This French Tax Update will focus on (i) the main provisions of the draft Finance Bill for 2016 (Projet de loi de finance pour 2016) issued by the French Government on September 30, 2015 and to be discussed before the French Parliament between October and December (“Draft Finance Bill for… – Continue reading
The court overruled the order of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal issued last year suggesting that the income tax dept has jurisdiction in this dispute Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Thursday ruled in favour of the Indian arm of Vodafone Group Plc. in a Rs.8,500 crore transfer pricing tax dispute…. – Continue reading
The location of a holding company is a significant consideration in any international corporate structure. Choice of jurisdiction for a group holding company (‘Holdco’) is relevant both from the point of view of tax optimisation (maximising withholding tax free dividend, interest and royalty flow up through the group and minimising… – Continue reading
The new Protocol to the Cyprus – Ukraine double taxation agreement The Cyprus Ministry of Finance has announced that agreement has been reached with Ukraine on a Protocol that will amend the existing DTA between the two countries. The existing DTA was signed in 2012 and entered into force on… – Continue reading
The Belgian Parliament has adopted a Program Law containing a wide array of fiscal measures. The most salient of these measures are (i) the introduction of a transparency tax regime for physical and legal persons subject to legal persons tax and that qualify as founders or third-party beneficiaries of so-called… – Continue reading
Ruling description In thejudgment of August 19, 2015 (case file no. II FSK 1747/13) the Supreme Administrative Court ruled, consistently with its previous rulings, that in the case of a transfer of shares for redemption at a remuneration lower than their market value, the tax authorities do not have the… – Continue reading
The bench comprising justices Anil R. Dave and A.K. Goel said the case would be heard fully New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday admitted the income tax department’s appeal against a 2013 Andhra Pradesh high court ruling that said that France-based Sanofi SA was not required to pay tax… – Continue reading
SINGAPORE first entered a double taxation agreement (DTA) with Thailand in 1975. After 40 years, Singapore and Thailand signed a new DTA on June 11, 2015. The newly signed DTA has not yet been ratified by either country, and will go into force after it is. Below are some of… – Continue reading
Under the I-T Act, 1961, taxpayers are broadly categorised as Ordinary Resident, Not Ordinarily Resident (NOR) and Non-Resident (NR). Reporting and paying taxes on overseas incomes and assets come with their own set of challenges. Under the I-T Act, 1961, taxpayers are broadly categorised as Ordinary Resident, Not Ordinarily Resident… – Continue reading
“Luxembourg is famous for two things: its steel industry and its rose cultivation industry”. This quote from an Italian guidebook of the 1930s was uttered by Luxembourg’s Finance Minister Pierre Gramegna at the annual conference of the Luxembourg Directors’ Association on 17 June 2015[1]. The economic outlook of the tiny… – Continue reading
All eyes are on how much taxes the British retailer Tesco Group will pay to the South Korean government after its profit of more than 5 trillion won (US$4.21 billion) with the sale of Homeplus. Industry sources say that the company will not have to pay taxes at all, or… – Continue reading
On August 25, 2015, the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan signed an Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation regarding Taxes on Income (“the DTA”), which will enter into force when the legal procedures have been completed. The DTA’s highlights: 1. Permanent establishment (“PE”) specifications The DTA establishes a… – Continue reading
Investors could be hit hard if they are taxed on the capital gains earned from the sale of holdings in FPIs Today, a stable, predictable tax and regulatory regime is a sine qua non for creating a conducive climate for foreign portfolio investors (FPI). Investors wishing to invest in India… – Continue reading
In 2013, the previous Belgian government introduced a new reporting obligation for individual founders and beneficiaries of so-called “legal arrangements” (i.e., trusts, foundations and certain tax haven companies). At the same time, the previous government also internally discussed a draft bill seeking to further discourage the use of such legal… – Continue reading
Call to strip company of transparency standards certification A leading tax policy advocacy group has called for online retailer Etsy to be stripped of a certification awarded to companies that adhere to strict standards for transparency and social accountability unless it dismantles its offshore tax cutting structure. Last month, Bloomberg… – Continue reading
Malta’s tax legislation provides for a number of benefits which can be derived by companies and their shareholders. The tax rules can lead to a tax burden in Malta which is significantly reduced or completely eliminated in certain cases, and the following are some of the key tax benefits which… – Continue reading
In July 2015 the Hong Kong government gazetted changes to the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap 112) to extend the existing profits tax exemption for offshore funds to private equity funds. The recent amendments are a proactive move by the Hong Kong Government to encourage private equity fund managers to set… – Continue reading
