BERNE: Switzerland and the European Union stepped closer on Tuesday to resolving a near-decade long dispute over corporate tax rates, a sign of cooperation between the two amid friction over immigration policy. The pair signed an agreement, announced late last month, which outlined Switzerland’s intention to propose scrapping long-cherished rules… – Continue reading
SURAT: A team of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) from Ahmedabad trapped 12 persons at Songadh check-post on Gujarat-Maharashtra border for allowing trucks to enter the state without paying commercial tax at the sales tax check-post. A team of ACB led by police inspector K T Kamaria carried out checking at Songadh… – Continue reading
A White Plains federal grand jury has indicted state Sen. Thomas Libous, R-Binghamton, on a charge of lying to federal agents, and his son, Westchester County attorney Matthew Libous, on charges of tax evasion, it was announced Tuesday. Thomas Libous, who represents a district that includes Broome, Chenango, Delaware and… – Continue reading
Having resolved his tax fraud with an $11.5 million payment, local businessman John Gizzi almost landed himself in prison last month by attending a Republican Party barbecue. “You’re seen as the millionaire who walked away with a probation sentence and bought himself out of federal prison,” U.S. District Judge Frank… – Continue reading
AN information technology (IT) technician is now before the court while several others, including business operators, are said to be under investigation for allegedly defrauding Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) of more than $1 billion in revenue. TAJ said yesterday that it will ensure all involved in the massive billion-dollar revenue… – Continue reading
The federal first-time homebuyer tax credit programs expired near the end of 2011, but there is still tax help out there depending on the state or county where you live. For example, states such as Delaware, Texas, Kentucky and many more states have local homebuyer tax credit programs that you can take advantage of. Other… – Continue reading
RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh commercial tax department, which recently unearthed the multi-crore rupee bogus billing scam, is all set to investigate the role of lawyers, who were responsible for registration of taxpayer identification number (TIN) of the phony companies involved in the racket. The department has also decided to impose heavy penalties,… – Continue reading
Sentenced in absentia, Nassef Sawiris is also fined LE50 million for refraining from paying due checks to Egypt’s tax authority Egypt’s wealthiest man, Nassef Sawiris, has been sentenced in absentia to three years in prison and fines worth LE50 million on charges of refraining from paying due checks to Egypt’s… – Continue reading
Guernsey’s Income Tax Department is cracking down on tax evasion. Islanders who haven’t declared interest they’ve received from the bank in past tax forms they’ve handed in, are being given more time to come forward with the details. If they don’t come forward and correct any discrepancies before the 31st… – Continue reading
SURAT: Central excise arrested Nirav Pramod Desai for evasion of service tax to the tune of Rs 60 lakh on Monday. He was sent to jail for 11 days by a court. Desai is proprietor of High Tech Engineers, Surat. In the period from 2009-10 to 2012-13, he had collected… – Continue reading
A federal appeals court has upheld the tax-evasion conviction of a once-influential Chicago Democrat. Monday’s 26-page ruling from a three-judge panel is at least partly academic. Last month, former Cook County Commissioner William Beavers completed his six-month prison term for failing to declare campaign cash he used to gamble. His… – Continue reading
Australia’s taxing agency is doubling efforts to identify individuals with undisclosed foreign income and assets so they can participate in a streamlined tax program for individuals with offshore assets, the agency said Monday. The Australian Taxation Office said it is sorting through data to identify people with offshore assets so… – Continue reading
When Canada’s banks reopen for business on July 2, they will begin formally operating as informants for the United States Internal Revenue Service — the IRS. Financial institutions in Canada will be required to ask all new and existing clients opening a new account questions such as where they were… – Continue reading
Just days before the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act’s entry into force, China and the United States initialed a model one intergovernmental agreement (IGA) on June 26, 2014, to simplify the process for financial institutions in both territories to provide relevant information to support tax enforcement activities under the Act…. – Continue reading
So much of what Switzerland has traditionally stood for is now anathema to its neighbours in Europe and other members of the club of developed nations: confidentiality underpinned by strong banking secrecy laws; and a liberal tax regime offering a tax sanctuary to the wealthy and multinational companies. To a… – Continue reading
Liechtenstein is betting its offer to automatically share tax data on banking clients will end the principality’s decades-long reputation as a tax haven, a top bank official said. Simon Tribelhorn, director of the Liechtenstein Bankers Association, said the announcement in November to lock in automatic-exchange agreements with five European nations… – Continue reading
