Indians who are on deputation overseas or have settled overseas — whether by way of acquiring a permanent residency such as a green card in the US, or acquiring citizenship of a foreign country — need to be aware of their tax obligations in India. A recent move seeking details… – Continue reading
HÀ NỘI — A number of enterprises have taken advantage of technology used for tax collection to avoid paying taxes. The Law on Value Added Tax (VAT) regulates that unprocessed, or preliminarily processed, agricultural, forestry and aquatic products imported from foreign countries are not subject to VAT. However, if these… – Continue reading
The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) allows for the automatic exchange of information between tax authorities. Local taxpayers who may have stashed their assets in cash and property offshore have a month to disclose their earnings and ownership details to the South African Revenue Services (Sars). The deadline for the Special… – Continue reading
BEIRUT: The Association of Banks in Lebanon and other private sector leaders are weighing the few options open to them as recently approved new tax measures, poised to be implemented soon, threaten to have a detrimental effect on their businesses and the overall economy. The few available options include trying… – Continue reading
The algorithm will match residents’ spending patterns, as evidenced from their social media postings, with their declared income. Bloomberg reported that the Indian government will be rolling out a new data analytics platform, called Project Insight, to catch tax evaders. In addition to traditional taxation data, such as IT returns,… – Continue reading
US Ambassador Allan Mustard and Turkmenistan’s Minister of Finance Gochmyrat Myradov signed an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) to implement the provisions of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), said the US Embassy in Ashgabat. The agreement underscores growing international cooperation to curb offshore tax evasion and marks a step forward… – Continue reading
ZURICH (Reuters) – Pushing forward European and international measures to prevent profit shifting and international tax fraud will be a top priority for Austria’s European Council presidency in the second half of 2018, Austrian Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling said on Saturday. “The cross-border fight against tax fraud and tax… – Continue reading
“Disproportionate” value disappears from economic system compared to GDP Malta ranks first among a number of EU countries in a list of what a new study calls 24 “sink offshore financial centres”, which it says are typically characterised as tax havens. The study, published this week in the academic journal… – Continue reading
The change converts tax-deductible interest payments employed by the schemes into taxable stock dividends. The U.S. government on Friday gave companies an extra year to comply with an Obama-era regulation meant to crack down on corporations that try to minimize their U.S. tax bills by shifting profits abroad to countries… – Continue reading
Cambodia signed a double taxation agreement (DTA) with Brunei aimed at preventing dual taxation and fiscal evasion, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said yesterday in a press release. This is the third DTA agreement that Cambodia has signed after Singapore and China, while the government is currently developing framework… – Continue reading
LUSAKA, July 28 (Xinhua) — Zambia’s revenue agency warned on Friday that it will freeze all bank accounts holders without Tax Payer Identification Number (TPIN) by the end of this year. The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) said having a TPIN was a pre-requisite to all procedures of tax registration and… – Continue reading
Israel wants to develop friendly relations with Armenia, according to that country’s Regional Cooperation Minister, Tsakhi Hanegbi, who told Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian on Wednesday as he kicked off an official visit to Armenia. He said that the purpose of his visit was to advance those ties. The two signed… – Continue reading
On 22 June 2017, the parliament of Kyrgyzstan approved the bill ratifying the tax treaty signed with Georgia on 13 October 2016. Currently, the ratification from Georgian side is still pending, and in order to become law and to be ratified, the bill still needs to be signed by the… – Continue reading
New law to fulfill requirements under OCED’s AEOI framework Move could unlock billions of dollars of assets kept abroad Indonesia moved a step closer to hunting down tens of billions of dollars it believes its citizens have hidden abroad after political parties agreed to seek a parliamentary approval for a… – Continue reading
The number of wealthy Russians declaring foreign assets has spiked in recent months, the RBC news outlet reported, citing research conducted by real estate broker Tranio and British company Adam Smith Conferences. The number of Russians with assets worth at least $1 million who revealed foreign bank accounts has increased… – Continue reading
The Department of Finance (DOF) on Wednesday asked the Senate to support the proposal relaxing the country’s bank secrecy law as it would allow the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to conduct the proper audit in tax fraud cases. Absolute bank secrecy is one of the “major” issues that need… – Continue reading