Rejecting “treaty shopping” claims, India’s High Court of Punjab and Haryana has ruled that India should not tax capital gains from the sale by Mauritian entities of shares held in an Indian company if they are proven resident in Mauritius. The ruling was given in Serco BPO Private Limited v…. – Continue reading
On July 28, 2015 the Dutch Government published the English text of the Convention between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Republic of Zambia for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income (hereafter: the DTA) and a relating Protocol,… – Continue reading
On July 28, 2015 the Dutch Government published the English text of the Convention between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Republic of Kenya for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income (hereafter: the DTA) and a relating Protocol,… – Continue reading
The Bank of Israel asked Bank Leumi Le-Israel Ltd. to set up an independent committee to examine management performance and bonuses after the lender agreed in December to pay a fine to U.S. authorities in a tax probe. Leumi, Israel’s second-largest lender, agreed the $400 million fine after a seven-year… – Continue reading
Three-member AP Shah Committee has recommended extending minimum alternate tax (MAT) relief to foreign companies which do not have permanent establishment or public business in India. In an earlier version, the committee had sought to restrict MAT to foreign institutional investors and foreign portfolio investors. The committee had also not… – Continue reading
Foreign asset declarations by Spanish taxpayers have totaled EUR126.3bn (USD145bn) since 2013, when such declarations became compulsory, Spain’s Ministry of Finance has said. The Ministry said that in the past three months 1,813 taxpayers declared EUR1.9bn in foreign assets under Modelo 720, which requires tax resident individuals to report assets… – Continue reading
The Income Tax Act (ITA) contains many anti-avoidance rules forbidding taxpayers from misusing the provisions of the ITA to achieve tax benefits contrary to Canadian tax policy. The 2015 Federal Budget has proposed changes1 to one of these anti-avoidance rules, which may significantly impact the ability of business owners to… – Continue reading
Management and procurement services not taxable as “fees for technical services” under the India-UK income tax treaty: India’s Authority for Advance Rulings concluded that services rendered by a group director to its group company in India were “managerial services” that, as rendered by the UK procurement team, did not make… – Continue reading
Introduction Individuals whose domicile of origin is outside United Kingdom Non-UK individuals with UK domicile of origin Consultation and legislation New inheritance tax rules for UK residential property held within offshore corporate envelopes Comment Introduction Individuals domiciled outside the United Kingdom might have been justified in thinking that they would… – Continue reading
In short… The current balance of competences between the EU and the UK on tax is quite intricate, with a tension between member states’ desire to determine their own tax systems and the EU-led aim of a level playing field. The EU most obviously influences member states’ indirect taxation (particularly… – Continue reading
The U.S. and China enjoy increasingly strong connections. Yet virtually no Chinese family or business relishes dealing with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). American tax laws are famously complex, and dealing with the IRS can be like quicksand. Of course, whether they like it or not, U.S. citizens and green… – Continue reading
Artisan goods marketplace Etsy Inc., which promised to be a beacon for transparency as a public company, recently implemented a strategy that shrouds its offshore tax-cutting arrangements in secrecy. Because of a change in how its Irish subsidiary is registered, Etsy no longer needs to publicly disclose basic financial information… – Continue reading
U.S. COMPANIES HOLDING CASH ABROAD WAITING FOR TAX REFORM. The high U.S. tax rate continues to encourage companies to stash cash and profits offshore while executives wait for tax reform. The Street has an interview with computing giant Cisco’s CFO Kelly Kramer on the company’s plans for more the more… – Continue reading
In his summer budget the first exclusively Conservative one in 19 years British Chancellor George Osborne outlined several key changes for non-domiciled individuals or non-doms, reports MENAFN. These major modifications coming into effect in April 2017 arguably represent the biggest shake-up to the non-dom status since it was first introduced… – Continue reading
A new income tax treaty between the Bulgaria and the United Kingdom was signed in March 2015. The treaty, once it is ratified and enters into force, will replace the existing income tax treaty (1987). The new income tax treaty includes measures that differ from the provisions under the current… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: High net-worth individuals who have invested in residential properties in the UK, will now have to deal with the issue of inheritance tax, which their heirs are unlikely to escape from. In its budget introduced in Parliament in June, the UK plugged a loophole that enabled foreign property buyers… – Continue reading
LONDON (Reuters) – Greek shares rose on Tuesday after the indebted euro zone country clinched a multi-billion euro bailout agreement with its international lenders. The latest bailout deal for Greece also resulted in the country’s sovereign borrowing costs falling back. Athens’ benchmark ATG equity index rose 1.2 percent, while the… – Continue reading
