U.S. companies are shifting their addresses abroad to reduce their taxes Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Monday the Obama administration will decide “in the very near future” what actions it can take to make it less profitable for U.S. companies to shift their legal addresses to other countries. A growing… – Continue reading
HM Revenue & Customs has established a taskforce to deal specifically with people trying to dodge property tax in the south west of England and in south Wales. The taskforce will target those who have sold one or more properties and haven’t paid capital gains tax or disclosed rental income…. – Continue reading
Minister, Embassy of Japan Mr. Isomata Akio asked India to exempt Japanese manufacturers, operating in India from withholding tax and Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) so that these do not evolve into being one of the trade barriers and stagger Japan from becoming India’s largest trade partner in times to come. Japan investments and technology… – Continue reading
On July 21, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published its Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters. The report contains the OECD’s model competent authority agreement (CAA), the common standard on reporting and due diligence for financial account information (CRS) and commentaries on both the CAA and CRS.The… – Continue reading
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is wary of banks invoking guarantees on foreign swap deals, and is taking steps to scrutinize such activity. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is wary of US banks shifting their trading activities offshore and has urged other regulators to scrutinize banks involved in… – Continue reading
MONTREAL – The disclosure by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. that it is under audit by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service is raising further doubts among tax specialists about the future of the Quebec-based drug company’s tax strategies. Valeant estimates it has achieved US$2.5-billion in tax and other “corporate structure” savings… – Continue reading
The American Chamber of Commerce Ireland chief says ‘can-do attitude’ of Irish workforce is key ingredient for multinationals In the global tax game, Ireland is a mere pawn, powerless in the face of big corporations and their aggressive tax avoidance schemes. It’s no secret that these firms inhabit a parallel… – Continue reading
The police conducted on Monday morning, September 8, searches at several companies in Romania in a case of tax evasion in the sale of software. The searches took place at 7 places in Bucharest and Ilfov and Giurgiu counties, targeting the suspects’ homes and several companies. According to sources quoted by… – Continue reading
With the Canadian government’s decision to comply in July with a Washington tax crackdown on “U.S. persons” around the world, many Ameri-Canadians are feeling rising anger, fear and even hatred toward their powerful country of origin. That said, the self-identities of Americans in Canada have been more ambiguous than they… – Continue reading
US companies can end up sitting on vast piles of untappable cash, held overseas for tax purposes. Success for the iPhone 6 would make things worse If, as expected, the launch of the new iPhone and Apple’s iWatch health monitor leads to record sales, more money than ever will pour… – Continue reading
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. C Three US companies seeking to use controversial takeovers to cut their US tax bills hold at least… – Continue reading
The verdict serves as reference for invoking treaty abuse provisions in the absence of General Anti-Avoidance Rules Mukesh Butani September 7, 2014 Last Updated at 22:33 IST In a ruling demonstrating wise judicial discipline, the Delhi High Court (HC) recently upheld non-taxability of sale of shares in an offshore company… – Continue reading
Antony Ting describes it as “like finding treasure”. It was 18 months ago when the powerful US congressional committee blew the lid on Apple’s aggressive corporate tax structure, which allowed it to funnel $US44 billion dollars out of the countrythrough a network of tax haven subsidiaries. Dr Ting, a senior… – Continue reading
FIFA’s financial monitoring panel has asked one of its members to explain his arrest in a corruption case. Canover Watson was detained in his native Cayman Islands on Aug. 28 by police anti-corruption and financial crime units. Local media reported that Watson was quizzed about alleged money laundering and abuse… – Continue reading
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Savers and investors who have kept assets offshore should make use of disclosure facilities to settle with the… – Continue reading
A ruling by the European Court of Justice that Spanish inheritance tax breaks the law by charging more to foreigners, could lead to a change in Spanish property taxation, lawyers believe The European Union’s highest court has ruled that Spanish inheritance tax breaks the law by charging foreigners more –… – Continue reading
Alex Lemond is among a new wave of New Yorkers trading in their Manhattan condominiums for beachside villas in Puerto Rico. The former hedge fund honcho moved to San Juan from New York last year, and his company, the Encanto Group, is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in developing… – Continue reading
