Korean Gov’t to Tax Google, Facebook Like Domestic Companies orea is moving to impose taxes on foreign ICT giants such as Google, Apple, and Facebook. To this end, Ruling Saenuri Party lawmaker Hong Ji-man tabled revisions to the Income Tax Act and the Corporate Tax Act in December last year…. – Continue reading
Google has told the Australian parliament that it would prefer issues around taxation of multinational corporations to be dealt with by the G20 or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), rather than have individual countries attempt to go it alone. The Australian government is attempting to tackle profit… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – U.S. federal prosecutors have launched a new probe into whether Swiss bank UBS AG helped Americans evade taxes through investments banned in the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the investigation. UBS, which paid $780 million in 2009 to settle a separate Justice… – Continue reading
Emirates Investment Bank yesterday said its total assets under management jumped 81 per cent last year as the economy boomed and the UAE’s safe haven status continued to attract funds from politically troubled countries in the Middle East and other parts of the world. Total assets under management increased to… – 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
HONG KONG — China’s tax officials plan to step up efforts to collect taxes from multinational corporations in the latest of a series of moves in the last year, mostly against Western companies. The activities have included police raids on the headquarters of companies’ China operations and heavy fines under… – Continue reading
EY is hosting two breakfast seminars this week to discuss how local businesses should be preparing for the next stages of FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) implementation – the identification of reportable accounts and the reporting process itself. Led by Wendy Martin, Executive Tax Director at EY in the… – Continue reading
The government is planning to devolve power over the corporation tax rate to the Northern Ireland assembly. This bold and unprecedented move is intended to enable Northern Ireland to compete with the Irish Republic’s headline rate of 12.5%, and follows the agreement that Scotland should set its own rate for… – Continue reading
THE European Union (EU) will not pursue a probe of national programmes that create tax breaks for research and development, giving a boost to drug and technology companies that generate revenue from patents. The EU’s hands were tied by a 2008 decision to approve a “patent box” tax break in… – Continue reading
The European Commission has turned a blind eye to secretive tax deals that Ireland and other countries have been doing with multinationals for decades. Only after complaints from the US did it launch investigations into the most high-profile cases — Apple in Ireland, Starbucks in the Netherlands, and Amazon in… – Continue reading
Some 776 American citizens or long-time residents renounced their status in the third quarter of 2014, according to the Treasury Department. If that trend continues, the U.S. will see more than 3,000 renunciations this year-a record. Why are so many Americans forfeiting their citizenship? In 2010, Congress passed the Foreign… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — The European Union is investigating Belgium’s tax deals with multinational corporations, potentially dragging dozens more companies into widening probes of sweetheart fiscal pacts handed out by national governments. Building on investigations of Apple Inc. in Ireland and Amazon.com Inc. in Luxembourg, the European Commission is targeting Belgium’s so-called… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – The European Commission is investigating a Belgian system allowing companies to reduce their tax bills significantly, it said on Tuesday, widening its inquiry into tax deals struck with multinationals across the European Union. The Commission, which rules on competition and subsidies in the European Union, said deductions granted… – Continue reading
Samantha Cameron is creative consultant at the upmarket company Firm is is owned through a holding company in Luxembourg It is also linked to a secretive trust in the Channel Island of Guernsey David Cameron has often criticised companies who use tax havens David Cameron has often railed against big… – Continue reading
Law360, New York (February 03, 2015, 10:22 PM ET) — Casino operator Caesars Entertainment Corp. has created a new anti-money laundering position in the wake of federal inquiries into its practices, hiring away a top compliance expert from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., according to a spokesman. Former Wal-Mart compliance expert Ben… – Continue reading
Guernsey’s forward-thinking approach to international regulatory requirements has aided the success of its funds industry and raising its profile as an international finance centre, according to a panel discussion at the Guernsey Funds Masterclass in London. Panellists discussed the implementation of regulations like such as the Alternative Investment Fund Managers… – Continue reading
Panellists at a Guernsey funds technical masterclass in London have praised the jurisdiction for its “progressive nature” in tackling international regulatory developments. Delegates were told that Guernsey’s response to initiatives such as the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) II, the Foreign Account Tax… – Continue reading
