Which Countries Are Considered The Top Corporate Tax Havens?
When multinational companies look to open up a new subsidiary or a regional headquarters, they tend to prefer certain countries due to their favorable tax policies. ... - Continue reading
Category: Multinationals
OECD is not the right place to reform international tax rules
On October 9, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development secretariat published its proposed ‘unified approach’ to reform international tax rules, seeking to address the tax challenges of digitalisation. ... - Continue reading
Turkey proposes 7.5 percent digital services tax on large multinationals
Turkey’s Ministry of Treasury and Finance on 23 October released a draft law introducing a digital services tax, sending it to the Turkish Parliament for ratification. ... - Continue reading
Jordan joins “Inclusive Framework on BEPS” to address taxation of multinational groups
The OECD today announced that Jordan has become the 135th country to join the “Inclusive Framework on BEPS.” ... - Continue reading
Australians owe record levels of tax: commissioner
Australians are avoiding their tax responsibilities in record numbers. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) announced at a Senates Estimates hearing that the debt owed by Australians to the tax man has recently hit 45 billion Australian dollars (31 billion U.S. dollars), a record figure, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation… – Continue reading
BEPS MLI to enter to force for Mauritius
Mauritius on October 18 deposited its instrument of ratification or acceptance of the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting ... - Continue reading
OECD director, tax experts, explore proposed “unified approach to pillar one” for taxing multinational groups
Highlights of the “unified approach to pillar one” proposal ... - Continue reading
Switzerland: Amended Protocol Of Double Taxation Agreement Between Switzerland And USA
On 20 September 2019, Switzerland and the USA ratified the protocol of amendment of their double taxation treaty ("DTA"). ... - Continue reading
Ireland must prepare for international tax turbulence
It looks like the world’s leading economies are determined to claim a bigger slice of the global corporate tax pie which will lead to tricky times ahead for Ireland, according to PwC tax policy leader Peter Reilly ... - Continue reading
EU ready to act alone on digital tax if no global deal in 2020
Ramping up pressure on multinationals accused of paying too little. ... - Continue reading
Dutch tax office demands £902m in back taxes from British American Tobacco
The Dutch tax authorities have issued British American Tobacco with a €1bn bill for back taxes after a tax evasion investigation, website De Onderzoeksredactie has reported. ... - Continue reading
France joins ICAP pilot to jointly assess MNE tax positions
France has joined the International Compliance Assurance Programme (ICAP) pilot program, the OECD announced September 16, bringing the total number of tax administrations participating to 18. ... - Continue reading
EU Commission to investigate 39 Belgium “excess profit” tax rulings for potential State aid violations
The European Commission today announced that it has opened 39 in-depth investigations to assess whether Belgian “excess profit” tax rulings granted to multinationals between 2005 and 2014 provided benefits that are contrary to EU State aid rules. ... - Continue reading
Netherlands destination of choice for tax-dodging multinationals – report
Multinational companies channel more than $3 trillion a year in “phantom” foreign investment through the Netherlands in order to bring down their corporate tax bills, according to research published in the Financial Times. ... - Continue reading
OECD sees progress in 116 nations’ implementation of country-by-country reporting
The OECD said its initiative to have minimum standards on the collection and exchange of country-by-country (CbC) reports on large multinational businesses has reached 116 jurisdictions and has shown major progress in the delivery of international tax transparency. The OECD’s second annual peer review report on the base erosion and… – Continue reading
Report assesses 116 nations’ implementation of country-by-country reporting
The OECD today released a peer review report judging whether 116 countries and their tax administrations have met standards on the collection and exchange of country-by-country (CbC) reports on large multinational businesses. ... - Continue reading
Australia provides arm’s length debt test guidance
The Australian Tax Office on 28 August, released its awaited draft guidance contained in Practical Compliance Guideline 2019/D3, on applying the arm’s length debt test contained in Division 820 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, Australia’s thin capitalization statutory provisions. ... - Continue reading
Georgia: a low-tax European country with much to offer investors
Georgia, an Eastern European Country, was ranked 6th in the World Bank Group’s 2019 “Doing Business” survey. ... - Continue reading
US, France reach deal on digital services tax
French President Emmanuel Macron today confirmed that the US and France have reached a compromise agreement which requires France to refund all digital services tax (DST) paid by multinationals once a new international system for taxing multinationals in the digital sector is in place. ... - Continue reading
