Category: Residency

Cyprus: The Cyprus ‘Non-Dom’ Rules

Introduction In July 2015, a number of bills relating to the Cyprus taxation system were approved by the Council of Ministers and subsequently enacted into legislation by the Parliament1. The key highlight of these new bills is the introduction for the very first time of the “non-dom” status for Cyprus… – Continue reading

Malta: Malta Citizenship And Residency By Investment (8 February, 2019)

As of 2019, the Individual Investor Program has received more than 1000 Malta passport applications on behalf of investors from more than 40 different countries. The Malta Individual Investor Programme (MIIP) offers high and ultra-high net worth individuals and families worldwide citizenship in a highly respected EU Member Country. Malta,… – Continue reading

Portugal: Portuguese Golden Visa – Investment Route And The Non-Habitual Residents Regime

Background Portugal is being re-discovered as a destination to relocate to, with iconic cities such as Lisbon and Porto, and stunning coastal areas, for example, the Algarve. It also offers very easy access to the rest of Europe. Portugal is increasingly recognised as an international hub with 71 Double Taxation… – Continue reading

Countdown to the amended South African Expatriate tax law

The announcement by National Treasury and SARS in 2017 that the tax exemption on South African expatriates is set to change, has resulted in the lifestyle of many South Africans, who are employed by companies abroad, to rapidly change from a South African tax liability point of view. By Claudia… – Continue reading

Central Bank Official: Oecd Tried To ‘Hobble’ Permanent Residency

A top Central Bank official has accused the OECD of trying to “hobble” the competitiveness of The Bahamas’ economic permanent residency regime by including it in an arbitrary “quasi-blacklist”. Charles Littrell, the regulator’s inspector of banks and trust companies, in a speech to a Turks & Caicos financial services conference,… – Continue reading

Tax Planning for NRIs Returning to India

In general, investment and tax provisions relating to non-resident Indians (NRIs) returning to live in India are fairly generous. However, NRIs must carefully plan their return to India to ensure there are no surprises with respect to managing their overseas income and investments. In this article, we examine some of… – Continue reading

Canada: Tax Residence In Canada – Are Significant Residential Ties Less Significant For Immigrants To Canada Than For Emigrants From Canada? A Canadian Tax Lawyer’s Analysis

Introduction A person’s status as a tax resident determines the extent to which Canada may tax that person’s income. The test for whether an individual—i.e., a natural person—is a Canadian tax resident turns on the individual’s particular circumstances. Every detail counts. But Canadian courts and the Canada Revenue Agency both… – Continue reading

Applying for China’s DTA Benefits in Profit Repatriation

China’s double tax avoidance agreements (DTAs) can be used to avail lower tax rates while making outbound payments. However, DTA benefits are not automatically applicable to everyone. Foreign invested enterprises and their overseas headquarters must satisfy certain qualifications and go through relevant procedures to obtain the benefits. Beneficial owner assessment… – Continue reading

Government prepared to amend laws to prevent tax evasion

The Antigua and Barbuda government is willing to amend the necessary laws to ensure that local financial institutions are able to share banking information of dual citizenship holders with the relevant authorities in their original country of birth, if this becomes necessary. Prime Minister Gaston Browne made the disclosure following… – Continue reading

Malta’s residency, citizenship schemes ‘pose high-risk to integrity of Common Reporting Standard’

The Organisation for Economic and Social Development named and shamed 22 countries out of over 100 it studied that have either residency or citizenship programmes, for having lax rules that potentially pose high-risk to the integrity of Common Reporting Standard’. Malta, which has long cited the OECD’s endorsement of its… – Continue reading

Cyprus: Approach Of Greek Authorities In Determining A Valid Foreign Proof Of Tax Residence

In Greece, an individual who has moved abroad must file an application to the local authorities in order to demonstrate a new address should they wish to change their status from resident to non-tax resident. Such an application is typically filed by March 10th of the year following the year… – Continue reading

Tax Residency in China under New IIT Law: Impact on Foreigners

How tax residency in China gets determined is among key changes introduced in the recently passed individual income tax (IIT) law. The new law is set to reform IIT in the country, including the tax treatment of foreigners. Beginning January 1, 2019, an individual who resides in China for 183-days… – Continue reading

What you need to know about buying Bitcoin from an offshore exchange

When it comes to cryptocurrencies, an area that is often overlooked is that of exchange control, and whether the acquisition or trading in cryptos may (even inadvertently) lead to a transgression under the exchange control regulations. According to Leon Rood, director at Werksmans Attorneys, while the South African Reserve Bank… – Continue reading

Accidental Americans’ fight to stop double taxation

PARIS — Tom Wallis was born here and has spent his entire life in France, but it turns out that the 40-year-old entrepreneur from Grenoble owes tens of thousands of dollars in taxes to the United States. Wallis’ mother was French, but he holds U.S. citizenship through his American father…. – Continue reading

TAX TALK: LUX-FRANCE TREATY CREATES UNCERTAINTY

On the occasion of the signing of the new double taxation treaty (DTT) between Luxembourg and France on 20 March 2018, the grand duchy’s finance minister, Pierre Gramegna, commented in a government press release that the new DTT is, “…an innovative instrument that will benefit both citizens and business in… – Continue reading

India Defers Surrogate Entity CbC Reporting Deadline

The Indian Central Board of Direct Taxes has issued a statement to defer the filing obligation on surrogate parent entities with regards to country-by-country reporting. Section 286 was inserted into the Income Tax Act 1981 through the 2016 Finance Act to introduce a requirement to furnish a country-by-country report. The… – Continue reading

