Towards the end of last December, the cabinet passed resolutions representing the latest attempt to turn Thailand into an attractive location in which to establish an international headquarters (IHQ). This is the third attempt in a little over a decade to lure multinational companies to Thailand. The first regional operating… – Continue reading
(Seychelles News Agency) – Seychelles and Singapore are looking to increase their collaboration in a number of economic sectors from trade, financial services, port development – including transshipment and fuel bunkering – to public-private partnerships. This follows the recent official visit to Singapore by the Minister of Finance, Trade and… – Continue reading
Part of the African continent, with neighboring countries such as the Reunion Islands, Madagascar and the Seychelles, is the island republic of Mauritius. Over the centuries, Mauritius has been occupied at different times by three of the world’s greatest maritime powers. Beginning in 1578, Mauritius was a Portuguese possession and… – Continue reading
SUSRIS serves as your chronicle of developments in the Saudi-US relationship, in the Kingdom and in the region. As part of our service we archive the daily news reviews produced by the Saudi-US Trade Group and selected press clippings and other resources. You can find these archives and more on… – Continue reading
The present French Tax Update will focus on (i) certain noteworthy tax courts decisions issued in the last months of 2014 and in the first months of 2015, and (ii) the so-called projet de loi Macron (Draft Macron Law) adopted by the Assemblée Nationale in February 2015 and now discussed… – Continue reading
(Seychelles News Agency) – France’s ambassador to Seychelles, Genevieve Iancu, left the Seychelles archipelago, situated in the Indian Ocean on Friday after a little over two years spent in the post. Seychelles and France have good bilateral relations and strong historical ties due to the presence of the first French… – Continue reading
Senators and members of the House of Representatives under the auspices of Anti-Money Laundering and Cyber Security Coalition (AMLCSC) are working with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), to prosecute about 115 tax offenders. The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Pensions, Senator Aloysius Etok, said… – Continue reading
Authorities of the Mion District Assembly in the Northern Region are unhappy about residents’ apathy towards paying their taxes. In the direction to increase the assembly’s Internal Revenue Mobilization (IGF), a Taskforce has been established to pursue the agenda. The Mion District Chief Executive, Dan Mankandan at a public sensitization… – Continue reading
Indian equity benchmarks have entered into red terrain after a firm start as investors opted to book profits at higher levels. Meanwhile, retail inflation rose to 5.37 percent in February, the third consecutive month of uptick, the industrial output grew by modest 2.6 percent in January, diminishing hopes of another… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS, March 10 (Reuters) – The following are mergers under review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU merger process: APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS — British bank Barclays (LSE: BARC.L – news) to acquire sole control of Spanish insurer CNP Barclays Vida y Pensiones Compania de Seguros,… – Continue reading
Senators and members of the House of Representatives under the auspices of Anti- Money Laundering and Cyber Security Coalition are working with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission to prosecute about 115 tax offenders. The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Pensions, Senator Aloysius Etok, (PDP-Akwa Ibom),… – Continue reading
Port Louis, March 12 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday assured that India would work with Mauritius to avoid the “abuse” of the double taxation avoidance agreement and added that the destinies of both nations are “linked by the currents of the Indian Ocean”. Addressing the National Parliament of… – Continue reading
Costa Rica News – If you are making money in Costa Rica expect it to be reported to your country of origin and pay taxes. Costa Rica has long has a reputation as a tax haven but the government is working to change that. If bill number 18,966 is approved,… – Continue reading
Port Louis: India offered US dollar 500 million concessional line of credit to Mauritius for key infrastructure projects even as the two countries agreed to continue negotiations on hammering out a revised double tax treaty to prevent its “abuse”. The two countries also signed five agreements, including one on developing… – Continue reading
The BVI is a tax haven that has been used to stash away laundered money and capital siphoned out of countries through tax evasion. “It has never been clear why the board led by Moxon decided to set up parallel investment vehicles in the BVI. That was never fully explained… – Continue reading
Seychelles is one of the most popular offshore jurisdiction, with favourable business regulations, a prosperous economy and a stable political situation. Seychelles IBC, is a limited liability company which conducts its trading and business outside the Seychelles and is intended for offshore activities. It takes up to 2 days to… – Continue reading
