Documents exposed secret deals to slash global tax bills of multinational companies A French journalist has been criminally charged in Luxembourg for his role in exposing how hundreds of multinational companies used secret deals with the European duchy’s government to slash their global tax bills — a scheme that CBC… – Continue reading
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Markets fell 500 points on Monday. Punters’ worries about current tax disputes between Modi Sarkar and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) being one reason why the Sensex dived. There has been a battle of phrases between FPIs and North Block. And it looks as if this will be a… – Continue reading
Nothing is certain in India except death and tax disputes. Ask foreign portfolio investors: they now face demands for past dues of as much as $6.4 billion. The wrangle stems from the Minimum Alternative Tax, or MAT, which officials say leads to a 20 percent levy on capital gains by… – Continue reading
Beijing enlists seven firms, including PwC, to investigate projects and holdings this year Beijing has appointed seven audit companies, including international firm PwC, to look into the overseas assets of major state-owned enterprises as it tightens the reins on the business giants. The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (Sasac)… – Continue reading
In the five years since the eurozone crisis exploded, the European Union has adopted a great number of measures to improve its fiscal governance. Yet amazingly, it still does not have a robust, harmonized way of measuring and monitoring the financial activities of its member states, reports the Wall Street… – Continue reading
Representatives from “Big Four” accounting firm Deloitte were up before the Senate tax inquiry on Friday morning. They were keen to dispel any notion that their firm would have any involvement in tax avoidance. Senator Christine Milne asked if they were aware of the Deloitte document “Investing in Africa though… – Continue reading
Expats face special challenges in filing taxes Doha, 8 April 2015: With the US tax season in full swing, PwC’s US compliance tax and advisory team are helping Qatar residents with US interests to navigate the complex intricacies of US tax law. For those living in Qatar, the need to… – Continue reading
New freedoms mean you can move your pension abroad. We show you where you’ll pay the least tax It is the ultimate dream for many people – to work hard, build up a nest egg and retire abroad to a climate with year-round sunshine. Now there is an added financial… – Continue reading
Till March 31, close to 100 FIIs got notices from the Tax Department for a controversial Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) of 20 per cent, while they are now being followed up with Assessment Orders. In the biggest-ever tax demand slapped on them, nearly 100 foreign funds have been asked to… – Continue reading
Inquiry sparked by leaked Luxembourg files naming the sovereign wealth fund among dozens of Australian companies using elaborate structures to cut tax bills The $100bn Future Fund has refused to give evidence to a Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance despite being named in leaked documents last year among scores… – 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
THE ICAEW has yet to discipline any members for advising clients on aggressive tax avoidance schemes, despite setting a strong stance against such behaviour three years ago, the institute has confirmed to Accountancy Age. In 2012, the ICAEW announced members advising on schemes that could be interpreted as aggressive could… – Continue reading
Public accounts committee advocates legislation making promotion of aggressive tax avoidance illegal and review of government tax relief schemes The next government should introduce new laws to prosecute financial advisers who help wealthy individuals and firms in aggressive tax avoidance, a comprehensive parliamentary report has found. The public accounts committee,… – Continue reading
Irish firm featured in Luxleaks coverage has set up a new company: Glanbia Cheesip Ltd In the wake of the Luxleaks controversy last year, then chair of the Revenue Commissioners Josephine Feehily said that a company’s tax policies contained the potential for reputational risk if the strategies they were implementing,… – Continue reading
HMRC’s reporting of tax reliefs does not enable Parliament to scrutinise them effectively to determine whether they are providing value for money and the complexity of tax law and the constraints on HMRC’s resources mean that it is fighting an uphill battle against those who are determined to cheat the… – Continue reading
PwC expects that UK Chancellor George Osborne’s 2015 Budget will seek to strike a balance between ensuring fiscal responsibility and enticing support from prospective voters. On March 18, Osborne will deliver the Coalition Government’s final Budget ahead of the May 7 general election. PwC pointed out that, crucially, the resultant… – Continue reading
Foreign subsidiaries may now have to pay tax both in India and the country of their operations At present, a company incorporated outside India is considered a tax resident only if the control and management of its affairs is situated wholly in India. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint New Delhi: A budget… – Continue reading
