Group companies, irrespective of the jurisdiction, will have to conform to common standards The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently released 15 action-plans to address the issue of “Base Erosion & Profit Shifting” or BEPS, which has led to misalignment between where taxes are paid and where value… – Continue reading
On December 8, there was a brief note in the media about the fact that Malta had managed to include a reference to flexibility into a European Council communiqué on taxation. You would be forgiven for overlooking it, assuming it was just a pedantic attempt to score political points. Think… – Continue reading
IP regime To comply with the OECD’s BEPS reports and more specifically its action plan n° 5 regarding harmful tax practices, the Luxembourg intellectual property (“IP“) regime under article 50bis of the Luxembourg income tax law (“ITL“) will be repealed as from 1 July 2016. As such, the Luxembourg 80%… – Continue reading
China has become the 77th party to an OECD agreement enabling the automatic annual exchange of tax-related information. The country signed up to the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) yesterday, which specifies which information will be exchanged and when, and renewed a co-operation agreement between the OECD and the Chinese… – Continue reading
In the wake of the final OECD BEPS reports issued in October, the European Council adopted amendments to Directive 2011/16/EU providing for the automatic exchange of information concerning advance cross border rulings (ACBR) and advance pricing arrangements (APA) between Member States. The amendments, which will come into force from 1… – Continue reading
16/12/2015 – Today the People’s Republic of China became the 77th jurisdiction to sign the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA), which allows it to move forward with plans to activate automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters and commence exchanges with other countries in 2018. The G20 Leaders… – Continue reading
AKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Deputy for International Economic Cooperation CMEA Rizal Afandi Lukman suspect there Base Erotion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) among multinational companies. The reason, he saw the discrepancies between the income tax with revenues of GDP. “During this time the tax ratio we always low, even up to 12… – Continue reading
Mexico has recently gazetted new transfer pricing documentation requirements, which will be effective from the 2016 tax year. The legislation was submitted to Congress by the Government on September 8, 2015, and published in the Official Gazette at the end of November. It will introduce the country-by-country (CbC) reporting framework… – Continue reading
Re-launching the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Basis (CCCTB) Corporate taxation in the EU needs to be fundamentally reformed. Today’s corporate tax systems in EU Member States were conceived in the 1930s, when cross-border trade was more limited, business models were simpler and products were tangible. But as business evolves, so… – Continue reading
Action on tax avoidance could see €600m go from the pharma sector, says report International moves on multinational tax could threaten Ireland, with a potential annual loss of corporate tax revenue of €600 million or more from the pharma sector alone, according to a new report from Chartered Accountants Ireland…. – Continue reading
India and Korea on December 9 agreed to suspend collection of taxes during the pendency of Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP). This MoU will relieve the burden of double taxation for the taxpayer in both the countries. Two days later, India and Japan signed a protocol for amending the existing convention,… – Continue reading
The tax commission of the ruling coalition (the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito) on 10 December 2015 reached an agreement for a draft outline of tax reform proposals for 2016. Among the items in the draft outline are proposals for transfer pricing documentation rules based on Action 13 (Transfer… – Continue reading
For the Socialist Senator Roberto Zanetti, the reform is an open-heart surgery, which must be done with great accuracy. Under pressure from the EU, G20 and the OECD, also Switzerland is obliged to give up his special tax regimes for holding companies and management companies. After years of negotiations with… – Continue reading
The Belgian Minister of Finance has just shared new insights on how Belgium will be addressing the outcome of the OECD/G20 project in relation to Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“BEPS”). He opted to do so via the “Plan to combat tax fraud”. The title of his policy note is… – Continue reading
Provisions under new article 76A of Mexico’s tax law reflect certain items of the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project—in particular expanded transfer pricing disclosure requirements that will apply for the 2016 tax year. Background The Mexican government’s 2016 federal budget, presented 8 September 2015, included proposals for… – Continue reading
Executive summary On 9 December 2015, the UK released draft clauses for Finance Bill 2016 as well as consultation documents. The key items released include: A new requirement for large businesses to publish their tax strategies as they relate to or affect UK taxation. This sits alongside new ‘special measures’… – Continue reading
On 5 October 2015, the OECD published its final report on Action Point 7 of the BEPS initiative (Preventing the Artificial Avoidance of Permanent Establishment Status), which entails a significant change to the current definition of permanent establishment (PE) in article 5 of the OECD Model Tax Convention. The purpose… – Continue reading
