Category: Common Reporting Standard

IRS To Close Door On OVDP For Offshore Tax Dodgers

US taxpayers who have failed to declare their offshore money will lose the chance to confess to the Internal Revenue Service later this year. The IRS has announced that the Overseas Voluntary Disclosure Program will close on September 28. In the 10 years the OVDP has run, 56,000 taxpayers have… – Continue reading

Singapore’s central bank imposes penalties on Standard Chartered Bank, Trust

SINGAPORE, March 19 (Xinhua) — The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced on Monday it has imposed penalties of 5.2 million Singapore dollars (about 3.95 million U.S. dollars) on the Singapore branch of Standard Chartered Bank (SCBS), and 1.2 million Singapore dollars (about 0.91 million U.S. dollars) on Standard Chartered… – Continue reading

Director General of Taxes Confirms Issues on Inheritance Tax

JAKARTA, NNC – Director General of Taxes of the Ministry of Finance Robert Pakpahan discloses the rules of reporting financial account of undivided inheritance of a deceased person is a derivative of Indonesia’s participation in Automatic Exchange Of Information (AEoI). According to him, the existence of this rule does not… – Continue reading

Gov’t agrees to meet international tax standards

THE GOVERNMENT recently held bilateral talks with the Code of Conduct Group (COCG) to discuss tax transparency and fair taxation in the territory. A press release from the Office of the Premier issued on Tuesday (February 27), said Premier Sharlene Cartwright Robinson and other TCI representatives met with the COCG… – Continue reading

OECD Consults On Tackling Common Reporting Standard Circumvention

The OECD has recently launched a consultation on tackling the circumvention of its latest international tax transparency standard, the Common Reporting Standard, through the use by individuals of residency by investment (RBI), or citizenship by investment (CBI) schemes. These schemes typically entitle individuals to reside or gain citizenship through making… – Continue reading

New regulation supports AEOI implementation, analysts say

Analysts are pointing to Finance Ministerial Regulation No. 19/2018, which was recently issued by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, as technical guidance to support global transparency in taxation. Economist Bawono Kristiaji said the regulation supported the implementation of the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) agreement, which was signed by 100… – Continue reading

Singapore Issues More Automatic Tax Info Exchange Guidance

Singapore’s tax agency has made two announcements recently concerning the automatic exchange of information on foreign taxpayers’ affairs, on the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. In respect of the OECD’s CRS, through which territories worldwide are to automatically exchange taxpayer data from this… – Continue reading

Inland Revenue (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 gazetted

Hong Kong (HKSAR) – The Inland Revenue (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 (the Ordinance) was gazetted today (February 2). The technical amendments on automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters (AEOI) (i.e. clauses 5 to 11) under the Ordinance will come into operation on January 1, 2019, while other provisions… – Continue reading

Hong Kong To Soon Join OECD’s Multilateral Tax Compact

Hong Kong on February 2, 2018, ratified an Ordinance to enable the territory to soon join the OECD’s Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and thereby more simply and more broadly agree to exchange tax information with other countries’ tax authorities. The Inland Revenue Department said the… – Continue reading

Panama inks multilateral tax pact to end bank secrecy

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 16: Panama, a popular tax haven that was in the eye of a data-leak storm dubbed ‘Panama Papers’ in 2016, has finally signed an international agreement that would pave the way for exchange of financial account information with the international community. By signing this agreement — CRS… – Continue reading

Bahamas Faces Major Tax, Exchange Control Shake-Up

The Bahamas may have to completely overhaul its corporate and taxation structure to escape European Union/OECD ‘blacklisting’ threats, the Attorney General revealed yesterday. Carl Bethel QC told Tribune Business that the Government was “looking very carefully” at whether compliance with European (EU) demands will require this nation to eliminate the… – Continue reading

Israel Tax Authority reintroduces voluntary disclosure

Ahead of the CRS agreement, the procedure enables Israelis to disclose unreported income without facing criminal proceedings. As reported last month by “Globes,” ahead of the anticipated implementation of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) agreement for automatic exchanges of information between tax authorities, and given the Israel Tax Authority’s stepped… – Continue reading