Computer scientists have worked to uncover the way the Netherlands, the UK, Ireland, Singapore and Switzerland, in particular, are used by multinationals to channel investments onto well-known offshore centres (OFCs). According to the research which was first reported by online journal Quartz, the five countries are used by multinationals to… – Continue reading
France intends to appeal against a recent court decision in favor of Google in a major tax avoidance case, but is open to settling the dispute outside of court, a government minister has said. In an interview with Les Echos, Minister of Action and Public Accounts, Gerald Darmanin, said that… – Continue reading
Business group Ibec has said that the Irish Government must “Brexit proof” its 2018 Budget, improve its foreign direct investment model, and implement a range of tax reforms to compete with the UK. Publishing the group’s pre-Budget submission, Ibec Director of Policy and Public Affairs, Fergal O’Brien said: “The Irish… – Continue reading
Italy is the most complex jurisdiction in Europe and comes in first place globally for ‘tax’ complexity, while Greece is most complex in the world for ‘compliance.’ Italy and Greece are among the five most complex jurisdictions in the world for Accounting and Tax compliance, according to TMF Group’s inaugural… – Continue reading
The OECD has praised Luxembourg’s tax regime for its predictability, although it sounded a warning about the volatility of tax revenues from the financial sector. In its latest assessment of the Luxembourg economy, the OECD said that Luxembourg’s strong economic performance was due partly to “business-friendly regulations, a predictable tax… – Continue reading
Economist Magnus Heystek says that government’s push towards scrapping tax exemptions for South Africans earning a salary in foreign country will encourage a tax revolt. South Africans have expressed a mix of concern and outrage over the past week, following the news that the government is seeking to scrap tax… – Continue reading
Reader M wrote to Lifelines about Japan’s inheritance tax law, which he calls “one of the most punitive in the world”: I’ve read with interest a number of articles in The Japan Times recently about the Japanese government’s efforts to make it easier for foreigners to obtain permanent residence in… – Continue reading
The Gupta family sought advice on how to move tens of billions of rands to the United Arab Emirates, revealing the enormous size of their empire, according to a report by the Sunday Times. The treaty which came into effect in March this year, stops the South African Revenue Service… – Continue reading
Tax avoidance by multinationals is better dealt with by an international treaty than harsher measures brought in by Australia and the United Kingdom, Revenue Minister Judith Collins says. In an interview with TV3’s The Nation, the minister said she had not ruled out the idea of diverted profit tax, which… – Continue reading
The Australian Government has unveiled a package of housing tax breaks, including a new scheme for first-time buyers, a superannuation incentive for downsizers, and tighter rules for foreign residents. In a joint release, Treasurer Scott Morrison and his Assistant Minister, Michael Sukkar, said: “Housing affordability is a major issue affecting… – Continue reading
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has released guidance on a change to value-added tax rules to tax services used outside the EU by UK consumers. The changes, which were introduced in the Spring Budget 2017, will affect suppliers of mobile telecommunication services, private consumers, and non-business users who consume telecommunication… – Continue reading
The Irish Parliament’s arts committee has recommended the introduction of a “foreign artists’ withholding tax (WHT) scheme.” The committee has released a report on the Government’s Culture 2025 initiative, which is intended to provide a framework for the development of Irish arts, culture, and heritage over the next eight years…. – Continue reading
THE BENEFITS OF NON-DOMICILE STATUS An individual who is resident but not domiciled in the UK does not pay tax on overseas income and gains, as long as they are kept outside the UK and are not used to provide benefits in the UK. This is called the remittance basis… – Continue reading
Representatives from the tax authorities of Cambodia and Thailand have agreed in principle to speed up a proposed double taxation agreement that would protect their nationals from dual taxation and encourage bilateral investment. The agreement was made last week during a two-day consultation workshop in Bangkok for tax officials from… – Continue reading
Hadi Poernomo, former Director General of Tax, the Finance Ministry, believes that the House of Representatives (DPR) will pass the regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) No. 1/2017 on Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) into law. “The Perppu is similar what was agreed between the DPR and the government on… – Continue reading
India has participated in the global joint task force meet to discuss with countries information exchange as it looks to pursue work on the Panama Papers, the finance ministry said on Tuesday. The Joint International Taskforce on Shared Intelligence and Collaboration (JITSIC) meeting was reconvened in Paris in the last… – Continue reading
The Indian tax authority has announced that it has begun the second phase of its Operation Clean Money initiative, within which it will challenge those taxpayers that have potentially failed to declare all their income. The agency said that 556,000 taxpayers’ affairs will be scrutinized as amounts deposited in bank… – Continue reading
