Bangladesh is set to sign an agreement with Bhutan to avoid double taxation to boost investments, trade and facilitate information exchange between the two Saarc nations, the National Board of Revenue said in a statement. A team led by NBR Chairman Md Nojibur Rahman is now in Thimpu to take… – Continue reading
The Norwegian conservative government on 7 October 2015 published both the proposed state budget for 2016 and a “white paper” containing proposals for tax reform. The proposed tax reform in the white paper is a follow-up action from a report on tax reform, presented by the Tax Commission in late… – Continue reading
Countries should commit to minimum standards on the resolution of international tax disputes, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in a report published as part of its base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project.06 Oct 2015 The standards would include a commitment to “seek to resolve” cases… – Continue reading
On October 2, 2015, the Internal Revenue Service announced that it had achieved a key milestone in implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), a critical anti-tax evasion law passed by Congress in 2010 but not fully implemented until July 2014. The milestone announced by the IRS was… – Continue reading
The IRS has announced that as of September 30, 2015 it will implement the automatic exchange of tax information as set forth in the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, (FATCA). The IRS Commissioner in announcing the implementation of the automatic exchange of information stated: “This information exchange is part of… – Continue reading
Hong Kong (HKSAR) – Six orders for implementing the tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) with six Nordic jurisdictions (i.e. Denmark, the Faroes, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden), and an order for implementing the Fourth Protocol to the Comprehensive Arrangement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation with the Mainland (the Arrangement)… – Continue reading
Marginal rate ninth highest in 34 OECD countries, pre-budget submission claims Ireland risks deterring high- calibre foreign executives from moving here because of its relatively high tax rates, the Irish Tax Institute has warned. In a pre-budget submission, the institute said Ireland’s marginal tax rate of 52 per cent was… – Continue reading
The Swedish Tax Agency have published its opinion 27th of August on taxation of dividends from tax havens to Swedish companies. Sweden introduced the current participation exemption rules on dividend and capital gains for companies in 2003. Dividends that is received by tax resident limited liability companies (Aktiebolag or AB)… – Continue reading
EU commissioner urges member states to ensure fair share of tax is paid EU economics commissioner Pierre Moscovici reiterated his commitment to re-launch the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base yesterday, urging all EU member states to ensure that companies pay their fair share of tax. Speaking following a meeting of… – Continue reading
Tax Commissioner Pierre Moscovici has urged European Union (EU) member states to “take the steps needed to fight tax evasion and tax fraud,” after new figures showed that the value-added tax (VAT) gap did not narrow in 2013. According to a new Commission report, the total amount of VAT lost… – Continue reading
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in a recent report that improving taxpayer services, while making non-compliance harder, is helping revenue bodies increase their efficiency and allowing governments to finance important programs that will further benefit their citizens. According to Tax Administration 2015, which looks at 56… – Continue reading
Revenue authorities need to be “vigilant” in monitoring the super-rich, according to research that called on many of them to improve their scrutiny of their richest taxpayers, reports the Financial Times. The study by the Paris-based OECD is a further sign of the pressure on tax departments to squeeze more… – Continue reading
On August 11, 2015, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released its annual report addressing global tax administration. The OECD’s stated mission is to “promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.” The OECD describes its annual report as follows: Tax… – Continue reading
After a hectic period in which every biopharma seemed to be seeking to relocate its way to a lower tax rate, the furor over who pays what and where has died down a little in recent months. But the number crunchers are still working away in the background–and in the… – Continue reading
Irish people investing in other countries often lose up to a fifth of dividends Irish tax refund specialists Taxback. com have introduced an online service to help people recover tax withheld on share dividends in other countries. *Irish people investing abroad often lose up to a fifth of their dividends… – Continue reading
Although this summer’s football transfer window has been one of the busiest ever, question marks have been raised once again over Turkey’s flawed tax system, under which multimillionaire football stars contribute a lower percentage of their salary to the state budget than public sector workers. The transfer window in Turkey… – Continue reading
