In a note to investors published today, Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi weighed in on why Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has chosen to keep a large offshore cash balance and not repatriate to the US. Mr. Sacconaghi noted activist investor Carl Icahn’s notion that Apple’s real tax rate is roughly 20% below… – Continue reading
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has proposed to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to withdraw 5 percent tax on bonus shares and apply current capital gains tax (CGT) rate of 12.5 percent irrespective of its holding period. According to the budget proposals of the SECP received… – Continue reading
The United States has the most damaging business tax system in the developed world because it taxes its businesses at high rates, taxes them on their worldwide income and denies them the ability to deduct the cost of their investments at the time they make them. There is wide agreement… – Continue reading
The Taiwanese Trade Mission in Nigeria has called for effective collaboration with the Nigerian Government to avoid double taxation on Taiwanese investments in Nigeria. This is contained in Mission’s bulletin released in Abuja on Wednesday. It stated that the collaboration would also ensure protection of Taiwanese investments in Nigeria and… – Continue reading
“Ireland does not have a statutory system of binding tax rulings and there is no provision in Irish law for the issuing of such rulings,” Revenue Chair Niall Cody has said, reports Tax News. Cody made the comments during an address to a session of the European Parliament’s Special Committee… – Continue reading
A powerful business lobby is sounding the warning to lawmakers about a global effort to crack down on offshore tax evasion. The National Association of Manufacturers warned the top congressional tax writers that the so-called Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project “could have a negative impact on the global competitiveness… – Continue reading
Malaysia’s offshore financial centre of Labuan, an island designated as Special Economic Zone off the northern Borneo coast, which has seen a surge in interest in Islamic finance transactions in the last year, now aims at positioning itself as an Islamic finance hub for the Asia-Pacific region. According to its… – Continue reading
Developments in Asia over the last year have been continuous with the biggest generic development relating to the exchange of information. Asian countries have put their FATCA reporting systems in place (even though not all have yet signed an inter-governmental agreement with the US IRS), and most have now committed… – Continue reading
A Gold Coast businessman has been banned from the financial services industry for taking $4 million from self-managed super fund (SMSF) investors to fund his own real estate investments. The Federal Court in Brisbane banned Craig Gore permanently and five other people from carrying on any business related to superannuation… – Continue reading
From today, negotiation on the Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (IPPA) between Nigeria and Singapore will start in Abuja, aimed at enhancing business between the two countries. Revealing this in an interview with the African Independent Television (AIT), Nigerian High Commissioner to Singapore. Mrs. Nonye Rajis-Opara, said there would be… – Continue reading
New Delhi: The government on Sunday introduced simplified income tax return forms, abandoning a previous attempt to seek detailed disclosures of foreign trips and bank accounts from taxpayers, even as it retained clauses to check evasion. While taxpayers will not have to disclose details of all foreign travel undertaken by… – Continue reading
KUALA LUMPUR, May 29 — Unless proven innocent, it must be assumed that the management of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) had misappropriated the funds invested in Cayman Islands, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today in his continued tirade against the troubled state investment firm. The former prime minister said although… – Continue reading
Capital gains tax charges from 6 April 2015 The scope of capital gains tax (CGT) has been extended and now applies to gains arising on the sale of UK residential property by non-UK tax residents (non-residents). Only gains arising after 5 April 2015 are subject to the new charge as… – Continue reading
SHARES in the health outsourcing firm Synergy Healthcare saw sharp losses yesterday as reports circulated that US authorities were going to block its proposed takeover by Steris, a rival American company. The FTSE 250 company’s shares finished the trading day down 15.8 per cent, to 1,822p, having recovered slightly from… – Continue reading
Clinton advisers are staying mum on the reasons for the arrangement. The candidate made more in a year than most Americans earn in a lifetime and used a shell company to manage money and cut down on risk. It wasn’t disclosed until investigative reporters dug up the paper trail. In… – Continue reading
Registering a company in Singapore is as good as declaring that you have judged your options, made your preparations, and now that the time is right, you mean nothing but, business. Opening a company in Singapore is an act enough for the investors to gauge the depth of your intent… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: A special service provided by HSBC Geneva may help some Swiss bank account holders to escape penalty and prosecution by the Indian tax office. The British bank had advised and helped them to hold unaccounted wealth through complex structures that have no apparent links with resident Indians. Money was… – Continue reading
