Portugal can be a very attractive country to live in from a tax point of view. The inheritance tax regime is very benign here, and there is no wealth tax. Tax efficient arrangements can lower tax liabilities on your investment and pension income. And if you are a new resident,… – Continue reading
On March 18, 2015, the European Commission (the “Commission”) published a package of tax transparency measures. The tax transparency package is the result of the Commission’s ambitious agenda to confront harmful tax competition and perceived corporate tax avoidance in the European Union. The Commission has prepared a proposal for a… – Continue reading
The objectives of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Finance and Investment include enhancing the productive capacity of the economies in the region and thereby increasing trade opportunities to eventually alleviate poverty. To achieve the objectives, various strategies can be employed, including, among others, improving the investment regime,… – Continue reading
As wealthy foreigners rush to get citizenship in Malta under a new programme, the residency requirement is taking many forms. Russians rent high-end villas, then stay in five-star hotels when they visit. An American financier plans to live in Switzerland but occasionally vacation in Malta. One Vietnamese businessman, eager to… – Continue reading
Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Treasurer Joe Hockey should not be ruling out particular aspects of the tax system that could be reformed, such as GST, superannuation concessions and negative gearing, KPMG’s chairman Peter Nash says. Mr Nash said when the tax white paper was first announced by the Coalition… – Continue reading
Caribbean IFCs continue to face the growing challenges as global standards struggle to manage certain risks across borders. Some of these challenges (such as cross border tax information sharing) have maintained their original format but intensified and we have seen several new initiatives (for example a push for beneficial ownership… – Continue reading
While marketplace competition is desirable, competition among governments is not always desirable Is more competition always better? Most conventional economists would say yes. And, in the marketplace, that nugget of economists’ wisdom usually holds true. Every student of first-year economics is taught that competition is good for consumers, as it… – Continue reading
New Delhi, May 22: The government plans to phase out exemptions and lower the effective tax rates to global levels to encourage better compliance and leave more money in the hands of the people. Speaking to reporters on the completion of one year of the Narendra Modi-government, finance minister Arun… – Continue reading
Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, just got a step closer to explaining his role in the Lux Leaks scandal. Speaking after an official visit to Luxembourg, German Member of the European Parliament, Fabio De Masi said: “It is becoming increasingly clear that powerful EU member states like Germany… – Continue reading
In July 1997, Tyco International (with then Wall St darling Dennis Kozlowski at the helm) was “acquired” by a relatively small provider of home security services, known as ADT Inc. The deal arguably exploited some strategic synergies between the two companies, but far and away the biggest benefit to Tyco… – Continue reading
Federal budget: winners and losers Ross Gittins: Small measures and a media circus Federal budget 2015: Full coverage Your five-minute guide to the budget The head of the treasury believes that the easy days of high economic growth are over and that Australia will need big personal income tax cuts… – Continue reading
Subsidies that make borrowing irresistible need to be phased out THE way that black holes bend light’s path through space cannot be smoothed out by human ingenuity. By contrast, a vast distortion in the world economy is wholly man-made. It is the subsidy that governments give to debt. Half the… – Continue reading
Technology companies need to stop “extremely aggressive” tax planning, the man charged with reforming global tax rules has told the BBC. He says these “push the boundaries of what is legal”. Pascal Saint-Amans, who runs the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy, said that new standards would require companies to pay… – Continue reading
While the Bureaucrat Hall of Fame and Moocher Hall of Fame already exist, the Hypocrite Hall of Fame is just a concept. But once it gets set up, Congressman Alan Grayson of Florida will definitely be a charter member. Here are some passages from a column in the Tampa Bay… – Continue reading
It may be time for another letter from Tom Cotton. Cotton, the Republican senator from Arkansas, had been in office only a few weeks back in March when he got 46 senators to sign on to an open letter to the leadership of Iran. The letter pointed out that agreements… – Continue reading
The Conservative majority alongside a nationalist landslide in Scotland reopened the question of powers for the Scottish government, raising the prospect that the Tories might offer Edinburgh full control over taxes and domestic expenditure. The first signs of a radical new settlement emerged on Friday when Boris Johnson, the London… – Continue reading
CFOs of multinational corporations have mixed reactions to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development’s crackdown on base erosion and profit shifting by global companies, according to a new survey. The survey, by the tax advisory business Taxand, found that multinational CFOs are split 52 percent (agree) versus 48 percent… – Continue reading
