The Government of the British Virgin Islands is pleased to announce that The British Virgin Islands (BVI) has been rated “Largely Compliant” for its approach to tax transparency and exchange of information, in the Supplementary Peer Review report published by The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for… – Continue reading
The Virgin Islands was rated “largely compliant” by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, according to BVI Finance, a government-sponsored body that promotes the territory’s financial services industry. The rating appeared in The Global Forum’s Supplementary Peer Review report, which reportedly analysed the practical… – Continue reading
Fears of a VDP application giving rise to a ‘witch hunt’ are ill-founded. The rapid development in international tax transparency over the past two years in the form of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Common Reporting Standard (CRS) has caused many South African taxpayers to consider regularising… – Continue reading
On August 7, 2015 the OECD published a Common Reporting Standard Implementation Handbook (Hereafter: the Handbook). According to the introduction included in the Handbook, the purpose of the Handbook is to assist government officials in the implementation of the Standard for the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax… – Continue reading
In April 2002 the OECD Global Forum Working Group on Effective Exchange of Information published a Model Agreement on Exchange of Information on Tax Matters (Hereafter: the Model TIEA). This Model TIEA contains an Article 5 which contains regulations arranging for the Exchange of Information Upon Request. As the current… – Continue reading
The UK will help Ghana clamp down on tax avoidance and evasion by sharing expertise to improve their tax system. The UK will work with the Government of Ghana to tackle tax evasion so the country can raise revenues and build stronger public services, International Development Secretary Justine Greening and… – Continue reading
Holding out no assurance of an absolute confidentiality to those disclosing foreign assets on their own, the government on Tuesday said details of information provided during the one-time compliance window can be revealed in the public interest. “In this (black money) law, there is no assurance of confidentiality but at… – Continue reading
THE South African Revenue Service (SARS) wants to be able to share disclosed financial information with countries with which it has multilateral exchange of information agreements. The ability to automatically exchange information with revenue authorities and with SA’s treaty partners would allow SARS to expand its tax base and help… – Continue reading
This article is the third in our current three part series discussing various impacts of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) efforts to address the perceived global tax problem of base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). The first article provided an overview of the key aspects of the… – Continue reading
The Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) was subjected to rigorous assessments by the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently in a bid to verify the island’s readiness to enact the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), reports Barbados Today. Anthony Gittens, the BRA’s manager of policy and planning, said as… – Continue reading
The tax authorities in Portugal today announced that the initial reporting deadline for foreign financial institutions has been extended to 30 November 2015 (from the original deadline of 31 July 2015). Also, while it has been reported that negotiations for an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between Portugal and the United States… – Continue reading
Governments that offer multi-national firms sweetheart tax deals should not be allowed to benefit if the European Union orders them to claw back the aid, according to a new report by the European Parliament’s special committee on tax rulings. Instead, the proceeds should be “returned to the member states which… – Continue reading
Anticipating a tough legislative fight, the European Parliament’s special committee investigating tax shelters plans to play its trump card: citizen outrage. The committee’s co-rapporteur Michael Theurer, a German MEP from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, told POLITICO’s German podcast that he expected “objections, difficulties and political resistance”… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The government today said it’s taking effective steps to deal with black money and will focus on high-impact cases with a view to prosecuting offenders expeditiously for credible deterrence against tax evasion. “While focusing on non-intrusive measures, due emphasis has been given on enforcement measures in high-impact cases… – Continue reading
Over the past year, a number of legislative measures have been adopted to ensure that the Cayman Islands remains the leading jurisdiction of choice for structured finance and capital markets transactions and for secured lending transactions generally. This article focuses on two recent key legislative developments. The first is the… – Continue reading
Over the past year, a number of legislative measures have been adopted to ensure that the Cayman Islands remains the leading jurisdiction of choice for structured finance and capital markets transactions and for secured lending transactions generally. This article focuses on two recent key legislative developments. The first is the… – Continue reading
Globalisation has brought many benefits in terms of cross?border trade, efficiency, competition and the free movement of goods and labour. But it has also allowed multinational corporations (MNCs) much greater freedom to reconfigure the location of manufacturing, operations, sales and corporate services in ways which channel reported profits ? and… – Continue reading
