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
A report released today by the management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) shows that Switzerland remains the world’s largest offshore centre. However, Hong Kong and Singapore could pose a challenge in the future. For now, Switzerland stands heads and shoulders above the rest booking over $2.4 trillion in wealth… – Continue reading
Nigeria and Singapore have concluded plans to sign agreements to strengthen their bilateral air services and curb double taxation on investments in both countries. The Nigeria’s Ambassador to Singapore,Amb. Nonye Rajis-Okpara, disclosed the plan in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja. Rajis-Okpara said… – Continue reading
Cite ambiguity over assessing officers’ power to withdraw tax demand and pending appeals Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have decided to not file an application seeking exemption from the Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) by citing DTAAs (Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements). FPIs decided to not apply for an exemption because of the… – Continue reading
SINGAPORE, June 11 (IFR) – By selling what market sources say is the first offshore bond from a Chinese trust company, Zhongrong International Trust has opened a new funding route for the country’s shadow banks as they look to expand overseas. Zhongrong, China’s second largest trust company in asset terms,… – Continue reading
Sydney, 10 June (Argus) — The Australian government has released legislation to tighten rules governing corporate taxation such as the use of offshore tax havens. The bill is not aimed at any particular sector of the economy, but several resource and commodity companies have come under scrutiny following a Senate… – Continue reading
Swiss banks that aren’t dependent on the country’s crumbling financial secrecy laws may find international expansion easier than those that sold hidden accounts in the past, according to Switzerland’s financial supervisor. “The shift away from businesses which rely on some elements of banking secrecy is changing the perception” of Swiss… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Mauritius has regained the position as top source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into India by pushing Singapore to the second slot in 2014-15. Mauritius accounted for about 29 per cent of the country’s total FDI inflows last fiscal. In 2013-14, Singapore had replaced Mauritius as the top… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Two associations representing foreign portfolio investors are seeking to join the battle over minimum alternate tax in the Supreme Court, although analysts are unclear if entities without a tax treaty will benefit. Investment Association, based in London, and Hong Kong-based Asia Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA) plan… – Continue reading
MR RAYMOND Koh Bock Swi raised some important issues related to Singapore’s anti-money laundering regime in his letter (“Are we well equipped to fight money laundering?”;May 28). In a subsequent letter (“Money laundering: Banks not a big worry, but watch other sectors”; yesterday), Mr Tan Sin Liang highlighted the tough… – Continue reading
One in six of the world’s largest companies have a subsidiary based in a tax haven According to research from Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), 16.3% of the 1,612 companies in its MSCI World index are either domiciled in a tax haven or have at least one majority-owned subsidiary in… – Continue reading
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
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
From today, negotiation on the Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (IPPA) between Nigeria and Singapore will start in Abuja, aimed at enhancing business between the two countries. Revealing this in an interview with the African Independent Television (AIT), Nigerian High Commissioner to Singapore. Mrs. Nonye Rajis-Opara, said there would be… – Continue reading
Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjártó met with local political and business leaders in Singapore yesterday. Szijjártó told Hungarian news agency MTI by phone that an agreement had been reached on the transfer of Patec Automotiveʼs capacity in China to Hungary. As a first step, the Singapore-based… – Continue reading
Registering a company in Singapore is as good as declaring that you have judged your options, made your preparations, and now that the time is right, you mean nothing but, business. Opening a company in Singapore is an act enough for the investors to gauge the depth of your intent… – Continue reading
After Switzerland initiated measures to regulate its banks, most of the unaccounted money stashed in Swiss banks is suspected to have been diverted to countries like Mauritius and Singapore. The Special Investigation Team on black money has taken cognisance of the issue raised by the enforcement agencies. “Although the Swiss… – Continue reading
Fortescue Metals Group established a company in Singapore that could buy and sell its iron ore more than a year before it started attacking its rivals for doing the same thing. The company, called Fortescue International Marketing, is incorporated and domiciled in Singapore. Still dormant, it is ready to be… – Continue reading
Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Treasurer Joe Hockey should not be ruling out particular aspects of the tax system that could be reformed, such as GST, superannuation concessions and negative gearing, KPMG’s chairman Peter Nash says. Mr Nash said when the tax white paper was first announced by the Coalition… – Continue reading
It’s shaping as a fight that could recover hundreds of millions in lost tax revenue. In one corner is the commissioner of taxation. In the other, Australia’s two biggest miners — BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. At stake is their use of Singapore-based marketing hubs, which until now have remained… – Continue reading
PETALING JAYA, Malaysia – Former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has accused Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak of lying when he told Parliament that money held by government investment arm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) is being kept in Singapore. “No money was banked into BSI Bank in Singapore…. – Continue reading
On 15 May 2015, Singapore has implemented a new enhanced regulatory framework for Singapore Corporate Services Providers. The strengthened regime for Singapore Corporate Services Providers is expected to help further boost the reputation of Singapore as a trusted international financial and business centre with robust regulatory frameworks against money laundering… – Continue reading
Rio Tinto’s head of tax – who was recently hauled before the Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance about the lack of tax the miner pays – will now be also advising the Abbott government on how to improve the tax system and increase transparency in relation to the tax… – Continue reading
International fast-food giant McDonald’s avoided paying half a billion dollars of tax in Australia over a five-year period by shifting profits through the low-tax nation of Singapore, a new report by a global coalition of trade unions says. The report, which has been funded and commissioned by a coalition of… – Continue reading
As part of a push to control money laundering in the global banking system, the HKMA has called on lenders to peek into customers’ filings, reports the South China Morning Post. Banks in Hong Kong are calculating just how much tax expertise they will need to add over the coming… – Continue reading
The advantages of off-shore investments Two of the top reasons that South African investors are given to encourage offshore investments are that going offshore diversifies your portfolio and that it gives you access to sectors you could never find on the resource-heavy JSE. “While those are not reasons to be… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The Justice Shah Committee, constituted to go into levy of MAT on FIIs, will look into all important “legacy” cases, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said blaming conflicting judicial rulings for the controversy on the issue that has riled foreign investors. He also said that foreign investors had invited… – Continue reading
KUALA LUMPUR: MIDF Equities Research says the Malaysian stock market is in need of a spark after its rather indifferent response to the strengthening of the ringgit and the oil price. The research house said the Bursa Malaysia’s indices have traded in a narrow range in the last three weeks…. – Continue reading
The minimum alternate tax row has damaged the credibility of government promises to enforce an investor-friendly tax regime and made the Indian stock market Asia’s worst performer this year New Delhi/Mumbai: Castleton Investment Ltd, a unit of GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK), in 2012 asked an arm of the Indian finance ministry… – Continue reading
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ) were among the first Congressional leaders to welcome the May 7th signing of the U.S.-Armenia Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), a longstanding policy priority for the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). Chairman… – Continue reading
Treasurer Joe Hockey is facing criticism for both acting too quickly and not doing enough on tax avoidance by multinational ¬companies after tabling legislation on Tuesday night to stop companies shifting taxable profits out of Australia. An unnamed 30 multinational companies with more than $1 billion in revenue from Australia… – Continue reading
Glencore is under audit by the Australian Taxation Office for the low level of taxes it pays, claiming billions in “losses” overseas and resorting to low-tax or no-tax nations such as Bermuda, Singapore and the Cayman Islands. The Swiss-based mining giant revealed it was being investigated by the ATO in… – Continue reading
The financial plight of the debt-laden 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) is set to deepen, as jittery lenders of a $975 million syndicated loan led by Deutsche Bank plan to ask the troubled state-owned firm to pay up before the loan falls due in less than four months, the Business Times… – Continue reading
The Senate enquiry into corporate tax avoidance has been successful in disclosing some difficult-to-find information about corporate groups as well as the Australian Taxation Office. Out of it has come news of an important detection tool developed by the tax office to identify corporate groups for investigation. The detection tool… – Continue reading