The long-awaited double tax agreements entered into by Kenya with South Africa and Mauritius respectively did not come into force on 1 January 2015 as expected. The treaty between Kenya and South Africa that was signed in November 2010 was ratified by Kenya in October 2014, following earlier ratification by… – Continue reading
East African member states have been advised to make critical assessment of single income tax rates. A law expert, Anatoly Nahayo said recently in Dar es Salaam after launching his book titled “East African Community Tax Harmonisation.” He said the move will ease allocation of capital shares within EAC member… – Continue reading
Tunis — Tunisia and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) signed, on Tuesday in Tunis, an agreement under which Tunisia will join the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project and the OECD Action Plan for Youth. Launched in July 2013 by OECD, the BEPS project produced its… – Continue reading
On Tuesday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a tour of three of India’s island neighbors as part of a charm offensive intended at veering India’s neighbors away from China’s influence and to counter its ‘string of pearls’ strategy in the region. Modi will visit Seychelles, Mauritius and… – Continue reading
The Virgin Islands’ financial services industry continues to be heavily criticized through media reports, but Executive Director of the recently formed BVI Finance, Mr Kedrick Malone believes the attacks are politically motivated, reports BVI Platinum. “I think a lot of the media you are seeing is politically motivated. It is… – 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
Sparks are flying after Netflix said it would not charge GST on the Australian version of its online television service which launches next Tuesday. United States-based Netflix, Quickflix, Foxtel Play, Presto and Stan, partly owned by Fairfax Media, are locked in a bidding battle to secure the best programs for… – Continue reading
As a follow up to last week’s publication, below is a continuation of the article that highlights the requirements for filing returns, due dates and penalties for late filing of returns as it pertains to various tax types. Last week’s edition focused on Company Income Tax (CIT), Education Tax (EDT),… – Continue reading
Cyril Ramaphosa said government would be improving tax collection and combating illicit financial flows. JOHANNESBURG – Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday announced that government would be improving tax collection and combating illicit financial flows. Ramaphosa was answering questions in Parliament on Wednesday afternoon. The Economic Freedom Fighters’ Floyd Shivambu… – Continue reading
The files at the foundation of the Swiss Leaks articles are based on data secreted away by Hervé Falciani, a former HSBC employee-turned-whistleblower. He turned the data over to the French government in 2008 and its tax authority launched an investigation. The French newspaper Le Monde obtained a version of… – Continue reading
On 9 February 2015, Insurance Europe published its comments on the discussion draft on action point 4 of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in December 2014. The draft aimed to address weakness in the international tax… – Continue reading
James Emejo in Abuja
 The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on Tuesday inaugurated the Anti-corruption and Transparency Monitoring Unit (ACTU) in the former to boost integrity as well as enhance transparency in its operations. Speaking at the launch in… – Continue reading
Abuja — NIGERIA and Republic of Seychelles relations Wednesday received a boost even as both countries have renewed commitment to further strengthen bilateral relations between them. Speaking during the presentation of his Credence Letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali, in Abuja, the Honourary Consul of Seychelles… – Continue reading
The outgoing High Commissioner of Pakistan, Major General Ulfat Hussain Shah, paid a courtesy call yesterday on the Prime Minister, Sir Anerood Jugnauth, at the Treasury Building in Port Louis, to bid him farewell after having served for two years in Mauritius. Both parties agreed that there is a need… – Continue reading
Corporate tax reform has emerged as an area of potential bipartisan action in the United States Congress over the next few months. But fundamental questions about the right approach remain. There is widespread agreement that the US corporate tax system is deeply flawed. The rate is too high; the base… – Continue reading
An elaborate plot to oust the current chairperson of the South African Airways board, Dudu Myeni by showing that she has millions of rands stashed away in foreign bank accounts has been exposed this week, it has been learnt. The Times revealed that there has been a leak of a… – Continue reading
Minister of Finance Martin Dlamini said the proposed revenue measures would assist government in mobilising additional resources for protecting essential services while Southern African Customs Union (SACU) revenues fall in the medium term. He said these initiatives include an amendment of the Income Tax regulations, including removal of the tax… – Continue reading
On February 24, Seychelles became the 85th signatory of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, reports Tax News. The Convention is described as a comprehensive multilateral instrument to tackle tax evasion and increase transparency. In a statement, the OECD… – Continue reading