In his summer budget the first exclusively Conservative one in 19 years British Chancellor George Osborne outlined several key changes for non-domiciled individuals or non-doms, reports MENAFN. These major modifications coming into effect in April 2017 arguably represent the biggest shake-up to the non-dom status since it was first introduced… – Continue reading
A new income tax treaty between the Bulgaria and the United Kingdom was signed in March 2015. The treaty, once it is ratified and enters into force, will replace the existing income tax treaty (1987). The new income tax treaty includes measures that differ from the provisions under the current… – Continue reading
On July 29, 2015, Charles Boustany (R-LA) and Richard Neal (D-MA) released a bipartisan discussion draft of proposed Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) amendments that would cut the United States income tax rate on corporate profits generated from patents and certain other intellectual property to approximately 10% (the “Tax Rate… – Continue reading
SEOUL, Aug. 6 (Yonhap) — The top court ruled Thursday against an oil company of the United Arab Emirates, headed by a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family, saying that it must pay millions of dollars in stock trading tax to South Korea. IPIC International B.V. (IPIC), a state-run… – Continue reading
HMRC has won £45 million in a second tax avoidance case against Abbey National Treasury Services, a subsidiary of Santander. The tribunal ruling means £45 million is now liable to taxation in addition to another £40 million in a second case that will be decided by this ruling. The scheme… – Continue reading
An investor, who purchased shares of Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA) (NYSE:SLW), filed a lawsuit in the U.S. against Silver Wheaton Corp. in connection with certain allegedly false and misleading statements made between March 30, 2011 and July 6, 2015. Investors who purchased a significant amount of shares of Silver Wheaton… – Continue reading
ZURICH, July 29 (Reuters) – Shares in EFG International plunged nearly 19 percent on Wednesday after the Swiss private bank sharply missed first-half profit expectations, saying market uncertainty in the euro zone, Brazil and China hit fee income. New Chief Executive Joachim Straehle described the results, which included a drop… – Continue reading
Introduction The Cyprus Government has announced a number of proposed tax incentives aimed at encouraging economic activity and attracting inward direct investment. It has also submitted a number of draft laws to the House of Representatives to implement the new provisions of the EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive, to simplify the tax… – Continue reading
This article deals with the manner in which Canada has complicated, and rendered controversial, what in most other countries is straightforward — the deductibility of business related interest expense. The reasons to write about it are threefold: the almost-concurrent issuance of the Canada Revenue Agency’s administrative views on the matter… – Continue reading
San Jose, California, USA – As a result of the much anticipated initial public offering of transportation game-changer Uber, more and more executives of start-up companies and their investors are interested in tax planning related to their own company’s IPO or buyout. Whenever a well-known start-up company appears that it… – Continue reading
Bank of Communications Co Ltd , China’s fifth largest commercial bank based on total assets, said it would issue $2.45 billion offshore preference shares to third party investors, to replenish capital and enhance competitiveness. The proposed issue of 5.00 percent non-cumulative perpetual offshore preference shares will also drive transformation of… – Continue reading
The British government said on Thursday it would step up efforts to boost competition in banking and rejected criticism that its tax changes would leave the sector worse off, Reuters reports. The government surprised banks earlier this month by announcing a new eight per cent surcharge on profits from January,… – Continue reading
The tax department has launched an investigation against 90 companies for possible evasion, money laundering and for converting black money into “white” through a series of transactions in little-known shares, commonly called penny stocks. Sources said this is a massive scam which the department is probing and is the latest… – Continue reading
Since December 2012, French companies have been liable for a 3 percent tax on distributions to their shareholders (3 Percent Tax), but practitioners have widely questioned whether this tax is compliant with the provisions of the EU treaties and the double tax treaties signed by France. French subsidiaries whose parent… – Continue reading
A seismic change in the international private wealth arena is under way. Over 90 jurisdictions have committed to automatically exchange comprehensive financial information on an annual basis under the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (CRS). The CRS will start in 2016 in over 55 jurisdictions. This article comments on the CRS… – Continue reading
Where Qualified Dividend Treatment Is Important, Serious Consideration Should Be Given to Ensuring the Company Is Eligible for Treaty Benefits Before Taking It Public. Dividends generally are taxed at ordinary income rates (up to 39.6 percent for individuals). Qualified dividends derived by individuals, however, are taxed at the preferential rate… – Continue reading
