The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) impacts Irish funds from 1 January 2016. The CRS framework represents a globally coordinated approach to the disclosure of income earned by individuals and organisations in order to combat tax evasion. It emerged from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in February 2014… – Continue reading
DUBLIN (Alliance News) – After the European Commission ruling that multinationals received unfair tax benefits in the Netherlands and Luxembourg, Ireland is braced for an EC ruling on whether its taxation treatment of technology company Apple constituted state aid. “I don’t know what the outcome will be, but this is… – Continue reading
Amazon, Facebook and Google in line of fire after committee backs proposals to force multinational corporations to pay tax where they make their sales MEPs have launched a scathing attack on Facebook, Google and Amazon in the European parliament, accusing them of diverting profits worth billions of pounds to low… – Continue reading
As Deputy Prime Minister, the holier-than-thou Nick Clegg made huge play of how his Lib Dems forced their Tory Coalition partners to crack down on tax avoidance. Offshore tax havens, in particular, were his target, when he said: ‘There are millions of people who pay their taxes . . …. – Continue reading
Leaders of world’s major economies gather in Turkish city of Antalya Leaders of the world’s major economies gather in the Turkish city of Antalya this weekend for the tenth annual G20 summit. The summit takes place at a sensitive moment in international affairs. The war in Syria and the resulting… – Continue reading
SPAIN is among Europe’s worst offenders for helping firms launder money and avoid paying tax. According to European Network report, 50 Shades of Tax Dodging, Spain is the fourth worst offender behind Luxembourg, Germany and Italy. The report accuses Spain of conducting the most aggressive tax treaty negotiations with developing… – Continue reading
Luxembourg and Netherlands must recoup unpaid tax from Fiat and Starbucks of €20m-€30 each The European Commission has ordered Luxembourg and the Netherlands to recover unpaid tax from Fiat and Starbucks in the region of €20 million to €30 million each. On October 21st, competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager condemned tax… – Continue reading
The Group of Twenty (G20) is the premier forum for its members’ international economic cooperation and decision-making. Its membership comprises 19 countries plus the European Union and together they represent 85% of global Gross Domestic Product. The 2015 G20 Summit will be held in Turkey for the first time and… – Continue reading
By the very criteria set in the United States by the Multistate Tax Commission (MTC), several states in the US are “tax havens”. But, they have not been named in the legislation passed by the legislatures of Oregon, Montana and others. Among the MTC criteria for determining a tax haven… – Continue reading
Macky Sall, the Senegalese president, tells journalists on the sidelines of the Malta migrants summit that Africa would have no need of handouts if wealthy governments stopped multinationals avoiding legitimate taxation in their countries African leaders have rejected a European Union bid to curb migration with aid payments as “not… – Continue reading
Ireland has among the lowest taxes in Europe. However, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is not impressed. They warned Ireland that it will have to spend more time selling itself in the new era of global tax transparency if it wants to experience meaningful economic growth. OECD… – Continue reading
A bill submitted to the Luxembourg Parliament in November 2015 would transpose, into Luxembourg domestic law, an EU directive amending a 2011 directive for administrative cooperation and concerning the exchange of information on request. The directive (2011/16/EU) as amended, is referred to as “DAC 2” (the updated “directive on administrative… – Continue reading
VALLETTA) – Senegalese President Macky Sall called Thursday for multinationals to pay their fair share of taxes following a summit with EU leaders aimed at curbing the poverty fuelling mass migration to Europe. Sall also said Africans should receive a a fair price for their natural resources when he addressed… – Continue reading
Chief economist says clampdown on tax avoidance will be ‘negative for Ireland’ Ireland will have to sell itself as more than just a low-tax destination in the new era of global tax transparency, OECD chief economist Catherine Mann has said. She said moves to better align taxable profits with real… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: A US passport doesn’t look like such a priced possession anymore. Some Indians even want to surrender their hard-won green cards. India and the US are set to freely exchange financial information about their citizens, leaving no asset concealed. This could mean US tax officials imposing punitive levies on… – Continue reading
The Swiss Federal Council has adopted a dispatch on a protocol to the double tax agreement (DTA) with Albania. The protocol was signed on September 9 and the dispatch was adopted on November 11. Its aim is to bring the DTA into line with Switzerland’s current policy on tax agreements…. – Continue reading
The final reports on the G20/OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project were issued on 5 October (the “Reports”) after a two-year consultation period during which 62 countries and many other stakeholders (such as the World Bank, the IMF, and many trade associations) participated. These Reports, split into 15… – Continue reading
