TRYNESS MBALE, Lusaka IN A bid to contribute to economic growth, Stanbic Bank Zambia has disbursed over K25 million to small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) in various sectors this year. Stanbic Bank chief executive officer for east and southern Africa Zweli Munyati said the bank realises that the SMEs sector… – Continue reading
Supporters of a plan to tax overseas profits to pay for U.S. transportation projects said Wednesday the proposal is the “only possible path forward” for passing a highway bill in the House this month. The sponsors of legislation in the House containing the offshore taxes-for-roads proposal said the plan, known… – Continue reading
The location of a holding company is a significant consideration in any international corporate structure. Choice of jurisdiction for a group holding company (‘Holdco’) is relevant both from the point of view of tax optimisation (maximising withholding tax free dividend, interest and royalty flow up through the group and minimising… – Continue reading
On 6 October 2015, the Council of the European Union reached agreement on a proposal for a Council Directive (‘the New Directive’) amending Directive 2011/16/EU (Directive on administrative cooperation between Member States) and requiring automatic exchange of information on ‘advance tax rulings’ (‘Tax Rulings’) and ‘advance pricing arrangements’ (‘APAs’) between… – Continue reading
For many years international tax planning for Russian inbound and outbound investments, and wealth planning for Russian resident individuals, was rather straightforward. That was primarily due to relatively simple domestic tax rules and a degree of inexperience amongst the Russian tax and other interested authorities in relation to international tax… – Continue reading
With the bulk of the OECD’s work on the BEPS project complete, attention will now turn to the implementation of the recommendations by member countries and others. Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan said that he welcomed the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (Beps) report, and that the OECD’s proposals would… – Continue reading
EU finance ministers today agreed to introduce provisions for the automatic exchange of information on cross-border tax rulings—the latest development concerning the European Commission’s initiative to address tax avoidance and harmful tax competition. Detailed provisions to be included in a directive are expected to be finalized before the end of… – Continue reading
Nearly three-quarters of Fortune 500 companies booked their profits to tax havens last year, with just 30 companies accounting for 62 percent of earnings stashed offshore, according to a new report. The report, “Offshore Shell Games,” released Tuesday by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Citizens for Tax Justice, found… – Continue reading
The OECD’s tax package, released in Paris on Tuesday, will not stop corporate tax dodgers cheating poor countries out of billions of dollars of tax revenue, says Oxfam. The OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan has outlined 15 measures, reported Oxfam, which are aimed at tackling aggressive… – Continue reading
Oct. 6 (BusinessDesk) – Fonterra Cooperative Group is likely to be among some 20 New Zealand companies left dealing with increased red tape to comply with wide-ranging reforms to corporate tax rules proposed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and expected to be endorsed by the world’s 20… – Continue reading
The OECD-G20 plan to stop multinational tax avoidance could put companies in the middle of border disputes between revenue authorities, tax experts have warned. But civil society groups say the plan has not gone far enough and could make it easier for some multinationals to dodge tax. Treasurer Scott Morrison… – Continue reading
In an affidavit that was filed with the Federal Court of Appeal on September 25, 2015 in support of the government’s response to block a motion for injunctive relief that had been brought by the plaintiffs, Sue Murray, Director of the Canada Revenue Agency’s Competent Authority Services Division, International and… – Continue reading
One-quarter of corporate tax and transfer pricing directors surveyed say their companies will fail to meet the first deadline proposed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in its Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan. Finance ministers for the G20 countries called on the OECD to… – Continue reading
Countries should commit to minimum standards on the resolution of international tax disputes, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in a report published as part of its base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project.06 Oct 2015 The standards would include a commitment to “seek to resolve” cases… – Continue reading
PRESS RELEASE – The Caribbean Association of Banks Inc. (CAB) is once more forced to express its deep concern over yet another “tax-haven” list which includes 15 Commonwealth Caribbean countries. The referred list appears within the District of Columbia’s 2015 Budget Support Act which expands the definition of “tax haven”… – Continue reading
Deemed domiciled; long term residents Indefinite non-domiciled status for UK tax purposes will become a thing of the past if the proposals in the Summer Budget are enacted. These are expected to take effect from 6 April 2017. A non-UK domiciliary may elect to be taxed on the remittance basis… – Continue reading