Avago Technologies Ltd.’s pending takeover of Broadcom Corp. taps an arcane tax structure that has being dusted off amid a rise in cross-border mergers. Avago said it is prepared to offer Broadcom shareholders special partnership units that would defer any taxes triggered by the $37 billion tie-up, which was announced… – Continue reading
It is not uncommon for affluent families from certain countries to maintain offshore structures to hold a portion, and often times a significant portion, of their wealth. The reasons for holding assets outside of their country of residence are many, and such assets are frequently held in foreign corporations. As… – Continue reading
With regard to direct tax, the government promulgated in 2012 a law named ‘Transfer Pricing’. The law is scheduled to be effective from July 01, 2015. Transfer pricing is a globally common phenomenon. In different countries of the world, this law is in existence. According to the best international practice,… – Continue reading
After Switzerland initiated measures to regulate its banks, most of the unaccounted money stashed in Swiss banks is suspected to have been diverted to countries like Mauritius and Singapore. The Special Investigation Team on black money has taken cognisance of the issue raised by the enforcement agencies. “Although the Swiss… – Continue reading
Union appointed industry super fund trustees should use their board influence to treat profit shifting by multi-national companies as a corporate governance issue and also promote infrastructure investment, delegates at the 2015 ACTU Congress were told yesterday. Emma Maiden, deputy assistant secretary of Unions NSW, told an estimated 800 union… – Continue reading
There has recently been a wave of global regulatory reforms which affect fundraising. These changes are far-reaching and can impact how fund managers structure funds, their proposed investor base, how and where funds are marketed, the remuneration that may be received, registrations that may be required and dealings with investors…. – Continue reading
Operator’s CFO Nick Read tells Mobile News it doesn’t make the profits to justify paying it Vodafone says it can not “justify” paying corporation tax in the UK despite posting earnings of £1.3 billion and operating profits of £41 million in its full year financial results (ending March 31). The… – Continue reading
The Foreign Investors Council (FIC), an association of the leading investors in Romania, has asked the Government to increase penalties against companies that do not pay their taxes and to work on bringing down the subterranean economy, rather than aggressively targeting honest taxpayers. “Penalties for tax evasion should be increased… – Continue reading
Peter Scully writes: From 6 April 2015 there will no longer be tax advantages for non-UK residents who invest in the UK residential property market. These changes have seen Capital Gains Tax (CGT) exemption being removed along with restricted access to Private Residence Relief (PRR) as well as the potential… – Continue reading
Investments Derived From Structural Reforms The approved structural Reforms are an unprecedented opportunity for a transformational economic growth in Mexico, being the most relevant from an investment point of view the reforms related to Energy, Telecommunications and Antitrust, which have put Mexico in the radar of Multinational companies seeking to… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: An investment exhibition, inviting the crème de la crème of society to put their money in real estate opportunities in the Middle East, does not sound like the kind of place the government may want to raid. But the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) – which has been worried… – Continue reading
A state-run United Arab Emirates (UAE) company and its Dutch subsidiary filed a request for arbitration Thursday, seeking compensation from the Korean government over taxation worth US$170 million five years ago, a civic group said Friday, reports the Korea Times. The Lawyers for a Democratic Society said the Abu Dhabi-based… – Continue reading
Non-Resident Indians (NRI) constitutes a significant portion of buyer percentage when it comes to real estate transactions in India. Irrespective of constituting a considerable portion, they still face a lot of hassles in the process of taxation when buying or selling properties. Rajan Pillay representing his client who is an… – Continue reading
The objectives of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Finance and Investment include enhancing the productive capacity of the economies in the region and thereby increasing trade opportunities to eventually alleviate poverty. To achieve the objectives, various strategies can be employed, including, among others, improving the investment regime,… – Continue reading
As wealthy foreigners rush to get citizenship in Malta under a new programme, the residency requirement is taking many forms. Russians rent high-end villas, then stay in five-star hotels when they visit. An American financier plans to live in Switzerland but occasionally vacation in Malta. One Vietnamese businessman, eager to… – Continue reading
May 25 (Reuters) – Romania’s government will send a draft law on royalty taxes for the oil and gas sector to parliament in September, Deputy Finance Minister Dan Manolescu told an energy seminar on Monday. The new tax system will likely include differentiated royalties for onshore and offshore extraction and… – Continue reading
