Category: Transfer pricing

OECD – Transfer pricing and BEPS Action 10 discussion draft

ovember 10: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) last week published a discussion draft on Action 10 (Proposed Modifications to Chapter VII of the Transfer Pricing Guidelines Relating to Low Value-Adding Intra-Group Services) as an additional deliverable under the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) action plan…. – Continue reading

Luxembourg’s laxity needs to be addressed in context of major reform of international tax avoidance schemes

Those who live in glass houses do well not to throw stones, and Ireland’s predilection for such tax schemes as the “double Irish” probably makes it the last place to cast aspersions at Luxembourg’s creative approach to assisting what is now euphemistically called “tax planning”, once “tax avoidance”. Having sensibly… – Continue reading

OECD’s Action Plan On ‘Base Eroding’ Payments

On November 3, 2014, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published its discussion draft on the proposed modifications to Chapter VII of the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Tax Administrations. These proposed modifications have been developed in connection with Action Point 10 of the Action… – Continue reading

Judge’s surprising recusal prompts bid for new trial Featured

In another bizarre twist to what litigation lawyers have called an “unprecedented” case, counsel for McKesson Canada Corp. are now relying on Tax Court of Canada Justice Patrick Boyle’s recusal from a transfer-pricing case in September as grounds for seeking a new trial. Gavin MacKenzie believes the Court of Appeal… – Continue reading

Luxembourg leaks: G20 alone can’t stamp out tax avoidance

The hollowing out of tax collected for public purposes by rich and poor nations is not confined to technology and mining companies, according to a major leak of secret tax agreements covering more than 340 companies around the world. The documents, published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, include… – Continue reading

Global base erosion rules likely to be finalised by end 2015NEW DELHI:

The global base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) rules, aimed at collecting a fair share of taxes from multinationals operating in different tax jurisdictions, are likely to be finalised by December 2015, a senior finance ministry official today said. “Work on BEPS is moving very fast. If things go on… – Continue reading

Medical supplies group used Irish firm in tax deal

Covidien transferred right to $6.9bn loan to new entity Multinational medical supplies group, Covidien, transferred the right to loans totalling $6.9 billion from Luxembourg to a new Irish company as part of an elaborate inter-group tax planning arrangement agreed with the Luxembourg tax authorities in 2009. Under the deal, the… – Continue reading

CAPITAL FLIGHT IN LATIN AMERICA

From 1970 to 2011, US$2 trillion from Latin America and the Caribbean have been funneled to offshore tax havens. It’s money that moves behind the scenes, in illicit financial flows (IFF). These transnational transfers come from three sources of illegal funds: corruption (bribery), money laundering (contraband, trafficking of drugs, weapons,… – Continue reading

Tax agency to help cut tax risks at foreign firms

The National Tax Service (NTS) said Thursday that it will help foreign companies in Korea reduce potential tax uncertainty regarding their cross-border transactions with parent firms. From 2015, the NTS will allow foreign firms that earn less than 50 billion won ($46 million) a year in sales to focus on… – Continue reading

Luxembourg tax leaks put pressure on G20 leaders to act on loopholes

G20 leaders are under pressure to go further in their efforts to crack down on tax avoidance after the revelation that thousands of companies, including several major Australian firms and multinationals operating in Australia, have legally avoided tax with complicated deals negotiated through Luxembourg. The chairman of a Senate inquiry… – Continue reading

Singapore: Changing Expectations on Transfer Pricing Documentation

Ernst & Young Solutions LLP, Singapore* It has been eight years since the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) first released its Circular on Transfer Pricing Guidelines. During that time, there have been significant changes in the international tax landscape. In Singapore, we have seen supplementary guidance from the IRAS… – Continue reading

ICC warns enhanced tax dispute resolution mechanism needed to prevent exacerbating double taxation

ICC has expressed concern that the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Action Plan on combating Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“BEPS”), mandated by the G20, may inadvertently incur severe collateral damage on compliant taxpaying companies of all sizes as a result of well-meaning measures undertaken unilaterally by states… – Continue reading

What will define success at the Brisbane G20 Summit?