(India and Switzerland are…) NEW DELHI: India and Switzerland are finding it difficult to break a deadlock over sharing information on secret bank accounts held in the European nation but both sides are close to finalising the first accord on a bilateral advance pricing agreement that will allow taxpayers to… – Continue reading
SUMMARY As per estimates, about 1-2% of the existing industry AUM of Rs 10 lakh cr comes from Canada and US-based investors. Indian AMCs have to register with the US SEC to market their funds in the US and follow SEC regulations to take fresh investments from the US citizens… – Continue reading
Pascal Saint-Amans, the Director of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) Center for Tax Policy and Administration, has visited Liechtenstein to discuss tax matters with Mauro Pedrazzini, Liechtenstein’s Minister of Social Affairs. Among other things, Saint-Amans’s visit focused on the adoption of automatic information exchange in tax matters… – Continue reading
Such bonds have advantages for expats who are moving from a low-tax to a high-tax environment, explains Charlotte Beugge Interest rates on savings accounts are at such low levels that many expats will be looking for an alternative home for their money. Currently, the best rate expat savers can get… – Continue reading
The constant battle raging between clever lawyers and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has led to the goal posts moving on a tax amnesty offer. After alleged abuses of the Employee Benefit Trust settlement arrangement (EBT) the scheme will be closed early, denying taxpayers the chance to settle their affair… – Continue reading
Audits may now be based on risk of tax evasion The government has dropped the Rs 15-crore threshold for referring transactions between a multinational company and its Indian subsidiary for compulsory scrutiny by the tax department. It might, instead, move towards a risk-based approach to identify international transactions prone to… – Continue reading
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A tough new ad from Democratic Sen. Al Franken accuses his Republican opponent’s business of avoiding taxes by headquartering overseas. But Republican Mike McFadden calls the ad “ridiculous” and “full of lies.” The ad marks a new Franken campaign strategy: directly attack McFadden for his business dealings…. – Continue reading
ICC’s Perspectives on the Taxation of Hybrid Entitites Upon request from the United Nations Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters, ICC submitted its views on the taxation on hybrid entities to feed into the UN’s work on the UN Model Convention. The letter highlights that the issues… – Continue reading
PRESSURE is mounting both within and outside Parliament for the government to introduce dedicated legislation to ban transfer pricing when it is used as a tax-avoidance measure to shift profit offshore. South Africa is estimated to lose tens of billions of rand annually from the abuse of transfer pricing by… – Continue reading
Stopgap efforts to prevent corporate tax inversions won’t fix the underlying problems With Congress about to return for a final push before the midterm elections in November, one topic on everyone’s lips is so-called corporate inversions. The practice, where a large U.S. company buys a smaller foreign company in order… – Continue reading
Dutch bank ABN AMRO has criticized a new report, The Fair Banking Guide, published by the Dutch BankWiser (EBW) after an investigation into international tax avoidance in the Dutch banking sector. “ABN AMRO considers the report to be of such poor quality that it does not wish to react to its… – Continue reading
(Seychelles News Agency) – The Seychelles has become an early adopter of an agreement launched by the G5 group of countries – the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain – to automatically disclose details of individuals who have taxable income kept in offshore accounts. According to a press statement by Her Majesty’s… – Continue reading
To ensure location-based profits stay on shore. Treasurer Joe Hockey has promised to direct the Tax Office to target multinational businesses who charge Australians more for technology and ship the profits offshore to avoid tax. In a pre-G20 speech this morning, Hockey outlined the ways the Government plans to tighten… – Continue reading
Fund houses have started asking foreign investors and distributors to furnish necessary details to comply with Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Fund houses have started collecting necessary information from foreign investors about their tax residency status in order to comply with the requirement of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act… – Continue reading
Multinational corporations that use complicated schemes to avoid paying tax in Australia are set to be targeted, with Treasurer Joe Hockey demanding the Commissioner of Taxation “double his efforts”. Mr Hockey has also warned Australians with offshore investments to once again disclose their unreported foreign income to tax authorities before… – Continue reading
Seven Dutch financial institutions may be involved in evading taxes and are ‘extremely vague’ about what they do to ensure this does not happen, the Dutch Fair Bank Guide said on Wednesday. ABN Amro, Aegon, Delta Lloyd, ING, NIBC, Rabobank and Van Lanschot emerge as potential tax avoiders in research… – Continue reading
Mention financial secrecy at the dinner table ten years ago and you would most likely have been greeted with a blank stare. Tax evasion in particular was a subject matter deemed largely the preserve of accountants and frustrated FBI men seeking circuitous ways to prosecute mobsters. These days, though, the… – Continue reading