Stricter Tax and documentation requirements for foreign transactions “Amazon, Facebook, Google and Starbucks pay little taxes …” or “Luxembourg attracts international corporations” – headlines like these have 62 states and the OECD called into action. The result was “base erosion and profit shifting” BEPS shortly. Even the German SME sector… – Continue reading
You have probably read about the OECD’s comprehensive base erosion and profit shifting (or BEPS) action plan aimed at tackling undesirable international tax planning by corporates. In recent years, the EU, particularly the European Commission, has put substantial effort into accelerating BEPS-like measures in an EU context. A striking example… – Continue reading
Its approach includes a new “nexus principle”, as agreed by the multinational Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This is designed to ensure that the benefits of the UK tax regime are only available where the research and development (R&D) expenditure required to develop that innovation also took place… – Continue reading
In our previous columns, we tackled some of the recommendations from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on how to address the issue of Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) in international tax systems. We will now focus on the topic of transfer pricing (TP) of intangibles as… – Continue reading
Companies operating cross border through presence of Branch offices, Liaison and representative offices, appointed distributors and agents should closely watch the changes coming through in international tax norms. OECD and G20 countries adopted a 15 point action plan to address Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) and Action Point 7… – Continue reading
Outgoing Deloitte Malta chairman and senior partner Andrew Manduca speaks to Anthony Manduca about the future of the financial services sector in Malta, his 36 years in the profession and the need for more accountants. Andrew Manduca is very confident about the future of Malta as a leading international financial… – Continue reading
On 5 October 2015 the OECD published its final package of 15 action plans designed to prevent tax base erosion and profit shifting. One of the actions, which could become relevant to Ukrainian companies in the near future, is changes to the permanent establishment (further — “PE”) concept. Why the… – Continue reading
After the LuxLeaks affair in November 2014, the European Parliament established a special committee “on tax rulings and other measures similar in nature or effect” (TAXE) in February 2015. The committee’s report was adopted in a plenary session of the European Parliament on 25 November 2015. The Conference of Presidents… – Continue reading
Under Action 8 of the BEPS project (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) – Aligning Transfer Pricing Outcomes with Value Creation – work was carried out which resulted in certain changes to the OECD guidelines on transfer pricing (Transfer Pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Tax Administrations), with special emphasis on… – Continue reading
INTRODUCTION The Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 2015 and the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 2015 have now both been passed by Parliament, but await signature by the President. Once again, and for the second year running, the number and scope of the changes to the various fiscal Acts (mainly the… – Continue reading
Patent Boxes, Innovation Boxes, Intangible Property Boxes, Knowledge Development Boxes (IP Regimes) – countries may use different names, but all of these regimes are designed to allow a preferential rate of tax to be applied to income generated from intangible property (IP). There are a number of these regimes in… – Continue reading
Firms over a certain threshold group turnover may be required to give detailed info of financials. MULTINATIONAL companies in India over a certain threshold group turnover may be required to make comprehensive disclosures relating to their revenues, taxes paid, staff strength and assets in different countries where they operate from… – Continue reading
The Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development is keen on putting a stop to the revenue losses countries face from tax avoidance strategies employed by multinational companies. CNBC-TV18’s Navin Shetty and Aayush Ailwadi find out just how prepared India is, to adopt the new action plan. The Organization for Economic… – Continue reading
As the EU prepares for country-by-country tax reporting requirements, businesses would do well to understand the minutiae of the upcoming regulations October 2015 was a busy month for announcements regarding base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) and country-by-country reporting. The OECD issued the last of the guidelines on BEPS, the various… – Continue reading
In 2013, the 39th G8 summit in Lough Erne committed to reform the international tax system. The G8 Lough Erne Declaration stated that such reforms would benefit developing countries. The G20 declaration in St Petersburg 2013 also stated specifically that “Developing countries should be able to reap the benefits of… – Continue reading
Germany and Australia signed a new income tax treaty that follows, in some instances, the OECD Model Tax Convention, but not in other instances. For example, the treaty includes definitions for installation permanent establishments (PEs) and agency PEs, with the latter defined with a view to the OECD’s base erosion… – Continue reading
Akhilesh Ranjan, joint secretary (foreign tax), who led India’s initiative in the BEPS project, candidly shared his views on India’s plans for its implementation and what lies in the future. The fundamental principle of the BEPS project, is that income of MNCs should be taxed in that country where economic… – Continue reading
