A record high 1,163,229 Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (more commonly, FBARs) were filed in 2015, up more than 8% from the prior year. That growth, however, is nothing new: FBAR filings have grown on average by 17% per year during the last five years , according to… – Continue reading
President Barack Obama is heading to Cuba next week. When Air Force One lands on that island nation on March 20, Obama will become the first U.S. commander in chief to visit Cuba in 88 years. In advance of that historic visit, which the administration hopes will eventually lead to… – Continue reading
For the last five years, the U.S. has waged a strong battle against offshore tax evasion. In 2010, America began its boldest crackdown with the enactment of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (known widely as “FATCA”). FATCA requires foreign financial institutions (e.g., banks, investment houses, etc.) doing business in… – Continue reading
State lawmakers are getting into the act of demonizing corporate inversions even though there is not much they can do to stop them. Corporate inversions, in which U.S. companies merge with or are acquired by an overseas business, are a hot topic on the campaign trail and in the halls… – Continue reading
China’s chess game to seize control of the South China Sea may take an interesting turn if an influential businessman’s suggestion is followed and Beijing turns one of the disputed islands into its very own Cayman Islands-style offshore bank. The idea, as explained by The Washington Post, is to establish… – Continue reading
A new bill proposed by City Council President Darrell Clarke last week would ban city government from doing business with companies who move abroad to avoid paying U.S. taxes. Corporate tax inversion might not have a sexy ring to it, but it has been a topic on the minds and… – Continue reading
Only the little people pay taxes. For a small, select cohort of rich Australians, the famous quote of New York property billionaire Leona Helmsley rings not as an outrage but as an inspiration. In the most recent documents released by the Australian Tax Office, there were 55 people who had… – Continue reading
In the final session of the two day Global Tax Conference at Dublin Castle yesterday, a senior Canadian tax advisor used the analogy of children playing football to describe the relationship between multinationals and government when it comes to tax. In a kids football match, he said, when the ball… – Continue reading
It’s not just the Indian banks that business tycoon Vijay Mallya has taken for a ride. The chairman of United Breweries (UB) group and promoter of now defunct Kingfisher Airlines also concealed in his election affidavit, filed before the Rajya Sabha, his business interests in offshore tax havens elsewhere. dna… – Continue reading
Two units of Cayman National Corporation Ltd pleaded guilty to U.S. charges on Wednesday as part of a $6 million settlement of an investigation into how the financial services firm helped Americans evade paying taxes. Cayman National Securities Ltd and Cayman National Trust Co Ltd each pleaded guilty in federal… – Continue reading
Fenergo offers Nikko Securities America, Inc. end-to-end Client Lifecycle Management with a regulatory focus on AML, KYC and FATCA Fenergo, the leading provider of Regulatory Onboarding and Client Lifecycle Management software solutions for investment, corporate and private banks, has announced a new deal to provide Nikko Securities America, Inc. with… – Continue reading
With American corporations keeping a record amount of profits offshore to avoid paying U.S. taxes, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) will introduce legislation requiring corporations to “Pay What You Owe Before You Go.” During a news conference call today, Brown will outline his bill that would require corporations to settle… – Continue reading
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY (BLOOMBERG) – The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sought to make UBS Group turn over records on an account in Singapore held by a US citizen, setting up a showdown with the city-state over its bank-secrecy laws and potentially opening a new front against offshore tax evasion… – Continue reading
The European Commission has concluded that selective tax advantages granted by Belgium under its ‘excess profit’ tax scheme are illegal under EU state aid rules. The European Commission is looking at Member States to assess compliance with EU state aid rules in the context of aggressive tax planning by multinationals,… – Continue reading
Twenty Caribbean and Latin American nations have been named by the U.S. as “major money laundering” countries in the 2016 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) from the U.S. State Department released Wednesday, Mar. 2, 2016. A major money laundering is defined by statute as one “whose financial institutions engage… – Continue reading
Switzerland and the US have agreed a new Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) exemption clause for accounts held by lawyers or notaries. Under the clause, inserted into the Swiss-US FATCA Agreement, accounts maintained for specific purposes by lawyers or notaries for their clients (i.e. accounts held in connection with… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Terming the financial information exchange pact FATCA between India and USA as an ‘inequitable system’, the Finance Ministry today said it has received written commitment from the US that they will move towards full reciprocity. “We should look at FATCA as very a special case. It’s a law… – Continue reading
