BRUSSELS (Reuters) – McDonald’s tax deal with Luxembourg did not breach EU state aid rules, EU antitrust regulators ruled on Wednesday, saying the reason the US fast food chain did not pay some taxes was due to the mismatch between US and Luxembourg laws. The decision by the European Commission...
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is increasing its efforts to identify taxpayers who fail to report all their income this tax time, as it strives to recover an annual tax shortfall of nearly $1.4 billion caused by individuals who leave income out of their return. “Tax lost from under-reported income...
Four pharmaceutical giants have been named and shamed for depriving Australia of $215 million a year in tax avoidance. Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD Australia), and Abbott – which make household name brands like Band Aid, Baby Oil, Centrum and ChapStick –were found to have unfairly...
Luxembourg’s fund chiefs are calling on the next government to reorganise the subscription tax on funds to help lower their operating costs. Less than a month before the legislative elections, on Monday Alfi outlined a list of recommendations for the next leaders of the country. The subscription tax review is...
HM Revenue and Customs is increasingly targeting estates it believes have undervalued residential property to avoid Inheritance Tax bills, according to an accountancy firm. HMRC investigated 5,400 estates for underpayment of inheritance tax (IHT) last year. This is up 5% from 5,100 in the 2016/17 tax year. One in four...
(Second of two parts) Embracing the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEoI), whether in the form of FATCA and/or CRS, affects stakeholders ranging from the government and businesses down to the ordinary consumers of financial products and services. As such, the uncertainties arising from the supposed implementation are definitely not in...
In June this year, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) came out with final clarifications regarding the rules on Place of Effective Management (POEM). POEM is an internationally recognized test for determining the residence of a company incorporated in a foreign jurisdiction with a view to assessing its tax...
IN 2015, the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint 2025 was adopted as part of the ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together plan. This collaboration charts the broad trajectories of ASEAN economic integration from 2016 to 2025. It aims to strengthen and reinforce by 2025 these five AEC characteristics: 1. A highly...
The Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACAC) has explained why it is shifting the war against corruption in the country from politically exposed persons to multinationals. According to the Executive Secretary of PACAC, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, Africa and indeed Nigeria losses more from Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) perpetrated by multinational...
Blockchain startup Smart Valor has announced that it received approval to operate in the Swiss financial market. Based in Switzerland’s Crypto Valley, Smart Valor is a company building a decentralized marketplace for tokenized alternative investments. Its network is coordinated by a smart-contract-based governance model, which incentivizes each participant to contribute...
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a regulation in European Law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union (EU). The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) superseded the UK Data Protection Act 1998 on May 25, 2018. Significant and wide-reaching in scope, the new...
STOCKHOLM, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) — The Swedish government has proposed three new measurements to tackle aggressive tax planning, evasion and financial crimes, the Government Offices of Sweden said Tuesday. The proposals include increased international automatic information exchange, new possibilities for the Swedish Tax Agency to prevent financial crimes and tighter...
Transfer pricing cell of National Board of Revenue has remained nearly dysfunctional since its formation five years back due mainly to lack of logistic support, expert and dedicated manpower and propelling initiative of the tax authorities. The cell even could not conduct audit on any statement of international transactions of...
Australia’s new Prime Minister has said his Government is working on plans to help improve the tax competitiveness of small businesses. Former Treasurer and now Prime Minister Scott Morrison had been at the forefront of the Government’s two-year battle to pass a package of company tax cuts. He had sought...
On August 30, China’s State Council announced RMB 45 billion (US$6.59 billion) worth of tax cuts for businesses and investors. With the tax cuts, the Chinese government hopes to reduce the burden on small and micro-enterprises, encourage investors to continue lending, and ensure capital flow in the economy. The tax...
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani investigators with the cooperation of Dubai authorities have traced 2,750 overseas properties in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). These overseas property empires were allegedly acquired by Pakistani nationals with illegal flight of capital and plunder of the hard-earned taxpayers’ money worth around Rs4,240 billion. Based on three intelligence...
Tax expert Manoj Agarwal explains why businesses must be aware of their tax liability management in order to avoid falling foul of the law It has been nine months since the UAE, an erstwhile tax haven like several other GCC countries, implemented its new value added tax (VAT). And across...