Daily Tax Update – December 11, 2017: Treasury Analysis Asserts Tax Cuts Will Pay for Themselves

Treasury Analysis Asserts Tax Cuts Will Pay for Themselves: Today, the Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy released its analysis of the Senate’s tax reform plan. The one-page report used the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget projections of a 2.9% real growth rate over 10 years. The analysis expects the… – Continue reading

OECD Charts States’ Participation In Int’l Tax Initiatives

For the first time, the OECD has published a map that sets out countries’ participation and compliance with international tax initiatives, looking specifically at the exchange of information in tax matters, with the old international standard – the exchange of information on request – and the new, on the automatic… – Continue reading

Loophole In New Global Tax Evasion Crackdown: Why An International Effort May Be Blunted

A major new global transparency measure aimed at curbing cross-border tax evasion by requiring countries to share information on the wealth of each other’s nationals could be undermined by the abuse of residency- and citizenship-for-sale schemes. Tax justice campaigners say that some of these schemes are already being marketed as… – Continue reading

Qatar Commits Support To All Of The OECD’s Tax Work

Qatar has become the 115th jurisdiction to sign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. The Convention is touted by the OECD as “the most powerful instrument for international tax cooperation.” It provides for all forms of administrative assistance in tax matters: exchange of information on request,… – Continue reading

Bahamas Must ‘Get Across Line’ On Tax Automatic Exchange

THE Government has been urged to “get across the line before year-end” on global tax information exchange standards, amid hope the relevant legislation will reach Parliament tomorrow. Michael Paton, a former Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB) chairman, told Tribune Business that the Bahamas needed to upgrade its existing legislation to… – Continue reading

“FATCA on steroids”: T&T misses 2017 deadline to become tax compliant

T&T faces possible sanctions after the Global Forum recognised this country as the only jurisdiction not considered to have made sufficient progress towards satisfactory implementation of the agreed tax transparency standards. Speaking at a media conference on Friday afternoon, Attorney General Faris Al Rawi said this has negative implications for… – Continue reading

Bahamas Converts Finland Taxation Deal To Automatic

THE Bahamas yesterday upgraded its tax information exchange agreement with Finland to the automatic variety, as it bids to meet global standards by September 2018. K P Turnquest, deputy prime minister, signed the Protocol to Amend the Tax Information Exchange Agreement between the Bahamas and Finland, with the latter’s ambassador… – Continue reading

Mainland China briefing: Implementation of CRS

On 1 July 2017, the “Administrative Measures on Due Diligence of Non-resident Financial Account Information in Tax Matters” (the Measures) came into effect. The Measures were jointly promulgated in May 2017 by the State Administration of Taxation (SAT), the Ministry of Finance, the People‘s Bank of China, the China Banking… – Continue reading

Ag: Bahamas ‘Riding Behind Competitors’ In Financial Services

THE Attorney General yesterday lamented that “riding behind our competitors” had caused “incalculable” damage to the financial services industry, accusing the former government of failing to act on tax information exchange changes. Carl Bethel QC, addressing the Senate, said the Christie administration had “done nothing’ for three years in relation… – Continue reading

Warning bells till Christmas for foreign account holders

MUMBAI: Since last month, Indians with overseas bank accounts are receiving letters from offshore financial institutions, asking them to disclose ‘tax residency status’ before Christmas. If they don’t, banks holding these accounts would share whatever information they have on such account holders with the Indian government. Many account holders are… – Continue reading

StanChart said to be investigated over US$1.4bn Indonesian cash transfers from Guernsey to Singapore

Over 100 jurisdictions indicated they will sign up to a global framework for the exchange of tax data (CRS) at the start of 2016, but these won’t take effect in Singapore and Hong Kong until 2018 Regulators in Europe and Asia are believed to be investigating Standard Chartered – one… – Continue reading

Inland Revenue Ordinance to be amended to facilitate international tax co-operation

Hong Kong (HKSAR) – The Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 5) Bill 2017 (Amendment Bill) was gazetted today (October 6). The Amendment Bill seeks to pave the way for Hong Kong’s participation in the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, and to align the Inland Revenue Ordinance (IRO)… – Continue reading

Will the new corporate offence of failure to prevent tax evasion and enhanced international tax transparency change the landscape for tax investigations?