The architects of a sweeping set of recommendations to battle offshore tax avoidance insist their project won’t allow foreign countries to simply grab cash from U.S. companies. The business community isn’t convinced. Senior officials at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a Paris-based research group sponsored by almost… – Continue reading
The Council of Ministers has approved an agreement between the Republic of Turkey and Republic of Kosovo (“State” or collectively “States”) to prevent tax evasion and double income taxation for residents of the two countries (“Agreement”). On 19 August 2015, the Council of Ministers approved the Agreement and its annexed… – Continue reading
Minister of State for Finance Simon Harris claims Ireland’s corporation tax regime is transparent and robust Ireland’s corporation tax regime is transparent and robust, Minister of State for Finance Simon Harris has insisted. He told the Dáil the State believed a multilateral response was the right response to aggressive tax… – Continue reading
LUXEMBOURG: European Union finance ministers agreed on Tuesday to automatically exchange information on deals struck with multinational companies from 2017 in a bid to reduce tax avoidance, officials said. “We have a political deal on this issue,” Luxembourg’s finance minister Pierre Gramegna told his EU counterparts in a public session… – Continue reading
What is limitation of relief? Here is an actual illustration: A client in Singapore has loans to a Spanish SOCIMI, a real estate investment company equivalent to a REIT. Spain requires tax to be deducted at source when interest becomes payable even if in fact the interest is not actually… – Continue reading
LONDON (CNNMoney) — Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands are more than just sunny vacation spots. They’re also three of the biggest tax havens for U.S. companies, according to a report from the left-leaning Citizens for Tax Justice and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. The islands… – Continue reading
The Irish government is set to make further changes to the country’s corporate tax regime as it seeks to align itself with a global initiative to clamp down on corporate tax avoidance, reports the Financial Times. The change being considered will oblige companies that have global headquarters in Ireland to… – Continue reading
In a move which is likely to be of interest to those organisations who put systems and procedures in place to comply, the US has recently announced (September 2015) that information on US persons does not now need to be exchanged for certain jurisdictions until September 2016. In Notice 2015-66… – Continue reading
Last year at this time, news about “tax inversions” was grabbing headlines – cases where large U.S. multinationals would buy a foreign company in a tax-friendly jurisdiction, and then relocate its headquarters to reap the tax arbitrage benefits. The Obama administration responded to the rash of high-profile inversions with new… – Continue reading
Senior EY partners Andy Archer and David Snell look at some looming changes to international tax rules. In what will be the biggest change to the international tax rule book since it was put in place before World War 2, the OECD will tomorrow (4 am Tuesday 6 October) release… – Continue reading
On October 2, 2015, the Internal Revenue Service announced that it had achieved a key milestone in implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), a critical anti-tax evasion law passed by Congress in 2010 but not fully implemented until July 2014. The milestone announced by the IRS was… – Continue reading
Having started making public the names of Indians and other foreigners with bank accounts that are under scanner, Switzerland will now publish in December a list of accounts that have remained unclaimed for 60 years, reports the Economic Times. This would be the first time that such a list would… – Continue reading
Daily Herald Reports Specialty drug manufacturer Horizon Pharma, which moved its corporate headquarters from Deerfield to Ireland in 2014, announced it is relocating its U.S. headquarters from Deerfield to Lake Forest as part of a company expansion. The Dublin-based company reported it signed a long-term sublease on a 160,000-square-foot building… – Continue reading
The IRS has announced that as of September 30, 2015 it will implement the automatic exchange of tax information as set forth in the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, (FATCA). The IRS Commissioner in announcing the implementation of the automatic exchange of information stated: “This information exchange is part of… – Continue reading
Opposition to foreign taxes on American investment and hard work has been coded into our national DNA for almost 240 years. Yet almost two and a half centuries after resolving that we would not stand idle while others decide how to tax us, Americans once again must take decisive action… – Continue reading
A plan for overhauling the global system for the taxation of multinationals, to be published on Monday in Paris, will contain major challenges and opportunities for Ireland’s vital foreign direct investment (FDI) sector, according to tax experts, reports the Irish Times. The culmination of two years’ work, the report by… – Continue reading
SOME of Plymouth best-known landmarks are owned by secretive offshore companies based in tax havens, it has been revealed. Swathes of land all over the city belongs to faceless firms based in places like Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands, The Herald can reveal. They include everything from historic former military… – Continue reading