Thanks to the FiTAX tax reporting solution, some 2,000 financial institutions successfully met the reporting requirements of tax authorities. FiTAX FATCA covers more than 45 countries. ZURICH, SWITZERLAND—(Marketwired – Nov. 12, 2015) – 2015 marks a turning point in the FATCA timeline: for the first time, Financial Foreign Institutions (FFIs)… – Continue reading
Irish corporation tax returns are behaving oddly: the Department of Finance estimates that they are running €2 billion (74 percent) ahead of forecast for the year. Economist Seamus Coffey has described these figures as “very strange”. Coincidentally (or perhaps not) the global accounts of the Apple corporation revealed an increase… – Continue reading
The nine-month old Team Unity administration has been pursuing quiet diplomacy to recalibrate international relationships for the benefit of the people of St. Kitts and Nevis, reports SKN Vibes. So said St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris at last week’s press conference at government headquarters…. – Continue reading
Austria’s legislative implementation of the common reporting standard (CRS) requires the exchange of information beginning in 2018 (instead of 2017 as in most EU Member States). DUE DILIGENCE Austria has voluntarily agreed to apply the new financial account “due diligence” requirement for accounts opened on or after 1 October 2016,… – Continue reading
Apple chief executive Tim Cook said he was feeling “pretty good” ahead of the European Union’s judgement on its Irish tax arrangements, as the company announced 1,000 new jobs in Ireland on Wednesday. Ireland’s tax arrangements with the US tech giant are under investigation by the EU to see if… – Continue reading
European Union lawmakers have called 13 multinational companies to a meeting next week to talk about the low-tax deals they have struck with EU jurisdictions, reports CBC News. Among the companies to be questioned on Nov. 16 will be Amazon.com, Disney, Coca-Cola Co, Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, HSBC Holdings, Ikea Group… – Continue reading
Finland’s Minister for Foreign Trade and development, Lenita Toivakka, has admitted being involved in a scheme to reduce tax liabilities on a multi-million euro shopping centre development in Mikkeli. She insisted that the arrangement was legal as well as commonplace for international property investors. Finland’s Minister for Foreign Trade and… – Continue reading
On November 10, 2015 the European Commission published a brochure titled “Did you know… Facts and figures about the European Union and the G20 – 2015 Turkey G20 Antalya, 15>16 November 2015”. According to the European Commission, the brochure sets out the European Commission’s aims for the G20 summit. The… – Continue reading
Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has defended his country’s low rate of corporation tax, currently set at 6.25 per cent, and Dublin’s arrangements with global corporations which house subsidiaries in the country, reports Digital Look. Over the last decade, major corporations such as Google and Dell have created corporate subsidiaries… – Continue reading
The European Union’s top antitrust official lauded rulings ordering two companies to repay tens of millions of euros in back taxes as she considers similar decisions involving Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. European Union competition chief Margrethe Vestager told lawmakers Monday that the rulings last month against Starbucks Corp. and… – Continue reading
France wants an agreement on a financial transactions tax (FTT) struck on Monday after a meeting of euro zone finance ministers, Finance Minister Michel Sapin said, reports Reuters. “We have done most of the technical work. I think the time has come to make a decision,” Sapin told reporters. “We… – Continue reading
The Council of European Union has revoked Directive 2003/48/EC, which has allowed tax administrations better access to information on private savers since 2005. By revoking the directive, which is part of a tax transparency package presented by the Commission in March this year, the Council says it strengthens measures to… – Continue reading
Think tank says Ireland has ‘robust’ growth and Budget 2016 was ‘reasonable’ The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has warned of big threats to Ireland’s “robust” growth, among them the risk of another property bubble. Amid anxiety in the EU/IMF troika about Government moves to loosen the fiscal stance,… – Continue reading
Ireland is expecting European Union regulators to issue a decision on the country’s tax deal with Apple before the end of the year. The Irish finance minister said the move could force the iPhone maker to pay substantial back taxes. The European Commission has already ordered Dutch authorities to recover… – Continue reading
The Belgian Federal Parliament recently adopted a new controlled foreign corporation provision, known as the “Cayman tax”, that allows Belgian tax authorities to look through low-taxed offshore structures to directly tax their Belgian resident founders and third-party beneficiaries on the structure’s income. Belgium’s introduction of the Cayman tax is in… – Continue reading
Over the weekend, German news magazine, Der Spiegel, reported that over many years EU member states such as Luxembourg and the Netherlands have sabotaged attempts to counter profit shifting to low tax jurisdictions via ‘patent boxes’ under the political leadership of current President of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker,… – Continue reading