The 30 September 2017 is an important date for HMRC and its “relentless” clampdown on global tax evasion. First, it marks the coming into force of the landmark corporate offence of failure to prevent tax evasion under Part 3 of the Criminal Finances Act 2017. Secondly, it is the commencement… – Continue reading

New Dutch Law Leaves Repentant Taxpayers Out in the Cold

The abolition of a scheme allowing Dutch taxpayers to fess up to their tax sins and avoid criminal charges is likely to discourage high-net worth individuals from ever disclosing money hidden abroad to local authorities, practitioners say. Deputy Minister of Finance Eric Wiebes announced that it was time to draw… – Continue reading

Briefing: Proper plan design is way forward

International pension plans involve complex questions of structuring and compliance International Pension Plans (IPPs) are pension plans sponsored and funded by an employer, for employees assigned to work outside their home country, who are expected to receive IPP benefits while they are resident in their home country, or in another… – Continue reading

The common reporting standard – your foreign bank account could be coming to Nigeria

If you live in Nigeria and you have a foreign bank account; you should read this.If things go as planned, the FIRS will soon have access to information on the money and other financial investments that you have in your foreign bank account. This will happen when the Common Reporting… – Continue reading

The OECD is focused on maintaining the integrity of the CRS

As of August 2017, 102 international Jurisdictions are committed to the implementation timelines of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). There are 49 Jurisdictions that are committed to the first exchange during 2017 and 53 Jurisdictions for 2018. The OECD is taking extra precautions to ensure that reportable financial information regarding… – Continue reading

Partnership tax rules overhaul by 2018

Changes to partnership taxation are to go ahead with draft legislation now published, effectively clarifying the tax treatment for partnerships to ensure that the principle of taxing the beneficiary of partnership profit applies and to prevent a double reporting burden on investment partnership This measure makes changes to the income… – Continue reading

Voluntary offshore disclosures: Final SARS deadline fast approaches

JOHANNESBURG — Despite question marks hanging over SARS, its chief Tom Moyane and the institution’s current ability to effectively collect taxes, the authority continues to push ahead with expanding its international net. A 31 August deadline for taxpayers to disclose their offshore assets and income to SARS is fast approaching…. – Continue reading

Deadline for SARS voluntary disclosure soon

Taxpayers have been reminded of the looming deadline for the Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme (SVDP) on 31 August 2017. SVDP is a window period for individuals and companies to regularise undisclosed or unauthorised foreign assets and associated income. It came into effect on 1 October 2016. Taxpayers are urged to… – Continue reading

SA taxpayers with offshore cash, assets given deadline to disclose info

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

‘Come to CRA before we go to you’: International deal designed to expose offshore tax cheats

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

Indonesia, Switzerland Agree to Tax Information Exchange

Indonesia and Switzerland have signed a joint declaration on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (AEOI) yesterday. The signing was held at the Directorate General of Tax in Central Jakarta. At the signing ceremony, Indonesia was represented by Director General of Tax for the Finance Ministry Ken Dwijugeasteadi and Switzerland… – Continue reading

Better tax system identifies €85bn in additional tax revenue

OECD lauds major progress made €85 billion in additional tax revenue has been identified thanks to progress in creating a fairer and more effective international tax system, the OECD said today. The moves include increasing efforts to close down loopholes, improve transparency and ensure that multinational enterprises pay tax where… – Continue reading

New tax law demands banks share customer info

Banks will have to share customer information after a new tax law took effect Saturday, according to New Zealand Bankers’ Association. The new law requires banks and other financial institutions to identify accounts held by foreign tax residents. This customer information will be provided to Inland Revenue, which will in… – Continue reading