With the focus of 2014 being international tax competition, 2015 shows signs of continuing this trend. The European Commission (COM) and European Parliament (EP) are starting to debate and extensively investigate Member States’ tax ruling policies, partly as a result of the LuxLeaks revelations and partly in relation to the… – Continue reading
The Supreme Court-appointed special investigative team’s (SIT’s) recommendation of stricter norms for participatory notes (P-notes), to check the flow of unaccounted money, is likely to be viewed negatively by the market. The SIT had last week suggested the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) put in place regulations to… – Continue reading
Over the past few weeks the European Union has published a list of 30 countries which have been listed as non-cooperative jurisdictions. This publication was part of a wider publication: the “Action Plan for Fair and Efficient Corporate Taxation in the EU” which also includes the Re-Launching of the CCCTB…. – Continue reading
It is widely recognized that offshore banking secrecy is fast becoming a thing of the past. The signing of bi-lateral and multi-lateral agreements between jurisdictions and the fast approaching Common Reporting Standard (CRS) under which jurisdictions will automatically exchange financial information has seen to that. The UK’s voluntary disclosure program… – Continue reading
In order to provide the necessary legislative amendments required to implement the tax proposals that were announced in the 2015 National Budget on 25 February 2015, the National Treasury (Treasury) published the 2015 Draft Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill (TALAB) on 22 July 2015 for public comment. One of the… – Continue reading
The link between global tax transparency and domestic resource mobilization was a key issue discussed at the sidelines of the Financing for Development conference. The side event, jointly organised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and UN-DESA,was attended by President of the African Development Bank, Donald Kaberuka,… – Continue reading
In recent years, the popularity of the Canada Revenue Agency’s voluntary disclosures program – which enables taxpayers to correct any mistakes or omissions in their previous tax filings – has ballooned. When taxpayers come forward, their tax problems get solved, the CRA reduces the accrued interest and, most important, waives… – Continue reading
Several measures have been taken to combat black money both by way of policy level initiatives as well as through more effective enforcement action. The fall in deposits by Indians in Swiss banks may be a result of the steps being taken by the government to unearth black money stashed… – Continue reading
THE HAUGE, July 20 (Xinhua) — The Dutch-German agreement to enhance the exchange of information on tax rulings was “an important step” towards greater transparency, but there is still a long way to go before reaching common ground on harmonized corporate tax policies within the European Union (EU), according to… – Continue reading
A sweeping global reform of tax systems is under way and will have profound implications for the insurance industry, the London-based International Underwriting Association has warned. Responding to public concerns about tax evasion, the G20 major economies have ordered a major shift towards greater cooperation between tax authorities. This work… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: To protect confidentiality of tax information from abroad, the CBDT has warned of stern action against those making unauthorised disclosures as it amounts to breach of treaty commitments and cause embarrassment to the government. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said the confidentiality of taxpayers’ information has… – Continue reading
The government confirms its commitment to tackling tax evasion and increasing international tax transparency by the introduction of new rules on automatic exchange of information concerning, amongst other things, offshore accounts. As announced as part of the pre-election 2015 Budget, the government will legislate to require financial intermediaries and tax… – Continue reading
Germany and the Netherlands have signed a new agreement that provides for the “spontaneous” exchange of information on advance pricing agreements and advance tax rulings. The agreement was signed in Brussels on July 14, 2015. Under the new agreement, both countries have committed to the mutual exchange of information on… – Continue reading
The rising exchange of information between countries is also leading to the disclosure of more details about these taxpayers’ affairs. Along with other countries, SA is paying closer attention to its residents’ cross-border activities. But while compliance is necessary, industry experts warn that overly aggressive tax enforcement in SA could… – Continue reading
The short answer to the question of the connection between Canada’s new anti-terrorism laws and taxes is that recent amendments to the Income Tax and Excise Tax Acts which arise through the Anti-Terrorism Act permit more extensive disclosure and sharing of private and confidential taxpayer information. The longer answer is… – Continue reading
Switzerland and the EU have signed a major accord to automatically exchange information on the financial accounts of each other’s residents. EU taxpayers will no longer be able to hide undeclared funds in Swiss banks. After coming up to increased international pressure in recent years, Switzerland has signed up to… – Continue reading
