NEW YORK – According to industry insiders there is a battle waging over Software-Defined Networking (SDN) that is a way to build corporate networks without the networking gear built by companies such as Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) and Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR). The battle pits network equipment manufacturers against a string of companies… – Continue reading
The findings of a two-year investigation into possible tax avoidance by a Zambian copper operation of Swiss commodities giant Glencore (LON:GLEN) will not be made public by The European Investment Bank. In 2005, the EIB – which is owned by EU member states and in 2013 provided some $75 billion… – Continue reading
Spain has passed a new law requiring websites that link to news stories first published by the Spanish newspaper association to pay a tax for that hyperlink, a law that targets Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and other Internet newsfeeds that feature journalism that originates elsewhere and make it available to a wider… – Continue reading
It’s the results reporting season over in my native UK again and once again, as regular as the seasons themselves roll around, we’ve spluttering pieces in the press about how Google avoids all of this tax that it should justly and righteously pay. Which means it must be the time… – Continue reading
HM Revenue & Customs has recovered £135m from 24,000 clients named on a list of HSBC’s Swiss private banking operation, which were revealed in a leak by a former employee. Lin Homer, chief executive of HMRC, told a hearing at the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee last night that… – Continue reading
Google Australia and New Zealand managing director Maile Carnegie has urged governments across the world to address the inconsistencies of the global tax system rather than shaming individual companies for their profit-shifting activities, The Australian Financial Review reports. “I am actually incredibly empathetic to why people want to talk about this. I… – Continue reading
Suisse Group AG (CSGN) set a new standard for punishment in the U.S. crackdown on offshore tax evasion. Julius Baer Group Ltd., Zuercher Kantonalbank and the Swiss unit of HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) are among those seeking to avoid pleading guilty to helping Americans cheat the Internal Revenue Service —… – Continue reading
NEW YORK – According to a report from Bloomberg, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is keeping an ever growing share of its cash reserves outside of the U.S. to use for acquisitions. In a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Google revealed that it currently has more than $ 30 billion… – Continue reading
Google has revealed that it has a $20bn to $30bn war chest outside the US to fund future acquisitions of overseas companies, such as a $5bn deal it scrapped last year. The company revealed the size of its foreign-held coffers in a letter responding to questions by the US Securities… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Swiss bank account holders who have been quietly celebrating the exit of P Chidambaram now have another reason to rejoice. Almost three-fourths of the 600 or so named in the list of clients of HSBC Geneva are beneficiaries of ” discretionary trusts”. These individuals are confident that a Supreme… – Continue reading
Large subsidiaries of multinationals, such as Apple and Google, which are based in Ireland are able to escape paying corporation tax due to an “exceptional” interpretation of tax laws by the Revenue Commissioners, a new study claims. A research paper by James Stewart, associate professor in finance at Trinity College… – Continue reading
You pay your fair share of taxes. Small businesses do too. It’s the price we pay to educate our kids, protect our communities and have some security in retirement. Why shouldn’t some of America’s largest corporations pay their fair share too? Corporations are making record profits. But 111 profitable Fortune 500… – Continue reading
The revised figure of more than £1.1bn now judged to be “at risk” by HMRC is an increase of 12% on 2012 and 65% on 2011, according to figures calculated by law firm Pinsent Masons. A crackdown on intra-group payments was announced in the chancellor’s Budget earlier this month as… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON, DC: As the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) opened its doors to this year’s round of H-1B visa applications, data show that about 50% of last year’s H-1B visas were granted to offshore companies, and the top two of those are based in India – Infosys and Tata… – Continue reading
Adds £118m to ‘tax under consideration’ from intra-group transfers • HMRC proposes further crackdown on intra-group transfers in Budget HM Revenue & Customs has increased the amount of tax it estimates has been underpaid by the UK’s largest businesses through transfer pricing arrangements by £118 million to more than £1.1 billion, an… – Continue reading
Tax avoidance is a huge economic issue. Although it’s heavily frowned upon by governments, it’s technically a legal practice, as long as you know how to play the tax game right. The Coalition promised to crack down on tax avoidance, but it seems to have decided to focus on the… – Continue reading
A call to tax technology companies such as Apple and Google in the countries where they have substantial activities has re-ignited concerns companies may be taxed twice and stop business altogether. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which is working on a global plan to prevent companies from avoiding paying… – Continue reading