Mining company Glencore has denied reports that it has evaded taxes in Australia for the last three years in spite of earning A$15bn. The company said that it has paid A$8bn in royalties and taxes in the country over the last seven years. An earlier report by the Sunday Morning… – Continue reading
SAN DIEGO (CNS) – A San Diego tax attorney and certified public accountant was convicted Monday in a complex tax-evasion scheme involving the creation of bank accounts in the names of dead children and fake churches. A federal jury deliberated for 30 minutes before finding Lloyd Irving Taylor, 71, guilty… – Continue reading
ATLANTA (AP) – Federal prosecutors say a metro Atlanta business owner has been sentenced for trying to block the IRS from collecting millions in employment taxes. Authorities said Monday that 68-year-old Paulette Bryant of Stockbridge has been sentenced to three years in prison for obstructing the IRS from collecting nearly… – Continue reading
As the new government gets to work, one key item on the agenda would be the revival of growth. The key to that objective is the revival of the investment climate in India for renewed flow of overseas investments. One aspect that has vitiated the investment climate is the tax… – Continue reading
As directed by the RBI, the IT dept has put a watch on account holders in cooperative banks in Gujarat for tax evasion. The IT dept. claims it has already recovered Rs. 5 crore from defaulters under ”Project UCB ” a special drive started sometime ago. About 1500 defaulters have… – Continue reading
KARACHI: The customs authorities have registered a case against the Shaheen Air International (SAI) and seized 12 of its aircraft, directing the airline not to sell or scrap the planes without paying taxes said to be running into hundreds of millions of rupees to the government, it emerged here on… – Continue reading
AN area for immediate consideration and co-operation is a review of the New Zealand-Fiji double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA). Speaking at the Fiji-New Zealand Business Council conference on Saturday, Ministry of Industry and Trade permanent secretary Shaheen Ali said it was woefully out-of-date and needed revision. He said this was… – Continue reading
MOSCOW, June 30 (RAPSI) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law to allow Russian financial institutions to provide information about US taxpayers and to oblige foreign financial institutions to report Russian taxpayers to Russia’s Federal Tax Service. The document has been posted on the government website of legal information…. – Continue reading
The Australian Tax Office is stepping up its surveillance of Australians funnelling money into secret offshore bank accounts. The extra scrutiny is part of an amnesty program that will allow some tax dodgers to avoid severe punishment by declaring income and agreeing to come back into the tax system before… – Continue reading
Global mining giant Glencore Xstrata has rejected claims it has paid no tax on the $15 billion in income it has earned from coal mining in the last three years. The Swiss-based company, which is Australia’s largest coal producer, was accused of using a sophisticated profit shifting system that might… – Continue reading
Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes (QROPS) are becoming increasingly popular in America, due to the loophole represented by a double-tax treaty signed with Malta – a country in the top three jurisdictions of choice since QROPS were introduced. Previously it was largely viewed as near-impossible to arrange for a viable,… – Continue reading
The agreement between China and the United States for US financial accounts registered at banks in China to send their tax reports to the US Internal Revenue Services (IRS) to curb offshore tax evasion will have positive effects for China, experts said. The agreement will also enable Beijing to obtain… – Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — A Chicago-area lawyer and accountant labeled by the government as history’s most prolific and unrepentant tax cheat was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison, and the judge bemoaned the “incredible greed” of some of America’s wealthiest people for taking advantage of the tax shelters he… – Continue reading
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said India and the US have agreed to implement a foreign tax compliance law and asked banks and financial institutions to register by this year-end to report accounts and assets held by US citizens. India and the US have agreed to implement… – Continue reading
Christian leaders representing over 1 billion people from 170 nations have sent an Open Letter to heads of the G20, calling for urgent action on corruption and tax evasion. This historic anti-corruption initiative by the global Church comes at a decisive political moment as finance ministers meet in Australia ahead… – Continue reading
Amendments to the double taxation convention (DTC) between France and Switzerland will bring the treaty’s information exchange provisions up to the international standard. An additional Protocol to the Convention, signed on June 25, 2014, will enable France to secure additional information from Switzerland on individual taxpayers, including their name or… – Continue reading
Are you an American resident? It’s a question that Canadian “snowbirds” will have to ask themselves before celebrating Canada Day next week, when the U.S. Foreign Tax Compliance Act – or FATCA – kicks into effect. Financial institutions around the world will answer to the U.S. Internal Revenue Agency so… – Continue reading