The consul of Panama, John A. Gauci-Maistre, writing on behalf of the Panamanian foreign ministry has rejected claims that the country is a tax haven. “Panama is committed to the fight against money laundering, terrorist financing and tax evasion,” he said in a statement. It was pointed out that last… – Continue reading
Maltese individuals resident and domiciled for tax purposes, that is people whose permanent residence is in Malta, are required to pay tax in Malta on their worldwide income, according to the Income Tax Act. This essentially means that Minister Konrad Mizzi is required to pay tax on foreign earnings. However… – Continue reading
If you have made any investment in a fixed deposit or a mutual fund or even in shares, by now, you must have received a form in the mail requiring you to comply with FATCA regulations. What is this new compliance requirement exactly and what does it mean so far… – Continue reading
If a member of Congress told you that he was going to use some of your hard-earned tax dollars to support an international organization that demands that you pay higher taxes, what would you say? Unfortunately, the question is not hypothetical, because that is exactly what is now happening. Congress… – Continue reading
While the various reforms initiated by the Centre has led to a significant increase in FDI inflows into India, the Economic Survey feels the need for a closer examination of such FDI flows to determine whether there has been any instances of tax evasion. The survey noted that out of… – Continue reading
“It is tantamount to an economic blockade”. That’s how Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister, Gaston Browne, described the current withdrawal from Caribbean indigenous and offshore banks of correspondent relationships by US banks. His sentiments were echoed by Dean Barrow and Freundel Stuart, the prime ministers of Belize and Barbados respectively…. – Continue reading
During a political season in which populist fury and anger at big business is running high, two presidential candidates want to eliminate the ability of multinational firms to keep earnings overseas and avoid U.S. taxes. They also just happen to be the two most surprising and disruptive candidates in the… – Continue reading
In its time, the Irving empire has had plenty of federal contracts — all of them lucrative, many of them controversial. So it wasn’t a surprise to hear that a federal cabinet committee is reviewing Irving’s $26 billion sole-source (but still unsigned) contract to build a fleet of warships for… – Continue reading
On February 23, US House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D – Michigan) and Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen (D – Maryland) introduced legislation aimed at reducing the number of corporate tax inversions by limiting the use of “earnings stripping.” Tax inversion techniques… – Continue reading
Each year, people fall prey to tax scams. That’s why the IRS sends a list of its annual “Dirty Dozen.” Stay safe and be informed – don’t become a victim. If you get involved in illegal tax scams, you can lose money or face stiff penalties, interest and even criminal… – Continue reading
Governments globally should take steps to adjust taxation systems to close loopholes allowing multinational corporations to avoid paying taxes in countries of their origin, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Monday. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The IMF chief said taxation allows governments to mobilize their revenues. She… – Continue reading
The Government has released an issues paper on New Zealand’s implementation of an OECD initiative the OECD claims will “end banking secrecy as we have known it.” The OECD’s Automatic Exchange Of Information (AEOI) initiative is setting a global standard for sharing information between countries with the aim of reducing… – Continue reading
The “power of three” is a principle of writing and joke telling that suggests that events or items presented in threes are somehow funnier or more satisfying than tales organized around other numbers. It will be interesting to see if the theory holds true for the current state legislative sessions… – Continue reading
RIYADH — Madawy Bint Saud Bin Musaed Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has praised the efforts of the US Financial Advisory & Audit Firm (USFAAF) for solving the growing problems of the Saudi nationals holding the American passports regarding the tax payment and the importance of submitting the tax return on… – Continue reading
South Dakota could be on the road to a U.S. Supreme Court challenge with a bill that allows the state to collect sales taxes from out-of-state Internet retailers. The bill in question requires those businesses to remit sales taxes if they sell more than $100,000 in the state or have… – Continue reading
Bermuda’s international business chiefs said they would swallow increased taxes if the Government continued to cut its costs and pushed ahead with reforms in the public service. Insiders added that the sector wanted to see the Government live up to its pledges to make the Civil Service more accountable, close… – Continue reading