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said that people who had not declared their undisclosed assets in the 90-day compliance window offered by the government will now face the law including penalty and sentence upto 10 years while 638 people who had made the declaration can “now sleep well.” In… – Continue reading
The OECD’s final package of proposals for reforming the international system for taxing companies brings to an end the two-year BEPS project led by the OECD and other G20 countries which also included participation by representatives of developing countries, business, academia and NGOs. Developing the BEPS, or Base Erosion and… – Continue reading
Wealthy Dutch people are abusing tax havens abroad to prevent from being taxed on 129 billion euros in deposits, a former tax inspector told television show Nieuwsuur. The money is held in the accounts of shell companies based in the Cayman Islands, Seychelles and Virgin Islands, among other locations, the… – Continue reading
New Zealand’s Inland Revenue Department (IRD) announced on September 23, 2015, that two new acts, the Land Transfer Amendment Act 2015 and the Tax Administration Amendment Act 2015, received Royal Assent to strengthen property investors’ tax compliance. Under the new legislation, three changes will apply from October 1, 2015, for… – Continue reading
SEJONG, Oct. 5 (Yonhap) — Finance ministers of South Korea, China and Japan will hold talks to coordinate policies on the sidelines of the Group of 20, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings in Peru this week, the government said Monday. The finance ministry said the meeting, scheduled… – Continue reading
NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — The following statement is being issued today by KPMG LLP on the final recommendations released on Oct. 5 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on its coordinated Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS): “The OECD’s final recommendations… – Continue reading
On September 22, 2015, the Brazilian federal government proposed a new rule—Medida Provisória n. 692/2015 (“MP 692”)—increasing the income tax rates applicable to capital gains realized by certain taxpayers from a transfer or sale of assets or rights. MP 692 will become effective on January 1, 2016, if duly adopted… – Continue reading
With the final draft of the OECD’s BEPS initiative – Base Erosion and Profit Shifting – out later today, the taxman’s ability to tax international transactions as well as those of foreign firms operating in India will go up dramatically; the idea behind the initiative is to treat all cross-border… – Continue reading
Two big offshore deals kick off the week. The first is the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. The long-awaited deal is a bit like the Jabberwocky poem in Alice in Wonderland – the alarmism means the political atmosphere is full of strange and threatening noises which only leave a general impression that… – Continue reading
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Monday rolled out a sweeping set of final recommendations to battle offshore tax avoidance costing countries across the globe billions of dollars a year. A group of almost three dozen advanced economies, the OECD kicked off its efforts two years ago, seeking… – Continue reading
PARIS–Global tech firms such as Amazon.com Inc. are already preparing for new tax rules that could force them to pay corporate taxes in more countries where they operate, but are also girding for what some say will be more fights with–and between–national tax authorities. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and… – Continue reading
Europe’s stiff-neckedness is difficult to cure. To come to an agreement for supranational treatment of a certain issue there needs to be a large cataclysm or at least a large scandal. In the case of taxation policy the problem begins to gain urgent and most importantly European status after the… – Continue reading
It is estimated that only around 1% of the world’s population have two or more passports, making dual citizenship an exclusive privilege JOHANNESBURG – “No man is an island” is the theme of this year’s upcoming Investment Agenda, being held in Johannesburg on the 20th of October. Leading investors, asset… – Continue reading
David Gauke, the Financial Secretary to the UK Treasury, has spoken out in support of the international tax measures being adopted by the UK, and pushed the idea of diverted profits taxes. Speaking at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington DC on September 29, 2015, Gauke said recent reforms have… – Continue reading
Tax evasion is a massive global industry. Of every hundred dollars people put in bank accounts and investments, eight are socked away in tax havens such as Switzerland and Singapore, according to work by the UC-Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman. While only the very wealthy can afford to play this international… – Continue reading
Pharmaceuticals group defends use of legal avoidance scheme, after paying no UK corporation tax over two years despite global profits of £3bn AstraZeneca, one of Britain’s largest businesses, is using a multimillion-pound tax avoidance scheme in the Netherlands, set up months after the UK relaxed its tax laws for multinationals… – Continue reading
New Delhi, Oct 4 (PTI) Legacy tax issues like those involving Cairn and Shell can be referred to AP Shah panel for quick resolution, says Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian who feels the old issues that have held back private investments also need to be worked out. Moving to defuse… – Continue reading