India and US reach common ground on Mutual Agreement Procedure (“MAP)” and break new ground on Advance Pricing Agreements (“APA”) Suchint Majmudar Just ahead of Obama’s momentous R-Day visit to India, the Competent Authorities of India and US reached a landmark breakthrough in cases involving mutual agreement procedure under the… – 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
(Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama will propose that U.S.-based companies pay a minimum 19 percent tax on their future foreign earnings, capturing profits that are now often beyond the government’s reach. Obama will also seek a 14 percent mandatory tax on about $2 trillion in stockpiled offshore profits, said two… – Continue reading
The upmarket leather goods firm employing the Prime Minister’s wife is based in a tax haven. Smythson is owned through a holding company in Luxembourg and linked to a secretive trust in the Channel Island of Guernsey, another well-known tax haven. The store in Central London’s New Bond Street, which… – Continue reading
IRS threatens 30% withholding tax on non-compliant banks Dubai: Many people, including American citizens working in the Gulf state, received recently letters from their UAE-based banks asking them for more details and papers in compliance with American laws introduced by tax service. The move comes as many citizens of the… – Continue reading
A Sunday Mirror investigation has found Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Google, Ebay and Starbucks has paid less than one per cent tax Six of the world’s biggest companies paid just 0.3 per cent of their UK earnings in corporation tax last year, a Sunday Mirror probe has found. We have examined… – Continue reading
Feb 1 (Reuters) – The Chinese government’s vow to increase tax scrutiny of foreign companies has sent firms rushing to tax advisors ahead of the implementation on Sunday of new rules designed to rein in cross-border tax avoidance. Tax professionals and business lobbies alike have welcomed the move as an… – Continue reading
Capital Gains tax and inheritance tax should be merged to prevent wealthy homeowners being taxed twice, IoD suggests Capital gains tax and inheritance tax should be merged to prevent wealthy homeowners being taxed twice, according to the Institute of Directors. Taxes raising less than £5billion a year should be merged… – Continue reading
VietNamNet Bridge –Inspectors looking for transfer-pricing cases examined 2,866 enterprises in 2014, discovering that the actual losses incurred by businesses was VND5.8 trillion lower than reported. The inspectors also attempted to collect VND1.7 trillion worth of tax arrears. The deputy general director of the General Department of Taxation (GDT), Tran… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: The hunt for black money stashed abroad is moving beyond Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Over the last fortnight, at least ten individuals — all from Mumbai and holding shares of companies in the Caribbean tax haven British Virgin Islands (BVI) — have been told by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to… – Continue reading
LIGHTNING RELEASES (1/30/2015) – Attorney Gary S. Wolfe of The Wolfe Law Group is pleased to announce, after 12 years of research, the publication of his 10th book, Offshore Tax Evasion: The IRS and Swiss Banks, now available for immediate download through the Amazon Kindle store. Switzerland is the epicenter… – Continue reading
The EU won’t limit how much it seeks to claw back from companies including Apple and Amazon that are ensnared in tax probes if controversial deals with national governments are overturned. The European Commission is currently probing the tax arrangements between Apple and Ireland, alleging that a deal was struck… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — Senators Rand Paul and Barbara Boxer are proposing a tax incentive for U.S. companies to bring home their offshore cash stockpiles and pledging to use that revenue to fund highways. The bipartisan proposal would let companies repatriate money parked overseas at a 6.5 percent tax rate, a steep… – Continue reading
U.S.-based multinational corporations are using complex merger deals to avoid paying taxes on $12 billion a year in taxable foreign earnings that they repatriate back to the U.S., according to a new study. U.S. multinationals are required to pay U.S. corporate income taxes upon repatriation of foreign earnings earned in… – Continue reading
Cash reserves held outside the US for tax reasons by US multinationals are “likely to fuel a big increase in M&A activity over the next year”, said Eloise Walker a tax expert at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-law.com.30 Jan 2015 Corporate Tax Corporate tax International tax M&A Advanced… – Continue reading
The IRS recently announced an expansion of the list of banks and advisors that trigger the highest penalty bracket within its Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program. The addition of Sovereign Management & Legal, Ltd. and Bank Leumi to the increased penalty list will have repercussions in Asia, Israel and the United… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Transfer pricing litigations involving Multi National Companies (MNCs) has to be looked at separately and individually and final decision on cases will be taken on merit, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said. “You cannot generalise in that regard because every case has to be look at… – Continue reading