ITS SEARCH ENGINE may boast almighty powers to divine our every move, but Google has come under attack from an order of Catholic priests over its tax arrangements. The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, established in France two centuries ago, has called on Google to hand more of its profits… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The Indian Tax authorities and the Swiss government could be headed for a showdown over what the Indian side regards as lack of co-operation from the Alpine country over access to information on bank accounts. Last week Finance Minister P Chidambaram wrote to his Swiss counterpart – officials… – Continue reading
The Tax Office is allowing Australians with money parked in offshore accounts to avoid harsh penalties by coming forward, in an amnesty program worth up to half a billion dollars. ATO Commissioner Chris Jordan will announce the program today, which will reduce the penalties for taxpayers who hand over information… – Continue reading
OECD plan to make practice of shifting locations ineffective New rules aimed at preventing the type of aggressive tax avoidance schemes run by some of the largest multinational employers here will begin to be introduced in September, according to a draft report seen by The Irish Times . Structures that artificially shift… – Continue reading
Caterpillar (CAT:US) Inc. began defending its international tax maneuvers as a U.S. Senate investigative panel set an April 1 hearing to examine the company’s “offshore tax strategy.” Representatives from Caterpillar and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP will testify, according to the hearing notice posted today by the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The committee, led… – Continue reading
LONDON — They are the most expensive and luxurious flats in the whole of London. Their ultramodern bay windows offer an unobstructed view onto Hyde Park. An underground corridor connects them to the Mandarin Oriental, the palace where Michelin-starred chef Heston Blumenthal has one of his prized restaurants. In total, the… – Continue reading
Apple, amazon, and other digital item retailers will have to charge 20% VAT starting in 2015 A long-standing tax loophole has been available in the UK that allowed buyers of digital download products to pay fewer taxes on their purchases of digital books, music, and apps. That loophole has now… – Continue reading
European Union competition watchdogs ordered Luxembourg to hand over details of tax breaks for businesses after they said the Grand Duchy was hindering a state-aid probe spanning several EU nations. Luxembourg refused to deliver details concerning the 100 largest companies benefiting from a special program for companies whose profits stem… – Continue reading
U.S. corporations added at least $206 billion to their stockpiles of offshore profits last year, parking earnings in low-tax countries until Congress gives them a reason not to. They have accumulated $1.95 trillion outside the U.S., up 11.8 percent from a year earlier, according to securities filings from 307 corporations…. – Continue reading
Companies have every right to minimise their own tax burdens, but shrinking your footprint only lasts so long before someone gets annoyed. For Apple Australia and Google Australia, that time might be nigh as the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) reportedly gears up to investigate the pair for tax minimisation. The ABC… – Continue reading
US companies appear to be thumbing their noses at a global crackdown on tax avoidance, with share registry group Computershare reporting an increase in multinationals re-incorporating in Ireland. In a briefing to investors on its regional outlook last week, Computershare said its Irish division had noticed ”further momentum in US… – Continue reading
Boeing won’t be paying any taxes this year [“Boeing has big tax refund coming from Uncle Sam — again,” seattletimes.com, March 1]. Instead, by deferring tax payments, it will be getting a $199 million refund. It’s not alone; many corporations are avoiding taxes altogether through loopholes. In the Senate there is… – Continue reading
Global technology giants such as Apple, Google and Amazon could soon be charged a tax on their UK activities in an attempt to stop them sidestepping their responsibilities. Britain is working with nine other countries to draw up shared dossiers on the tax affairs of such groups, it was revealed… – Continue reading
The benefits of the New Zealand Government’s desire to push export led growth, as part of its overall economic strategy, could be stymied by a lack of clarity over proposed cross-border tax changes. New research from the Grant Thornton International Business Report survey (IBR) reveals that New Zealand business leaders… – Continue reading
The largest U.S.-based companies added $206 billion to their offshore profit stockpiles last year in order to put earnings in low-tax countries, Bloomberg reported. Multinational companies accumulated $1.95 trillion outside the U.S., which was up 11.8 percent from a year earlier, according to securities filings from 307 corporations reviewed by Bloomberg. Governments… – Continue reading
OECD tax director Pascal Saint-Amans has played down concerns that the United States might resist plans to make multinational companies such as Apple and Starbucks pay more tax, arguing that governments must move quickly to close multibillion-dollar loopholes or risk ordinary citizens losing faith in their taxation systems. Mr Saint-Amans… – Continue reading