The Australian Government has moved to clarify the tax treatment of foreign investors, following concerns over the practical operation of the Investment Manager Regime (IMR) and the new tax system for managed investment trusts (MITs). The aim of the IMR is to attract foreign investment to Australia and the promote… – Continue reading
Canada and dozens of other countries will automatically share banking information of non-residents Canadians with secret overseas bank accounts could soon find themselves at risk of being exposed by a new international agreement designed to help catch tax cheats. Under the Common Reporting Standard, dozens of countries will share information… – Continue reading
Tax liability under the Income-tax Act, 1961 (‘the Act’) of any person is determined based upon his residential status. A person resident of India is taxable on his income accruing across the globe [see End Note 1] while a non-resident is taxable only on the income accruing or arising or… – Continue reading
Labour is threatening to crack down on multinational companies that are dodging paying their fair share of tax in a move it believes will net $200 million a year in extra tax for the Government. Leader Andrew Little said according to Inland Revenue, New Zealanders were missing out by hundreds… – Continue reading
The European Commission launched legal proceedings against Portugal, Bulgaria, and Cyprus for not adopting, in their national laws, European Union legislation requiring all EU countries to exchange tax rulings granted to multilateral companies. The legislation was adopted in the wake of the 2014 LuxLeaks scandal that revealed more than 100… – Continue reading
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has collected more than £4bn through its controversial ‘pay now, dispute later’ accelerated payment notices rules, for people who have used a tax avoidance scheme. HMRC said that more than 75,000 accelerated payment notices (APNs) have been issued to people under enquiry for tax avoidance… – Continue reading
Senator Orrin Hatch (R – Utah) has said that lowering the United States’ corporate tax rate to one of the lowest in the world should be a top priority in current tax reform efforts. The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance said that the US corporate rate, one of… – Continue reading
Montenegro has shown its commitment to improving compliance with international tax standards. The FATCA Agreement is yet another example of a set of steps taken towards broadening the cooperation between the US and Montenegro and following the international standards of cross-border tax assistance. The US Ambassador, Margaret Ann Uyehara and… – Continue reading
Andorra has criminalised tax evasion, a parliamentary source said Monday as the tiny mountain principality, once a popular tax haven, moves towards full banking transparency. Last year, the OECD removed Andorra from its “grey” list of tax havens after it agreed to the automatic exchange of information on non-residents’ bank… – Continue reading
Switzerland has signed an agreement on the automatic exchange of tax information with Singapore, and is this week hosting a working meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes. The agreement with Singapore was signed by the Deputy State Secretary of Switzerland’s State Secretariat… – Continue reading
Expats can claim pension tax relief as long as they are still resident in the UK. Residence is a matter of fact rather than choice and depends on the result of the statutory residence test. Expats who are not resident in the UK cannot claim pension tax relief How do… – Continue reading
TEHRAN – A Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) was signed between Iran and Kenya during the visit of an Iranian trade delegation to the African country. According to the Public Relations Department of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), the agreement was signed by the Iranian ambassador to Kenya Hadi Farajvand,… – Continue reading
The UAE Ministry of Finance (MoF) signed a final agreement for the avoidance of double taxation with the Republic of Cameroon at the Ministry’s premises in Dubai today. The agreement comes in line with the ministry’s strategy to strengthen bilateral trade and economic relations between the two countries, in order… – Continue reading
The Australian Tax Office is preparing to take several companies to court over abuse of thin capitalisation rules and will start a wave of audits of large multinationals with complex cross-border loans, as it continues to take a hardline approach in the wake of its win against Chevron. The ATO… – Continue reading
Hong Kong (HKSAR) – Hong Kong has signed an agreement with New Zealand for conducting automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters (AEOI) from 2018 onwards, a Government spokesman said today (July 14). “We have been seeking to expand Hong Kong’s AEOI network with our tax treaty partners…. – Continue reading
Cameroon has officially become the 70th country to adhere to the convention of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), on mutual administrative assistance in tax matters. The act of accession to this convention has just been signed between OECD and the Cameroonian Minister of Finance, Alamine Ousmane Mey…. – Continue reading
Jakarta. Following Singapore’s willingness to cooperate with Indonesia’s tax authority, the government will move to create a bilateral tax agreement with the autonomous region of Macau “in a matter of days,” an official with the Directorate General of Taxes said on Thursday (13/07). “We just need to match our scheduling,”… – Continue reading
