Tom Gordon Scottish Political Editor DANNY Alexander was last night at the centre of a new donations row after accepting money from a millionaire defender of tax avoidance. The LibDem Chief Secretary to the Treasury, who in 2013 said he was “livid” at companies and individuals “avoiding paying the proper… – Continue reading
Pharmacy chain Boots Alliance has been under scrutiny from the British public since it first relocated to Switzerland in 2008. The contentious move involved the chain’s headquarters moving to a country that generated little income for the company, but provided low taxes. Yesterday at a retail industry conference, the issue… – Continue reading
There have recently been some well-publicised examples of multinationals buckling under pressure because they were perceived to be paying too little income tax. Towards the end of 2012, Starbucks in the UK undertook to pay £20-million of corporate income over two years, despite insisting it had complied with the tax… – Continue reading
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) met last month to ask HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) about its efforts to curb tax avoidance, including how HMRC has developed its transfer pricing approach to counteract tax arrangements such as those by Google, Amazon and Starbucks. Present at the hearing on February 11,… – Continue reading
Though the issue of corporate tax avoidance has long been a topic which would find its home in the business pages, it has recently become a regular fixture on the global news agenda thanks to high profile scandals, such as the recent HSBC news. What’s more, global brands such as… – Continue reading
The spotlight is firmly on tax reduction among large global firms operating in the UK – but is the practice putting smaller domestic companies on the back foot? The HSBC tax scandal, wilfully fuelled by politicians looking to appear tough on what they call immoral tax practices, has put the… – 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
UK, US, Australia, Brazil, India- governments of developed and developing countries are battling profit shifting by MNCs such as Amazon, Google, Apple and Starbucks. The allegation- MNCs are shifting profits to jurisdictions where there is little or no tax to be paid. The solution- OECD’s BEPS action plan which, among… – Continue reading
Caterpillar, Inc. (CAT), the heavy equipment maker is now under scrutiny as the IRS now demands $1 billion in taxes and penalties. This should come as no shock after the company faced Senate scrutiny in 2014 over its tax plans. Tax Woes The company deals in the designing, manufacturing and… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has launched a drive to combat tax evasion following a series of probes into rules that allow multinationals to slash their bills in Luxembourg, Ireland and the Netherlands. The EU’s executive commission said Wednesday that it will propose new tax legislation next month, including… – Continue reading
The abolition of unfair taxes was one of the foundational principles of Magna Carta, a document that King John assented to on June 15, 1215 at Runnymede, England. Taxation must be fair, and requires the consent of the people. There is no more unfair aspect of fiscal law than retroactive… – Continue reading
A majority of CFOs at multinational corporations believe that publicity about their tax-planning strategies is having a negative impact on the reputation of their companies, according to a new poll. The survey, by the tax advisory firm Taxand, found that 77 percent of the CFOs polled said that exposure to… – Continue reading
A New Tax on doing business in or through the UK The UK is on course to enact a new tax (the “DPT”) with extraterritorial scope which will apply to profits arising on or after 1 April 2015 and will be applied at a rate of 25% (the UK’s main… – Continue reading
A recent report detailing how Africa lost $US1-trillion in the last 50 years through illicit financial flows of money has raised questions about it’s abilities to curb fraud evasion and other means of corporate profit hiding. It has also sparked interest in holding multinational corporates, which are mainly responsible 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
(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
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
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
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
Over the past few years, the European Union has targeted multinational corporations using tax planning strategies to reduce corporate tax burdens. Recently, the EU has launched an investigation into tax deals between Amazon (AMZN) and the country of Luxembourg. With an array of subsidiaries within European countries, Amazon’s European headquarters… – Continue reading
Competition commissioner urging swift conclusion to open investigations The European Commission has said it will publish the result of its investigation into the Government’s tax arrangements with Apple by the spring. Speaking in Brussels, a commission spokesman said competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager “wants to focus on the four open in-depth… – Continue reading
Observers of offshore financial centres will know that post 2008 they have been weathering a perfect storm. Firstly, reduced transactional flows, simply because there is less money available for structured finance and investment generally. Secondly, a constant barrage of negative publicity, which deliberately seeks to conflate tax evasion and tax… – Continue reading
Amazon made its bones avoiding taxes, and its tax history could bear on its current EU troubles. Amazon got bigger and more nimble than anyone else by betting on America’s love of tax avoidance.By edging the competition with no sales tax, Amazon grew to become the poster child of sales… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS– Amazon.com Inc.’s “cosmetic” tax arrangements in Luxembourg may give the U.S. online retailer an illegal advantage over competitors, European Union regulators said Friday, marking the latest phase of a widening crackdown on alleged sweetheart tax deals for multinationals. Amazon is one of four companies whose tax affairs are being… – Continue reading
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights.http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3e5cbbfa-9bff-11e4-b6cc-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz3OtSPx5Gf The European Parliament is poised to launch a full inquiry into sweetheart… – Continue reading
Severe council cuts could be reduced if multinational companies paid their fair share of tax, according to councillors. Labour Cllr Paul Merry, of Wanstead ward, and Cllr Varinder Singh-Bola, of Cranbrook ward, will put forward a motion at a council meeting this week calling on the authority to back the… – Continue reading
