Axis Bank, India’s third-largest private bank by assets, is aiming to open branches in Sharjah and Bahrain by March next year as part of plans of increasing its presence in the Arabian Gulf region, a senior executive said. Axis Bank has nine overseas offices: branches at Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai-DIFC,… – Continue reading
Last month the European Commission launched its Anti Tax Avoidance Package, propelled by unprecedented political support for the fight against perceived tax avoidance by multinationals. In it the European Union stresses its full support for recent recommendations of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) BEPS project and it… – Continue reading
CAN NEPAL IMPOSE CAPITAL GAINS TAX ON NCELL BUYOUT DEAL? This question has been making rounds ever since TeliaSonera, the largest shareholder in Nepali telecom operator, Ncell, announced its decision to sell 60.4 per cent of its stake in the telecom company to Malaysian giant, Axiata, for $1.03 billion. Divergent… – Continue reading
Wealthy taxpayers who split time between states should be prepared to prove where their true home lies. You’re lounging by the pool of your second home in Florida, chuckling as you think of your friends back home braving the blizzard in Massachusetts. And you’re musing: Perhaps it’s time to escape… – Continue reading
The Royal Bank of Scotland has worked accounting magic by investing in the distribution of movies such as Harry Potter, Batman Begins and Troy. It put money into 25 companies to enjoy a billion pounds worth of tax breaks between 1998 and 2007, according to Bloomberg. The deals involved a… – Continue reading
Pfizer, one of the largest multinational pharmaceutical companies in the world, recently announced plans to merge with Allegran, Plc, a pharmaceutical company based in Ireland. The new merged corporation, worth a total of $160 billion, will move its headquarters to Dublin, Ireland to avoid the U.S. government’s “double taxation” of… – Continue reading
Over the last two decades, an increasing number of companies have set up subsidiaries in offshore financial centres. So why don’t they move the entire business, and establish headquarters there too? While it seems prestigious—and tax-savvy—to be based in the Cayman Islands or Luxembourg, companies that choose to do so… – Continue reading
EU finance ministers will attempt to reach agreement by March on a directive requiring EU-wide country-by-country reporting for large multinationals and by July on a directive requiring EU states to adopt six anti-tax avoidance measures for corporations, Jeroen Dijsselbloem Dutch finance minister and president of the Eurogroup announced at an… – Continue reading
Proposals to repeal inventory and watercraft taxes or alter their credits have resurfaced a year after similar proposals were squelched following an outcry from industry and local government officials. The taxes that contribute a combined $85 million to Lafourche and Terrebonne government agencies are caught up in the battle of… – Continue reading
The Government recently introduced into the Legislative Council a bill to provide a legal framework for the implementation of automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters (“AEOI”). This would have significant implications both for financial institutions and, in a cosmopolitan city like Hong Kong, for many of their… – Continue reading
The Irish Revenue has launched a new webpage that contains guidance on what it considers to be tax avoidance and information on the legislative tools available to detect and tackle avoidance arrangements. Revenue said its policy is “to challenge tax avoidance schemes and [the] unintended use of the legislation which… – Continue reading
Only 3 per cent of India’s over 1 billion people are estimated to pay taxes It is that time of the year, when the salaried class starts praying for incremental tax concessions in the annual budget. Analysts, however, say that the government should focus on increasing the tax net instead… – Continue reading
Similar trade agreements have been used to facilitate apparent tax avoidance in the past A controversial new trade deal between the EU and the United States could make it more difficult to fight tax avoidance, a new report has warned. TTIP, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, is expected to… – Continue reading
Where the United States leads on legislation, foreign jurisdictions slavishly follow Hongkongers will need to declare all their assets abroad by 2025. No, the government has not announced the policy yet. But academics have noticed a trend which strongly suggests Hong Kong will follow the US example in foreign tax… – Continue reading
The push for a tax amnesty has attracted a fair amount of criticism and even rebuke from analysts, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Bank and even the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). Yustinus Prastowo, a respectable tax analyst, went so far as… – Continue reading
A while back in Germany, I was driving on the straight as an arrow B-1. That is Bundesstrasse, the equivalent of a U.S. highway, a notch below the Autobahn. Roads tend to curve around farmers’ fields, having been there first. The B-1 from Cologne on the Rhine toward Berlin was… – Continue reading
A 30% tax bracket. A rise in the standard rate, with a rebate for lower earners. Higher taxes all round to finance more spending. In Scotland, ahead of May’s elections for the devolved parliament, a fascinating debate on tax and spending is under way, with the main parties setting out… – Continue reading
