The Isle of Man, Dubai and Guernsey, all known as captive domiciles, are being joined by a new rival – the US state of Ohio. Legislation has recently been signed meaning that businesses will be able to create captive insurance companies in the state in order to cater for their… – Continue reading
MULTINATIONAL companies shifting their profits from Africa to low-tax jurisdictions are only partly responsible for the erosion of the continent’s tax revenue bases. The African Tax Administration Forum (Ataf) believes some countries have signed away their tax revenue because of weak domestic policies, and ill-conceived tax incentives and mining contracts…. – Continue reading
Dear Reader, This is a really timely question. Renting vacation homes, or even a part of your primary residence, is becoming more common thanks to a variety of online sites that make it easy to market property and attract renters. The pluses are obvious. Not only can a vacation home… – Continue reading
MONTREAL — Changing a liquidator and the tax consequences of owning two properties were among the topics raised in the latest batch of reader questions. Here’s what they wanted to know. Q: “My father recently passed away. He named a financial institution as co-liquidator but they tell me their fee… – Continue reading
Despite being among the smallest countries in terms of area and population, over the past 40 years Cyprus has developed into one of the world’s most important financial and business centres. It has numerous advantages, including a strategic location, a mature and transparent legal system based on common law, world… – Continue reading
DALLAS, TX, Jul 29, 2014 (Marketwired via COMTEX) — This week, the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations held a hearing to question leaders of major banks and hedge funds about an alleged tax avoidance strategy. According to the Senate’s report, these entities have used basket options to skirt billions in… – Continue reading
New Delhi: The government Wednesday ruled out any tax amnesty scheme to unearth black money saying it goes against honest taxpayers even as it sought to send out a positive signal to investors by promising a re-look at the controversial GAAR shortly. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also referred to demands of… – Continue reading
Tax avoidance, the American way. Little Rock, Arkansas-based telco Windstream has caused a stir by announcing a novel scheme to reduce the amount of federal taxes it has to pay. It intends to spin off certain network assets into a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT). In so doing,… – Continue reading
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Emailftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b494286e-171e-11e4-b0d7-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz393LkTft5 Pfizer refuses to rule out tax inversion deals By Andrew Ward, Pharmaceuticals CorrespondentAuthor alerts… – Continue reading
It’s a bad idea when governments demand information on your bank accounts and investments so they can impose economically destructive double taxation. It’s a worse idea when they also demand the right to tax economic activity in other jurisdictions (otherwise known as “worldwide taxation“). And it’s the worst possible development… – Continue reading
If you are from the US then you’ve probably heard of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca), but are you aware of how it could affect you? The legislation came into full effect on July 1, 2014 and has many implications, particularly for US expatriates. Fatca is a US… – Continue reading
Cyprus and Switzerland have signed a double taxation avoidance agreement and a relevant protocol that will contribute to further developing trade and financial relations between the two countries as well as with other countries, the Ministry of Finance said. It added that “by bringing up to date, maintaining existing and… – Continue reading
Artur Bugsgang, partner at leading Danish law firm LETT looks at Denmark’s tax advantages. Denmark currently ranks fifth in the world in their ease of doing business index. The country is significantly less bureaucratic than the majority of its European neighbours, especially in regard to establishing and operating companies. Despite… – Continue reading
More than half a billion pounds is set to be wasted this year in inheritance tax as individuals fail to place their life protection policies “under trust”. The figure, which is up £58m on last year, was revealed in research by unbiased.co.uk, which also found that only a quarter of consumers… – Continue reading
Government plans to establish a tax haven that will encourage wealthy corporations to move their operations to Macedonia have won a mixed response.Financial experts have broadly welcomed plans by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski to set up tax havens on the ground that they will boost employment in the financial and… – Continue reading
YEREVAN, July 17. /ARKA/. Russia’s government has approved the package of legislative changes which make offshore companies’ access to the state’s money more complicated. They no longer will be provided by guarantees and they will be obliged to reveal beneficial owners in government procurement auctions. The demands turned out to… – Continue reading
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has yet to adopt a view on proposed rules to tighten policy on tax avoidance by foreign investors, a senior finance ministry official said on Monday. The general anti-avoidance rules (GAAR) announced by the previous government had sparked alarm among foreign investors because of provisions… – Continue reading