Antoine Deltour sees himself as “just a little auditor” who copied some tax files. Now he may face jail after those documents helped send a shock wave through Luxembourg that is reverberating across the European Union. (Bloomberg) — Antoine Deltour sees himself as “just a little auditor” who copied some… – Continue reading
Certainty and reduced litigation on transfer pricing (TP) issues will be the cornerstone of creating a non-adversarial tax regime in India. The authors believe that Budget 2015 ought to lay out a roadmap to achieve this goal for TP issues – Recent positive progress on the Advance Pricing Agreement (APA)… – Continue reading
Labour took £386,000 from PricewaterhouseCoopers in last quarter of 2014 Accountancy company accused of helping clients slash tax bills Former Labour minister says it was ‘inappropriate’ to accept donation Ed had said donors accused of tax avoidance not allowed on his watch Labour was accused of hypocrisy last night as… – Continue reading
WHEN the GAAR rule was launched it was one of the government’s first and biggest moves in its battle against tax avoidance, but since its introduction in 2013 the body tasked with enforcing the rule has been distinctly quiet despite claims that companies and their accountants are perpetrating tax avoidance… – Continue reading
CHINA China Releases GAAR Administrative Measures Courtesy of Mr Glen Wei, an attorney at law, certified tax adviser, and CPA based in China.China’s State Administration of Taxation (SAT) on December 12 issued Decree 32 (dated December 2) introducing administrative measures for applying the domestic general anti-avoidance rule to special tax… – Continue reading
CANBERRA: Australian Tax Office has said that Australia’s corporate tax base is in crisis because of tax relief by multinational companies in the country. The alarming data in these internal documents is at odds with the public position of the Australian Tax Office (ATO), which maintains the tax regime in… – Continue reading
Accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has been accused of promoting tax avoidance “on an industrial scale”, in a report by MPs. It is said to have helped hundreds of clients cut their corporation tax bills by setting up bases in Luxembourg. Earlier this week the Archbishop of Canterbury said companies should… – Continue reading
Report skewers PwC for creation of Shire tax shelter it calls ‘tax avoidance on an industrial scale’ Shire’s Ireland address has made the specialty drugmaker a prime takeover target. AbbVie was attracted but dumped the $55 billion buyout when the U.S. Treasury Department threw cold water on the deal with… – Continue reading
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has launched an attack on the tax industry in the light of evidence presented by Big Four firm PwC In a 17-page report on tax avoidance and large accountancy firms, the PAC blasts the tax industry as being unable to regulate itself and calls on… – Continue reading
The group that represents most of the ASX 200 on tax issues, the Corporate Tax Association, has emerged as a surprise advocate of increasing transparency about the amount of taxes big companies pay. The Corporate Tax Association’s submission to the inquiry into corporate tax avoidance said it had concerns about… – Continue reading
Beijing is going after base erosion and profit shifting, and multinationals could get caught in the crosshairs. China is continuing to step up its efforts to curb what it sees as cross-border tax evasion by foreign-owned companies, announcing it will review how companies move money and allocate costs among their… – Continue reading
The Australian Tax Office is pushing ahead with a controversial plan to allow the country’s biggest corporations to audit themselves through their own private auditors, despite mounting public anger over corporate tax avoidance. An ATO spokesman said 56 public companies with a turnover of between $100 million and $5 billion… – Continue reading
LUXEMBOURG – A second French suspect was charged Friday with theft and money-laundering in ongoing investigations into the leaking of secret tax avoidance deals between Luxembourg and multinational companies, a scandal dubbed “Luxleaks.” The identity of the new suspect was not released, but he is a 38-year-old Frenchman and former… – Continue reading
Luxembourg’s business-friendly tax laws have saved companies billions. The party’s almost over. On a typical day, thousands of passengers pull into Luxembourg’s central train station and traverse the busy shopping street of Rue de la Gare, where everything from pastries to rain boots is on offer. Few, however, step inside… – Continue reading
LuxLeaks revelation shows that the company 3, which has over one million customers in Denmark, hasn’t paid Danish taxes. The company insists it has followed “the ppropriate tax rules” and defends its investments in Denmark. EU commissioner to use Luxleaks docs (21 Nov 14) Danish firms in ‘fairyland’ tax deals… – Continue reading