Russia has come close to blacklisting the UK as a tax haven as concerns grow over Scotland’s booming offshore business. The Kremlin’s Finance Ministry had announced that it would officially equate Britain with traditional “fiscal paradises” like Panama, the British Virgin Islands and the Caymans. Such a humiliating move would… – Continue reading
If the apparent demise of the Coalition’s push to increase the GST shows anything, it’s that Australians are unwilling to accept tax reform unless it is obviously fair. It is right to think that rich people should pay more tax than the poor. Happiness studies show an extra dollar means… – Continue reading
If Swiss banking secrecy laws gave Switzerland the world banking capital status, Monaco’s residence policy gives its realtors a thriving business. What is common between the Canadian Raonic who lost in the Australian Open semifinals and the Serbian Djokovic who won it? Well, they are both residents of Monaco, and… – Continue reading
Just when you thought the banksters had done all they could to rig the game against people that bail them out, you hear another tale of industrial-strength greed. This time, the scam is so ironic it’s almost absurd. For almost a decade the U.S. government has been going around the… – Continue reading
Earlier this week the State Department released its latest statistics for people who have renounced their US citizenship. 2015 was another record year, with 4,279 people divorcing themselves from the US government and heading to greener pastures elsewhere. This was the third year in a row that broke the previous… – Continue reading
Non-competition agreements can be a valuable tool for purchasers who want to protect their investments in new businesses. However, non-competition agreements can have unintended and unexpected tax consequences, particularly to sellers who grant non-competition agreements to purchasers. The Income Tax Act (Canada) (the Act) contains specific provisions regarding the taxation… – Continue reading
China has one of the most archaic corporate tax systems in the world, from which the new value-added tax structure was supposed to provide much-needed relief. China’s tax complexity and inconsistent enforcement has become an efficiency drain on China’s own economy and a roadblock to foreign companies wishing to set… – Continue reading
In tax law, the concept of residency is used to determine tax liability based on whether there is a sufficient connection between an individual or legally recognized entity and a jurisdiction such that the jurisdiction is justified in taxing such individual or legally recognized entity on their worldwide income. Generally,… – Continue reading
Amid ongoing debate in the UK on “corporate tax deals,” the British Chamber of Commerce has said the UK needs to comprehensively simplify business tax rules and eliminate loopholes that are exploited in aggressive tax avoidance schemes. On February 11, on the same day the Public Accounts Committee took evidence… – Continue reading
Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison says overseas companies selling digital products to Australians will not be able to avoid paying the GST. The so-called Netflix Tax that would see overseas-based businesses selling digital products to Australians collect 10 percent GST has entered the House of Representatives. Introduced by Treasurer Scott Morrison,… – Continue reading
Taxing decisions With highly efficient labour markets, a solid institutional environment and a strong banking system, Canada has long been considered one of the most competitive nations in the world. In fact, in its most recent rankings in 2014, Bloomberg declared Canada the second best country in the world for… – Continue reading
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) is seeking to expedite the signing of Intergovernmental Agreements (IGA) that will prevent the loss of correspondent banking relationships (CBR) for commercial banks in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU). Towards this end, Governor of the ECCB, Timothy NJ Antoine sought the assistance of… – Continue reading
Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian and his Sweden opposite number Margot Wallström have signed today in Yerevan an agreement on the mutual avoidance of double taxation of income and property and prevention of tax evasion. Speaking to reporters after the signing ceremony, Nalbandian said the two countries are boosting a… – Continue reading
Multinational companies operating in Europe will have to publicly disclose their earnings and the tax paid in each European country if new measures being proposed by the European Commission come into force, The Guardian has reported. The Commission will propose new legislation in April that makes profit and tax information… – Continue reading
Former Standard Chartered chief says eliminating €500, $100, SFr1,000 and £50 notes would prevent corrupt payments Governments should consider scrapping high denomination banknotes to combat financial crime and tax evasion, including paying tradespeople in cash, a former bank boss has said. Criminals move more than $2tn (£1.4tn) around the world… – Continue reading
When Tim Cook and his two senior Apple colleagues were questioned by a US Senate sub-committee back in May 2013, the headlines generated in the world’s business press were unsettling. Some lawmakers repeatedly characterised Ireland as a tax haven, saying behemoth Apple channelled billions of dollars of global revenues generated… – Continue reading