When it comes to taxation, in most cases there is a cloud of uncertainty surrounding cryptocurrency. Certainly, legislation is swiftly evolving to make sure crypto traders don’t sneak off without paying their taxes. Now over to Poland, lawmakers are finally unveiling long anticipated clarifications to the existent tax policy. Such...
Income Tax department is also inquiring into some alleged suspicious transactions and investment flow into Flipkart Authorities have demanded a valuation report from Flipkart The international taxation division of the I-T department is currently studying the valuation of Indian assets of Flipkart Singapore At the time when ecommerce company Flipkart...
On Aug 26, the Jerusalem Post wrote a very good story about the chances of Israel adopting a state-backed crypto just like Venezuela did a few days ago, although for completely different reasons. While Venezuela launched the Petro recently as an outrageous Hail Mary as it faces 6-figure inflation, Israel’s...
VietNamNet Bridge – Nearly 38 percent of foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) reported losses in 2017, a significant decrease from the 50 percent seen in previous years. However, transfer pricing by FIEs remains a headache for management agencies. Do Thien Anh Tuan of Fulbright University said that enterprises that most regularly...
Basel Cantonal Bank has become the latest Swiss financial institution to accept a fine for helping United States citizens to evade taxes. The bank was forced to pay a total of $60.4 million (CHF58.9 million) in penalties to settle the case without having to face a criminal trial. Announcing the...
Federal Inland Revenue Service has published Nigeria’s revised Transfer Pricing Regulations (NTPR). The NTPR is effective for basis periods commencing after 12 March 2018 and incorporates BEPS outcomes and suggestions from The African Tax Administration Forum. The NTPR includes significant penalties for non-compliance (a) failure to file TP declaration =...
The Internal Revenue Service is making some adjustments to its Compliance Assurance Process, a program aimed at large corporate taxpayers that involves cooperating with the IRS before any audits. As part of the proposed changes, the IRS said Monday it will shift the start of the application period to Oct....
At a recent merger and acquisition (M&A) forum, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue said that in restructuring of the country’s banking industry, the Government plans not to license any more wholly foreign-owned banks in Viet Nam, instead encouraging foreign banks to acquire domestic banks. According to Hue, the Government...
The Bangalore bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) held that the assessee is entitled for capital gain exemption under section 54F of the Income Tax Act in respect of the properties acquired outside India. In the instant case, the Revenue approached the Tribunal contending that for granting benefit...
Ghana loses significant tax revenue through the deliberate manipulation of the tax system by big corporate entities and multinational companies, the Senior Minister, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, has said. He described the situation as worrying and tasked the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to go after those companies and prosecute them if...
There is a small island in the Caribbean … You immediately imagine relaxation, a beach, palm trees. However today in these small areas a really big crypto history is being created. The crypto business is increasingly mastering the jurisdiction of “dwarf” states, such as Cyprus, Malta, Gibraltar, The Republic of...
The Mumbai bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal ( ITAT ) has held that the income earned from the web hosting services cannot be treated as fee within the meaning of Article 12 of the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between India and US. In the instant case, the...
Last week, Medtronic Plc suffered a legal setback in its bid to avoid a $1.4 billion U.S. tax bill — a ruling that may have costly implications for other multinationals battling the Internal Revenue Service over the use of overseas payments to lower their taxes. Companies including Facebook Inc. and...
Baker McKenzie (Thailand) discuss how the proposed trust law aims to bring more wealth back to the country as both Thai and overseas assets (including real estate properties) can be used to set up a trust and promote Thai private banking business. Preserving a faily business for the next generation...
Hedge Funds Are Struggling to Correctly Tax Crypto Holdings Amidst Unclear Regulations According to US law, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are taxed like property – similar to real estate. Amidst unclear regulations, however, hedge funds are struggling to correctly pay their taxes, which is a problem because the IRS just...
News that the government may bring in an ‘Amazon tax’ to help “rebalance the playing field” between physical and online retailers has been welcomed by booksellers. After department store retailer House of Fraser became the latest high street chain to go into administration on Friday (10th August) Philip Hammond said...