Foreign entities use this to document their status On June 25, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service released long-awaited instructions to Form W-8BEN-E, used by foreign entities to document their status under both chapter 3 and chapter 4 (the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA)) of the Internal Revenue Code. The… – Continue reading
The finance ministry will soon consider tax expert Parthasarathi Shome’s suggestions on possible instances where offshore sale of Indian assets need not be taxed here, said a finance ministry official. The Shome Committee had in its 2012 ‘Report on Retrospective Amendments Relating to Indirect Transfer of Indian assets’ suggested that… – Continue reading
Gary Barlow, his manager and fellow Take That stars Mark Owen and Howard Donald ploughed £66million into the programme called Icebreaker Gary Barlow is thinking of suing experts who advised him to invest millions in a tax avoidance scheme after telling a pal: “I’m not evil.” The Sunday People reports,… – Continue reading
On Friday, 27 June 2014, the Irish Revenue Commissioners (in conjunction with the Department of Finance) finalised the relevant Regulations with respect to FATCA. These Regulations will come into operation on 1 July 2014. As readers will be aware, the Irish and US Governments signed an intergovernmental agreement (“Irish IGA”)… – Continue reading
Baku, Fineko/abc.az. Azerbaijan de facto joined the American tax reporting system FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act): on July 8 President Ilham Aliyev sanctioned the Azerbaijani banks to report to other states about their customers directly or through mediators. The President of Azerbaijan approved the relevant amendments to the law… – Continue reading
Lawmakers adopted at first reading amendments to the law regulating the activity of offshore companies in Bulgaria. Under a proposal from ruling socialists member Georgi Kadiev (who recently stepped down as member of Parliament) and fellow MPs, entities having opaque ownership will be barred from signing contracts with the state,… – Continue reading
The Seychelles offer a wide variety of financial services, including offshore banking, investments and insurance. The inexpensive International Business Company (IBC) is the most popular corporate entity and can be used for many purposes with few limitations. The International Business Company IBC is the most widely used vehicle for offshore… – Continue reading
The long awaited instructions for Form W-8BEN-E, Certification of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding (Entities), were finally posted on the IRS website on June 24, 2014. Form W-8BEN-E will now be the most common form to be used by foreign entities to certify their status under both (i) Chapter 3 of… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: In order to encourage foreign investment, the finance ministry is likely to introduce safe harbour rules for transfer pricing of capital transactions which will bring about certainty in taxation of such deals. The finance ministry, according to sources, may introduce the changes in the Budget to be presented… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON — The IRS is about to get an unprecedented look at bank accounts and investments U.S. citizens hold abroad, through a law that is making it harder to hide assets from the tax collector. The government started imposing 30 percent taxes on many overseas payments to financial institutions that… – Continue reading
The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited Chairman & CEO Brendan McDonagh commented on the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act [FATCA] in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. FACTA imposes due diligence, information reporting and control obligations on non-US financial institutions for certain US persons who maintain… – Continue reading
HMRC and Morgan both say the proposals, announced last year in the Autumn Statement, will not be included in the Finance Bill 2014 The government has abandoned plans to introduce legislation that would make it tougher to set up a charity for tax-avoidance purposes because it would have had a… – Continue reading
President Obama yesterday signed into law a bill which contains little-publicised elements that are expected to impact non-US financial institutions, funds and collective investment structures. The bill’s passage on 8 March 2010 represents a success for certain US lawmakers who have been seeking to crack down on Americans who have… – Continue reading
Are you an American resident? It’s a question that Canadian “snowbirds” will have to ask themselves before celebrating Canada Day next week, when the U.S. Foreign Tax Compliance Act – or FATCA – kicks into effect. Financial institutions around the world will answer to the U.S. Internal Revenue Agency so… – Continue reading
MOSCOW, June 25 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, on Wednesday authorized the direct exchange of information between Russian banks and US tax authorities on US taxpayers. The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) requires foreign banks to supply the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)… – Continue reading
This year, Park City primary residence owners will have to pay $18 more per $500,000 of assessed valuation in property taxes. That is because the Park City School District has imposed a one-time judgment levy to make up for the $760,000 it will have to refund to taxpayers after the… – Continue reading
Canada’s investment and banking industries hailed a key victory Tuesday in five-year fight to dull the impact of onerous new U.S. tax rules expected to affect about a million Canadian residents and dual citizens. A newly ratified inter-governmental agreement with the United States excludes registered accounts for education, retirement, and… – Continue reading
