Speed read On 16 December 2014, Curaçao and the U.S. signed an intergovernmental agreement (“Curaçao-IGA”) setting out the information reporting and withholding requirements applicable to banks and other financial institutions resident in Curaçao (“FI’s”) under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”). By virtue of the Curaçao-IGA, FI’s will be… – Continue reading
When a crowd of angry Americans threw 45 tonnes of tea into Boston Harbor in 1773, their concern was the under-enforcement of the principle of ‘no-taxation without representation’ — that governments should not impose fiscal obligations on their citizens without them having a saying on it. More than two centuries… – Continue reading
When a crowd of angry Americans threw 45 tonnes of tea into Boston Harbor in 1773, their concern was the under-enforcement of the principle of ‘no-taxation without representation’ — that governments should not impose fiscal obligations on their citizens without them having a saying on it. More than two centuries… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — Senators Rand Paul and Barbara Boxer are proposing a tax incentive for U.S. companies to bring home their offshore cash stockpiles and pledging to use that revenue to fund highways. The bipartisan proposal would let companies repatriate money parked overseas at a 6.5 percent tax rate, a steep… – Continue reading
Yesterday, the Internal Revenue Service unveiled its latest statistics on participation in its Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP), an amnesty program for taxpayers with undisclosed foreign bank accounts that has existed in various forms since 2009. To date, more than 50,000 taxpayers have made voluntary disclosures regarding offshore bank accounts,… – Continue reading
Cash reserves held outside the US for tax reasons by US multinationals are “likely to fuel a big increase in M&A activity over the next year”, said Eloise Walker a tax expert at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-law.com.30 Jan 2015 Corporate Tax Corporate tax International tax M&A Advanced… – Continue reading
The IRS recently announced an expansion of the list of banks and advisors that trigger the highest penalty bracket within its Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program. The addition of Sovereign Management & Legal, Ltd. and Bank Leumi to the increased penalty list will have repercussions in Asia, Israel and the United… – Continue reading
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) —The IRS has been cracking down on tax cheats trying to hide money in offshore accounts. But it’s still one of the top tax scams out there. U.S. tax filers who knowingly cheat on their taxes by parking their money in offshore accounts — or who naively… – Continue reading
The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has posted tax investigators to foreign embassies to lead a Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) crackdown on suspected tax evasion. The Asia Pacific financial centres of Hong and Singapore are two of the main targets, according to industry experts. The move follows claims… – Continue reading
Santo Domingo.- Internal Taxes Agency director Guarocuya Felix on Thursday warned that Dominican Republic must soon dismantle the barriers which limit the automatic access to information of the financial sector’s taxpayers, because despite the Arbitration Court resolution to break banking secrecy when the tax administration so requires, the information doesn’t… – Continue reading
Senate Republicans have a message for the IRS commissioner: It’s on you if this tax season is miserable for taxpayers. John Koskinen, the IRS chief, has warned taxpayers for weeks that services and protections will be scaled back this filing season, which came just weeks after Congress slashed the agency’s… – Continue reading
The United States Department of Justice secured a conviction against a St. Louis man accused of not reporting foreign bank accounts in Switzerland and Singapore. Raju Mukhi, age 67, was indicted last year on charges of willful failure to file an FBAR and filing false tax returns. Offshore accounts with… – Continue reading
This story has been updated. At her confirmation hearing Wednesday, attorney general-designate Loretta Lynch said she has been “very aggressive” in pursuing white-collar crime. “At the outset, no individual is ‘too big to jail.’ And no one is above the law,” said Lynch. Yet according to a new report from… – Continue reading
London is a global haven for criminal financial activity – with billions of pounds laundered through British banks each day, according to the head of the UK’s National Crime Agency. “Many hundreds of billions of pounds of criminal money is almost certainly laundered through UK banks and their subsidiaries each… – Continue reading
Introduction The taxpayer, Seven Network Limited, has won a recent decision (22 December 2014) in the Australian Federal Court, Seven Network Limited v Federal Commissioner of Taxation (2014) FCA1411, which is significant to all broadcasters, particularly involving the delivery of live sport and other entertainment. Briefly, the key issue raised… – Continue reading
The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI) and Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) co-hosted a three-day International Criminal Tax Symposium in Washington, D.C. January 27 – 29, 2015. The symposium focused on combatting offshore tax evasion and international financial crimes—including cyber-crime—and brought together delegates from criminal tax and… – Continue reading