The Indo-US deal on the Act will help both fight coountries tax evasion. Here’s a primer on how you could be affected The United States and India struck a bilateral deal on Thursday that would enable them to track the assets of nationals from both countries. As per the terms… – Continue reading
The implementation of tax information reporting agreements is costing the financial services sector a pretty penny. Financial Services Councillor Roy McTaggart told Cayman 27 the industry has spent time and money making sure their systems are compatible with government’s recently established reporting portal, which ultimately transmits the information to the… – Continue reading
The ministry of financial services has announced that Cayman will implement the OECD common reporting standard later this year. The CRS standardizes the global automatic exchange of information for tax purposes. Automatic exchange of information will ultimately lead to the transmission of large amounts of data, such as the investment… – Continue reading
Barbados and other Caribbean leaders who held a recent summit in Bridgetown want the European Union to lift the blacklisting of Caribbean offshore jurisdictions immediately, reports the Barbados Advocate. The demand is contained in the Heads of Government Communique which was issued following the July 2-4 summit at the Hilton…. – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: India said it was cracking down on attempts to launder black money locally and told people with unaccounted assets abroad that it will become increasingly difficult to conceal these, urging them to make use of a window that shuts on September 30. The government will start receiving financial… – Continue reading
Finance Act 2015 has expanded the scope of the agreements meant for avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion to be executed by the federal government. Explaining the Finance Act 2015, Former FBR Member Habib Fakharuddin said that the federal government may enter into an agreement, bilateral or… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: India is likely to sign the inter-governmental pact for the US tax compliance law FATCA on Thursday, a move that will help it fight tax evasion. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is aimed at combating possible tax evasion by Americans through financial entities of other countries. The… – Continue reading
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – the leading international standards-setter for tax transparency and cooperation – has underlined Guernsey’s reputation as a cooperative jurisdiction, reports Guernsey Finance. Monica Bhatia, Head of the Secretariat of the OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes… – Continue reading
There are estimated to be one million Britons living in Spain, with UK expatriates making up the largest group of European foreign nationals. Many Britons arrive with certain misconceptions around the tax and financial make-up of the country. The foreign perception of the Spanish tax system is made up of… – Continue reading
The OECD has backed Guernsey in its fight against tax haven status, describing the crown dependency’s inclusion on the European Commission’s list of top 30 non-compliant tax jurisdictions as “very surprising”. Monica Bhatia, head of the secretariat of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Global Forum on Transparency and… – Continue reading
The Automatic Exchange of Information is fast becoming widely recognised as the most effective instrument to fight against tax evasion. With cooperation between tax administrations being high on the agenda in the ongoing fight against tax evasion, protection of integrity of tax systems, and transparency processes seem to be infiltrating… – Continue reading
The next step for the Cayman Islands in relation to international tax cooperation is the implementation later this year of the OECD Common Reporting Standard (CRS). The CRS standardises the global automatic exchange of information (AEOI) for tax purposes. Financial Services Minister Wayne Panton said the CRS will further strengthen… – Continue reading
OECD common reporting standard On 3 June 2015, the Treasurer announced that Australia had signed the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) common reporting standard (CRS) Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement which enables automatic exchange of CRS information between countries. Australia proposes to implement the CRS from 1 January 2017,… – Continue reading
The Swiss Federal Council is to postpone a planned overhaul of the withholding tax (WHT) system and re-examine the appropriateness of the reforms at a later date, reports Tax News. In Switzerland, WHT is levied on interest, participation income, lottery winnings, and certain insurance benefits. It is collected from the… – Continue reading
The Turks and Caicos Islands is compliant with the Global Forum’s standards on exchange of tax information said its Minister of Finance today, Thursday, 25 June 2015. The Honourable Washington Misick was responding to a European Commission (EC) document that appeared to list 30 territories across the world that it… – Continue reading
Executive summary On 8 June 2015, the Presidency of the EU Council (Latvia) sent a report (The Report) to the Permanent Representatives Committee and the European Council. The Report sets out the current state, as well as a number of open issues and questions, in regard to the 18 March… – Continue reading
Government data suggests there may be tax shenanigans going on in the city of Richmond, a situation that clearly is intolerable. Questions have been raised by a recent Vancouver Sun report by Douglas Todd about residents in the upscale neighbourhood of Thompson, located in northwest Richmond. Former Richmond mayor Greg… – Continue reading