Legislative proposals being considered in France would require the automatic filing of transfer pricing documentation and, as part of this documentation, country-by-country reporting. STATUS OF PROPOSALS The Finance Committee of the French National Assembly has started its consideration of tax provisions relating to the second part of the Finance Bill… – Continue reading
Transportation and other issues also taken up by the Cabinet Prague, Nov 9 (ČTK) —The Czech government today approved the Industry and Trade Ministry’s program Expansion, under which Kč 9.5 billion (€350 million) should be provided in support of small and medium-sized enterprises until 2020, Deputy Prime Minister Pavel Bělobrádek… – Continue reading
Millions more Greeks need to start paying taxes says OECD boss, as Athens likely to fall short in bid to secure €2bn cash injection this week Greece is battling to secure the release of €2bn in bail-out cash as one of the world’s foremost tax chiefs has warned the country… – Continue reading
FRANKFURT (The Street) — Europe’s allure as a tax haven for U.S. multinationals may be coming to an end. That’s because European Union regulators are closing up tax loopholes that U.S. companies have been enjoying for years. The first two to feel the heat are Starbucks (SBUX – Get Report)… – Continue reading
Leave.EU, supported by Ukip and financed by a multimillionaire, vies to lead Britain’s exit from Europe A leading campaign group seeking to take Britain out of the European Union was set up by an offshore company that offers tax avoidance services to “high net worth individuals”, the Observer can reveal…. – Continue reading
No member state of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) ranks among the top 20 jurisdictions worldwide for financial secrecy. The United States of America (at number 3), Germany (8), Japan (12) and Britain (15), all rate as bigger tax havens than any CARICOM jurisdiction, according to the Tax Justice Network (TJN),… – Continue reading
The recent corporation tax controversy highlighted by US presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is not damaging Ireland’s reputation as a place to do business, said the former chief executive of Apple, John Sculley. According to Mr Sculley, the controversy is simply part of US election fever. Known as… – Continue reading
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, Friday November 6, 2015 – No member state of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) ranks among the top 20 jurisdictions worldwide for financial secrecy. The United States of America (at number 3), Germany (8), Japan (12) and Britain (15), all rate as bigger tax havens than any CARICOM… – Continue reading
On 14 October 2015, the Luxembourg Minister of Finance presented a bill to Parliament on the state budget for 2016. This bill contains several proposals affecting corporate taxpayers. One of the main proposals is the abolition of the intellectual property regime. Similar tax relief systems, known as “IP box” or… – Continue reading
British MEP Anneliese Dodds has accused national governments of hampering progress in tackling corporate tax dodging, warning that EU capitals are “far too focussed on their own self-interests”. On the anniversary of the breaking of the LuxLeaks scandal, Dodds said MEPs had made some progress in stamping out aggressive tax… – Continue reading
Since Minister Noonan announced in October 2014 that Ireland would introduce a “best-in-class” Knowledge Development Box (“KDB” ), there has been a lot of speculation about ‘how low would he go’. Budget 2016 announced that the rate of tax which will apply for income qualifying under the new KDB will… – Continue reading
The European Network on Debt and Development (also known as “Eurodad”), a network of NGOs, has issued a recent report identifying European nations that have served as havens for tax evasion and money laundering. According to the report, Germany, Luxembourg, and Spain are among the most egregious offenders. By turning… – Continue reading
The UK government has a ‘Janus-faced’ approach to tax, a new report suggests: promising an increasingly intolerant approach to evasion and avoidance while being an aggressive participant in global tax competition and tolerating the UK tax havens which facilitate financial crime across the world. The report, Fifty Shades of Tax… – Continue reading
The blacklisting of Hong Kong by the European Union is over for the moment with Spain explaining to the EU it didn’t have HK on its list. In the course of investigation, Harbour Times receives a quick response from the Latvian embassy in Beijing to clarify their stance on Hong… – Continue reading
Eurodad’s country comparison table, showing how each of the studied countries fared in the evaluation of four tax-related categories. Germany, Luxembourg, and Spain are egregious offenders in “supporting an unjust global tax system,” according to a new report from the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad), a network of… – Continue reading
The President of the European Council Donald Tusk and the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, who are representing the European Union at the G20 summit in Antalya (Turkey) on November 15th and 16th, have set out the EU’s agenda in a joint letter sent to EU Heads of… – Continue reading
One year after the announced closing off of the Double Irish tax arrangement, U.S. multinationals once again turned their attention to Dublin as Ireland announced details of the Knowledge Development Box, or KDB. This new component to its corporate tax regime will allow companies to pay a reduced corporate tax… – Continue reading