In a move that will likely soothe investors’ frayed nerves, the government on Wednesday decided not to appeal a Bombay High Court ruling in favour of Vodafone in a Rs. 3,200-crore tax dispute over a share transaction involving a local subsidiary. IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the government wants… – Continue reading
ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Bloomberg BNA today announced that its Global Transfer Pricing Conference: Paris, held in conjunction with Baker & McKenzie and in association with the Tax Management Education Institute, will occur on March 30-31 immediately after the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Global… – Continue reading
Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with United States of America (US) under Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA)- Registration Please refer to circular DBR.AML.No.9644/14.07.018/2014-15 dated December 30, 2014, on the captioned subject. 2. In partial modification to the above circular, it is clarified that those RRBs which do not have more than… – Continue reading
Microsoft denies a transfer of ownership of its New Zealand business from the United States to Luxembourg is related to the tiny European state’s favourable tax policies. Luxembourg, which has a population of less than 600,000, has been accused of facilitating large-scale tax avoidance by multinationals. Microsoft New Zealand was… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank has exempted Regional Rural Banks with assets less than USD 175 million to register with the US Internal Revenue System under FATCA. It also said that if RRBs, taken together with related entities, do not have assets over USD 500 million, they need not register with… – Continue reading
Russian banks have canceled contracts with their US clients because of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), the law that requires foreign banks to share information on US citizen’s banking activities. If a bank does not comply, it may be subject to a fine. NOVOSIBIRSK, January 28 (Sputnik) —… – Continue reading
Almost every day brings new evidence that the era of bank secrecy for tax evaders using Swiss and “offshore” bank accounts in “tax havens” is over. Both tax authorities and banks are clamping down on unreported offshore accounts. Early in 2014, Swiss bank Credit Suisse agreed to pay fines of… – Continue reading
The IRS is harping again on the dangers of hiding money or assets in unreported offshore accounts, this time as part of its Dirty Dozen tax scams over 12 days for the 2015 tax filing season. In fact, the IRS has trumpeted the issue for over 5 years. Plainly, violations… – Continue reading
Jan. 23 — The growth of global tax transparency is expected to leap ahead in 2015—meaning companies, individual taxpayers and financial institutions must exercise new levels of caution, practitioners told Bloomberg BNA. With more than 100 intergovernmental agreements under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and dozens of countries signing… – Continue reading
Money from charity games featuring Barça star was sent to Curaçao, Civil Guard says Messi charity games investigated for link to drug traffickers Charity soccer matches organized under the name of Argentinean star Lionel Messi in four countries in 2012 and 2013 raked in hundreds of thousands of euros that… – Continue reading
Each year U.S. multinational corporations avoid an astounding $90 billion in corporate income taxes by booking their profits on paper through international tax havens. At a time of growing inequality and budget austerity, it is outrageous that we allow the world’s richest companies to get away with not paying their… – 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
A few days ago we posted a warning to folks that opened offshore bank accounts through a company called Sovereign Management & Legal, Ltd. Based in Panama, the company offers to help Americans open offshore bank accounts with nominee corporations. Knowing that many people who do take these actions are… – Continue reading
The tech industry is ramping up its lobbying efforts on tax reform, seeking to make sure it doesn’t end up the loser if Washington can finally find a consensus on rewriting U.S. tax laws. The Tax Innovation Equality Coalition, or TIE, a group that counts both technology and pharmaceutical titans… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Shareholders in Israel’s Bank Leumi are seeking to file a class action lawsuit worth about 475 million shekels ($119 million) against the bank over its handling of a U.S. probe into alleged tax evasion, Bank Leumi said on Sunday. Leumi, Israel’s second largest lender, said the lawsuit argues… – Continue reading
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch reiterated his view that the only solution to corporate tax inversions is United States tax reform, during remarks at a conference hosted by the Brookings Institution on January 23. Hatch has long been skeptical of short-term measures – legislative or non-legislative – to deter… – Continue reading
Americans living in Canada fear they may have to pay huge capital gains tax bills when they sell their home as a result of the new US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The issue concerns a rule buried in reams of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax guidance that states… – Continue reading
The tech industry is ramping up its lobbying efforts on tax reform, seeking to make sure it doesn’t end up the loser if Washington can finally find a consensus on rewriting U.S. tax laws. The Tax Innovation Equality Coalition, or TIE, a group that counts both technology and pharmaceutical titans… – Continue reading