10/07/2015 – The OECD set out a clear path for Lithuania’s accession to the Organisation, reinforcing the OECD’s commitment to further extend its global membership. On 8 July 2015 the 34 OECD Members adopted the Roadmap for the Accession of Lithuania to the OECD Convention setting out the terms, conditions… – Continue reading
Conor Hynes and Ronan Connaughton of Deloitte Ireland explore the impending changes arising from BEPS Action 7 and the Skandia case and provide insight on the potential tax impact for the insurance industry. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is attributed with the saying, “the only thing that is constant is change”…. – Continue reading
St. Kitts and Nevis is one of 30 countries placed on the European Union’s black list for not doing enough to fight tax evasion. The EU’s executive Commission published the list Wednesday (June 17). The blacklisted countries figure on at least ten of the EU’s 28 member nations’ lists of… – Continue reading
The European Union: Labelled Bermuda as a tax haven Bermuda has been named by the European Union as a country that is not doing enough to crack down on tax avoidance. The Island was one of 30 countries on the list published by the EU’s executive Commission today. “These tax… – Continue reading
Turkey levies a 15 percent tax on footballers playing in the Spor Toto Super League and collects the second-lowest tax from footballers among European countries According to the Income Tax Law currently in force, footballers playing in the Super League pay a 15 percent tax while those playing in lower… – Continue reading
The Swedish Tax Agency (STA) bears the burden of proof that pricing between associated companies differs from what would have been agreed between independent companies but this burden has proved difficult for it to meet. New approaches used by the STA in its investigations suggest it puts more effort in… – Continue reading
The Tax Foundation released its inaugural “International Tax Competitiveness Index” (ITCI) on September 15th, 2014. The United States was ranked an abysmal 32nd out of the 34 OECD member countries for the year 2014. (See accompanying Table 1.) The European welfare states such as Norway, Sweden and Denmark, with their… – Continue reading
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) went big exactly a year ago when it announced a takeover offer for UK-based AstraZeneca plc (ADR) (NYSE:AZN). The company’s decision to lap up AstraZeneca was seen as opportunistic; it being laced with controversy on many accounts, with some allegations behind the company’s proposition to acquire AstraZeneca… – Continue reading
Bitcoin transactions are exempt from value-added-tax (VAT) in Spain, says Spanish tax lawyer Alejandro Gómez, The General Directorate of Taxes, a subsidiary of the Spanish taxing authorities, made the statement in a response to a request from Gómez. According to Gómez, the consultation found that Bitcoin payments were a form… – Continue reading
TWELVE members of a counterfeit drug ring – including six from the Grimsby area – raked in more than £10 million selling fake Viagra under the cover of a mail-order fishing tackle business. The UK-wide conspiracy offered cheap erectile dysfunction pills to online and face-to-face customers around the world. The… – Continue reading
Cross border tax fraud and tax evasion by High Net Wealth Individuals (HNWI) are serious problems for many jurisdictions. For many years exchange of information between countries has been solely upon request. In practise this procedure is not efficiently working as it requires foreseeable relevance, thus ‘fishing’ for information is… – Continue reading
Government questions dividend imputation and company tax rate Australian investors appear to have dodged a bullet, with the government’s first paper on tax reform discussing the dividend imputation system but falling short of attacking it outright as an idea that has outlived its usefulness. David Murray’s inquiry into the Australian… – Continue reading
Luxembourg’s Direct Tax Administration has published a circular on February 12 clarifying issues relating to residency certificates for Luxembourg funds. These are applicable to both UCITS and non-UCITS funds regulated by Luxembourg’s investment fund legislation of December 17, 2010, which transposed the UCITS IV Directive, as well as Specialised Investment… – 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 authorities in Sweden suspect Spyker CEO Victor Muller of tax evasion in the period that he was the boss of the Swedish car company Saab, RTL Nieuws reports. The Swedish authority that deals with economic crime suspects that Muller was involved in tax evasion in 2010 and 2011. During… – Continue reading
The differentiation between tax avoidance, tax evasion and the moral duty to pay tax for the betterment of society has been intentionally screwed by politicians and bureaucrats. This is nothing new. I wrote an couple of articles several years ago questioning the terminology of ‘morally repugnant’ tax avoidance when it… – Continue reading
A reclassification of how Value Added Tax (VAT) is to be applied in the EU will force merchants to log users’ location, and make the user pay VAT twice. In particular, this could mean that from January 1 merchants could be forced to log identifying details about bitcoin users’ identity… – Continue reading
