Category: China

Endemic tax evasion costing governments at least $200 billion a year

DEVELOPED countries throughout the world are stepping up efforts to curb base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS), a scheme used by multinational companies to avoid paying taxes estimated as high as $200 billion globally, especially when doing business across different jurisdictions. At the 2015 Asia Pacific Tax Symposium hosted last… – Continue reading

Where will the money flow from Gorgon, our biggest ever mining project?

Energy giants called to explain billions in tax havens To describe Gorgon as another super-sized resources project in Western Australia does not do justice to the scale and scope of the venture. When the taps are turned on later this year and liquefied natural gas begins to flow, Australia will… – Continue reading

Don McKinnon: China will be listening to our housing debate

New Zealand China Council chairman Sir Don McKinnon says we need to have a national debate on housing that avoids sending mixed messages to valued overseas partners. New Zealand is far from alone in having a red hot property market. Headlines in Australia, Britain and Canada paint a strikingly similar… – Continue reading

Bloomberg BNA and Baker & McKenzie Global Transfer Pricing Conference Comes to Shanghai September 17-18, 2015

ARLINGTON, Va., July 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Bloomberg BNA today announced the latest event in its Global Transfer Pricing Conference series with Baker & McKenzie, in association with the Tax Management Educational Institute, to be held September 17-18, 2015 in Shanghai, China. The conference provides an opportunity to hear from… – Continue reading

Dirty Dealing: China and International Money Laundering

In the midst of turmoil in the Chinese stock markets, one serious problem that may appear is increased currency outflows created by current and potential investors who would rather move their assets to foreign countries viewed as safer havens. Money laundering should be under close surveillance. Chinese involvement in money… – Continue reading

China developers head home, but offshore bonds set to hedge political ris

HONG KONG, July 13 (IFR) – Chinese property developers are wary about relying too heavily on onshore funding, even after regaining access to the cheaper domestic bond market. Evergrande Real Estate and Longfor Properties last week became the latest Chinese developers to cut their interest costs through the issuance of… – Continue reading

Canada: Planning Using Principal Residence Trusts For Immigrants To Canada

As many of our readers know, the Canadian Income Tax Act (the “Act”) provides for an unlimited exemption from the imposition of Canadian income tax on the gains resulting from a disposition of a “principal residence”. Access to the principal residence exemption can be valuable, especially in cities (e.g. Vancouver,… – Continue reading

Canadian companies looking to expand beyond borders for significant opportunities,’ HSBC exec says

Against a backdrop of slowing economic growth at home, Canadian companies are actively looking to expand in markets such as the United States, China and Mexico, says Simon Cooper, chief executive of global commercial banking at HSBC Bank Plc. “In Canada, from the companies I’m talking to about how they’re… – Continue reading

ABA will not negotiate bank secrecy law FATCA

Lopez Valdes clarifies that only information given by state bodies The implications of the Law Enforcement Tax Accounts Abroad (FATCA for its acronym in English) adopted by the United States in March 2010, has generated unrest globally, because that nation imposes conditionalities that violate laws local. That legislation provides, among… – Continue reading

China Deepens Ties with OECD

Premier Li Keqiang has strengthened China’s cooperation with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) after he signed two agreements with the international economic organization in Paris on Wednesday. China has also been officially made a member of the Development Centre of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development… – Continue reading

Sending employees to China on a Project Basis? Avoid an Unexpected Tax Bill

Apart from placing full time expatriate employees in China, as an investor you may often need to send staff from the parent company to China to complete temporary projects. Common examples include quality control, engineering projects, training or consultancy. However, what many foreign investors don’t know is that such visits… – Continue reading

State by State: China and New York State Trade

New York State is increasingly reliant on China as a consumer of services and manufactured goods. In 2014, New York exported approximately US$4 billion to China, making it the state’s sixth largest export market. The top five exports to China are transportation equipment, waste & scrap, machinery (except electrical), primary… – Continue reading

China’s Banks Taking on the Old Guard Win in Asia Debt Sales

Chinese banks, encouraged by Premier Li Keqiang’s “going-out” strategy, are rocketing up the international bond arranging league tables in Asia, leaving investment banking stalwarts in their wake. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s biggest lender by assets, jumped four spots from the end of last year to… – Continue reading

Corrupt Chinese Government Officials Flee To Australia Amid Hesitation To Extradite Criminals

Chinese emigration continues to grow as the nation becomes increasingly wealthy. However, a handful of those leaving the country are wanted financial criminals, and they are heading to all corners of the world. While the United States and Canada continue to be popular destinations for corrupt Chinese on the run,… – Continue reading

Taxpayers Still Facing Big Challenges One Year After FATCA Goes Into Effect

June 30 — Taxpayers continue to wrestle with big questions a year after the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act opened for business. Acknowledging that the Internal Revenue Service is doing its best to implement a complex law, issues still remain as the reach of FATCA goes global, practitioners told Bloomberg… – Continue reading