US sanctions on companies in third countries, ease of doing business and intellectual property rights were among a dozen issues that figured at the India-US CEO Forum where US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were also present. US sanctions on companies in third countries, ease of doing… – Continue reading
Fatca registration, which is mandatory, could reveal technical violations of three other American laws, with penal consequences The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) might be a bigger headache for the Rs 11 lakh-crore-mutual fund (MF) sector than earlier believed. Fatca is an American legislation, under which financial institutions (FI)… – Continue reading
This edition of the Tax-News monthly feature takes in noteworthy events in the international tax arena, including attempts to inject new life into the campaign for comprehensive tax reform in the United States, and developments in the areas of free trade, indirect taxation, BEPS and tax transparency and compliance. US… – Continue reading
While President Barack Obama’s new tax proposals may never see the light of day, given the Republican majorities in both the House and Senate, they have generated discussion among cross-border tax practitioners. Dual citizens living in Canada or Canadians who own U.S. properties may wonder whether they need to reopen… – Continue reading
BENGALURU: US President Barack Obama’s visit to India could help unlock over $10 billion stuck in tax disputes between India and various countries. The move will largely benefit American technology companies as a big chunk of the disputes involve software development and IT-enabled services (ITeS) sectors. India’s competent authority Akhilesh… – Continue reading
A year in review: the far reach of the IRS in Canada – Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act What is FATCA? The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act1 (“FATCA”) was enacted by the United States Congress in order to deal with non-compliance by US taxpayers using foreign bank accounts. FATCA requires… – Continue reading
BENGALURU: US President Barack Obama’s visit to India could help unlock over $10 billion stuck in tax disputes between India and various countries. The move will largely benefit American technology companies as a big chunk of the disputes involve software development and IT-enabled services (ITeS) sectors. India’s competent authority Akhilesh… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – The U.S. Senate’s top tax law writer sounded determined on Friday about pursuing comprehensive tax reform, though this is viewed as unlikely by most analysts. “Though there are disagreements on the details, there is bipartisan support for tax reform in Congress,” said Orrin Hatch, Republican chairman of the… – Continue reading
With so much attention on FATCA in recent times, the financial services industry could be forgiven for seeing it as the most obtrusive regulation ever imposed. This view will soon change. Once the Automatic Exchange of Information comes into force, financial institutions will have far greater challenges to overcome, writes… – Continue reading
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is a new chapter in the US Internal Revenue Code. Chapter 4 was added by the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act. It seeks to identify US taxpayers having accounts at foreign financial institutions (FFIs) and attempts to enforce reporting of those… – Continue reading
It’s income tax season and many people are working to prepare their tax returns but the IRS is warning people to beware of tax scammers. Although tax scams happen year round, they tend to occur more often during tax season. That’s why, around this this time each year, the IRS… – Continue reading
New Delhi, Jan. 23: India and the US have failed to make much progress in the totalisation pact that addresses the the problem of the double payment of social security taxes by Indian software professionals in America, dampening expectations surrounding President Barack Obama’s visit this weekend. Top officials said discussions… – Continue reading
Companies and U.S. citizens shifting profits and income offshore are bilking the U.S. government out of $100 billion in tax revenue a year, according to a new analysis by a congressional research group. Those using offshore tax havens to skirt paying taxes cost the U.S. government “around $100 billion per… – Continue reading
India has worked out a bilateral tax agreement with the United States, which could be signed during U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit, that would boost foreign investment and ease investors’ concerns raised by high profile cases against Vodafone and Shell. The pact, which industry executives say would specifically target the… – Continue reading
Luxembourg’s business-friendly tax laws have saved companies billions. The party’s almost over. On a typical day, thousands of passengers pull into Luxembourg’s central train station and traverse the busy shopping street of Rue de la Gare, where everything from pastries to rain boots is on offer. Few, however, step inside… – Continue reading
Lobby groups representing Google, Amazon and other powerful US tech multinationals have launched a fierce attack on global plans to stamp out artificial corporate structures used to avoid tax. In responses to the latest stage of a two-year, G20-led programme of international tax reform, lobbyists for the US tech industry… – Continue reading