Minister of Finance Alexander Chikwanda has told parliament that that only two mining companies were paying Company Income Tax under the previous tax regime as most of them claimed that they were not in tax-paying positions. In a Ministerial Statement on the 2015 Mining Taxation Regime Presented to the National… – Continue reading
On February 25, South Africa’s Minister of Finance, Nhlanhla Nene, presented a 2015 Budget that was said to be constrained by a slowing economy and lower-than-expected tax revenues. Nene indicated that the Government now has to rebalance its fiscal policy to reduce the “structural gap” that exists between spending on… – Continue reading
Amid global efforts to combat profit shifting. PRETORIA – In line with international efforts to combat tax avoidance, National Treasury on Wednesday said it is taking further steps to curb financial leakage. With government under pressure to collect more revenue amidst dwindling economic growth, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene on Wednesday… – Continue reading
Close to three dozen private equity firms which used investment entities based in Mauritius to route money into Indian portfolio companies have received income-tax notices for payment of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) on the capital gains accrued to them for sale of such shares, according to Business Standard. MAT is… – Continue reading
Although the importance to Africa’s diaspora is largely discussed around remittances, many Africans are also coming back to join the public service. SOMALIA’S parliament just approved a new parliament, a crucial step on the road to voting on a new constitution and presidential elections scheduled for 2016. A key role… – Continue reading
Attempt to plug every gap makes the system unworkable – Norton Rose Fulbright. JOHANNESBURG – A tax expert has warned against over-complicating tax legislation in an attempt to block every loophole or perceived underpayments of tax, as it makes the tax system “unworkable”. Andrew Wellsted, director at Norton Rose Fulbright,… – Continue reading
On 17 July 2013 the Minister of Finance appointed a tax review committee, headed by Judge Dennis Davis (the “Davis Committee”) to make recommendations for possible tax reforms in South Africa (“SA”). The Davis Committee was required to take into account recent international developments and, in particular, to address concerns… – Continue reading
Algiers — Algeria and Great Britain signed Wednesday, at the headquarters of Foreign Affairs Ministry in Algiers, an agreement on non-double taxation and prevention of tax evasion relating to tax on income and capital. This agreement, between the Algerian and British governments, is meant to encourage trading and investments between… – Continue reading
Over the past few years we have seen the introduction of various withholding taxes to the South African tax system. We set out below a high-level summary of the various withholding taxes that are levied in terms of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 (the “Act”), their rates and… – Continue reading
TAX in the 21st Century is exciting and new ideas and theorems are emerging to increasingly reduce the global village into one block where information is shared and taxes are realised even from abroad. Mid last year in June, a new notion was coined in the tax world. This new… – Continue reading
The Bank of Botswana (BoB) on Friday took over management of troubled offshore bank, Kingdom Bank Africa Limited (KBAL). The bank is reeling from liquidity constraints, which have seen depositors fail to withdraw their monies while workers haven’t received regular salaries for the past three months. In a statement released… – Continue reading
Identities of Ghanaians said to have stashed $89million in a Swiss bank to evade tax could become public, Kweku Baako, Managing editor of New Crusading Guide newspaper has said. According to the veteran journalist, there has been some contact made with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists who are in… – Continue reading
If the Davis tax committee’s recommendations are followed, tax avoidance could be effectively reined in. Zeroing in on the super-wealthy and tax reluctant remains at the top of the global agenda as budgets across the world grow increasingly hungry for extra revenues. Now a draft report from the Davis tax… – Continue reading
Documents detail customers who faced allegations including drug-running, corruption, doping and money laundering This article is the subject of a legal complaint made on behalf of Anura Perera. HSBC’s Swiss bank concealed large sums of money for people facing allegations of serious wrongdoing, including drug-running, corruption and money laundering, leaked… – Continue reading
NAMIBIANS who have Swiss bank accounts could face an Anti-Corruption Commission investigation if they evaded tax and money was transferred after the graft body was established. ACC director Paulus Noa told The Namibian yesterday that the ACC can only investigate the accounts if any Namibian holders of Swiss bank accounts… – Continue reading
NINETY nine Tanzanians own 114 million US dollars (over 200bn/-) stashed away in 286 bank accounts in just one bank in Switzerland, a cache of leaked documents from the Swiss arm of the HSBC bank shows. The findings follow a massive cache of leaked data that revealed how the Swiss… – Continue reading
