New Delhi, India is moving towards a tax-friendly regime to erase the “bad name” it has earned over the years, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday. “Our tax system has to be friendly with tax payers and that is what we are trying to do step by step,” he… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Tax authorities are making a fresh bid to engage with taxpayers as they attempt to present a friendly face and wipe out the ghosts of controversial tax disputes of the past, which attracted global criticism. Reaching out to the taxpayer, both small and large, the department has lined… – Continue reading
November 28: Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service previously indicated that it would no longer accept tax returns filed by non-resident companies on a “deemed profit basis,” but that non-resident companies must file their tax returns on an “actual profit basis.” These returns are to include audited financial statements as well… – Continue reading
November 28: The French legislative assembly on 18 November 2014 passed a draft Finance Bill for 2015, thereby sending the bill to the Senate for its consideration. One of the provisions in this legislation would “tighten” the transfer pricing penalties for a taxpayer’s failure to respond to a request by… – Continue reading
Even as Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said a heavy tax regime was responsible for black money, his ministerial colleague M Venkaiah Naidu told parliament amidst uproar that BJP had never promised to bring back black money stashed aboard in first 100 days of power. Reading BJP manifesto, Naidu,… – Continue reading
PwC’s UK head of tax, Kevin Nicholson, who previously headed the firm’s entrepreneurs and private clients division, has been called to appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) As part of a larger inquiry into tax avoidance and related to the recent Lux-leaks scandal, where PwC Luxembourg was shown to… – Continue reading
Proposals by the Smith Commission to allow Scotland to vary income tax rates could lead to a rise in tax avoidance unless properly managed, according to a tax expert at Pinsent Masons, the international law firm. Karen Davidson, a legal director and tax specialist at Pinsent Masons says that any… – Continue reading
The revelations that global and multinational businesses have been brokering “secret” tax deals with Luxembourg to avoid paying taxes in their home countries, may be the first time an entire country has been implicated in tax avoidance collusion. A cache of leaked agreements uncovered by the International Consortium of Investigative… – Continue reading
To prevent cross-border tax evasion, we endorse the global Common Reporting Standard for the automatic exchange of tax information (AEOI) on a reciprocal basis. We will begin to exchange information automatically with each other and with other countries by 2017 or end-2018, subject to completing the necessary legislative procedures,’’ says… – Continue reading
Recently approved incentives for companies to set up international headquarters and international trading centres in Thailand could have a positive effect on foreign investment, say foreign executives. “After Singapore, I think Thailand could be the next big attraction for [such offices] to open here,” said Stanley Kang, chairman of the… – Continue reading
Passage by the French assembly on 18 November 2014 of a draft Finance Bill for 2015 (which now will be presented to the Senate) Introduction by the French government on 12 November 2014 of a second draft amended Finance Bill for 2014 In general, the draft Finance Bill for 2015… – Continue reading
The new head of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker has faced, and survived a motion of no confidence, just weeks after taking up his role. MEPs wanted to censure the Commission, headed by the former Prime Minister of Luxembourg, in the wake of revelations that multinational companies used his country… – Continue reading
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), once again finds itself deep in controversy and this time, on foreign shores. The company has been hit with a $140 million in taxes and interests presented by the Chinese government. This came to light in a rare incident of cross-border tax invasion. An article was published by… – Continue reading
Centrist parties vote down European parliament motion criticising commission president’s role in tax avoidance schemes Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European commission, has survived a motion of censure in the European parliament brought because of his role in tax avoidance schemes. The motion brought by Britain’s Ukip, France’s Front National,… – Continue reading
BUENOS AIRES — Argentina’s tax agency accused the HSBC bank on Thursday of helping more than 4,000 Argentines evade taxes by placing their money in secret Swiss accounts. The head of country’s AFIP tax agency, Ricardo Echegaray, said Argentine citizens had evaded about $3 billion in taxes that were handled… – Continue reading
THE Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus (ICPAC) said that action is needed to mitigate the impact on the local financial services sector from a recent Russian law cracking down on Russian offshore business. Speaking at a press conference in Nicosia, ICPAC chairman Yiannis Charilaou said however that the… – Continue reading
Hal Hicks cleared his throat and addressed a roomful of peers in a midtown Manhattan auditorium. The topic: the tax-avoidance technique called inversion, in which a U.S. company claims a foreign legal address. Waving his hands back and forth as if tracing a pendulum’s swing, Hicks explained how four government… – Continue reading