On December 9, 2015 the UK HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) published a policy paper titled: “Corporation Tax: anti-hybrid rules”. Next to publishing the policy paper the UK Government also announces that on December 22, 2015 a series of examples illustrating the application of the hybrid mismatch rules will be… – Continue reading
The European Union’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council agreed a work plan in response to the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting recommendations at its meeting on December 8. Following the meeting, ECOFIN – comprised of finance and economy ministers from all member states – released a list of agreed… – Continue reading
In Paris on the occasion of the COP21, the Honourable Billy Graham Talagi, Minister for Ministry of Natural Resources of Niue signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters in the presence of Deputy Secretary General Rintaro Tamaki. Previously, Israel signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative… – Continue reading
On 8 December 2015, the Council adopted a directive aimed at improving transparency on tax rulings given by member states to companies in specific cases about how taxation will be dealt with. The directive is one of a number of initiatives aimed at preventing corporate tax avoidance. It will require… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: India has been an active participant in the Base Erosion and Profit Sharing (BEPS) action plan, the final package of which was rolled out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in October. The action points, set down by the OECD, aim at closing loopholes that enable… – Continue reading
Global corporation tax reform proving good for country As things stand, it would appear that matters are going Ireland’s way insofar as global corporation tax reform is concerned. The country-by-country reporting rules that have been proposed under the OECD’s Beps programme, and that commentators had been focused on in relation… – Continue reading
Finance Minister Edward Scicluna pushes for ‘flexibility’ during today’s meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels Malta has come out strongly against applying “rigid rules”, urging the European Commission to adopt a more flexible approach as it drafts legislation on taxation. Corporate tax was high on the agenda of EU… – Continue reading
INTRODUCTION The Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 2015 and the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 2015 have both now been passed by Parliament, but await signature by the President. Once again, and now for the second year running, the number and scope of the changes to the various fiscal Acts (mainly… – Continue reading
Ministers due to adopt conclusions on future of EU’s code of conduct on business taxation Corporate tax will top today’s meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels, as ministers discuss the latest state of play regarding the common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) and cross-border tax rulings. In particular, finance… – Continue reading
Taxpayers fume about wastage and corruption, but large-scale evasion seems unlikely. JOHANNESBURG – There seems to be increasing concern that South Africa could be heading for a tax revolt. This comes amid an outcry against corruption, wastage of taxpayer money and the fact that the country’s deteriorating fiscal situation will… – Continue reading
The government will look into compelling taxpayers to report to authorities if they receive consulting to reduce their tax obligations. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Sunday that it will review the measure as a follow-up to the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting program approved at last month’s Group… – Continue reading
The plan seeks to limit the fiscal erosion through interest deduction explains Alma Gutierrez; also seeks to prevent abuses in treaties and strengthening of controlled foreign companies rules. MEXICO CITY (CNNExpansión) – The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is a forum where the governments of different countries, including… – Continue reading
The Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project is an initiative being pursued by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to curtail perceived exploitation of international tax rules and loopholes by multinational enterprises (MNEs). The OECD’s BEPS project was initiated in 2013 at the request of the Group… – Continue reading
Campaigners attack offshore centre for support of tax dodging, corruption and terrorist financing, reports the Financial Times. Bermuda has hit back against its critics, claiming that the financial centre is the victim of an “irresistible urge to stereotype” the British overseas territories. Bob Richards, finance minister, mounted a trenchant defence… – Continue reading
Michael Noonan, Ireland’s Finance Minister, underlined Ireland’s position on key international tax issues that were scheduled for discussion at a meeting of the EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN), reports Tax News. Noonan was addressing the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, and Reform on December 1, 2015, in… – Continue reading
In last week’s column, we started our discussion on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan 10, which seeks to align transfer pricing outcomes to value creation by providing protection to payor-countries against base-eroding payments and prescribing additional rules on the applicability of the profit split method. BEPS Action… – Continue reading