New Zealand Clarifies Common Reporting Standard Exemptions

New Zealand’s Inland Revenue has issued clarification around the types of account that will be exempt from reporting under the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard for the Automatic Exchange of Information. The authority said that the exempted accounts include Whai Rawa Unit Trust Fund member’s accounts, dormant accounts, and accounts under… – Continue reading

Vizor Software’s Solution for FATCA & AEOI Selected by the Government of Bermuda, Ministry of Finance Treaty Unit

Global leader in cross-border information exchange for Tax Authorities has been selected by the Government of Bermuda, Ministry of Finance, Treaty Unit to meet Common Reporting Standards. Today, Vizor Ltd. announced the Government of Bermuda, Ministry of Finance, Treaty Unit has selected the Vizor for FATCA & AEOI Solution for… – Continue reading

Singapore signs two international agreements to facilitate sharing tax info across borders

SINGAPORE – Singapore has signed two international agreements which will make it easier for the country to automatically exchange tax information with other jurisdictions. The agreements are part of ongoing global efforts to combat tax evasion and money laundering as well as improve tax transparency. Called multilateral competent authority agreements… – Continue reading

Panama and Mexico sign Competent Authorities Automatic Exchange of Tax Information Agreement

The Competent Authorities Agreement is part of Panama’s continued commitment to upholding international transparency standards PANAMA CITY, June 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Panama and Mexico signed today a Competent Authorities Exchange of Tax Information Agreement, in accordance with Panama’s commitment to the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) of the Organization for… – Continue reading

Thousands of British expats could face tax penalties for undeclared cash: report

The first set of ‘hidden’ financial data about Britons living abroad is set to be handed to the UK’s Revenue & Customs later today, as part of the global transparency drive that has been introduced via a series of information sharing agreements across the world’s financial centres. As a result,… – Continue reading

Provider: Automatic Tax Share Breaches Constitutional Rights

A veteran financial services provider yesterday warned that automatic tax information exchange could breach fundamental rights protected by the Bahamian constitution, while threatening to make this nation a “European satellite”. #Anthony Howorth, president of Euro-Caribbean Management Services, questioned whether the Government and financial services industry had “really thought through” the… – Continue reading

Bahamas Moves To Stop ‘Devastating’ Blacklisting

The Government yesterday moved to prevent the “devastating” consequences of a financial services ‘blacklisting’ by confirming its readiness to alter the Bahamas’ automatic tax information exchange approach. A Ministry of Finance statement, issued yesterday evening, said the Minnis administration had “formally indicated its interest” to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation… – Continue reading

Bahamas Moves To Stop ‘Devastating’ Blacklisting

The Government yesterday moved to prevent the “devastating” consequences of a financial services ‘blacklisting’ by confirming its readiness to alter the Bahamas’ automatic tax information exchange approach. #A Ministry of Finance statement, issued yesterday evening, said the Minnis administration had “formally indicated its interest” to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation… – Continue reading

New reporting will be costly and time consuming

Pretoria – South African financial institutions, which include banks, long-term insurers and asset managers, will have to exchange financial account information in terms of the common reporting standard for the first time this year. Financial institutions, although having to do similar exchanges in terms of the US’s Foreign Account Tax… – Continue reading

BVI AEOI Update – CRS Deadlines and BVIFARS Opening

Common Reporting Standard The Government of the British Virgin Islands (“BVI“) has recently announced an extension to the deadlines for the notification and reporting obligations under the Common Reporting Standard (“CRS“). Under the extended deadlines for CRS, all BVI Reporting Financial Institutions now have until 30 June 2017 to enrol… – Continue reading

31 May deadline for filing automatic exchange of information (AEOI) returns

The deadline for submitting automatic exchange of information (AEOI) returns for the year ended 31 December 2016 is 31 May 2017 for financial institutions, and that this is the first year for common reporting standards (CRS) filing Returns should include reportable accounts for the financial accounts tax compliance act (FATCA),… – Continue reading