Despite the Obama administration’s ongoing efforts to crackdown on American companies moving overseas to avoid U.S. taxes, the Treasury Department is still awarding millions of dollars in federal contracts to these companies. Tyco International for example, moved their firm from the U.S. to Bermuda in 1997 and currently operates out… – Continue reading
Public accounts committee will demand intricate details from Kevin Nicholson about tax avoiding schemes in Grand Duchy One of Britain’s top tax advisers at PricewaterhouseCoopers has been summoned to give evidence before MPs in the wake of revelations about controversial tax deals for PwC clients in Luxembourg. Kevin Nicholson, PwC… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON–U. S. authorities on Wednesday approved Medtronic Inc.’s$43 billion merger with fellow medical device maker Covidien PLC after requiring the spinoff of a drug-coated catheter business. The Federal Trade Commission required Minneapolis-based Medtronic to sell off Ireland-based Covidien’s catheter business before completing the acquisition. That $30 million sale, to Colorado-based… – Continue reading
New Delhi: Industry body Ficci has welcomed Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi asking the Income Tax Department to not file an appeal against the Bombay High Court judgment in the transfer pricing case of Vodafone. “FICCI welcomes the decision of the government not to appeal against the judgment relating to the… – Continue reading
Strategies: Economists suggest removing easy avoidance VANCOUVER — Never mind that business-friendly tax policies – reforms like the dramatic reductions in federal and provincial corporate taxes over the past decade or so – enhance international competitiveness. This doesn’t impress the electorate when the benefits go mostly to the relative handful… – Continue reading
The latest work by the OECD tax policy team to review global tax rules is beginning to have an impact, particularly in Europe where Switzerland and Ireland are reforming their current tax rules, says Bill Dodwell, head of tax policy at Deloitte One unsurprising outcome of the OECD’s Base Erosion… – Continue reading
Introduction On 19 September the Dutch State Secretary for Finance Mr Wiebes responded to the release of the 2014 interim reports on the OECD BEPS project. The Netherlands underlines the importance of the initial results of the BEPS project and is one of the forerunners in the international cooperation against… – Continue reading
A deal between Stryker Corp. (SYK) and Smith & Nephew Plc (SN/) makes as much sense now as it did six months ago. It just might be tougher to pull off. Stryker is considering structuring the takeover as a tax inversion, allowing the Kalamazoo, Michigan-based company to move its legal… – Continue reading
Progress reports released on tax avoidance Revenue Minister Todd McClay today released two reports from officials relating to tax avoidance by large multinational companies. The reports provide an update on policy work being undertaken in line with the OECD Action Plan and also outline the expected timeline for related policy… – Continue reading
MOSCOW, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) — Russian entrepreneurs must report to tax authorities about their ownership of shares in the off- shore jurisdictions, according to the law signed by President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. The new law introduces an amendment to the Russian Tax Code that will force Russian owners of… – Continue reading
ZURICH (Reuters) – Many of Switzerland’s foreign millionaires will be watching nervously on Sunday as voters decide whether or not to scrap one of the country’s biggest tax perks for expatriates. Switzerland’s system of charging foreign residents with no gainful activity in the country a lump sum based on their… – Continue reading
Martin Lock was formerly the top withholding-tax specialist at the Tax Office, a role that encompassed oversight of profit shifting by multinationals. He is one of many former officers who have voiced their concerns to Fairfax Media about the challenge of arresting the slide in tax receipts from multinational companies… – Continue reading
The law introduces amendments to the country’s tax code that will oblige Russian owners of companies registered in offshore tax havens to pay taxes in Russia MOSCOW, November 25. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed on Tuesday a new tax law intended to return Russian capital and assets from foreign… – Continue reading
MOSCOW, November 25 (Sputnik) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a law to help the country recover money from foreign tax havens, after offshore tax sheltering over the past two decades has been shown to decrease Russian revenues by over $800 billion. In 2013, the Russian Accounts Chamber released… – Continue reading
Responsible corporations paying their taxes and revealing their ownership structure could be a possible solution in the fight of Europe against tax evasion and tax havens which cost billions of euro annually. EurActiv Czech Republic reports. “We should step up our efforts to combat tax evasion and tax fraud”, Jean-Claude… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – China has levied about $140 million in back taxes from Microsoft Corp in the first major case concerning cross-border tax evasion in the country, as regulators ramp up pressure on U.S. corporations doing business there. According to an article published by China’s Xinhua official news agency on Sunday,… – Continue reading
