Wealthiest 20 Americans, with combined net worth of $732billion, are as wealthy as half of the U.S. population, new study says Study found country’s richest 20 people now own more wealth than bottom half of population which is about 152 million people Wealthiest 20 people includes eight founders of corporations,… – Continue reading
Employees at Allergan have been told a proposed merger with Pfizer is about changing healthcare – not skirting tax law. Allergan’s global chief executive Brent Saunders has written directly to the company’s employees – including around 1,000 in Ireland, telling them the controversial deal is not just about tax savings…. – Continue reading
From the start of 2016, multinational companies found to be avoiding tax will have pay back the tax owed, plus a 100 per cent penalty, reports ZD Net. The Australian Greens have voted with the Coalition to pass legislation that will see multinational companies with annual revenue above AU$1 billion… – Continue reading
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) updated its diverted profits tax guidance to clarify the tax authority’s interpretation of the legislation and proposed administrative practice. Highlights Some highlights from the revised guidance include: Both the “insufficient economic substance condition” and the “design test” in section 86 FA 2015 (avoidance of UK… – Continue reading
Italy has removed Hong Kong from two of three “black lists.” A ministerial decree in November 2015 removed Hong Kong from the black lists that apply with respect to: The Italian controlled foreign corporation (CFC) rules and the full taxation of inbound dividends Costs that arise in transactions between Italian… – Continue reading
The European Commission today announced its decision to launch a “state aid” investigation into tax rulings granted by the tax authorities in Luxembourg to a company that is a member of a U.S.-based multinational taxpayer group. Background According to a February 2015 report, in 2008-2009, the group transferred its European… – Continue reading
The Dutch Ministry of Finance published a draft decree for implementing the “common reporting standard” (CRS) and that includes the identification and reporting requirements contained in the CRS for reporting financial institutions. The CRS, developed by the OECD and largely based on FATCA, is a standard that governs the exchange… – Continue reading
Company changed tax address from U.S. to Ireland this year CEO says 40 percent of cash still located outside U.S. Medtronic Plc’s decision to move its tax address out of the U.S. is already starting to pay dividends. The medical device company used a deal with Covidien Plc this year… – Continue reading
A bill approved by New Jersey’s Assembly would strike back against “corporate inversions,” when a U.S. company buys a smaller company abroad, then changes its address to slash its tax bill. Under the measure approved Thursday, New Jersey would stop offering contracts and development subsidies to these artful tax dodgers… – Continue reading
The Luxembourg government said on Friday that it would appeal against the European Commission’s decision ordering it to recover 20-30 million euros ($22-33 million) of back taxes from Fiat Chrysler. The Commission ruled in October that Fiat had benefited from illegal tax deals with the Luxembourg authorities, as well as… – Continue reading
On November 30, 2015, the UK tax authorities at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) reached an agreement with Jersey about the interpretation of the company residence tie-breaker provision of the Jersey-UK income tax treaty. After reviewing other income tax treaties that contain similar provisions, HMRC will now take the view… – Continue reading
Amid all the diplomatic comings and goings on Syria and how to tackle Islamic State, an important but little-noticed high-level gathering has been taking place in London. The Overseas Territories were holding the fourth meeting of their Joint Ministerial Council at Lancaster House. Leaders from Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands,… – Continue reading
Lawmakers seek late deal to scale back ‘Cadillac tax’ Lawmakers are making a late push to repeal or scale back Obamacare’s “Cadillac tax” by the end of the year, eying inclusion of changes in a broader tax package, wrote Peter Sullivan of The Hill. But lawmakers in both parties say… – Continue reading
The U.S. multinational will likely be investigated for evading taxes with Luxembourg’s help, following a report by trade unions earlier this year. McDonald’s is under investigation by European Union regulators for illegal tax deals with Luxembourg, according to sources close to the inquiry. The multinational—joining a list of EU tax… – Continue reading
Republicans in both chambers of Congress said international tax reform is necessary to retain companies in the United States following pharmaceutical giant Pfizer’s announcement it is moving its headquarters overseas after its merger with Ireland-based Allergan, citing the country’s high corporate tax rates. During hearings in the House Ways and… – Continue reading
As the Joint Ministerial Council meeting continues in London this week Financial Services Minister Hon Wayne Panton says he intends to meet with European States in a bid to have Cayman removed from their lists of third-country, Non-cooperative Tax Jurisdictions. The minister, speaking at the last sitting of the Legislative… – Continue reading