PANAMA’S most notorious moment as a haven for tainted cash came with the nationalisation of money-laundering in the 1980s under Manuel Noriega, a military strongman. It has since clamped down on egregious financial criminality, but remains home to thousands of secretive firms and famous for the discretion of its bankers… – Continue reading
New Delhi :The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued a clarification with regard to an inter-governmental agreement between India and USA signed for implementation of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The CBDT further said in its statement that the Government of India has also joined the Multilateral… – Continue reading
Documents released during the internet giant’s court battle with the US Internal Revenue Service over a possible $1.5bn in unpaid taxes detail a complex restructuring and a deal with Luxembourg that delivered Amazon multimillion-dollar savings Amazon is facing a landmark court ruling in the US that could prise open its… – Continue reading
The US Treasury Department has issued a revised version of the US Model Income Tax Convention (the 2016 Model). The Convention is used as a starting point in bilateral treaty negotiations with other countries and was last updated in 2006. The 2016 MTC, which was released on February 17, includes… – Continue reading
A quiet revolution is taking place across Europe. It isn’t playing out on the streets of capital cities or in the debating chambers of national parliaments. It has been slowly happening with every newspaper headline about how little corporation tax some companies pay relative to their size. It is also… – Continue reading
What is FATCA? FATCA refers to US legislation more fully known as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and includes the US Treasury regulations implementing it. It was enacted as part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act of 2010 (otherwise known as the, “HIRE Act”) on 18 March… – Continue reading
Having launched and led the battle against offshore tax evasion, America is now part of the problem DEVIN NUNES raised eyebrows in 2013 when, as chairman of a congressional working group on tax, he urged reforms that would make America “the largest tax haven in human history”. Though he was… – Continue reading
Wealthy taxpayers who split time between states should be prepared to prove where their true home lies. You’re lounging by the pool of your second home in Florida, chuckling as you think of your friends back home braving the blizzard in Massachusetts. And you’re musing: Perhaps it’s time to escape… – Continue reading
Apple has sold $12billion in bonds as part of another scheme to lower its tax bill. The tech giant got itself further into debt even though it has $215billion in the bank, more than the US Treasury. California-based Apple sold the bonds under a complicated scheme which is reportedly designed… – Continue reading
Pfizer, one of the largest multinational pharmaceutical companies in the world, recently announced plans to merge with Allegran, Plc, a pharmaceutical company based in Ireland. The new merged corporation, worth a total of $160 billion, will move its headquarters to Dublin, Ireland to avoid the U.S. government’s “double taxation” of… – Continue reading
(Special) – If you’re planning on leaving Canada soon, don’t give up on contributing to your Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP). If you become a non-resident of Canada, you can still contribute to an RRSP provided you still have accumulated contribution room available. “Your contribution room is determined by your… – Continue reading
The Government recently introduced into the Legislative Council a bill to provide a legal framework for the implementation of automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters (“AEOI”). This would have significant implications both for financial institutions and, in a cosmopolitan city like Hong Kong, for many of their… – Continue reading
Taipei, Feb. 15 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday that Taiwan and Italy have completed an agreement to avoid double taxation and tax evasion. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday that Taiwan and Italy have completed an agreement to avoid double taxation and tax evasion. The ministry… – Continue reading
In almost every field of legal work, privacy is regarded as a primary and legitimate concern to protect the interests of individuals and organisations. This was confirmed recently when the European Court of Justice (ECJ) struck down the US-EU data exchange agreement amid fears that data transferred to the US… – Continue reading
Where the United States leads on legislation, foreign jurisdictions slavishly follow Hongkongers will need to declare all their assets abroad by 2025. No, the government has not announced the policy yet. But academics have noticed a trend which strongly suggests Hong Kong will follow the US example in foreign tax… – Continue reading
Let me give you a heads up: First, I’m going to tell you some things that will make you ill. Then I’m going to present a cure. It will make you feel better—until, of course, you realize that knowing the cure brings us as close to implementing it as buying an… – Continue reading
A while back in Germany, I was driving on the straight as an arrow B-1. That is Bundesstrasse, the equivalent of a U.S. highway, a notch below the Autobahn. Roads tend to curve around farmers’ fields, having been there first. The B-1 from Cologne on the Rhine toward Berlin was… – Continue reading