The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has posted tax investigators to foreign embassies to lead a Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) crackdown on suspected tax evasion. The Asia Pacific financial centres of Hong and Singapore are two of the main targets, according to industry experts. The move follows claims… – Continue reading
With the Senate weighing a bipartisan effort to let companies repatriate offshore cash for five years at a 6.5% rate, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) CFO Patrick Pichette states on the Q4 CC the passage of such a bill would change how his company spends. He adds ~60% of Google’s cash is offshore,… – Continue reading
The United States Department of Justice secured a conviction against a St. Louis man accused of not reporting foreign bank accounts in Switzerland and Singapore. Raju Mukhi, age 67, was indicted last year on charges of willful failure to file an FBAR and filing false tax returns. Offshore accounts with… – Continue reading
In November 2012, a startled TV audience watched coverage of the House of Commons Select Committee questioning Google’s chief executive about why his business, with ostensibly billions of pounds in sales generated in the UK, accounted for UK corporation tax in an amount equivalent to the price of a single… – Continue reading
In November 2012, a startled TV audience watched coverage of the House of Commons Select Committee questioning Google’s chief executive about why his business, with ostensibly billions of pounds in sales generated in the UK, accounted for UK corporation tax in an amount equivalent to the price of a single… – Continue reading
This story has been updated. At her confirmation hearing Wednesday, attorney general-designate Loretta Lynch said she has been “very aggressive” in pursuing white-collar crime. “At the outset, no individual is ‘too big to jail.’ And no one is above the law,” said Lynch. Yet according to a new report from… – Continue reading
Billionaire retailer Gerry Harvey has accused Australia’s powerful business lobby groups of failing to represent ordinary tax-paying businesses and instead pushing the interests of profit-shifting multinationals. Speaking after the release of Apple’s Australian accounts, which revealed the tech giant had paid just $80 million in tax despite reaping $6 billion… – Continue reading
Hong Kong’s Government should use greater-than-expected revenue receipts to implement measures to enhance the city’s international competitiveness in the 2015/16 Budget, according to a KPMG survey of senior Hong Kong-based business executives. It is foreseen that the Government will be in a position of increased fiscal strength at the end… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: In what will be widely perceived as a sentiment booster for investors, the government has asked the I-T department to apply the principle behind a tax ruling involving Vodafone Group to all similar transfer pricing cases, an official letter seen by Reuters showed. Reacting to the news, Dinesh Kanabar of KPMG India told ET Now,… – Continue reading
In a move that will likely soothe investors’ frayed nerves, the government on Wednesday decided not to appeal a Bombay High Court ruling in favour of Vodafone in a Rs. 3,200-crore tax dispute over a share transaction involving a local subsidiary. IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the government wants… – Continue reading
Microsoft denies a transfer of ownership of its New Zealand business from the United States to Luxembourg is related to the tiny European state’s favourable tax policies. Luxembourg, which has a population of less than 600,000, has been accused of facilitating large-scale tax avoidance by multinationals. Microsoft New Zealand was… – Continue reading
The existence of 1MDB’s RM7 billion in the Cayman Islands and its return to Malaysia must be verified. KUALA LUMPUR: Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli urged Bank Negara Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, in a statement on Wednesday, to invoke the Anti Money Laundering Act and ensure that a reported RM7 billion… – Continue reading
Almost every day brings new evidence that the era of bank secrecy for tax evaders using Swiss and “offshore” bank accounts in “tax havens” is over. Both tax authorities and banks are clamping down on unreported offshore accounts. Early in 2014, Swiss bank Credit Suisse agreed to pay fines of… – Continue reading
The IRS is harping again on the dangers of hiding money or assets in unreported offshore accounts, this time as part of its Dirty Dozen tax scams over 12 days for the 2015 tax filing season. In fact, the IRS has trumpeted the issue for over 5 years. Plainly, violations… – Continue reading
Yahoo is taking advantage of a loophole in the tax code to spin off its $40 billion stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to shareholders without paying about $16 billion in corporate income tax. That’s how much Yahoo would pay if it sold its Alibaba shares or transferred them to… – Continue reading
Apple’s Australian net profit after tax for the 2014 financial year increased, despite the company paying more tax. In documents filed to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Cupertino-based tech giant reported that net profit after tax for the group during the 2014 financial year was AU$171.5 million,… – Continue reading