Journalist Steve Topple investigates Bermuda-based big business tax avoidance and its links with UK political parties – and even some charities LAST WEEK saw the news emerge that everyone’s favourite search engine, Google, only had to pay £97m in back-tax (not the “major success” of £130m as was first reported)… – Continue reading
Introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be a crucial step towards tax reforms in India. Abolishing several central and state taxes and replacing them by one single tax will mitigate the recurring problem of double taxation and for the first time, create a common national market. Due to… – Continue reading
As part of what it describes as a ‘relentless’ effort to crack down on tax avoidance, HMRC has put out two publications highlighting problems with contractor loan schemes and misleading claims from scheme promoters, in a bid to deter taxpayers from any involvement In its Spotlight 29 document, HMRC says… – Continue reading
A dreaded disease is spreading like wildfire – in all 50 of the United States. It debilitates most successful business owners … then, ravages some or all of his kids and eventually hurts the grandkids. Known by various names, the most common name is “estate-tax-itus”: It drains family wealth. The… – Continue reading
‘Multinational corporations complain all the time of excessive demand about excessive taxation, but it is also true that MNCs across the world tend to find tax avoidance and sometimes tax evasion as an appropriate technique’ Blaming multinational corporations squarely for tax controversies, Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan has said their… – Continue reading
ABU DHABI // Pakistani expatriates have been reassured that new taxation laws will not apply to them. Anti-corruption campaign group Transparency International (TI) said Pakistanis residing in the UAE need not worry about double taxation laws. Syed Gilani, former chairman of TI, said that Pakistani laws state that anyone working… – Continue reading
The OECD’s final reports on the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project aim to target aggressive tax planning strategies which have the effect of shifting profits from high tax jurisdictions to low tax jurisdictions. The BEPS Project has been divided into 15 Actions, of which one of the most… – Continue reading
Bank Julius Baer of Switzerland will pay a $547 million penalty as two bankers individually plead guilty. The bank itself is charged with helping U.S. taxpayers hide billions in offshore accounts and cheating the IRS. The Bank’s deferred prosecution agreement admits that it knowingly assisted U.S. taxpayer-clients in evading taxes…. – Continue reading
At least this is the goal – member states safeguarding their social models by preventing trans-border operating multinational companies from avoiding “their fair share” of the tax burden. According to the European Commission, small and medium-sized enterprises in the EU pay 30% higher tax burden than large multinational companies. With… – Continue reading
Insurance firm has been domiciled in Ireland since 2009 The insurance group Beazley has said it will move its headquarters back to London more than six years after shifting to Dublin for tax reasons. The FTSE 250 firm will ask shareholders to vote on the move back to the UK… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: Businessmen and tax experts have criticised the government for its failure to draft framework for jurisdictions of federal and provincial tax authorities. The government has not yet drafted a framework that clearly outlines the federal and provincial tax authorities’ jurisdictions in taxing the services sector. The absence of framework… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON — Zimbabwe’s central bank governor, John Mangudya, on Thursday blamed the sustained decline of the country’s economy on illicit cash flows, saying more than a billion dollars was externalized last year. Presenting his 2016 Monetary Policy, Mangudya said some $684 million was exported to foreign accounts by individuals while… – Continue reading
The Tax Authority and Barclays Israel CEO Leonard Rosen are disputing the bank’s VAT liability. Barclays Israel CEO Leonard Rosen was summoned back for additional questioning by the Israel Tax Authority, following the testimony he gave when the alleged tax evasion at Barclays Israel was first reported six months ago…. – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: The economic experts here in a seminar stressed that trade bodies across the country should play their role for improving tax compliance and minimizing informal economy. They urged that educating taxpayers including Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) on tax compliance was key to promote tax culture and improve tax… – Continue reading
A major sector of the banking industry in the Caymans could be wiped out by tough regulations designed to fight money-laundering. The number of Class B banks registered with the islands’ regulator has fallen by 14 to 184 over the last year alone. Class B banks generally offer depository services… – Continue reading
Cracking down on tax evasion could more than cover the cost of South West council cuts, campaigners claim, as they urge MPs to tackle financial loop holes. Local councillors argue that up to £380 million could be raised for Devon councils alone, if all businesses paid their “fair share” of… – Continue reading
McDonald’s Australia was able to more than halve its tax bill last year after routing payments via the low-tax nation of Singapore. Each year McDonald’s reduces its profit, and thus its local tax bill, by paying McDonald’s Asia Pacific based in Singapore, and registered in Delaware, a “service fee” amounting… – Continue reading