According to sources privy to the development, the decision to serve these notices was taken in a high-level meeting, in which the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had shared the account details of the above institutions and Dr Qadri with the participants. The meeting was chaired by the former Punjab law… – Continue reading
This week one of the key Democratic Party strongholds voted to reduce income taxes and expand the sales tax base. The District of Columbia Council, which in 2012 supported President Barack Obama over challenger Mitt Romney by a wide margin of 13 votes to 1 (in a city where 90.9… – Continue reading
Mainland China has been included on a list of jurisdictions co-operating with the United States on a new law to halt tax evasion. It removes the threat of blacklisting or penalties that had been hanging over Chinese financial institutions. The inclusion will also benefit institutions in Hong Kong, the US… – Continue reading
RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh commercial tax department has registered a FIR against 10 firms on Friday for allegedly evading tax worth crores of rupees by using bogus bills. The FIR against the firms based in Raipur, Durg and Bilaspur comes a day after the registration of similar cases against three other firms…. – Continue reading
An oldie-but-goodie tax strategy is back in the limelight thanks to the Clintons’ much-publicized attempts to soften the blow of estate and gift taxes. The qualified personal residence trust is back. Bill and Hillary Clinton are making headlines for their use of the qualified personal residence trust or QPRT —… – Continue reading
Are you an American resident? It’s a question that Canadian “snowbirds” will have to ask themselves before celebrating Canada Day next week, when the U.S. Foreign Tax Compliance Act – or FATCA – kicks into effect. Financial institutions around the world will answer to the U.S. Internal Revenue Agency so… – Continue reading
Former attorney and CPA Paul M. Daugerdas, 63, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for orchestrating a massive scheme in which he and co-conspirators hawked fake tax shelters for wealthy individuals to evade more than $1.6 billion in federal taxes. Last October, he was convicted following a seven-week… – Continue reading
Increasing sophistication in combatting base erosion and profit shifting, and the corresponding increase in transfer pricing documentation, have posed a challenge for businesses. The following article considers the tension between the competing demands. Companies are facing a proliferation of transfer pricing documentation demands. While the new requirements set out in… – Continue reading
The judges who found Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana guilty of tax evasion in April have spoken up, saying that they believe the designers were aware of the dealings. “It is not at all believable that the designers, once made aware of the project [to avoid Italian taxes], could feel… – Continue reading
The Cayman Islands and Colombia are to sign an automatic exchange of tax information agreement under the Multilateral Convention on 1 July 2014. The Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) will be in accordance with global regulatory standards. This will be Cayman’s 36th such agreement, the third in 2014, with the Seychelles… – Continue reading
Law360, Los Angeles (June 25, 2014, 10:42 PM ET) — Russia’s upper house of parliament reportedly approved legislation Wednesday that would allow Russian banks to share information about their foreign clients with the U.S., so the banks can comply with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, despite the Russian government’s… – Continue reading
The Indian economy today is in urgent need of measures to restore growth. A stable, clear and transparent tax regime would go a long way in improving sentiments and investor confidence. Building such a tax regime would require an integrated effort including legislative changes to bring in clarity, operational changes… – Continue reading
In a major coup in India’s efforts to recover untaxed wealth, Switzerland recently promised to share the details of Indian nationals “holding black money” in Swiss bank accounts. The offer to share information came after India’s Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, wrote to the Swiss authorities requesting their cooperation. Given the… – Continue reading
The unequivocal mandate given to the Modi led NDA government will allow them to take a long term perspective while making policy decisions. The finance ministry led by Arun Jaitley has close to 15 days left to put together the dream budget and at the same time address ‘inclusive growth’… – Continue reading
MOSCOW, June 25 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, on Wednesday authorized the direct exchange of information between Russian banks and US tax authorities on US taxpayers. The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) requires foreign banks to supply the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)… – Continue reading
Q. I have lived in my house for 30-plus years. I have been told that if I sell it for more than I paid for it, I will have to pay capital gains tax on the difference between what I paid for it and what I sell it for. Others… – Continue reading
ANYONE with a second residence or holiday home in Co Donegal who has not paid the taxes due on it now have an outstanding bill of €4,220. This amount, accrued from 2009-2013, will rise however to a whopping €7,230 on September 1, 2014. Donegal County Council said it is “actively… – Continue reading
