Category: Singapore

How Suntech, Chinese Solar Giant, Was Snared In An Italian Fraud Scandal

As 2008 began, the future looked brilliant for green energy giant Suntech Power and its high-flying founder, Shi Zhengrong. Suntech was one of the world’s largest makers of solar panels, the first non-state-owned Chinese  company traded on the New York Stock Exchange. And Shi, born to a farm family so… – Continue reading

New legislation adds problems for Americans abroad

An inability to open a bank account is not news for everyone in Hong Kong. Just ask the long-suffering American residents. “Nobody wants to deal with the US citizen account signatory, whether it is a company account or an account for my own financial needs,” said Ross Feingold, a director… – Continue reading

OECD urges quick action on multinational tax dodges

OECD tax director Pascal Saint-Amans has played down concerns that the United States might resist plans to make multinational companies such as Apple and Starbucks pay more tax, arguing that governments must move quickly to close multibillion-dollar loopholes or risk ordinary citizens ­losing faith in their taxation systems. Mr Saint-Amans… – Continue reading

Taxpayers Pay $163 Billion In Interest To Apple, Cisco, Google, Microsoft In Offshore Accounts

United States taxpayers make large interest payments to the top four technology firmsfor the $163 billion in US government debt the companies own and shelter in tax-freeoffshore accounts. Apple, Cisco Systems, Google, and Microsoft legally hold $124 billion in US Treasury securities and $39 billion in US government agencydebt in accounts overseas, allowing them to avoid the 35… – Continue reading

How to Get Your Profits Out of China

BEIJING – Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprises (WFOEs) are able to repatriate funds out of China in a variety of forms, for which tax implications vary according to the form of repatriation used and the Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) in place between China and the recipient country. The four most commonly… – Continue reading

Govt prepares strategies for withdrawing funds kept in Singapore

Batam, Riau Islands (ANTARA News) – Indonesias finance ministry is preparing four strategies to withdraw funds worth Rp1,500 trillion kept in Singaporean banks, an official stated here on Wednesday. “We are preparing four strategies,” remarked Deputy Minister of Finance Bambang Brodjonegoro. The four strategies are tax incentives, eradication of double… – Continue reading

UPDATE 1-China, UK discuss setting up yuan clearing bank in London – Osborne

HONG KONG, Feb 20 (Reuters) – The British and Chinese governments are in active discussions about setting up a clearing bank in London for China’s currency, a milestone that will put the city in a leading position to offer yuan trade business in Europe. Taking a leaf out of Hong Kong’s blueprint in being… – Continue reading

‘WE HAD TO EXIT AMERICANS BECAUSE OF FATCA’: UTI INTERNATIONAL

UTI International (Singapore) chief executive officer Praveen Jagwani says the asset manager had to remove American investors because of the compliance burden Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) brings. The regulation requires financial institutions to use enhanced due diligence to identify US citizens that have invested in either non-US financial… – Continue reading

Irish Corporate Tax 2014: How official spin and distortion works – in short-term

Irish Corporate Tax 2014: The current Irish governance system has remained unchanged through boom and bust and the addiction to political spin, distortion and sometimes lies, works at least in the short term while in some cases it has an enduring impact. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, America’s 16th president, it’s possible “to… – Continue reading

Murdoch’s $880m tax win raises issues of global corporations’ tax liability

An $880 million payout to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has reignited the debate over whether global companies pay their fair share of tax in Australia. News was paid the money after winning a long-running legal battle with the Tax Office relating to a 1989 restructure of the media empire involving… – Continue reading

Singapore, Now World’s Fastest Growing Wealth Management Hub, Not Free From Tax Evasion And Other Crimes

Singapore’s wealth management industry grew 22 percent in 2012 to 1.63 trillion Singaporean dollars ($1.29 trillion US), and its share of global offshore wealth is expected to outstrip Switzerland by 2020, according to data from WealthInsight, an industry research group. Learning from the recent scandal when Swiss banks, including UBS… – Continue reading

Luxembourg lining up for yuan quota

Luxembourg is lobbying Beijing for equal treatment with London, which was granted an investment quota last year allowing investors based there to invest their offshore yuan directly in the mainland’s securities markets. In an effort to capture a larger share of Europe’s offshore yuan business, top officials from the grand… – Continue reading