Dubai: Shrinking western banks prompt DIFC to shift east

The Dubai International Financial Centre spent the first 10 years of its existence looking to banks in the West. It’s planning to spend the next decade looking East, reports the Gulf Times. DIFC, as the tax-free business park is called, became the Middle East’s biggest financial centre by attracting the… – Continue reading

Wall of Chinese capital buying up Australian properties

The “wall of Chinese capital” hitting property markets in Sydney and Melbourne will not ease up until the government introduces its anti-money laundering legislation, says an expert in ‘flight capital’. James Tee, an ethnic Chinese property developer whose business specialises in “capital expatriation” – that is, getting money out of… – Continue reading

Amend the offshore Banking Act Enforcement Rules and issue the regulations governing Offshore Insurance Branches

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) and the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Central Bank) issued the amended Offshore Banking Act Enforcement Rules (“Rules”) and the new Regulations Governing Offshore Insurance Branches (”Regulations”), respectively per letters Ref. No. Jin-Guan-Bao-Zong-Zi No. 10402567211 and Ref. No. Tai-Yang-Wai-She-Yi-Zi No. 1040021857 on 25… – Continue reading

Editorial: Tax fairness needs to be a priority for Ottawa

Government data suggests there may be tax shenanigans going on in the city of Richmond, a situation that clearly is intolerable. Questions have been raised by a recent Vancouver Sun report by Douglas Todd about residents in the upscale neighbourhood of Thompson, located in northwest Richmond. Former Richmond mayor Greg… – Continue reading

Manager turnover speeds up at investment companies

Turnover at UK and offshore investment companies has risen rapidly, with almost one in five fund managers being replaced in the past 18 months amid growing pressure to improve performance, reports the Financial Times. Figures from the Association of Investment Companies showed that 18 per cent of funds had appointed… – Continue reading

Italian prosecutors seek to indict Bank of China, 297 peo

ROME (AP) — Italian prosecutors are seeking to indict 297 people and the Bank of China in connection with a massive money-laundering investigation reported by The Associated Press earlier this month. The suspects, mostly Chinese migrants living in Italy, include four senior managers of the Chinese state bank’s branch in… – Continue reading

Wal-Mart Has $76 Billion in Overseas Tax Havens, Report Says

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. owns more than $76 billion of assets through a web of units in offshore tax havens around the world, though you wouldn’t know it from reading the giant retailer’s annual report. A new study has found Wal-Mart has at least 78 offshore subsidiaries and branches, more than… – Continue reading

Can The United States Kill BEPS?

The United States is through trying to needle the OECD’s base erosion and profit-shifting project with pinpricks. Last week, Robert Stack, U.S. Treasury deputy assistant secretary (international tax affairs), abandoned the subtle digs Treasury had been using to attack BEPS and flat-out said the United States is extremely disappointed in… – Continue reading

Birth of a New Era in Private Wealth

As the financial world continues its march towards a more transparent and open environment, regulations governing private wealth are under scrutiny. The traditional is changing for good while new players emerge. Once was a time, not too long ago, the words “Swiss bank” conjured up evocative imagery: secret deals; bank… – Continue reading

REUTERS SUMMIT-Private bankers cautious over China onshore strategy

(Reuters) – Some large wealth managers feel the time is not ripe to start an onshore private bank in China, despite steps taken by Beijing to open up its financial services industry. Ownership restrictions and a relatively less developed capital market are impediments for Citigroup to start onshore private banking… – Continue reading

China’s trust industry debuts offshore bond

Zhongrong International Trust became the first issuer from the Chinese trust industry to venture into the offshore bond markets on Monday with a $225 million three¬year transaction. Over the past decade trust companies have become the second largest segment of China’s financial sector behind commercial banks, racking up assets of… – Continue reading

Modi’s goal of a tax-friendly India faces the hurdle of manpower

New Delhi/Mumbai: India’s goal of a friendlier tax regime for global companies to help power China-beating economic growth is hitting a manpower hurdle. Fewer than 20 officials face the complex task of working with hundreds of multinational companies (MNCs) on pacts to avert tax rows, people familiar with the matter… – Continue reading

Asia: Tax & Trust Developments Taking Center Stage

Developments in Asia over the last year have been continuous with the biggest generic development relating to the exchange of information. Asian countries have put their FATCA reporting systems in place (even though not all have yet signed an inter-governmental agreement with the US IRS), and most have now committed… – Continue reading

French tax updates – recently published noteworthy publications

The present French Tax Update will focus on an overview of several noteworthy French tax court decisions issued during the past few months, in particular in relation with double tax treaty conditions to benefit from a tax credit, abuse of law challenges, increased amortization rates, and priority preliminary ruling requests… – Continue reading

Chile and China to Sign Several Agreements

Santiago de Chile, May 25 (Prensa Latina) Chile and China will sign several cooperation and trade agreements today in a ceremony at La Moneda Palace, in the presence of Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqian. Li, who arrived in this capital yesterday afternoon, held a meeting… – Continue reading