The total “development finance” loss – counting both revenues and reinvested earnings – is estimated in the range of $250 to $300 billion. This prevents developing countries from stopping the outflow of money, which thus bleeds them of essential resources The financial crisis of 2008 had an interesting collateral benefit… – Continue reading
The Romanian Government has approved a new law to introduce tax relief for foreign venture capitalists. The law aims to encourage start-up businesses and was passed by the Chamber of Deputies on April 29, 2015. It applies where a foreign individual, who was previously unconnected with the company in question,… – Continue reading
Cracking down on sweetheart tax deals with multinational corporations is proving more difficult than the European Commission had anticipated. Delays, uncooperative member states, and missed deadlines are among the frustrations highlighted Tuesday (5 May) by the EU’s competition chief, Margrethe Vestager. Speaking at a special committee on tax rulings at… – Continue reading
With a new candidate seemingly entering the race for president each week, national attention is understandably focused on American politics. But while Americans spare little mind for the goings-on of international organizations, their activities not only have significant impact around the world, but could also play a role in the… – Continue reading
Move to enable fund managers to locate themselves in India New Delhi, May 1: The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has sweetened the income tax deal for certain offshore investment funds, boosting the chances of their fund managers to be based out of India. Sovereign wealth funds and investment funds promoted… – Continue reading
The game of cat and mouse between tax authorities and citizens has been played for a very long time. People have been dodging taxes for centuries. But the more nuanced and sophisticated game of avoiding tax is a more recent phenomenon. Indeed, when it comes to tax avoidance the game… – Continue reading
Singapore is not a tax haven, it’s a value-adding hub. That is the claim of the island nation’s Economic Development Board, the Singaporean government agency that’s been charged with attracting business and investment. It has disputed recent claims at the Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance that it’s being used… – Continue reading
LONDON (Reuters) – HSBC shares have rallied after the bank said it was reviewing whether to move its headquarters out of Britain and potentially back to its former home in Hong Kong. The following are some of the regulatory issues raised if Europe’s biggest bank were to relocate to Hong… – Continue reading
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a corporate tax bill earlier this month. Unsurprisingly, it cuts in a different direction than most tax proposals floating around Washington these days. The bill (S.922) is titled the Corporate Tax Dodging Prevention Act of 2015. A companion bill was introduced in the House by… – Continue reading
The announcement of a ground-breaking tax free zone being established by the Albanian government around the port city of Durrës marks an exciting new phase for the country, as it beckons more and more foreign investors to look to its shores. The Albanian Ministry of Economy is set to create… – Continue reading
SCOTTISH Nationalist MPs could help force up taxes at English airports unless their Westminster voting rights are curbed, David Cameron claimed yesterday (Friday, April 24). The prime minister raised the prospect of the Edinburgh Parliament slashing air passenger duty (APD) in Scotland, then its MPs voting with Labour to widen… – Continue reading
Macquarie Telecom has given full voice to an extremely serious problem facing Australian technology companies: That is, the gaming of the global tax system by multinationals puts Australia’s home-grown technology players who pay tax in Australia at a significant competitive disadvantage. This is a simple equation. It doesn’t matter how… – Continue reading
Promising a ‘modern tax system’ with low and globally competitive rates, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has assured foreign investors against any retrospective action and said taxpayers will be seen as “partners and not as potential hostages or victims”. For domestic taxpayers also, the rates need to be low as taxes… – Continue reading
The tax code’s complexity and increases in tax rates has made it more difficult to add jobs in Clark County, argued a Springfield business owner as he testified in the U.S. House on Wednesday. Competitive tax rates for small businesses are critical, especially in industries like manufacturing, said Dan McGregor,… – Continue reading
Ahead of this week’s income tax filing deadline, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation Foundation said the U.S. should exempt its companies’ foreign earnings from corporate taxes. In contrast to current tax policy, the groups’ analysis argued that exempting those earnings would allow… – Continue reading
EU’s Highest Court Rules on Information Exchange On 19 March 2015, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) handed down a significant judgment on the application of EU competition law to information exchange between competitors. The case was an appeal from the European Commission’s 2008 decision to fine banana importers Dole,… – Continue reading