Last year, $20 trillion disappeared into secret off-shore tax havens across the world — an amount that can save 3.6 million lives annually. A study conducted by the UK-based NGO, ONE, has found that corruption, tax evasion and corporate malpractices is leading to monetary losses of the scale that could… – Continue reading
Anonymous shell companies and shady natural resources deals targeted in report that calls on G20 to drive for transparency G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Moscow, July 2013. ONE is calling on the group to stop the corruption that is costing the developing world billions. Photograph: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty… – Continue reading
The Indian government’s bid to unearth black money stashed away in hidden offshore accounts is starting to pay off. The government believes around £350 billion is hidden in undeclared bank accounts and investments outside the country and wants to bring the tax owed on the money back to India. Nine… – Continue reading
COMPLICATED transfer pricing legislation remains a burden and has become an increased risk for multinational firms doing business in SA and the rest of the continent. Transfer pricing is the price charged for goods and services in cross-border transactions between two companies within the same multinational group. Companies can become… – Continue reading
A recent business report in European CEO calls Bermuda a “world leader in the ILS market,” focusing on recent growth in that sector in painting the island as a “premier financial jurisdiction.” The report, written by Greg Wojciechowski, CEO of Bermuda Stock Exchange, opens by saying, “Most people’s first thoughts of… – Continue reading
The British Virgin Islands’ (BVI) corporate statute is ideally suited for international listings. BVI companies have been used widely for listings on international stock exchanges in New York, London, Singapore and Oslo. They have been especially popular for listings on the world’s most successful growth market, the LSE’s Alternative Investment… – Continue reading
A useful – and legal – scheme for people who haven’t paid their dues to the taxman is being restricted, reports Alison Steed Expats who have failed to pay their taxes may find the attractive option of using the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility (LDF) blocked, thanks to changes made to it… – Continue reading
Bank of China Ltd., the nation’s fourth-biggest by market value, hired four banks to help arrange its first offshore sale of subordinated securities that will count as capital under the country’s new banking rules. The four include Bank of China’s own investment-banking arm, the people familiar with the matter said, asking… – Continue reading
TRANSFER pricing occurs whenever there is a transaction between two business enterprises which are part of the same group of companies or are controlled by a common person. In simple terms we refer to such parties as related parties. The business enterprises can include companies, limited liability partnerships, partnerships, branches,… – Continue reading
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5470f66a-32a8-11e4-a5a2-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz3CLJSNkJT The Spanish government has launched a blistering attack on Jordi Pujol, the former Catalan… – Continue reading
The fact is, America has the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world Many politicians in Washington are angry that some American companies are redomiciling in the UK, Canada and elsewhere. These “inversions” generally occur as a result of mergers with foreign firms, with tax being a big reason… – Continue reading
On 9 July 2014, Luxembourg Parliament voted a law aimed at allowing the issuance of the first Luxembourg sovereign Sukuk in response to the recent surge in investor demand for Sharia-compliant instruments. In a nutshell, the law authorizes a sale and buy-back transaction of real estate assets to a Special… – Continue reading
Tax authorities throughout the world are cracking down on taxpayers – individuals and corporations – that utilize some aggressive tax planning strategies. While most of these schemes are perfectly legal and merely take advantage of loopholes in theinternational tax system, there is a growing concern that they not only threaten… – Continue reading
In Beezadhur v The Independent Commission against Corruption and anor [2014] UKPC 27, the Privy Council dismissed an appeal by a retired nurse who was charged with and found guilty by the Intermediate Court of Mauritius of five offences under sections 5(1) and 8 of the Financial and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2002… – Continue reading
On August 26, Burger King announced that it entered into an agreement to acquire Tim Hortons, Inc., the Canadian coffee-and-doughnut chain, in a transaction that will be structured as an “inversion” (i.e., Burger King will become a subsidiary of a Canadian parent corporation). The deal is expected to close in 2014… – Continue reading
Amazon has been accused of violating Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) laws in India by setting up business in the country. Seattle based Amazon.com, operating its business from Bangalore, is in confrontation with the Karnataka government’s commercial taxes department. While, the department argued that Amazon.com has violated FDI, regulations by making… – Continue reading
