Many countries have enacted a patent box regime in order to spur innovation and create domestic manufacturing jobs. Simply stated, a patent box regime provides a lower tax rate on income from the exploitation of patented goods than for other income. Among the countries that have patent box regimes are… – Continue reading
BARBADOS’ OFFSHORE FINANCIAL SERVICES SECTOR is again under threat. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), G20 and the European Union (EU) are acting in concert, armed with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). Once implemented, the confidentiality which once protected financial… – Continue reading
EU commissioner urges member states to ensure fair share of tax is paid EU economics commissioner Pierre Moscovici reiterated his commitment to re-launch the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base yesterday, urging all EU member states to ensure that companies pay their fair share of tax. Speaking following a meeting of… – Continue reading
Speaking at an informal meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) in Luxembourg, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna once again expressed Malta’s opposition to tax harmonization. “Taxation remains a sensitive area for Malta, not only because of its obvious role in the revenue collection process, but also as an important… – Continue reading
PwC has acquired software company Ellis Financial Systems in a bid to more rapidly meet new tax information reporting required under such regimes as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). It has been re-named PwC Tax Information Reporting, and will operate from London. The acquisition represents one of many… – Continue reading
An initiative intended to catch tax dodgers could have a negative impact on those with perfectly legitimate bank accounts. Tax expert Howard Bilton offers advice The draconian Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), introduced by the US Government to tackle tax evasion by its citizens, has already affected Britons living… – Continue reading
Policies are urgently needed for the legalization of the underground economy,” said Representative Oh Je-se of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, who belongs to the Planning and Financial Committee of the National Assembly on Sept. 10. Rep. Oh added that Korea places sixth among OECD member countries in terms… – Continue reading
Recently the Curaçao Minister of Justice, Mr. Nelson Navarro, approved the so-called Investor’s Permit to accommodate bonafide high net worth persons and entrepreneurs who seek admission to Curaçao. The purpose of the Investor’s Permit is for the investor to provide real economic benefit to Curaçao by increasing employment opportunities and… – Continue reading
Introduction Shaped three decades ago by the then Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, Vision 2020 outlined Malaysia’s goals in becoming a fully developed nation. With the country’s move towards achieving this ‘Malaysian dream’, more Malaysian companies are venturing and investing outside of Malaysia. The increase in trade transactions… – Continue reading
Japan’s ruling coalition has recently approved a long-awaited reform of the country’s corporate tax system. The plan includes reducing the tax rate by 3.29 percentage points, far more in line with other OECD countries. It is hoped that this will stem the tide of Japanese companies moving abroad, as well… – Continue reading
The OECD has told the Group of Twenty nations (G-20) that it will deliver its final recommendations to tackle base erosion and profit shifting on schedule, in October. At the G-20’s meeting on September 21-22, 2015, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said: “I hope to present in Lima [on October 8]… – Continue reading
EFFORTS by rich countries to find international solutions to prevent the erosion of a country’s tax base are being met with suspicion and cynicism from poor countries, tax experts warned at the annual Tax Indaba in Sandton on Tuesday. The base erosion and profit shifting (Beps) project was set in… – Continue reading
On April 1, 2015, Cyprus and South Africa signed a Protocol amending their existing double taxation agreement (“DTA”), which was signed in 1997 and has been in force since December 8, 1998. At the time the original DTA was concluded, dividends arising in South Africa were not subjected to South… – Continue reading
The international financial sector faces a perilous future. Major challenges loom over an uncertain global economy, while a decidedly negative political climate poses an existential threat to the offshore financial community. With each passing year, thanks to demographic changes and poorly designed fiscal policies, politicians from high-tax nations will be… – Continue reading
On July 30, 2015, the Netherlands and Indonesia signed a protocol (the “Protocol”) amending an agreement between the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Government of the Republic of Indonesia for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion, originally signed on January 29,… – Continue reading
Multinational companies are facing far more expansive and complex audits by tax authorities fighting over the same pot of profits as budget deficits continue to increase, reports BD Live. An inevitable outcome of efforts globally to prevent tax bases from erosion is double taxation and increased disputes over adjusted assessments… – Continue reading
Antigua and Barbuda’s ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders, has written to the mayor of the District of Columbia, Muriel Brower, and several members of the US congress calling for the removal of Antigua and Barbuda from a list of alleged “tax havens”, reports Caribbean News Now. Antigua… – Continue reading