When is a Chinese company not Chinese? When it’s a complex web of offshore vehicles rooted in anonymous tax havens. That description includes some of the People’s Republic’s most successful and innovative companies. It will make the country’s apparent new push on tax evasion hard to enforce. Authorities have extracted… – Continue reading
On November 21, 2014, as part of its Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), the OECD released a discussion draft on “Follow-up work on BEPS Action 6: Preventing Treaty Abuse” (the Discussion Draft) for comments. The Discussion Draft deals with a number of issues relating to tax… – Continue reading
TRANSFER pricing (TP) audit is a bit different from normal tax audits. It primarily focuses on reviewing transfer pricing returns and supporting TP documentation submitted by taxpayers who had engaged in related party transactions in the preceding year of assessment. This approach is necessary in order for the tax authority… – Continue reading
Upper-tribunal appeals of UK tax rulings have jumped by a third, with backlogged tax disputes reaching a record high, according to law firm Pinsent Masons In the tax year 2013/14, 267 new upper-tribunal cases were lodged, an overall increase of 32% on the previous year, and almost four times as… – Continue reading
DOUBLE taxation for companies and individual investors at the securities market could be scrapped in 2016, if a plan by the Capital Markets Authority is adopted. In a move to attract and grow investments, the Capital Markets Authority has initiated talks on a transparent tax regime, to eliminate multiple taxes… – Continue reading
This Black Friday, legions of shoppers will throng to their local Walmart in frenzied pursuit of holiday deals. But it turns out that Walmart has saved the sweetest deals for itself. In a recent analysis of Walmart’s tax spending, Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) found that the company “avoids $1… – Continue reading
Transfer pricing can be identified as an area of tax law that continues to attract the attention of both tax authorities and businesses worldwide. The growing importance of transfer pricing can be observed in the Slovak Republic as well, as it has become one of the dominant tax issues addressed… – Continue reading
Rüschlikon is just a 20-minute boat ride from the centre of Zurich, yet a world away from the intense rivalry of the city’s financial powerhouses. Every autumn, the sleepy lakeside settlement hosts the Private Banking Summit, where delegates seek safeguards for their threatened industry. “Swiss private banking is in turmoil,… – Continue reading
Strasbourg, France (dpa) – European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker urged lawmakers on Monday to trust his determination to tackle tax avoidance, ahead of a parliamentary confidence vote related to a tax scandal in his native Luxembourg. The controversy, known as LuxLeaks, grew out of allegations by a team of investigative… – Continue reading
Mumbai: While the Central Government has expressed its commitment to bring back black money stashed abroad, the Mumbai bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) took a first concrete step towards this direction. It recently passed a crucial order in a case where unaccounted money was stashed in LGT… – Continue reading
The concept of base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) has been debated at various international forums following discussions at the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting and the G20 Heads of State summit in Russia last year. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) BEPS Action Plan… – Continue reading
The concept of base erosion and profit shifting (“BEPS”) has been much discussed at various international forums including the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in July 2013 in Moscow as well as the G20 Heads of State meeting in September 2013. From a South African perspective, the… – Continue reading
Companies based in the United States now have over $2.1 trillion stashed overseas shielded from U.S. taxes. That’s a sixfold increase in 12 years, NBC News reported citing research provided by Capital Economics. Generally, the U.S. tax policy allows companies based in the country to defer any tax obligation on… – Continue reading
Nov 22 (Reuters) – German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble sharply criticised leading German companies for reducing taxes by creating subsidiaries in Luxembourg, where tax rates are lower, according to Focus news magazine. “The list of those that have institutions in Luxembourg with the aim of saving taxes is a Who’s… – Continue reading
By closing the tax gap, South Africa can reap billions of rands to benefit the economy. A global crackdown on tax avoidance has begun and South Africa is forging ahead in a bid to tackle wealthy individuals and corporates who practise this tactic. The initiative is better poised to succeed… – Continue reading
November 21: The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) today released a discussion draft [PDF 179 KB] concerning follow-up work as mandated under a report with respect to Action 6 (prevent treaty abuse) under the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) action plan. Background The OECD in September 2014… – Continue reading
Sit down before you read this: Internet companies pay more corporation tax than the European average, in some cases many times more. According to the European Commission the average ‘effective’ corporate tax rate in the European Union and EFTA is 12.9%; in 2012 Amazon had a whopping 78% in corporation… – Continue reading