The largest US-based companies added $206 billion to their stockpiles of offshore profits last year, parking earnings in low-tax countries until Congress gives them a reason not to. The multinational companies have accumulated $1.95 trillion outside the US, up 11.8 per cent from a year earlier, according to securities filings… – Continue reading
LONDON — Four of the biggest U.S. technology groups collectively hold an estimated $124 billion in U.S. Treasury debt, much of it offshore, earning them tax-free interest, the UK’s Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ) said on Thursday. The finding means Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Google Inc and Cisco Systems Inc… – Continue reading
United States taxpayers make large interest payments to the top four technology firmsfor the $163 billion in US government debt the companies own and shelter in tax-freeoffshore accounts. Apple, Cisco Systems, Google, and Microsoft legally hold $124 billion in US Treasury securities and $39 billion in US government agencydebt in accounts overseas, allowing them to avoid the 35… – Continue reading
Apple Inc., IBM Corp. and Microsoft Corp. have been picked out as some of the main culprits of stockpiling profits abroad in order to avoid huge tax bills, according to Bloomberg. Last year, the largest U.S. firms collectively added an extra $206 billion to their offshore profit stockpiles based in low-tax countries. Together the… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The finance ministry will soon write to British telecom major Vodafone to press the company to seek an early decision from the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) in the Rs 8,500-crore transfer pricing case. The Union Cabinet had, on February 28, directed the finance ministry to wait for the… – Continue reading
The Brazilian government has been trying to catch up on a number of areas of the digital economy, one of them being online cross-border taxation – but not without controversy. During the Mobile World Congress (MWC) last month, the Brazilian communications minister Paulo Bernardo said Brazil is a “tax haven”… – Continue reading
LONDON — If you don’t want something, giving it back is often an option. That’s precisely what some Americans, frustrated at what they see as onerous U.S. tax filing obligations for Americans living overseas, are doing with their citizenship. “I felt like I had gotten a divorce,” says Donna-Lane Nelson,… – Continue reading
London: Schroders is the latest UK group to set aside millions of pounds for potential fines arising from a US investigation into companies that helped American clients evade taxes. Schroders, the UK’s second-biggest listed fund house, has reserved £15 million (Dh92 million) for a possible penalty in connection with the… – Continue reading
As concerns about crumbling roads and bridges mount, one Congressman believes he has an answer. Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D-CO) has introduced a bill, Partnership to Build America Act of 2014 (S. 1957), that would provide for investments and improvements in infrastructure projects. To make it more palatable, funding would… – Continue reading
Malta’s two largest banks rejected the European Commission’s suggestion that high interest rates on loans in the country may indicate collusion. In a report issued earlier this month, the European Union’s executive arm said “the interest margin on loans in the core banks appears to be converging,” and this “could… – Continue reading
Much brouhaha has been created by the recent reports about the Vodafone Tax case with respect to whether or not a capital gains tax is due from them on the purchase of assets in India. New lexicon has been created for the uninitiated – “tax avoidance” versus “tax evasion”; “look… – Continue reading
In an attempt to stop multinationals shifting profits overseas Australia’s Tax Office is launching a task force to investigate 86 large corporations’ tax activities. The tax office is looking into companies that use complex structures to move profits through tax havens as well as those that are using thin capitalisation,… – Continue reading
New Delhi: The Income Tax department has rebutted Vodafone’s notice under BIPA saying that the pact between India and Netherlands does not cover taxation issues. “Tax department has sent its response to Vodafone saying BIPA does not cover tax issues,” an official source said. The response to the Bilateral Investment… – Continue reading
Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) compliance, and in particular anti-money laundering (“AML”) controls, remains a focus of regulators as evidenced by record fines levied in recent weeks. On February 7, 2014, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) suspended a former AML compliance officer at Brown Brothers Harriman (“BBH”) and assessed… – Continue reading
Authorities aren’t waiting for new reporting laws to go into effect to track down Americans who they say owe money The US needs money — and it’s willing to go to the ends of the earth, including Israel, to track down deadbeats who are evading their taxes. Israel was named… – Continue reading
The government, on Friday, decided not to withdraw Vodafone conciliation talks for settling the Rs.20,000-crore tax dispute until a separate case over transfer pricing is settled by a tribunal. The Union Cabinet, at its meeting on Friday, agreed not to take any ‘hasty decision’, and decided to fast-track the transfer… – Continue reading
G20 finance ministers speak loudly, mention big stick The world’s top 20 finance ministers have signalled once again that they’re sick of their taxes disappearing offshore and have signalled a strong intention to get their cash back. The ministers in question are all members of the Group of Twenty (G20)… – Continue reading
