Shell avoids the dividend tax via a tax haven, which would have cost the Dutch treasury – and therefore the taxpayer – at least € 7 billion… The intervention of a ‘trust’ on channel island of Jersey seems to underline the dubious character of the ‘deal’. Pressing Rutte to exchange...
JURIST Guest Columnist Inès Soumhi of Pitt Law, discusses the impact of European Law on the French Tax System… In January 2018, the French Parliament formalized – as part of the 2018 Finance Act – several tax changes likely to impact companies including the repeal of the 3% additional tax...
There have been a number of recent legal and regulatory changes in Taiwan that have impact from a wealth management perspective. Tax Rates Changes effective 2018 Effective 1 January 2018, the new tax rates for Taiwan are: Local foundation tax rule tightened Effective 1 January 2018, dividend for local foundations...
Individuals that are in salaried employment have limited tax benefits. There are, however, certain tax benefits that may be used by individuals in salaried employment who are aware of the South African tax laws, notes Daniel Baines, author of ‘How to Get a SARS Refund‘. These can be grouped into...
In China, withholding Corporate Income Tax (CIT) is applied to the following China-sourced incomes derived by non-resident enterprises without establishments in China, or to that derived by non-resident enterprises with establishments in China but whose income is not related to these establishments: Dividends, bonuses, and other equity investment proceeds; Interests,...
(Web Desk) – Pakistan Stock Brokers Association (PBSA) has proposed end of double taxation whereby abolishing tax on dividends, bonus and capital value tax as it has been discouraging foreign as well as domestic investment in the Pakistan stock exchange . Pakistan Stock Brokers Association sent budget proposals from the...
Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin and Finance Minister of Qatar Ali Shareef Al-Emadi have signed an agreement on avoiding double taxation and preventing income tax evasion between the government of Ukraine and Qatar. According to a Thursday posting on the website of the Finance Ministry of Ukraine, avoiding double...
On February 3, 2018, China’s State Administration of Taxation set out new rules on the disallowance of tax treaty benefits where an entity fails to demonstrate it is the beneficial owner of Chinese assets from which passive income is derived. A beneficial ownership requirement is introduced in treaties to prevent...
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia on January 31 ruled in favor of Starr International Company in a case concerning an erroneous refund paid to the taxpayer, which the IRS sought to reclaim. In 2011, the IRS erroneously issued a USD21m refund to Starr International Company,...
Expects to avoid the mandatory dividend distribution tax BENGALURU, JANUARY 24: Consultancy multinational Accenture Solutions expects to avoid a substantial amount of tax for its Indian operations as it seeks nod from its creditors on Thursday for reduction of its capital from ₹5,361 crore to ₹2,263 crore. It has now...
Microsoft, Cisco might also benefit from GOP bill ‘loophole’ Law gives some firms edge in paring offshore cash tax tab Companies that stockpiled trillions of dollars offshore free of U.S. income tax may get one last break before paying up — provided their fiscal years don’t follow the calendar year....
The United Arab Emirates Cabinet on January 7, 2018, approved two double tax agreements concluded by the territory in 2017 with Moldova and Croatia. Double tax agreements seek to facilitate trade and investment between two or more countries by setting out the taxing rights of the territories involved, to ensure...
In this Update On June 7, 2017, Canada signed the OECD’s Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the MLI) The MLI will modify up to 75 of Canada’s bilateral tax treaties, including adding a broad anti-avoidance rule to these treaties (the...
French deputies have adopted at first reading the 2018 Finance Bill, which includes several of the Government’s key tax measures. The bill, adopted by the National Assembly on October 24, will reduce compulsory levies by EUR10.3bn (USD12.1bn) by the end of 2018. The bill includes the abolition of the wealth...
HM Revenue and Customs, the UK tax authority, has welcomed a ruling in its favor against a contrived tax avoidance scheme involving an entity in Jersey and the Cayman Islands. HMRC says it expects that the decision will recover GBP325m in unpaid tax. The decision on the scheme, known as...
On the back of the Indonesian government’s issuance of its new controlled foreign company (CFC) regulation on July 26, many Indonesians are likely to sell their foreign shell companies because of the enforcement of double tax payments. The CFC regulation authorizes the government to charge a dividend tax on foreign...