At its sixth annual conference, the George Soros-founded Institute for New Economic Thinking will feature prominent left-wing economists Thomas Piketty, Joseph Stiglitz, and self-described Marxist and Greek Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis. By itself that wouldn’t be remarkable, but the meeting will come with the implicit endorsement of the U.S. taxpayer… – Continue reading
The Western world needs to tackle multi-national tax avoidance a “bit like” it has tackled the Islamic State terrorist group, maverick Liberal senator Bill Heffernan says. Senator Heffernan has for years argued tax avoidance is a threat to sovereignty and thinks it will take a coalition of Western countries to… – Continue reading
The Federal Government has floated the idea of lowering the corporate tax rate – arguing the current rate of 30% is not internationally competitive. The rationale is that globalisation makes capital perfectly mobile and the marginal non-resident investor in Australian companies will go where corporate tax rates are lowest. At… – Continue reading
Prime minister David Cameron has conceded that there will be “unfair tax competition” for airports in the north-east of England if Scotland abolishes Air Passenger Duty. He reportedly said that a lower APD rate in the region is a “positive suggestion” and that “we will do what’s necessary to make… – Continue reading
Governments in resource-rich African countries must effectively negotiate the terms of operational contracts with mining companies and their affiliates if they are to avoid revenue losses that reduce their capacity to finance development, the African Civil Society Circle has said. The Circle is a coalition of nine civil society groups… – Continue reading
EU’s Highest Court Rules on Information Exchange On 19 March 2015, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) handed down a significant judgment on the application of EU competition law to information exchange between competitors. The case was an appeal from the European Commission’s 2008 decision to fine banana importers Dole,… – Continue reading
It is a peculiar feature of devolution in the United Kingdom that each nation is treated differently, with its own settlement geared to local political demands. Foreign observers look with puzzlement, seeing it as British pragmatism taken to extremes. Yet, whether by chance or design, devolution does seem to occur… – Continue reading
Prime Minister David Cameron has admitted the north-east will be adversely affected by “unfair tax competition” if Scotland abolishes APD. Air passenger duty was introduced on November 1, 1994 and has since increased seven-fold — more than 3.5 times the rate of inflation — and is the highest aviation tax… – Continue reading
The US and Canada are fuelling a record influx of foreign investment in the Netherlands; our local expert looks at why Despite a fair bit of doom and gloom over global economy figures, foreign companies continue to grow – and they continue to look at the Netherlands to help fuel… – Continue reading
European trade unionists have called for the split-up of the Big Four accountancy firms, PWC, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and KPMG, who they say are using their dominant position to help multi-national companies avoid trillions of Euros in tax. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has called for the break-up… – Continue reading
Labour MEP says tax harmonisation inhibits competitiveness of disadvantaged regions Labour MEP and head of delegation Alfred Sant has abstained on a European Parliament vote on a resolution on tax fairness. The resolution, which touches on a wide variety of tax related-issues, lays a basis for further parliamentary work on… – Continue reading
Australian companies are taxed too highly, and politicians need to realise it’s harming the economy, according to Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh. Australia’s corporate tax rate had been stuck at 30 per cent for a decade while New Zealand, South Africa, the UK and Canada had cut their rates… – Continue reading
Tackling tax evasion should be a top EU priority. EU countries and the European Commission should play a leading role in discussing how to fight tax fraud and aggressive tax planning in the OECD and other relevant fora, says Parliament in its resolution on tax, voted on Wednesday. The resolution,… – Continue reading
The European Commission has published the first of two tax transparency packages to tackle corporation tax fraud and harmful tax competition in the EU. It is recommending greater co-operation across EU member states and the automatic exchange of information on tax rulings across EU countries, which sounds good on paper… – Continue reading
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is a Paris-based international bureaucracy with the self-proclaimed mission to “promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.” But if there was a truth-in-advertizing requirement, the OECD would instead say that its mission is to… – Continue reading
MEPs vote this week on a financial grant to Ukraine, debate the results of last week’s European Council summit as well as discuss new legislation to tackle corporate tax avoidance. They will also take part in a meeting on the importance of inter-religious dialogue. On Monday, the economic affairs committee… – Continue reading
Gurgaon: Advocating easing of entry barriers for global corporations, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said that India needs to become globally competitive from infrastructure to taxation. In his convocation address at the Management Development Institute (MDI) here he underlined the need for relaxing norms for entry of multinational corporations… – Continue reading
