800 holders of accounts abroad. A bench led by… – Continue reading
In its first report submitted to the Supreme Court, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money has sought an investigation unit, with the Enforcement Directorate as the nodal co-ordinating agency. The court-appointed SIT, headed by retired Supreme Court judges M B Shah and Arijit Pasayat, has made several recommendations… – Continue reading
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Luxembourg on October 26, 2014, signed a protocol to amend their double tax agreement. The protocol revises provisions in the treaty, which dates back to November 2005, the UAE’s Ministry of Finance said. In particular, the scope of the treaty has been expanded to… – Continue reading
New CIBC report offers tax tips for U.S. vacation properties TORONTO, Oct. 28, 2014 /CNW/ – CIBC (TSX: CM) (NYSE: CM) – As Canadians look to take advantage of low U.S. house prices to buy vacation homes and escape the chill of winter, a new report by Jamie Golombek, CIBC’s… – Continue reading
The OECD’s Action Plan on BEPS was published in July 2013 to reform the international tax system. The Action Plan identified 15 Actions to address BEPS. Seven of the 15 Action Plan items are now moving out of the station. I. Introduction On September 16, 2014 the OECD, together with… – Continue reading