The OECD has taken issue with the Estonian Government’s plans to reduce the rate of tax on distributed dividends for established companies, warning that the measure could complicate the tax system and discriminate against small firms. Under recently enacted legislation, tax on distributed dividends will be reduced from 20 percent...
The governments of Japan and Russia signed a new convention on the elimination of double taxation on September 7. The convention replaces the 1986 agreement between Japan and the former Soviet Union. It lowers withholding tax rates on cross-border income from trade and investment – in most cases to zero...
The Swiss Federal Council has announced that an information exchange amendment to the double tax agreement with Belgium has entered into force. On August 7, the Council said the additional agreement to amend the DTA had entered into force on July 19. It contains an administrative assistance clause in accordance...
The change converts tax-deductible interest payments employed by the schemes into taxable stock dividends. The U.S. government on Friday gave companies an extra year to comply with an Obama-era regulation meant to crack down on corporations that try to minimize their U.S. tax bills by shifting profits abroad to countries...
The Australian Taxation Office has reversed its stance on the tax treatment of trustee dividend-equivalent payments to participants in employee share schemes. The ATO’s June 8 draft guidance, Draft determination TD 2017/D2, deals with circumstances in which an employer establishes a trust to provide shares to employees under an employee...
This article is the first of a series of articles that looks at tax aspects of the UK company which make it an attractive international business company, or “IBC”. This generic label, and its acronym, are normally associated with the BVI company, and its international competitors. An essential feature of...
Muscat: One of the many changes that the Royal Decree 9 of 2017 (RD) has made in the Oman Income tax law is the introduction of withholding tax (WHT) on payment of ‘dividends on shares’ by Omani companies. This amendment requires Omani companies distributing dividends on shares to foreign persons...
Multinational firms in South Korea tend to transfer much higher proportions of their revenues to their headquarters overseas in dividends and royalties than their Korean counterparts, an expert said Monday. Payments in royalties and dividends are categorized as expenses, which in turn lowers their reported earnings to the Korean authorities....
A significant cut to the dividend tax allowance announced in the UK Budget will not deter people from incorporating their own business to take advantage of lower corporation tax rates, the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) has said. The Government will reduce the tax-free dividend allowance, which affects owner managers...
On 30 December 2016 the Commercial Court of Voronezh Oblast delivered a judgement in case No. А14-10190/2014 (the “Decision”) under the claim of Ilyushin Finance Co. Open Joint Stock Company (the “Company”). The case is an example of a broad interpretation of the list of documents confirming entitlement to a...
The Netherlands is slowly but surely steering away from facilitating the use of its corporate income tax system by companies that are set up merely to obtain tax benefits. These companies, which often do not actually carry out activities in the Netherlands, have contributed to the perception among policy makers...
A bombshell hidden in the detail of the 2017 Budget review relates to the taxation of offshore trusts. It refers to the 2015 Budget review in which it was announced that measures would be introduced to the tax treatment of foreign companies held by interposed trusts. No specific countermeasures were...
On February 16, 2017, the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation approved the Review of Court Practice in the Consideration of Cases Involving the Application of Certain Provisions of Section V.1 and Article 269 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (the “Review”). There is no...
Background Switzerland levies federal withholding tax at the rate of 35% on certain capital income, including dividend distributions of Swiss corporations. The federal withholding tax is fully refundable for Swiss resident recipients, provided that they (i) are beneficially entitled to and (ii) correctly declare respectively account for the taxable income....
A new paper that calls for the introduction of a US carbon tax has been released by a group of former Republican administration members and economic advisers and leading business representatives. Issued under the auspices of the Climate Leadership Council, the paper proposes that the tax might begin at USD40...
‘Private Banking’ is a term that usually conjures up images of secret banking transactions being carried out on behalf Royal families, the landed gentry and wealthy individuals. That’s how private banking started, but is not a fair reflection of private banking today. Today, it’s not your family tree that matters...
