The new Companies Ordinance, Chapter 622 of the Laws of Hong Kong, (“the new Ordinance”) and 12 pieces of subsidiary legislation commence operation today. To tie in with the commencement of the new Ordinance, this website has been updated to provide information on the requirements for registration of companies and… – Continue reading
The Brazilian government has been trying to catch up on a number of areas of the digital economy, one of them being online cross-border taxation – but not without controversy. During the Mobile World Congress (MWC) last month, the Brazilian communications minister Paulo Bernardo said Brazil is a “tax haven”… – Continue reading
Recent news stories, past reports and current anecdotal evidence suggest the flight of capital from Nigeria is reaching epidemic proportions. Nigeria is fast becoming a net exporter of students, patients and financial capital. Last week, news about Nigerian millionaires, the freezing of stolen assets, the flying habits of wealthy Nigerians… – Continue reading
Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah warned online critics of the country’s Sharia Law that they could face prosecution once the new penal code takes effect next month: They can no longer be given the liberty to continue with their mockery and if there is a basis for them to be brought to court,… – Continue reading
The OECD proposes to reform transfer pricing documentation for multinational enterprises and to impose onerous country-by-country (CbC) reporting obligations, including disclosure of taxes paid in each country in which a business operates, in a bid to enhance revenue authorities’ abilities to identify high risk transfer pricing situations and to make… – Continue reading
A prominent tax lawyer says that proposed federal legislation relieving Canadian financial institutions from onerous obligations under the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act “eviscerates” an intergovernmental agreement signed between Canada and the U.S. earlier this month. “The U.S. Treasury Department may view the legislation, if passed in its current form, as an… – Continue reading
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Imagine you have the choice between buying your electricity from a company that has a certificate proving that it pays its UK corporation tax in a fair and transparent manner, and a company that does not have that certificate. All else being equal, which would… – Continue reading
Some states are going after multinational corporations which avoid state taxes by stashing some of their earnings in offshore tax havens, an effort aimed at recouping some of the more than $20 billion states lose to such gimmicks each year. Shifting income to subsidiaries in places like the Cayman Islands… – Continue reading
The Bermuda Court of Appeal has ruled that the target of an intergovernmental request for information under a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) may require the Attorney General to produce the terms of the request in order to confirm that the request meets the statutory requirements under the International Co-operation… – Continue reading
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
The online bookseller Amazon might suddenly find that the UK is more taxing than it would like. A UK judge ruled earlier this month that Amazon had infringed the trademark of soap maker Lush by posting advertisements on Google mentioning “Lush soap” and by offering customers who searched for “Lush soap”… – Continue reading
As far back as the early stages of the global financial crisis in 2007, Nick Mathiason citing the African Union (AU) reported: “More than $150 billion a year is looted from Africa through tax avoidance by giant corporations and capital flight using ‘a pinstripe infrastructure’ of Western banks, lawyers and accountants.”… – Continue reading
Bob Geldof, Anne Robinson and Victoria Beckham said to be also among the 1,000 household names affected They each paid a minimum £100,000 to invest in a movie venture that promised to combine box office hits with tempting tax breaks A string of celebrities from David Beckham to Andrew Lloyd… – Continue reading
The European Union says it is freezing the financial assets in Europe of 18 Ukrainians it says misused the Kyiv government’s state funds. The EU’s foreign ministers approved the list Wednesday but withheld the names for a day before their official publication in the EU’s legal journal, so the Ukrainians… – Continue reading
The inevitable march towards automatic exchange of information (AEI) as the Organization for Economic and Cooperation’s (OECD) global standard was just one of the issues discussed at a recent international tax conference held in Liechtenstein. During his address, Head of the OECD International Cooperation and Tax Administration Division, Achim Pross,… – Continue reading
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia and Liechtenstein have agreed to enhance bilateral ties and co-operation between both countries, particularly in the fields of trade, investment, finance and tourism. The matter was agreed at a meeting between Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman and Liechtenstein Foreign Affairs, Education and Culture Minister Dr Aurelia… – Continue reading
Gibraltar is to introduce Qualified Non-UK Pension Schemes (QNUPS), which will enable British expats to make additional contributions to pension schemes that will be administered by Gibraltar-regulated trustees. A QNUPS allows an individual to transfer UK-based pension assets to overseas-based schemes. These contributions may exceed the usual UK limit of… – Continue reading