In September 2014, the Hurun Research Institute published its annual listing of the richest people in China. It showed that IT tycoon Ma Yun had increased his personal fortune during the last year by 500% to $25 billion and in doing so, had climbed to first position on the list…. – Continue reading
Switzerland will allow stolen data acquired through official means to form the basis for a request for assistance but will help India only for post-2011 bank accounts, that too as long as Swiss courts don’t interfere Geneva: Switzerland’s proposed changes on treating stolen information have generated much optimism in India… – Continue reading
G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors released their third communique of 2015 over the weekend. Their rhetoric is notable for the calm statement of positive reassurance on the macroeconomic environment, although the direct policy commitments appear to be light on. In the communique, Ministers and Governors recognised the significant… – Continue reading
At the 69th IFA Congress in Basel, Taxsutra’s Arun Giri, accompanied by well known tax expert Mukesh Bhutani, interviewed India’s Competent Authority Akhilesh Ranjan. Mr. Ranjan is leading the country’s charge on BEPS, and offers candid views on various issues including confidentiality of information, possibility of a BEPS outcome that… – Continue reading
New York, NY, September 05, 2015 –(PR.com)– The Knowledge Group/The Knowledge Congress Live Webcast Series, the leading producer of regulatory focused webcasts, has announced today that Colleen P. Waddell, Managing Director, Outlier Solutions will speak at the Knowledge Group’s webcast entitled: “Latest Regulatory Developments Under FATCA: Best Compliance Practices Uncovered… – Continue reading
Panama’s Presidential High Level Commission for the Defense of International and Financial Services (CANDSIF) recently held a meeting to review the country’s progress on improving tax transparency and combating money laundering, reports Tax News. In particular, CANDSIF reviewed legislation passed earlier this year as part of Panama’s commitment to address… – Continue reading
On 17 June 2015, the European Commission launched its action plan for fair and efficient taxation in the EU. Within the package to be consulted upon are plans for a common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) and a number of administrative measures around cross-border cooperation, dispute resolution and greater transparency…. – Continue reading
A number of further publications have been released this quarter as part of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s (OECD’s) Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. These include: The 8 June 2015 publication by the OECD of a package of measures relating to “country- by-country reporting” (relevant to… – Continue reading
The inquiry raises some larger and perhaps more challenging questions about Australia’s corporate tax system and what is acceptable and unacceptable tax minimisation. On 18 August 2015, the Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance tabled a long-awaited interim report, with the subtitle “You cannot tax what you cannot see”. The… – Continue reading
On August 12 the IRS issued final guidance (Rev. Proc. 2015-40) significantly updating procedures for requesting and obtaining an advance pricing agreement (APA) from the Advance Pricing and Mutual Agreement (APMA) program. All new APA requests will need to be filed under these “new procedures”, however, an APA request may… – Continue reading
Three-quarters of global business leaders would accept higher taxes in exchange for greater clarity on acceptable tax planning, the Grant Thornton International Business Report has found. The survey of 2,580 businesses in 35 countries noted a significant increase from the last time the question was asked – last year –… – Continue reading
New Zealand: GST and the digital economy The New Zealand Government has released a Discussion Document regarding the proposal to impose goods and services tax (GST) on online purchases of goods and services from offshore suppliers by New Zealand resident consumers. The publication Taxing by the megabyte: New Zealand’s GST… – Continue reading
Based on the overview of Jurisdictions Participating in the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters as available on the website of the OECD, on August 31, 2015 Mauritius deposited its instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval for the Protocol of the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance… – Continue reading
U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), House Ways and Means Committee chairman, sent a letter on Tuesday to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, outlining concerns regarding the country-by-country (CbC) reporting requirements in the works at the Treasury Department. The letter… – Continue reading
Mexico’s government withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in tax refunds owed to Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and Colgate combined as it sought to coax them and other multinationals to pay more income tax locally, according to people close to the talks. After luring foreign companies with corporate tax breaks… – Continue reading
International worldwide transactions in Mexico face a weakness as a result of an old and outdated provision which disallows for income tax purposes, the deduction of payments made abroad on a prorated basis with other parties that are not subject to Mexican income tax, such as foreign residents with no… – Continue reading
NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwired – Aug 31, 2015) – Cross-border mergers and acquisitions are at their hottest pace since before the financial crisis. In fact, M&A volume was $1.10 trillion in 2014, up from $775.3 billion in 2013 and the highest since 2008. And intangible assets like intellectual property and goodwill… – Continue reading
Proposals for consistent global rules on company tax cause worries all round CLARITY or chaos? Supporters of the Base Erosion and Profit-Shifting (BEPS) project, being worked on by the OECD, argue that it will bind multinationals to a consistent set of global tax rules, providing them with less licence than… – Continue reading
After years of commentary on FATCA from a distance, this writer got a little taste of it up close. It left a very unpleasant aftertaste and is taking a long time to go down. FATCA is bad for America. While knowing of, and criticising FATCA for years, it finally became… – Continue reading
Reevaluating reporting options and investmentsSmart choices and targeted investments today may help contain the approaching resource crunch and the long term costs of compliance FATCA has placed tax reporting front and center with management committees of financial institutions, but it represents just the tip of a potentially larger iceberg. Legislation… – Continue reading
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) today sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew that outlines their concerns regarding the inclusion on the IRS / Treasury Department’s Priority Guidance Plan of a project to issue regulations relating to… – Continue reading
The Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance Bob Richards today [Aug 28] commented on a report that Bermuda has been named to a new tax haven list drawn up by the District of Columbia in the US. While such changes would first have to be reviewed by the US Congress… – Continue reading
The two top Republican tax writers in Congress are warning the Treasury Department not to get ahead of Congress as it negotiates new international tax rules, questioning whether the administration is seeking to wield power it does not have. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and House Ways and… – Continue reading
Pakistan has decided to revise obsolete convention of double taxation and provision of fiscal evasion convention with the United State of America (USA) aimed at bringing the treaty at par with neighbouring countries, well informed sources told Business Recorder. Pakistan and US signed a convention on the avoidance of double… – Continue reading
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a recently released report that Latvia should review inefficient elements of its tax regime. According to the report, Improving public sector efficiency for more inclusive growth in Latvia, there is scope to improve tax efficiency by lowering taxes on labor income… – Continue reading
The Swiss cabinet has urged parliament to reject an initiative aimed at maintaining banking secrecy for domestic private bank clients. In recent years, Switzerland’s much-vaunted tradition of banking secrecy has been under constant pressure. On Wednesday the government dismissed calls to anchor the protection of domestic Swiss banking secrecy in… – Continue reading
Security fears; Global authorities to begin sharing sensitive data If you have a bank account somewhere overseas, that information will make its way back to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in a couple of years. In 2018, international tax authorities will begin automatically sharing financial information under the terms of… – Continue reading
A working party of the EU Council is meeting on September 2, 2015, to discuss policy responses to base erosion and profit shifting. The working party will discuss a number of inter-related issues, including minimum effective tax rates; the EU’s Code of Conduct on business taxation, which is used to… – Continue reading
This month’s feature examines proposals for new tax information reporting requirements for large multinational businesses as part of wider and ongoing changes to the international tax system – proposals which have been described by international tax experts as the most significant development in the field of transfer pricing since TP… – Continue reading
Until recently, demonstrating empirically the value of International Finance Centres (IFCs) to global economies has proven relatively difficult. Despite IFCs being able to point to the high quality of their regulation and the endorsement they receive on a consistent basis from global authorities such as the OECD and IMF, this… – Continue reading
Next week, G20 finance ministers and central bank governors will gather for their third meeting during Turkey’s presidency. With just two and half months until leaders assemble in Antalya for this year’s summit, these meetings give the G20 an opportunity to confirm 2015 outcomes and demonstrate that the G20 remains… – Continue reading
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was enacted in 2010 by the Government of the United States of America (USA) (Govt. of US) with a view to combat tax evasion by U.S. citizens and residents through the use of offshore accounts. FATCA requires financial institutions globally to share information about… – Continue reading
The Maltese climate, culture, history and lifestyle make Malta an attractive place to live in. The fact that this is coupled with a beneficial tax system for people taking up residence in Malta makes Malta an even more desirable location. Introduction to Malta Situated in the middle of the Mediterranean… – Continue reading