Jonathan Weiss hasn’t lived in the US for 25 years. But that didn’t keep his foreign bank account from being frozen in the wake of new US tax laws. Find out how you can avoid the same fate at the hands of FATCA. “I had been living in Switzerland for… – Continue reading
Peter Mac Swedish “flatpack” furniture manufacturer IKEA has suffered a number of blistering mass media attacks for business practices that reduce their Australian tax liabilities to a tiny fraction of the company’s profits here. The criticism is certainly justified. Most ordinary working taxpayers, as well as companies that don’t engage… – Continue reading
The Swedish Tax Agency has, on request by the Swedish Government (Ministry of Finance), evaluated the transfer pricing documentation rules’ functionality and proposed possible changes to simplify the application. The first step was to make an international comparison of the rules in relevant, comparable OECD countries. An overall assessment showed… – Continue reading
The United States has treaty language that allows us to work with the taxing authorities in other countries to collect U.S. taxes owed from U.S. Citizens or their property located in those countries and to allow those countries to have IRS collect from their citizens or property located in the… – Continue reading
A recent binding tax ruling recognised that the historical background of a multinational group is a key factor in considering whether a non-EU ultimate parent should trigger the anti-abuse rule which applies to exemption from dividend withholding tax. In a nutshell, the Spanish Non Resident Income Tax Law (NRIT), provides… – Continue reading
November 7: The KPMG member firm in Luxembourg has prepared a report that addresses the availability of withholding tax refunds for UTICS funds, including Luxembourg SICAVs, in Sweden. Swedish courts have confirmed that many types of investment funds are eligible for a full refund of Swedish withholding tax. Many funds… – Continue reading
Wealth inequality is growing worldwide, according to a new report by Credit Suisse. A greater share of wealth is being held by a smaller number of ultra-rich families worldwide as larger inheritances, family trusts, and similar arrangements to avoid taxes help the ultra-wealthy gain a greater portion of total capital… – Continue reading
Remember the study last year that ranked our tax code right below Zimbabwe? Now, a new study by the Tax Foundation still ranks us near last. Zimbabwe wasn’t a part of this contest, since the new study looked only at the 34 countries making up the OECD. Still, we have… – Continue reading
FRANCISTOWN: Government’s negotiations with other countries to sign Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAA) are underway to ensure investor benefits from tax holiday incentives continue, Boniface Mphetlhe of Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) has said. The Deputy Permanent Secretary in MTI, Mphetlhe, was speaking on the topic of Botswana Investment… – Continue reading
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) has been in force for a month and still more countries are joining the tax network. So far, 101 countries and financial jurisdictions have either signed or agreed to join FATCA. FATCA is aimed at identifying US taxpayers with offshore bank accounts and investments. Overseas… – Continue reading
Northern Ireland looks set to be handed the power to slash corporation tax in a move with the potential to significantly boost our stuttering economy. In a development which could transform international investment, senior sources in London and Belfast predict that an announcement will be made no later than October… – Continue reading
Norway has terminated the agreement it signed with neighboring Nordic countries on the avoidance of double taxation in respect of inheritance and gift tax, the Finnish tax authority announced July 1. The inheritance and gift tax treaty was signed by the Nordic countries, namely Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Denmark,… – Continue reading
Malta is the only member state stopping a tax loophole costing billions of euros being closed, after Sweden dropped its opposition to a EU finance ministers’ agreement to stop multinational companies exploiting hybrid loan arrangements to pay little or no tax. The European Commission reassured Swedish diplomats last week that… – Continue reading
A looming global crackdown on aggressive tax avoidance is set to stop internet companies slashing bills by routing profits to havens. Plans to “restore taxation” in the countries where digital companies make their sales and base their headquarters were set out on Monday in the first international response to the… – Continue reading
The Canada-BVI Tax Information Exchange Agreement (“TIEA”) came into force on 11 March 2014. The TIEA was signed in May 2013, and the effective date provisions are set out in Article 13 of the Agreement. The BVI is now party to 25 TIEAs. What are the benefits? The BVI/Canada TIEA is significant due… – Continue reading
Ordinarily resident’s global income is taxable in India I worked in Sweden for about two months this year. What will be the tax implication of my earnings there? —Shruti The tax implications in India of income earned in Sweden would depend upon your tax residential status in India during the… – Continue reading