It is important that the Brisbane G20 Summit on Nov. 15–16 is a success. In an increasingly integrated global economy, effective forums for economic cooperation are needed. The 2008 global financial crisis was the catalyst for the G20 becoming a leaders’-level forum. The Washington, London, and Pittsburgh summits helped save… – Continue reading

OECD – Low value-adding intra-group services (BEPS Action 10)

November 3: The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development today released a discussion draft of the proposed modifications to Chapter VII of the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines relating to low value-adding intra-group services. Action 10 of the OECD’s action plan on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) directs the OECD… – Continue reading

UPDATE 1-P&G halts operations, starts talks with Argentina over tax fraud charge

Adds details on P&G halting operations in ARGENTINA, details on impact) Nov 3 (Reuters) – Procter & Gamble said on Monday it had temporarily suspended operations in ARGENTINA after the country’s tax authority, which has accused the company of tax fraud, said it started meetings with the world’s No.1 HOUSEHOLD… – Continue reading

Transfer pricing inflicting heavy losses

HA NOI (VNS) — Appropriate policies and enhanced management capacity are critical in the fight against transfer pricing to ensure a healthy business investment environment in Viet Nam, said experts on Wednesday. They were participating in an online discussion on the Government’s e-portal. Transfer pricing is causing losses to the… – Continue reading

GCs concerned over transfer pricing tax charges

Just over two-thirds (67%) of in-house tax specialists and lawyers are ‘somewhat or very concerned’ about tax adjustments which they expect to follow from the implementation of OECD guidance on transfer pricing. This is one of the conclusions of ‘Transfer Pricing: Intangible Property, Tangible Profits’, a report from ALM Legal… – Continue reading

Tax revenues are under relentless attack – the government needs to take action

Taxes are the price of a civilised society and without them no state can provide social infrastructure, alleviate poverty, subsidise corporations or rescue distressed banks. But tax revenues are under relentless attack and corporate ingenuity in avoiding taxes shows no limits. Companies have become very adept at shifting profits to… – Continue reading

Where did all the black money come from and how did it get out of India?

Hawala networks are being replaced by sophisticated transfer pricing approaches. The image is easy to envision. Corrupt politicians, crooked corporate honchos and evil criminals stashing away their ill-gotten gains in shady Swiss banks. Thousands of crores of rupees that should be earning India tax revenue wilfully being hidden from authorities… – Continue reading

New Study Sheds Light on How Law Firms and Companies are Managing and Valuing Intangible Assets for Transfer Pricing Purposes

66% of Law Firms Work With at Least Some of Their Tax Clients to Identify and Document All Relevant Intangible Assets for Transfer Pricing NEW YORK, Oct. 30, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As scrutiny by tax authorities mounts, the identification and documentation of intangible assets, such as patents, trademarks and… – Continue reading

Foreign-invested enterprises receive too many tax incentives: survey

VietNamNet Bridge – Recent surveys about the tax policies applied to foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) show that Vietnamese have become choosier about foreign direct investment (FDI) and FIEs (foreign-invested enterprises). “Do you think that the FIEs in Vietnam are transparent in tax payments?” was one survey question raised by Thoi Bao… – Continue reading

Increasing focus on transfer pricing, says Deloitte

KUCHING: Accounting firm Deloitte Malaysia stressed on the government increasing focus on transfer pricing whereby there is a new requirement for taxpayers to declare if one has prepared all the necessary transfer pricing documentations. In the past, one was only required to disclose related-party transactions but there was no requirement… – Continue reading

Japanese Taxation of a PE under the AOA Approach

Background The “Authorized OECD Approach” (“AOA”) rule for taxation of permanent establishments (“PE”) was introduced in Japan’s 2014 tax reform and will be applied to fiscal year commencing April 1, 2016. The new rule includes changes to source rules, the introduction of transfer pricing to intra-company transactions, and the introduction… – Continue reading

Countries and Companies Join OECD BEPS Train

The OECD’s Action Plan on BEPS was published in July 2013 to reform the international tax system. The Action Plan identified 15 Actions to address BEPS. Seven of the 15 Action Plan items are now moving out of the station. I. Introduction On September 16, 2014 the OECD, together with… – Continue reading