Things are heating up in the economic substance doctrine area, which could lead to a U.S. Supreme Court review of the IRS’s aggressive arguments for the doctrine. Certiorari Petitions Salem Financial Inc. and Bank of New York Mellon Corporation have both petitioned for Supreme Court review of the Federal Circuit… – Continue reading
The 28 nations of the European Union lose up to $1 trillion per year in revenue thanks to multinational corporations that use a spider’s web of completely legal constructs to lower their taxes. Now, Europe’s law enforcers and lawmakers want to wipe away these intricate tax-avoidance systems. If they have… – Continue reading
The House and Senate held hearings Tuesday on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting action plan, also known as OECD BEPS, for combating tax avoidance by multinational corporations. A number of the lawmakers expressed a skeptical view of the international tax reforms. “The OECD’s… – Continue reading
The current international tax regime was developed in the last century when the internet was not yet invented. At that time, a foreign company would typically require a substantial physical presence in Australia before it could be in a position to earn significant amount of income from Australian customers. This… – Continue reading
EU committee to vote on plans to curb tax avoidance EU countries should be compelled to inform other member states in advance of plans to introduce tax initiatives that could affect their own or another country’s effective tax rate, according to a report to be considered by the European Parliament’s… – Continue reading
KPMG, PN leader warn that proposals recently approved by European Parliament could threaten Malta’s booming financial services industry New European initiatives could threaten Malta’s sovereignty over its own fiscal affairs, KPMG partner Juanita Bencini warned. “There are dark clouds on the horizon and a closer European union may not necessarily… – Continue reading
Mauritius plans to launch a trading platform to hedge African currencies against the US dollar, part of a bid to expand its role as a financial hub for the continent, the financial services minister said. The Indian Ocean island is also in talks to boost ties with stock exchanges in… – Continue reading
WELCOME to Switzerland. A mountainous country where nothing comes cheap but many of the world’s filthy rich come to grow their fortunes. The ongoing relationship between the wealthy and Switzerland looks set to only strengthen as the super rich get richer, according to a report released on Friday. That’s despite… – Continue reading
KUWAIT CITY, Nov 29: “The world of taxation has changed tremendously impacted by FATCA, transfer pricing, Base Erosion and Profit Sharing, and others which require dramatic changes in existing operating models and structures,” remarked Fouad Douglas, PwC Country Senior partner, at a tax seminar organised by the PwC in conjunction… – Continue reading
While the U.S. is plagued by inertia when it comes to tax policy, the rest of the world hasn’t been standing still. The biggest change of late has been the completion of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project, or BEPS, a multiyear… – Continue reading
Government officials say multinational technology giants are reluctant to pay anything The Korean affiliates of Microsoft (MS) and Oracle are under increasing pressure to pay taxes here, with government officials saying the two multinational technology giants were reluctant to pay anything, although they generated huge a lot of money from… – Continue reading
Final regulations implementing the common reporting standard (CRS) have been published in the Isle of Man. In addition, it has been announced that the existing intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between the Isle of Man and the UK will be superseded by CRS, and that 2016 will be a transitional year. Read… – Continue reading
East African countries expect to collect more revenue under a new code drawn, by the world’s richest economies to stop foreign multinationals from dodging taxes in host countries. The new code — Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) — adopted by G20 at its meeting in Turkey two weeks ago,… – Continue reading
Australian punters will be thrilled to know that when they do their shirts gambling their post-tax dollars, those very same dollars, which become the pre-tax dollars of the British online betting giants, are funnelled off to places like Gibraltar, pre-tax. University of NSW accounting academic, Jeff Knapp, and Fairfax Media… – Continue reading
Tech titans powering the economy shelter money through insane tax-avoidance havens. It’s wrong — and adding up Offshore tax havens enable not only individuals to dodge taxes—they also enable multinational corporations to do so. Often this tax avoidance is done within the letter of the law: multinational groups exploit the… – Continue reading
The European Parliament has overwhelmingly approved a suite of corporate tax reforms that will ensure multinational companies pay taxes where profits are made and increase transparency. A total of 508 MEPs voted in favour of the adoption of recommendations put forward by the Special Committee on Tax Rulings last month…. – Continue reading
Global taxpayers can expect to pay more tax in the years ahead. Many governments worldwide continue to update their tax legislation and expand their tax systems to repay debt and pay for increased social welfare, even as the memory of the last global financial crisis lingers. These are the conclusions… – Continue reading