By Saeed Azhar SINGAPORE, May 5 (Reuters) – Singapore banks, which have enlarged their China credit exposure in recent years, were hit by a drop in billions of dollars of China trade financing deals as mainland borrowing conditions became easier while offshore interest rates grew more expensive. The premium of… – Continue reading
Part Seven in our series comparing ASEAN business costs with China Singapore is the de facto financial and services hub for ASEAN, and as a city state with such a remit it is more pertinent to compare the dynamics of Singapore with Hong Kong rather than China as a whole…. – Continue reading
Mauritius and Singapore are both examples of countries with Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs) with India, meaning dividends from corporations that are paid out to shareholders are not taxed further, having already been taxed at the corporate level. This legislation has meant that such countries have been used to “round-trip”… – Continue reading
Singapore is not a tax haven, it’s a value-adding hub. That is the claim of the island nation’s Economic Development Board, the Singaporean government agency that’s been charged with attracting business and investment. It has disputed recent claims at the Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance that it’s being used… – Continue reading
Gulf state intends to set itself up as a new hub for wealth management as finance chief declares Switzerland’s old model to be ‘dead’, reports the Irish Times. Abu Dhabi intends to set itself up as a new hub for wealth management, with the head of its nascent international financial… – Continue reading
Home to 5,000 plus FDI projects, HCM City has comfortably remained Viet Nam’s growth engine, and it plans to make full use of its position to rise to international standards in many areas, Xuan Huong reports. Despite all the international and regional competition, Viet Nam has remained an attractive destination… – Continue reading
The Companies (Amendment) Act 2014 (the “Amendment Act”) which will introduce wide-ranging changes to the Companies Act, will be implemented in two phases. Two-phase implementation: 1 July 2015 and Q1 2016 About 40% of the changes in the Amendment Act will take place in the first phase on 1 July… – Continue reading
Can you trust a company to run a clean and profitable coal mine when its financial controller has a case of the vagues? If the testimony of Adani executives in the witness box in the past few days is any indication, the prospects for Australia’s biggest coal project are not… – Continue reading
BHP Billiton is contesting A$522 million (S$544.8 million) in Australian tax bills on its Singapore marketing operations up to 2010, after having paid almost no tax in Singapore since 2006, the global miner told an Australian Senate panel, reports the Business Times. The figures were released on Monday by a… – Continue reading
FPIs are battling it out with the income-tax department, which has issued notices demanding that they pay MAT to the tune of Rs40,000 crore New Delhi/Mumbai: Despite the government affirming that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) can use tax treaties to fight tax demands on past capital gains, a majority of… – Continue reading
The true cost of the debt that China’s real estate developers peddled to eager international investors during a five-year property boom is now becoming clear. Having found themselves shut out of local bond and loan markets seven years ago, a band of developers began looking elsewhere for funds. First an… – Continue reading
A property investment company does not believe its advert selling Auckland property as a cash cow for offshore landlords is exploiting New Zealanders. The radio advert has been on air in Singapore since Monday for Property Solutions Singapore, which is a subsidiary of Dunedin-based company Australian Property Solutions. It said… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: In a bid to attract investments into Luxembourg, once seen as a “tax haven”, its ambassador today assured industrialists and investors that his government “does not encourage money laundering.” “We do not encourage dirty money. It is a misconception that the Luxembourg is a tax haven,” the alpine nation’s… – Continue reading
The government on Wednesday assured over 1,000 foreign institutional investors (FIIs) across the United States, Hong Kong and Singapore they can avail of treaty benefits to ward off tax demands on capital gains booked over the years till March 31, reports the Financial Express. The development is significant given the… – Continue reading
While the government has stood its ground on the applicability of minimum alternate tax (MAT), saying that foreign institutional investors (FPIs) ought to consider judicial appeal for the retrospective tax demand, increasing number of foreign brokerages are red flagging the issue as a risk for the Indian equity market. Even… – Continue reading
Commissioner Chris Jordan delivers rebuke to multinational tech giants contesting evidence they gave to a Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance The tax commissioner, Chris Jordan, has delivered a public rebuke to multinational tech giants Apple, Google and Microsoft, vigorously contesting evidence they gave to a recent Senate inquiry hearing… – Continue reading