Severe council cuts could be reduced if multinational companies paid their fair share of tax, according to councillors. Labour Cllr Paul Merry, of Wanstead ward, and Cllr Varinder Singh-Bola, of Cranbrook ward, will put forward a motion at a council meeting this week calling on the authority to back the… – Continue reading
The disclosure of thousands of pages of confidential documents on Luxembourg tax deals was a “game changer” that led European Union regulators to expand their probe of such accords to all 28 nations in the bloc, Luxembourg Finance Minister Pierre Gramegna said. The EU’s expanded investigation “is not a surprise… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Luxembourg acceded on Thursday to the demand of the European Commission to release data to further EU antitrust regulators’ investigation into whether it allowed multinationals to pay excessively low taxes. The European Commission launched investigations this year into whether U.S. retailer Amazon (AMZN.O) and a unit of Italian… – Continue reading
* EU to examine tax arrangements across bloc * Several deals with multinationals already under scrutiny * Questions asked of new Commission President Juncker (Adds Luxembourg reaction, background) By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS, Dec 17 (Reuters) – European Union competition regulators have asked all 28 member countries for details of… – Continue reading
The European Union’s new antitrust chief said the EU is braced for a legal battle with governments embroiled in its probe of sweetheart tax deals for multinationals from Apple Inc. (AAPL:US) to Amazon.com Inc. Margrethe Vestager said the process needs to be legally watertight as officials investigate whether deals handed… – Continue reading
There’s big news from across the pond. The U.K. government’s Autumn Statement (formerly known as the pre-Budget report), released December 3, promises to change how multinational corporations will be taxed – and offers a cautionary tale for would-be U.S. tax reformers. Britain will introduce a “diverted profits” tax, targeting corporations… – Continue reading
There’s big news from across the pond. The U.K. government’s Autumn Statement (formerly known as the pre-Budget report), released December 3, promises to change how multinational corporations will be taxed – and offers a cautionary tale for would-be U.S. tax reformers. Britain will introduce a “diverted profits” tax, targeting corporations… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – EU regulators hope to wrap up ongoing probes into the legality of tax deals between Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Ireland with Apple (AAPL.O), Starbucks (SBUX.O), Amazon (AMZN.O) and Fiat (FCHA.MI) by the second quarter of 2015, the EU anti-trust’s chief said on Thursday. European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS–European Union finance ministers struck two separate deals on Tuesday aimed at cracking down on tax avoidance by multinationals, an issue that is high on Europe’s political agenda as a lackluster economic recovery fails to replenish crisis-hit state coffers. At a meeting in Brussels, finance ministers agreed to update a… – Continue reading
“Nothing abnormal about the way Starbucks is run” The new chief executive of Starbucks has admitted that the coffee shop chain is unlikely to pay any UK corporation tax for another three years. Speaking to the Evening Standard, Mark Fox said the tax wouldn’t be applicable until the company turned… – Continue reading
The European Commission, in an “Opening Decision” published on November 14, 2014, said that an advance tax ruling provided by the Netherlands to coffee group Starbucks appears to constitute state aid, in violation of European Union (EU) rules. In a 40-page letter to the Dutch authorities, the Commission detailed the… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS — European Union authorities have accused the Netherlands of making a special deal with Starbucks that helped the company lower its taxes, creating unfair advantages over other countries in the bloc. The report by the bloc’s competition authority, made public on Friday, is a preliminary finding in a review… – Continue reading
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
Ireland puts an end to a tax loophole that saved Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook billions in taxes “Double Irish” might sound like a drink that corporate tax lawyers reach for at the prospect of paying higher tax bills, but it’s actually the name of a controversial — albeit legal… – Continue reading
Europe’s antitrust regulator is encroaching on what has been the preserve of national governments. There’s a new tax sheriff in town. Europe’s top antitrust regulator, the Brussels-based European Commission, has launched an unexpected assault on what it suspects are sweetheart tax deals for multinational companies, plowing into an area traditionally… – Continue reading
The screw is being turned on American companies that use complex structures to whittle down their tax bills. But is the latest EU probe a paper tiger or a game changer? It was supposed to be good news. Amazon’s announcement yesterday that it would hire 1,000 staff was dressed up… – Continue reading
The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to examine whether the decision by Luxembourg’s tax authorities with regard to the corporate income tax to be paid by Amazon in Luxembourg comply with the EU rules on state aid. The opening of an in-depth investigation gives interested third parties and… – Continue reading
The Californian corporation is Cork’s largest private employer, but has not won over all local hearts and minds. Now the city is at the heart of a fight over taxation that involves not just Ireland but also the European commission and the US senate Anger is mounting in Cork. The… – Continue reading
George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer over here in the UK, has just announced at the Conservative party conference that he’ll be changing the tax laws to make sure that Google GOOGL +0.16% and other tech multinationals (Facebook, Microsoft MSFT -0.17%, possibly Apple AAPL +0.64%, among them) end up… – Continue reading
Ed Miliband is under pressure to “bang up” the British chief executives of overseas firms that use tax avoidance schemes, should he win next year’s general election. Speaking to The Independent on the fringe of the Labour conference in Manchester, Paul Kenny, the general secretary of the GMB, said: “Tax… – Continue reading
As the finance ministers and central bank governors from the world’s 20 largest economies gather in a convention centre in the Australian city of Cairns this weekend, anti-capitalist protesters will likely accuse them of doing the bidding of the globe’s all-powerful multinational corporations. But the Group of 20’s financial chieftains… – Continue reading