A recent Dutch group request for administrative assistance shows that even before the “automatic exchange of information” (AEoI) measure is effective in Switzerland in 2017, those with undeclared assets need to consider making a disclosure. The Swiss federal tax administration recently approved a Dutch group request for administrative assistance, and… – Continue reading
In response to the announcement that pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Allergan would merge, Hillary Clinton released a statement that completely missed the real issue behind these inversions – they are a symptom of the greedy, complex, and inefficient U.S. tax code. “Inversion is a symptom, not a disease,” said Grover… – Continue reading
Veteran banker says India purchase reflects client demand for onshore private banking advice. Julius Baer’s Asia Pacific head Thomas Meier is preparing to leave Asia after 20 years, but he isn’t leaving Asia behind. The veteran banker, who also worked at Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, will continue to oversee… – Continue reading
Participants listen to an expert during the seminar hosted by KPMG Qatar. KPMG in Qatar held a seminar recently to help chief financial officers and chief compliance officers from financial institutions understand the implications of Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and what they need to do to comply. The seminar comes… – Continue reading
Expats savers will have some fixed feelings at the changes in interest rates on offshore fixed and instant access accounts. Conister Bank has notched up a couple of rate increases on fixed rate accounts – the three year fix rising 0.5% to 2.30% and the one year fix up 0.10%… – Continue reading
Pharmaceuticals manufacturer Pfizer is set to move its tax address to Ireland following a major merger A Government minister has said that Ireland is not a tax haven, and that companies choose to locate here for ‘lots of reasons’. It comes in the wake of the decision by the pharmaceuticals… – Continue reading
Teddy Sagi still owns a 30 per cent stake in Playtech, the gambling software firm The Israeli billionaire Teddy Sagi’s £460m takeover of Plus500, the financial trading firm, was torpedoed yesterday due to “concerns” raised by the Financial Conduct Authority watchdog. Mr Sagi is the founder of the gambling software… – Continue reading
The Italian Supreme Court overturned decisions of lower courts to conclude that two renowned Italian fashion designers were not guilty of tax evasion. The designers, however, could still be subject to civil penalties of about €343.3 million. BACKGROUND The designers had set up Luxembourg companies, to which they had transferred… – Continue reading
Guidance published in the Spanish official gazette on 17 November 2015, establishes the requirements: (1) to identify the tax residence of persons holding or controlling certain financial accounts; and (2) to report that information within the context of mutual assistance. Accordingly, Royal Decree 1021/2015 transposes into Spanish domestic law the… – Continue reading
The Department of Justice announced today that Privatbank IHAG Zürich AG (IHAG) reached a resolution under the department’s Swiss Bank Program. IHAG will pay a penalty of more than $7 million. “Through the information provided by IHAG and other Swiss banks in the Program, the department has unraveled the various… – Continue reading
Taxpayers in Romania and throughout the world can expect to pay more tax in the years ahead as governments expand their tax systems to repay debt and pay for increased social welfare, and international efforts to update tax legislation for the 21st century take hold. These are the conclusions of… – Continue reading
Pfizer $160bn purchase of Allergan will see firm move HQ to Dublin Ireland’s exchequer is in line for an annual boost of up to €620 million following the announcement that Pfizer is buying rival Allergan in a $160 billion (€151 billion) deal. The takeover will see Pfizer move its corporate… – Continue reading
The evidence is in: company tax harms investment, innovation, and entrepreneurship — and even reduces wages. Not that you’d know this from reading some stories this week, which claim advocates of company tax cuts had avoided using evidence. This seems to be wilfully ignoring the strong evidence that is in… – Continue reading
The latest Tax Reform Business Barometer survey, issued by The Tax Council and Ernst & Young, found that tax professionals expect Congress to approve tax reform legislation no earlier than 2017, with most congressional leaders having all but given up hope that tax reform is achievable in the remainder of… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: India proposes a major clean-up of decade-and-a-halfold rules that govern the prices of imports by related parties – such as arms of multinationals from their parent – in an attempt to reduce delays and disputes and make it easier to do business. The finance ministry is not just… – Continue reading
Following a ruling by the Swiss Federal Tax Administration, payments of interest under the DDM Treasury SEK 300 million Senior Secured Notes with ISIN SE0005280831 (the “Notes”) are subject to Swiss withholding tax since the refinancing executed in June 2015. On 23 June 2015 certain amendments to the documentation in… – Continue reading
SINGAPORE-listed Sinarmas Land is looking to unlock the value of its investment properties in Indonesia by spinning them into a real estate investment trust (Reit) but has not decided on whether to list in Singapore or Jakarta, with tax benefits on offer likely to be a key determinant. “The unlocking… – Continue reading