Among other things, Union Budget 2017 will be remembered for two firsts – the introduction of secondary adjustment and thin capitalisation rules. Both are transfer pricing provisions which will have a far-reaching impact on corporates. Secondary Adjustment Since the concept of secondary adjustment is introduced for the first time in...
On December 21, 2016, the new Canada–Israel tax treaty entered into force. The new treaty was signed on September 21, 2016 in New York, and replaces the existing treaty that dates from 1975. For most purposes, the provisions of the new treaty took effect as of January 1, 2017. Overall,...
Montenegro has concluded double taxation treaties with more than 35 countries, and this number continues to grow. The most recently signed treaty is the one concluded with Montenegro. The agreement affects persons who are residents of one or both of the contracting states and applies to the Portuguese personal income...
The Russian government will no longer consider Hong Kong a Chinese-affiliated tax haven that doesn’t share tax information. Russia will strike Hong Kong from its list of offshore jurisdictions following ratification of a double tax treaty signed by the two parties last January and ratified by Russia in July, according...
The 2017 Budget Law introduced (starting from fiscal year 2017) favourable provisions for people wishing to become tax residents in Italy. It is aimed at wealthy individuals who wish to bring in new capital resources. The regime is inspired by the non-domiciled resident regime which is in force in the...
Malta was today (11 January) accused of being a tax haven as it took over the rotating presidency of the EU. Some companies in the EU’s smallest country pay as little as 5% tax on their profits. The small Mediterranean island would have been included in the list of tax...
The Slovak Government and Parliament made several changes to the tax system with effect from 1 January 2017. The recently adopted amendments concern – among others – corporate and personal income tax, value added tax, special levy in regulated industries, as well as social security and health insurance contributions. Here...
The US government is facing calls to delay the introduction of a new tax on foreign investors in US equity-linked derivative transactions, after the G5 group of countries signalled their opposition and the US Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) indicated its members would not be ready for the...
According to unofficial estimates, more than $2 billion has flowed into Dubai real estate from Pakistanis every year for the past three years. Last week, account holders in a major UAE bank began receiving letters alerting them that soon they would be required to furnish information “with a view to...
Two reports on company taxation show that more than a third of the largest companies operating in Australia paid no tax in 2014–15 and that multinational tax evasion cost an estimated $4.8 billion that year. These reports show the fraud of the claims being made by the Australian government and...
A recent report has revived claims Singapore is a tax haven but the Singapore Government and experts here reject the label emphatically. They say the report contains inaccurate assertions and fails to recognise recent steps here to crack down on tax evasion. The Republic ranked fifth on a list of...
Lower corporate tax rates around the world are expected to play an important part in multinational companies’ tax planning in 2017, with a rate as low as 15 percent on the table in the U.S. and countries such as the U.K. planning to maintain or lower their current rates. A...
Draft legislation for the public sector IR35 reforms was published yesterday and several firms have responded concernedly to the publication of the documents. IR35 legislation reforms were proposed recently during the Autumn Statement. Julia Kermode, chief executive of The Freelancer & Contractor Services Association, commented on the publication of the...
The United States has not agreed to participate in the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), relying instead on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) regime enacted in 2010 and initiated in 2014. United States participation in CRS is highly unlikely. Even with a change in control of Congress, CRS may...
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) issued the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Information in Tax Matters (Standard for AEOI) in July 2014, which aims to prevent offshore tax evasion and maintain the integrity of tax systems. Over 100 jurisdictions have committed to comply with the Standard...
Tax authorities across Europe will be able to automatically share information about bank account holders, according to a Council position approved by the European Parliament on November 22. It was passed by 590 votes to 32 votes, with 64 abstentions. According to a European Parliament press release, the new rules...
While Trump wants to close loopholes, many of them stem from public policy concerns — not “special interests.” After a dramatic upset victory in one of the most bitterly contested presidential races in recent history, Donald Trump now has some serious work to do. His corporate tax policies—which are vital...
Practitioners in the managed funds industry are calling for a zero-rate for withholding tax in Australia amid the government’s proposals for new tax concessions to boost it, saying the proposed measures don’t go far enough. The government released a consultation paper Nov. 3 on non-resident withholding taxes for pooled funds—or...