New Report On BEPS Project Impact For Life Sciences Companies

Multinational life sciences companies should review their organizational structures and perform scenario planning to assess the likely impacts of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), says a new report from KPMG. “The Post Base Erosion and Profit Shifting World”… – Continue reading

EAC needs tax harmony

KIGALI, Rwanda – The need of a tax law on reverse VAT to be harmonized among EAC states was highlighted during the recently concluded East African Business Summit that took place in Kigali.  “Tax law on reverse VAT can be harmonized among EAC states,” Rwanda Revenue Authority Commissioner General Richard… – Continue reading

Noonan Asserts Ireland’s Direction On Tax Policy

“The issue of substance and taxation is, and always will be, a core column of the Irish taxation system,” Michael Noonan, Ireland’s Finance Minister, said at his Department’s Tax Policy Conference on October 21, 2014, underscoring that Ireland’s strategy is to play fair but play to win. Beginning by discussing… – Continue reading

European Tax Investigations

In June, the European Commission (“EC”) announced the opening of three investigations into tax rulings in Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands and, in particular, into tax rulings applied by Ireland to Apple, by Luxembourg to Fiat Finance and, last, by the Netherlands to Starbucks. In October 2014, the EC announced… – Continue reading

Penal consequences force taxpayers to report deals that are not taxable: Vijay Iyer

Business Standard  October 23, 2014 Last Updated at 23:20 IST The Bombay High Court recently in the case of Vodafone India Services Private Limited (Vodafone) held that the foreign direct investment (FDI) received by the Indian company in the form of share capital cannot be taxed in India under the… – Continue reading

Upcoming Nationwide Transfer Pricing Investigation Against Outbound Service Fee And Royalty Payments

On 29 July 2014, the China State Administration of Taxation (SAT) released an internal notice to the China tax authorities at the provincial levels, in the name of “Notice on Antiavoidance Investigation against Large Amount Outbound Payments” (Circular Shui Zong Ban Fa [2014] No. 146, Notice 146), urging a nationwide… – Continue reading

Business-Friendly Bureaucrat Helped Build Tax Haven

LUXEMBOURG — On the first floor of a rust-colored building near the main railway station, Marius Kohl spent years engineering this country’s most valuable export: tax relief. As head of a federal agency called Societes 6, Mr. Kohl approved thousands of tax arrangements for multinational corporations, sometimes helping them save… – Continue reading

Luxembourg: Luxembourg Budget 2015 – We Mean Business Now, Finally, At Last

On October 15th, 2014 the Minister for Finance announced the Luxembourg Budget 2015. The announcement followed the presentation made the day before by the Prime Minister Xavier Bettel who presented a policy statement entitled “Package for the Future” which provides some overall public finances policy statements for the period 2015… – Continue reading

Tax survey stresses excessive scrutiny, significance of BEPS

A new survey by E&Y released at its 33rd Annual International Tax Conference, titled “Connecting the dots” uncovered the issues of navigating multiple challenges, led by increased scrutiny and the effects of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project. “Tax directors need… – Continue reading

Interest deductions: the new war on base erosion

ITR Correspondent • • • The G20 and OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project has rarely been out of the headlines during 2014. At the heart of the BEPS project is the assumption international tax rules make it possible for profits to be taxed in countries that are… – Continue reading

India: Vodafone Victorious In Multi Million Transfer Pricing Battle, Yet Again!

Bombay High Court holds that shares issued at a premium by a resident entity to a non-resident entity is a capital account transaction and does not give rise to any income; Income arising from an International Transaction between AEs must satisfy the test of ‘income; as provided under the ITA… – Continue reading

BEPS already an issue, says CICA

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) plan for base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) is already affecting corporations, according to speakers participating in a Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA) transfer pricing webinar. Polling results during the webinar revealed attendees’ opinions were in line with tax industry surveys indicating… – Continue reading

Davis Tax Committee mulls ways to ‘detect and deter’ corporate tax avoidance

The revenue implications for South Africa of ‘base erosion and profit shifting’ by corporate taxpayers are firmly in the crosshairs of the Davis Tax Committee (DTC) and Judge Dennis Davis hinted on Monday that recommendations were being considered to “detect and deter” tax-avoiding financial flows. Speaking at a G20 study… – Continue reading