Former American Peter Dunn wants Americans living in Canada to ask themselves an important question. “Am I really an American citizen?” Dunn, 50, has recently co-founded the Isaac Brock Society, a group raising awareness about the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Dunn settled permanently in Canada in 1994. FATCA,… – Continue reading
Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah warned online critics of the country’s Sharia Law that they could face prosecution once the new penal code takes effect next month: They can no longer be given the liberty to continue with their mockery and if there is a basis for them to be brought to court,… – Continue reading
March 7 — The Internal Revenue Service released instructions for Form W-8ECI for use by foreign taxpayers in telling the agency that their income is effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business, updated to reflect the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. Posted to the IRS’s website late March 6, the instructions followed… – Continue reading
(FINNBAY) – 10 March 2014. Finland along with other 49 countries around the world engaged with the US government to implement the information reporting and withholding tax provisions commonly known in the US as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). FATCA aims to establish a common intergovernmental approach to… – Continue reading
LONDON — If you don’t want something, giving it back is often an option. That’s precisely what some Americans, frustrated at what they see as onerous U.S. tax filing obligations for Americans living overseas, are doing with their citizenship. “I felt like I had gotten a divorce,” says Donna-Lane Nelson,… – Continue reading
New Delhi: With India stepping up its pursuit of alleged black money in Swiss banks, Switzerland says it is exchanging information with Indian authorities on all lawful requests, but cannot help on enquiries based on stolen banking data. The European country, which has often been accused of being the most… – Continue reading
BERLIN: German football legend Uli Hoeness (pix), boss of champion club Bayern Munich, will face a high-profile tax evasion trial from Monday, accused of having stashed away millions in Switzerland. The folksy 62-year-old Bavarian club president, who also runs a flourishing sausage company, was arrested and bailed almost a year ago… – Continue reading
London: Schroders is the latest UK group to set aside millions of pounds for potential fines arising from a US investigation into companies that helped American clients evade taxes. Schroders, the UK’s second-biggest listed fund house, has reserved £15 million (Dh92 million) for a possible penalty in connection with the… – Continue reading
Proposals to tighten the screws on users of tax avoidance schemes in next week’s Budget have sparked protests from wealthy investors and their advisers who say the measures would be retrospective and “completely contrary to natural justice”. Thousands of financiers, celebrities, entrepreneurs, and other wealthy users of tax avoidance schemes will potentially… – Continue reading
Think your taxes are confusing? Ha! Try living and working abroad as a U.S. citizen. As the following guest column details, even something as seemingly ordinary as participating in a pension plan can create huge tax complications. (For less esoteric advice on preparing your 1040 for 2013 and minimizing your… – Continue reading
Bankers at Credit Suisse helped their affluent American clients hide billions in assets from the IRS, according to a Senate investigative report released Tuesday. The Swiss banking giant is currently under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for allegedly aiding tax evasion by its rich clients, is even accused of… – Continue reading
Bankers at Credit Suisse helped their affluent American clients hide billions in assets from the IRS, according to a Senate investigative report released Tuesday. The Swiss banking giant is currently under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for allegedly aiding tax evasion by its rich clients, is even accused of… – Continue reading
Cayman is continuing preparations for the implementation of the US Foreign Accounts Compliance Act (FATCA). So far the island has signed two inter-governmental agreements (IGAs), and legislation is currently being drafted to meet the requirements of the new law. Chief Compliance Officer at DMS Offshore Investment Services Don Ebanks says… – Continue reading
As Canadian snowbirds and visitors in Costa Rica were following the performance of their compatriot athletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, their Finance and National Revenue Ministers announced that anintergovernmental agreement with the United States had been reached on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) of 2010. What… – Continue reading
As concerns about crumbling roads and bridges mount, one Congressman believes he has an answer. Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D-CO) has introduced a bill, Partnership to Build America Act of 2014 (S. 1957), that would provide for investments and improvements in infrastructure projects. To make it more palatable, funding would… – Continue reading
Section 3 and 4 of the Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013 commenced on Monday 10th March 2014. This Act removes the requirement for accounts documents filed with the CRO to include handwritten signatures of Directors, Auditors etc and instead requires that the signatures appear in TYPED form on each document. Where accounts… – Continue reading
The Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013 was signed by the President on 24th December 2013. This action had the effect of changing the citation of the Companies Acts to “1963 to 2013”. This citation should henceforth appear on all copies of Memoranda and Articles of association filed with the CRO…. – Continue reading
Users of Secretarial Software Packages will be familiar with the use of PINs and IDs as the current electronic signing solution for CRO forms. In March 2013, the CRO advised suppliers of the Company Secretarial Software Packages that it will be phasing out the use of PINs and IDs as… – Continue reading
Luxembourg’s plan to issue an Islamic bond faced its first test this week as a proposal to securitise assets to back the transaction was scrutinised by the Council of State, a body which advises the national legislature. AAA-rated Luxembourg could pip Britain’s ambitions to become the first Western country to… – Continue reading
Small business owners can feel a little bit like ping-pong balls when elected officials start talking about taxes. I’m a board member of the Maine Small Business Coalition, to which 3,600 Maine small business owners belong. I’m also a registered nurse and owner of a home child care center where… – Continue reading
Malta’s two largest banks rejected the European Commission’s suggestion that high interest rates on loans in the country may indicate collusion. In a report issued earlier this month, the European Union’s executive arm said “the interest margin on loans in the core banks appears to be converging,” and this “could… – Continue reading
Much brouhaha has been created by the recent reports about the Vodafone Tax case with respect to whether or not a capital gains tax is due from them on the purchase of assets in India. New lexicon has been created for the uninitiated – “tax avoidance” versus “tax evasion”; “look… – Continue reading
The aggressive approach of Indian tax authorities on transfer pricing and international tax matters underlines the government’s intention of taking strong action to defend its tax base. When it comes to taxation of cross-border transactions, India’s inclination to widen the source-based tax rules is clearly demonstrated by the retrospective amendments,… – Continue reading
MANILA – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is mulling over sanctions on local banks that fail to comply with a US tax evasion law. “The BSP will study what sanctions, if any, we will impose if a local bank decides it wishes to handle US persons but exposes itself… – Continue reading
In an attempt to stop multinationals shifting profits overseas Australia’s Tax Office is launching a task force to investigate 86 large corporations’ tax activities. The tax office is looking into companies that use complex structures to move profits through tax havens as well as those that are using thin capitalisation,… – Continue reading
The Canada-British Virgin Islands (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. The BVI-Canada TIEA is… – Continue reading
Jersey Finance has welcomed the signing of the Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with Belgium which took place in London on Thursday (March 13, 2014). The new agreement brings the total number of tax agreements Jersey has now signed with EU Member States to 20, which includes both TIEAs and… – Continue reading
Senior German lawmakers on Sunday called for tougher rules to make it harder for tax cheats to claim amnesty by turning themselves in, days after soccer manager Uli Hoeness was sentenced for 3-1/2 years in prison for tax evasion. Recent news that Hoeness and other prominent Germans such as feminist… – Continue reading
Russia’s Finance Ministry has received suggestions from several offshore zones on organization of negotiations on exchange of tax information, Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov told a Week of Russian Business on Monday. “Lately, the finance ministry has received suggestions from the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda Islands, the Isle of… – Continue reading
New Zealanders living and working overseas can breathe a little easier now tax authorities have agreed that renting out a house they own in New Zealand doesn’t automatically make them a New Zealand taxpayer. The Inland Revenue Department has issued an interpretation of New Zealand residency after a Taxation Review… – Continue reading
The Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013 was signed by the President on 24th December 2013. This action had the effect of changing the citation of the Companies Acts to “1963 to 2013”. This citation should henceforth appear on all copies of Memoranda and Articles of association filed with the CRO…. – Continue reading
A tightening noose around the necks of tax avoiders in some parts of the world saw Guernsey’s financial regulator approve 103 new investment funds in the crown dependency during 2013. There is no capital gains tax or inheritance tax in Guernsey. The corporation tax on financial firms is just 10%,… – Continue reading
A tightening noose around the necks of tax avoiders in some parts of the world saw Guernsey’s financial regulator approve 103 new investment funds in the crown dependency during 2013. There is no capital gains tax or inheritance tax in Guernsey. The corporation tax on financial firms is just 10%,… – Continue reading