With regard to business operations, a resident of one country (e.g., Panamanian company) may be taxed in the other country (e.g., Israel) if it has a “permanent establishment” (PE) in the other country. Panama is famous for its canal, colorful history and cool offshore tax regime. To that we can… – Continue reading
At a beachside bar in Oistins; – a tourist district on the blue-water coast of Barbados, Frenchman Julius Francois handed over a black coloured Visa Card to the bar cashier who swiped it, and soon collected payment for the drinks that he and some other business colleagues had consumed for… – Continue reading
Pat Rabbitte, Ireland’s energy minister, has introduced a proposal to increase Irish offshore tax rates. The proposed rules will provide a higher tax take for the state, ensuring earlier revenue from developed fields, Rabbitte said at a Dublin conference. The proposed rules would charge taxes on a field by field… – Continue reading
Local banks have little choice but to comply with a controversial law that requires financial institutions around the world to hand over information about American citizens that will be passed on to the US tax department, the New Zealand Bankers’ Association says. The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA),… – Continue reading
The Russian authorities are ready to provide the U.S. internal revenue service with information on American depositors, but have drafted a bill for similar measures in the United States. All foreign banks that work with Russian clients will be obligated to disclose information about such clients to Moscow. Primarily, the… – Continue reading
Bermuda has again been singled out and labelled “a tax haven” by US legislators as they last week attached an amendment to US federal funding measures, seeking to block federal contracts to former American companies involved in corporate inversions. A leading publisher of financial information, Bankrate Inc, reported at Bankrate.com:… – Continue reading
The UK Chancellor, George Osborne, announced new sanctions against offshore tax evasion, last month. The UK government intends to introduce a new “strict liability” criminal offence for not declaring untaxed offshore assets. Under the plans announced by the Chancellor, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) would no longer need to prove… – Continue reading
The Italian Supreme Court ruled, on April 16, that all transactions carried out between companies belonging to the same Group, and all of which have offices in Italy, are subject to the arm’s length principle. Ruling No. 8869 confirmed once more the Supreme Court’s position already expressed through Ruling No…. – Continue reading
The Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) has set up new tax determination guidelines aimed at providing consistency in tax administration on both domestic and cross-border transactions.The new system –“Transfer Pricing Regulation” will also provide taxpayers with insights on the procedures followed in determination of income tax, duty and levies in various… – Continue reading
International tax policy changes being considered by the OECD could shave €1bn off Ireland’s annual multinational tax take, a Dáil Committee has heard. Addressing a joint sub-committee hearing on global taxation matters, yesterday, Brian Keegan — director of taxation at Chartered Accountants Ireland — said the OECD’s base erosion and… – Continue reading
Regulatory compliance is an ongoing, escalating cost that is stifling profitability. Today, the “cost of compliance” is now 85% of a financial institution’s average operational budget, leaving a mere 15% available for programs like business development and customer acquisition. Many institutions continue to rely on disconnected, incomplete approaches to regulatory… – Continue reading
THE Department of Finance has launched a public consultation on how Ireland’s tax system might respond to proposed international changes. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is already conducting a public discussion around its Base Erosion and Profit shifting (BEPs) project, which could see tax avoidance loopholes shut… – Continue reading
Supreme Court reiterates the principle that income of a discretionary trust cannot be taxed in the hands of a beneficiary unless distributed to the beneficiary. Where trustees have clearly retained the income of the trust and brought it forward year to year without disbursing it to the beneficiaries, the trust… – Continue reading
With any opportunity that seems too good to be true, there is often a fatal flaw. That is the case with The Partnership to Build America Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. John Delaney, D-Md., and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo. The bill offers a way for multinational corporations to bring… – Continue reading
The head of Canada’s investment industry association is urging the federal government not to defer legislation that will facilitate handing tax information of U.S. citizens living in Canada to authorities in the United States. Ian Russell, chief executive of the Investment Industry Association of Canada, made his pitch to the… – Continue reading
Exempting domestic currency government bonds from withholding tax is long overdue in much of South and East Asia as the move would have a significant and beneficial economic impact. The mature economies in Europe and North America (and also Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore) no longer withhold tax on government… – Continue reading