Outlook PwC’s request the Luxembourg authorities prosecute the whistleblower who lifted the lid on the vast extent of tax avoidance there is ill-judged and unpalatable. Antoine Deltour did the world a service in leaking the details of thousands of PWC-arranged tax deals in the tiny country. The result is likely… – Continue reading
Countries are competing to lower their tax rates to please the corporate giants, but the result is a massive collective loss of revenue. Only international coordination can wipe out the practice and defeat the negative influence of the Big Four accounting firms. Tax havens have long existed in the popular… – Continue reading
More leaked documents relating to tax avoidance schemes involving Luxembourg’s government under the leadership of Jean-Claude Juncker, now President of the European Union (EU) Commission, have intensified the political crisis surrounding the EU. It comes at a time of growing opposition to the pro-business EU and the vicious austerity cuts… – Continue reading
Former PricewaterhouseCoopers auditor charged with theft and violating trade secrets in wake of LuxLeaks scandal speaks out A 28-year-old former PricewaterhouseCoopers auditor charged with theft and violating trade secrets in Luxembourg in the wake of the LuxLeaks tax avoidance scandal has revealed his identity and claimed he acted out of… – Continue reading
The suspected leaker of documents that revealed confidential tax avoidance deals between Luxembourg and hundreds of multinational companies has been charged with theft, money-laundering and exposing trade secrets, prosecutors said. The suspect’s identity has not been revealed, but at Luxemburger Wort we have identified that he is a French former… – Continue reading
Hutchison Whampoa had profit of €429.6m but paid just €65,067 tax in Luxembourg A Luxembourg company that provides indirect financial support to 3 Ireland, is among the latest batch of entities found to be availing of secret tax deals in Luxembourg. Hutchison Whampoa Europe Investments Sarl (HWEI) – part of… – Continue reading
Peter Mac Swedish “flatpack” furniture manufacturer IKEA has suffered a number of blistering mass media attacks for business practices that reduce their Australian tax liabilities to a tiny fraction of the company’s profits here. The criticism is certainly justified. Most ordinary working taxpayers, as well as companies that don’t engage… – Continue reading
The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee on Monday held a hearing on the role of accountancy firms in tax avoidance and PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), the Big 4 accounting firm, was represented by Kevin Nicholson, PwC head of tax in the UK and former HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs) tax inspector,… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Tax deals that entertainment giant Walt Disney Co., commodities group Koch Industries [KCHIN.UL] and others agreed with the Luxembourg authorities were revealed on Tuesday by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The ICIJ said the two companies engaged in complex restructurings, and channeled hundreds of millions of… – Continue reading
The EU’s most powerful official is under mounting pressure as dozens more multinational corporate names are dragged into the Luxembourg tax scandal following a new leak of confidential documents on Tuesday. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European commission, has been battling to distance himself from the growing furore over the… – Continue reading
A new leak of confidential documents expands the list of big companies seeking secret tax deals in Luxembourg, exposing tax-saving maneuvers by American entertainment icon The Walt Disney Co., politically controversial Koch Industries Inc. and 33 other companies. Disney and Koch Industries, a U.S.-based energy and chemical conglomerate, both created… – 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
For more than a decade, tax gurus at PricewaterhouseCoopers helped Caterpillar Inc., the U.S. heavy equipment maker, move profits produced by its lucrative spare-parts business from the U.S. to a tiny subsidiary in Switzerland. Little changed except the bookkeeping. Parts were still shipped from suppliers to a warehouse in Morton,… – Continue reading
This June the IRS modified its offshore disclosure programs to encourage U.S. citizens to come forward and report their assets and mitigate risk of penalty or prosecution. To help your clients avoid running afoul of FATCA, a bulletin from PwC advises them to: Determine citizenship. In some cases, non-resident Americans are… – Continue reading
Introduction Successive surveys of tax executives and senior finance professionals at multinational companies show that risks associated with transfer pricing have become the number one tax-related concern for businesses operating across several jurisdictions. Ernst and Young’s (EY’s) latest Global Transfer Pricing Survey shows that businesses are taking increasing heed of… – Continue reading
Is Ireland a tax haven? The Irish government bristles at the question, given rising interest in cracking down on offshore financial centers, but research from a Trinity College professor is pretty definitive: Yes, it is. When Ireland’s leaders defend their country from accusations that global companies like Apple use Irish… – Continue reading