CIAT database reflects progress made by 15 countries implementing BEPS recommendations
CIAT’s BEPS Monitoring Database has been updated to reflect advancements made by Angola, Argentina, Bermuda, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Spain, and Uruguay. ... - Continue reading
Albania joins Inclusive Framework on BEPS to address multinational tax issues
The OECD today announced that Albania has become the 133rd nation to join the “Inclusive Framework on BEPS.” ... - Continue reading
New Zealand-Swiss tax agreement tightens net on avoidance
WELLINGTON, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) — Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement between New Zealand and Switzerland, New Zealand’s Revenue Minister Stuart Nash said on Thursday. Nash and Swiss Ambassador to New Zealand David Vogelsanger signed documents to update the Double Tax Agreement… – Continue reading
UAE country-by-country reporting rules published
The UAE Ministry of Finance on 30 April issued new tax rules setting out country-by-country reporting compliance obligations for multinational corporation groups effective for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2019. ... - Continue reading
Mauritius leaks: Big firms leveraging legal loopholes to save taxes can cost developing countries $100 bn every year
Proposals made by Nirmala Sitharaman at G20 Summit could alter the stasis between large corporations and tax havens. ... - Continue reading
G7 finance ministers agree on some features of international tax rewrite
G7 finance ministers, at their meeting in Chantilly, France on July 17–18, agreed to several aspects of a revised system for taxing multinationals. ... - Continue reading
United Arab Emirates: The UAE Introduces Mandatory Country By Country Reporting
UAE has published Cabinet Resolution 32, the introduction of new country by country reporting ("CbC reporting") obligations that multinationals will be required to comply with starting 2020. ... - Continue reading
Gibraltar joins “Inclusive Framework on BEPS” working on multinational group tax issues
Gibraltar joins the list of jurisdictions to sign the framework on BEPS ... - Continue reading
Experts convene in the City of London to call out ‘pin stripe mafia enablers of tax abuse’
Researchers and campaigners from around the world have been presenting radical solutions on tackling tax abuse and financial crime at the Tax Justice Network’s annual conference held in the heart of London’s finance centre, on 2 – 3 July 2019. With over 200 attendees including prominent politicians, whistleblowers and economists,… – Continue reading
US, Monaco negotiating agreement for exchange of country-by-country reports
The US today announced it is negotiating a competent authority agreement with Monaco that would provide for the exchange of country-by-country reports concerning multinationals operating in their countries. ... - Continue reading
Morocco signs multilateral agreement on exchange of country-by-country reports
Morocco has signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the Exchange of Country-by-Country Reports, becoming the 79th country to join the agreement, the OECD today announced. ... - Continue reading
Canada ratifies BEPS MLI to fight tax avoidance by multinationals
The fight against tax avoidance continues.. ... - Continue reading
NBR building up profiles of MNCs
National Board of Revenue is building up profiles of the multinational companies operating in the country for the purpose of conducting audits on the MNCs’ accounts to prevent tax evasion through misuse of transfer pricing system. Transfer Pricing Cell (TPC) of NBR is also conducting risk assessment of the companies’… – Continue reading
British overseas territories top corporate tax loophole index
Governments are stepping up efforts to recoup more tax from multinationals, with the European Commission forcing iPhone maker Apple to repay 13 billion euros after it used Ireland to cut its tax on European profits to almost zero. The Tax Justice Network, a group campaigning for transparency, said its study… – Continue reading
Government Should Investigate BAT’s Tax Evasion
Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance KETCA has today called upon the government to prioritize regulations that enable the maximization of corporate tax revenue from British American Tobacco (BAT) Company. The KETCA Chairman, Joel Gitali said that BAT avoids paying full corporate taxes which would have been used for public services like… – Continue reading
Taxing times for SMEs
Globalisation of the economy has resulted in a shift in the way Singapore corporations operate – from local country-specific business models, to global integrated supply chains which centralise functions at a regional or global level. Singapore, in particular is a popular location to house regional and global operations, due to… – Continue reading
British American Tobacco shifts nearly $1bn out of developing countries into one UK office
For every dollar British American Tobacco (BAT) paid in tax in the countries it operates in, the giant multinational shifted more than half a dollar that would have been taxed locally to a UK subsidiary where BAT paid almost no tax. New analysis by the Tax Justice Network estimates Bangladesh,… – Continue reading
Int’l group to finalize digital tax plan in 2020