Malta’s credibility as a financial centre has taken another hit as news broke this week about a legal battle for the millions of euros accumulated by Mutassim Gaddafi – son of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi – currently frozen in a Bank of Valletta account. Malta’s role in all this came… – Continue reading
While marketplace competition is desirable, competition among governments is not always desirable Is more competition always better? Most conventional economists would say yes. And, in the marketplace, that nugget of economists’ wisdom usually holds true. Every student of first-year economics is taught that competition is good for consumers, as it… – Continue reading
UK rental prices for the three months to April rose by 10 per cent British expats living in the UAE are taking advantage of rising rents in the UK to purchase investment properties, according to Offshore bank, Skipton International. The bank says it has seen a lot of interest from… – Continue reading
The head of a US technology firm that yesterday announced 100 new jobs in the Republic has rejected the “misperception” that Ireland is deemed a tax haven in the US. Qualtrics chief executive Ryan Smith said his firm’s decision to expand its Dublin headquarters was not influenced by the Irish… – Continue reading
The Armenian National Committee of America has welcomed the signing of the US-Armenia Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) but has said that a renegotiated double tax agreement is a priority in order to fully realize the two nations’ bilateral trade and investment potential, reports Tax News. The TIFA was… – Continue reading
Belgium and the Russian Federation announced in March 2007 that they would negotiate a new double tax treaty (the “Treaty”). Nearly seven years after discussions began on 20 November 2008, the Treaty was finally signed on 19 May 2015 in Brussels. This newsflash is based on an unofficial version of… – Continue reading
Located along the Northeast corridor of the United States, Rhode Island is a mere 180 miles from New York City. The small coastal state is known for its knowledge economy based on its elite universities and hospitals. In 2013, Rhode Island’s GDP was US$53.2 billion. The largest contributor to the… – Continue reading
To staff their board of directors with the best and most diverse talent, multinational companies commonly elect boards with international representation. It is also common for companies to convene periodic board meetings outside the United States. This may be done, for example, to provide board members with an opportunity to… – Continue reading
State agencies have had their reasons to keep the cases silent. However, this has angered the public and economists. Silence gives the public another reason to believe that many names on the black list of FIEs (foreign invested enterprises) conducting transfer pricing have not been exposed. Nguyen Duc Kien, deputy… – Continue reading
At the heart of the case is the Ecclestone family’s Bambino trust, which is based in the offshore tax haven of Liechtenstein Bernie Ecclestone is taking legal action against HM Revenue & Customs over claims that he owes the tax authority more than £1bn after it tore up a settlement… – Continue reading
The finance ministry, after due consultations with the SIT on black money and various financial probe agencies, has decided that a team of senior officials will hold bilateral meetings with foreign jurisdictions either in India or at the locations of their counterparts to thrash out issues quickly, reports the India… – Continue reading
Georgia and Poland held negotiations in Warsaw this week over an agreement on avoiding double taxation on income and capital. At the bilateral meeting the sides initialed the renewal agreement, which is based on the OECD Model Convention 2014 and envisages the introduction of new standards of cooperation in taxation… – Continue reading
1. Global focus on transfer pricing There has been a recent surge in regulatory attention around the world towards pricing arrangements within multinational corporate groups. Regulators are concerned that these pricing arrangements may be used as a means of profit shifting and therefore tax avoidance. The price at which an… – Continue reading
German tax law allows deferring the tax on certain disposal gains by transferring the hidden reserves in the disposed assets to similar newly acquired or newly produced assets (“Replacement Assets”). The tax deferral requires an allocation of the Replacement Assets to a German permanent establishment. The ECJ has recently ruled… – Continue reading
Egyptian tax on shares sold by non-residents In 2014, the Egyptian Income Tax law was changed to introduce a 10% Egyptian tax charge on the net gain realised on a disposal of shares in an Egyptian company. This tax charge is intended to apply to non-resident as well as resident… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has decided to launch an investigation into Axact Pakistan (Pvt) Limited’s assets in foreign countries, including the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, bank accounts, credit card transactions and internet marketing in and outside Pakistan. FBR’s subsidiary Directorate General Intelligence & Investigation… – Continue reading
At a time when traders who bet on deals are constantly being thrown curve balls, more bad news: Yahoo! Inc.’s plan to make them rich may be getting derailed. The stock plummeted as much as 12 percent near the end of Tuesday’s trading session because the U.S. Internal Revenue Service… – Continue reading