Switzerland’s Supreme Court has ordered the country’s authorities to turn over information on HSBC accounts with the Indian government regarding two of its citizens. Both clients had fought the release on the grounds that India’s request for assistance in a tax-dodging probe arose from stolen bank data. The case involved...
BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) — China has decided to impose additional tariffs on imported products from the United States worth about 16 billion U.S. dollars, according to an official statement released Wednesday. Approved by the State Council, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council has decided to impose additional...
Most multinational corporations (MNCs) charge their subsidiaries for services like human resources (HR) or information technology support. The subsidiary’s payment for these services is classed as intra-group service fees when they are made within same enterprise group. Because some businesses use this method to avoid tax and shift profits, tax...
ISLAMABAD: The people belonging to Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad are on top on account of receiving 75 percent tax notices from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for owning expansive properties in UK out of total 600-700 properties. This information has been shared by the UK tax authorities in a...
The current tax incentives arrangement for foreign investors looking to invest in key sectors of the economy ends up financing multinationals to the detriment of local businesses who continue to wobble under severe taxation, Marwan Ansah, Western Regional Chairman, Senior Staff Union of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), has...
Malaysia has suspended its MSC Malaysia tax regime, pending changes to bring it into line with recommendations from the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting initiative. Under the regime, domestic and foreign information and communication technology-related businesses can apply for “MSC Malaysia Status,” which allows them to benefit from tax...
UK taxpayers who receive any foreign income or profits from offshore assets have been urged to contact HMRC and disclose this income before 30th September 2018 to avoid being hit by higher penalties. David Redfern, tax preparation specialist and director of DSR Tax Claims, warned those affected to contact HMRC...
The United Kingdom and the European Union failed to reach an agreement on an orderly uncoupling, which is a major geopolitical and strategic event, with global implications. Uncertainty about the outcome of the Brexit referendum has already started to weaken growth in the U.K. — which is expected to get...
ISLAMABAD: After expiry of the tax amnesty scheme that had failed to lure owners of offshore assets abroad in a big way, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has decided dispatching tax notices to 600-700 individuals having rental income from possessing expensive properties in the UK in a bid to...
The financial services sector of Caribbean jurisdictions – and other parts of the developing world – have been under continuous assault by the European Union (EU) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) since the mid-1990s. This assault will peak again in a month’s time when financial institutions...
A new expert panel, chaired by former US President Barack Obama’s chief economic advisor, Professor Jason Furman, will look at competition in the digital economy. Harvard Professor Jason Furman will lead government expert panel he will consider how to guarantee new tech markets support competition in the UK data could...
KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will begin probe into the money trails of 500 high net-worth Pakistani individuals and companies having properties in the UK from August 1 (today) to discover their ‘probable’ tax evasion as an amnesty scheme for concealed local and foreign assets expired on Tuesday,...
Draft laws stopping multinational companies leveraging their Australian assets with debt, to reduce their tax burden have been released for public comment. The “thin capitalisation” rules prevent multinationals from shifting profits offshore by using excessive levels of tax-deductible debt to fund their Australian operations. “This will further reinforce the government’s...
U.S. companies that had been unsure of how to calculate a new tax on profits they’ve stashed offshore now have official answers. The Internal Revenue Service issued proposed regulations on Wednesday on Section 965, governing the so-called repatriation tax, detailing which corporate taxpayers are subject to the tax, which assets...
One digital platform has registered on its own and others are being registered ex officio. Foreign digital platforms, which mediate services in transport and accommodation in Slovakia, are obliged to launch so-called permanent establishments in Slovakia. The Finance Ministry wants to force them to pay corporate tax. So far only...
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is urging UK taxpayers to come forward and declare any foreign income or profits on offshore assets before 30 September to avoid higher tax penalties New legislation called “Requirement to Correct’ requires UK taxpayers to notify HMRC about any offshore tax liabilities relating to UK...
The introduction of an exit capital tax, envisaged by the draft law on amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding the tax on exit capital (No. 8557), will draw the attention of tax authorities to companies carrying out foreign economic operations, expert for transfer pricing at Evris law firm...