Objective is to limit ability of multinational corporations to book taxes in countries with lowest tax rates BERLIN A global effort to revamp international tax rules for the digital economy will be completed by the end of 2020, said the secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)…. – Continue reading
FACT Coalition Calls for Corporate Tax Transparency
“Investors see the value, policymakers see the benefits, and businesses see the inevitability of greater transparency,” says the group’s executive director. The Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition is calling on the U.S. Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Financial Accounting Standards Board to require multinationals to… – Continue reading
Africa’s problem with tax avoidance
Every year African countries lose at least $50 million in taxes — more than the amount of foreign development aid. So where is it all going and how can multinational companies be held to account? NGOs continue to raise the alarm. African countries are being cheated out of billions in… – Continue reading
OECD pushes for corporate tax rules overhaul
The 36-member state OECD has revealed that there is growing consensus behind a US proposal for an overhaul of global corporate tax rules, which would limit the ability of multinational companies to shift profits to low-tax jurisdictions. Earlier this year, the organisation put forward four different proposals to redesign corporate… – Continue reading
One in nine US multinationals ‘fail to comply with tax transparency law’
Analysis of more than 600 US multinational corporations has revealed that 12 per cent failed to comply with UK law requiring them to publish their tax strategies. With the UK estimated to lose £25 billion in corporate tax revenue each year due to multinational corporations shifting profits out of the… – Continue reading
OECD moves toward consensus on taxing multinational tech companies
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is making progress on dealing with the tax challenges of the digital economy with a goal of arriving at a new consensus-based long-term solution in 2020. The OECD announced last week that the countries and jurisdictions participating in the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on… – Continue reading
France to propose world business tax at G7: minister
DAVOS, Switzerland: French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday that France would plead for global minimum corporate tax as a priority of its presidencyof the G7 nations group this year. “We need an effective minium corporate tax in all developed countries,” the minister said at a press conference… – Continue reading
Chile May Tax eCommerce Companies 19 Pct
Chile is considering a 19 percent tax on multinational eCommerce companies like Amazon, Netflix and Uber. Finance Minister Felipe Larrain made the announcement on Thursday (Jan. 10), and if it comes to fruition, the rate would be almost double what was originally proposed, Reuters reported. The Chilean Chamber of Commerce,… – Continue reading
New EU rules on tax avoidance now effective
FIRST proposed by the European Commission (EU) in 2016, a set of new tax rules aimed at eliminating most common corporate tax avoidance practices came into force on 1 January 2019. The commission posted on its website on 30 December 2018 that the new tax rules known as Atad (anti-tax… – Continue reading
IRS gives foreign banks a break in Trump tax law’s new levy
The Internal Revenue Service is giving foreign-based banks with U.S. operations some leeway when calculating a major new international tax aimed at preventing global companies from shifting profits abroad. Multinationals often transfer payments, such as interest or royalties, to their affiliates in low-tax jurisdictions to maximize deductions and minimize tax… – Continue reading
Australian corporate tax takes up 20 percent: data
CANBERRA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) — The amount of tax paid by Australia’s biggest companies has risen 20 percent in a single year, data has revealed. According to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) ‘s corporate tax data for financial year 2016-17, which was released on Thursday, the nation’s 1,470 biggest companies… – Continue reading
Taxman starts questioning & issuing notices to BPOs
One month after the Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR) ruled that back office support services qualify as “intermediary” support services and not exports, officers of the indirect tax department have started issuing preliminary notices to captive units of multinationals and Indian companies exporting offshore support services. AAR’s directive meant several… – Continue reading
A tax ruling just opened the Pandora’s box for India’s back offices
MUMBAI: Are India-based back offices of multinationals merely brokers? And, are Indian companies providing services to foreign firms just commission agents? Going by the tax department’s definition, it appears that they are so — and not exporters. Several back offices at multinationals now face 18% Goods and Services Tax (GST)… – Continue reading
KRA Reveals 6 Tricks Foreign Firms Use to Evade Tax
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has revealed six tricks that multinational firms use to dodge paying tax. One of the schemes involves the firms exporting very cheaply and importing good very expensively. The authority reports that most firms also under-declare they pay to expatriates a move that reduces their profits and… – Continue reading