Corporate Taxation On The Way For Bahamas

The Government’s planned legal reforms pave the way for the introduction of “corporate taxation” on a wide range of Bahamian financial services products, it was revealed yesterday. Carl Bethel QC, the Attorney General, confirmed to Tribune Business that legislation intended to address the European Union’s (EU) ‘blacklisting’ concerns was designed… – Continue reading

Hong Kong Account Holders: Prepare for AEOI Reporting

Those who hold an account (or are a controlling person) with Hong Kong Financial Institutions – both individuals and entities – must prepare to report their tax residency information to the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) by May 2018 for exchange with 75 reportable jurisdictions under the AEOI standard. In September… – Continue reading

Digital residency pays off big for Estonia

Estonia is expected to get a 100-to-one-euro return on investment for its e-Residency program, which lets anybody start a business from afar. It is even planning to launch ‘estcoins,’ its own cryptocurrency. Becoming a ‘digital resident’ of Estonia, Michael M. Richardson says, was “as easy as getting a fishing license… – Continue reading

Serbia to Abolish Full Blown Withholding Tax on Non-Resident Service-Providers and Simplify Conditions for Tax Deductibility of NPL Write-Offs for Serbian Banks

The Serbian Ministry of Finance has published draft amendments to the Corporate Income Tax Act (CITA), which are expected to be formally approved by the Government within days. If approved by the Parliament, as expected, CITA amendments will take effect from 1 January 2018. The most important novelties concerns recognition… – 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

Apple defends moving offshore profits to the tax haven of Jersey

The company known for the ‘double Irish’ scheme is moving its subsidiaries’ tax residency. A set of leaked documents from offshore law firm Appleby has revealed that Apple stashed $250 billion in Jersey, a tiny island off the coast of France known for being a tax haven. The tech titan… – Continue reading

Aircraft Leasing in Russia – Key developments in Russian tax and insurance laws

Summary: With effect from 1 January 2017, a number of amendments to Russian law have come into force which will affect aircraft leasing arrangements for lessors and financiers that have aircraft leased or financed with Russian operators. These amendments have started to affect negotiations and re-negotiations of leases with Russian… – 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

New tax law sees increase in financial emigration

The government’s planned changes to the tax law for South Africans working abroad – either permanently or on a long-term contracts – has brought financial emigration into sharp focus. Financial emigration is a formal process with the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to change your tax status from “resident” to… – Continue reading

New Private Tax Ruling Clarifies the Conditions for New Immigrants to Obtain an Israeli Residency Certificate

Under Israeli tax law, New Immigrants are entitled to various tax benefits, including an exemption from taxation with respect to non-Israeli sourced income. Due to these benefits, many taxpayers have argued that since they immigrated to Israel, they are entitled to Israeli tax residency certificate, even though they have not… – Continue reading

IRS offers tax relief to hurricane victims in Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands

The Internal Revenue Service released guidance Wednesday to give tax relief to residents of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands who have evacuated the islands or were unable to return because of Hurricanes Irma or Maria. The relief extends the typical 14-day absence period to 117 days (starting Sept…. – Continue reading

Ghana-Morocco double tax agreement to come into force in 2018 – (Part 2)

In our last publication, we discussed the signing of the Ghana-Morocco Double Tax Agreement (“DTA”) and the provisions of the DTA in relation to the taxation of permanent establishments and business income. In the concluding part of the article, we will discuss the taxation of investment, employment and service incomes… – Continue reading

Drazen Turujlija: «Loopholes in Data-Sharing Pact»

New data-sharing rules aren’t without pitfalls for clients of private banks, as authorities race to shut loopholes, Bank Reyl lawyer Drazen Turujlija told finews.asia-TV. Switzerland is set to begin exchanging data with other countries from next year, a move which has fundamentally shifted the dynamic in Switzerland’s trillion-Swiss franc offshore… – Continue reading

Draft modifications to tax provisions applicable to foreign companies with poem in India

Introduction Finance Act 2016 replaced the test for corporate residency of foreign companies from “control and management being situated wholly in India” to “place of effective management (POEM) in India”. POEM has been defined to mean a place where key management and commercial decisions that are necessary for conduct of… – Continue reading

Memo to: real estate vendors – if the sale price is $750,000 or more you need a Tax Clearance Certificate for settlement

In Federal Budget 2017, the Government is clamping down on tax avoidance by foreign investors in real estate, by tightening the foreign resident capital gains tax withholding regime. The new laws apply to both Australian resident and foreign resident vendors: Australian resident vendors of real property of $750,000 or more… – Continue reading

Declare Offshore Wealth? Russia Tycoons Would Rather Ship Themselves Off Shore

MOSCOW — Some of Russia’s super-rich have given up residency to escape a 2014 law requiring them to disclose offshore assets, wealthy businessmen told Reuters, a practice that could keep billions of dollars hidden from Moscow’s tax authorities. Interviews with more than a dozen people familiar with the practice —… – Continue reading

Tax burdens prompt more Americans to ditch their citizenship

Some 9 million Americans reside abroad. More than 4 in 10 wouldn’t rule out renouncing U.S. citizenship, according to a survey. Americans abroad have just about had it with Uncle Sam’s tax filing requirements. Those were the findings from a recent survey of more than 2,100 U.S. expatriates, according to… – Continue reading

Transfer Tax Rules for the Non-Citizen Spouse

Transferring wealth to a spouse who isn’t a U.S. citizen can create complex gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer tax challenges. Such transfer tax issues require careful planning, as well as a clear understanding of the differences in how citizens and non-citizens are taxed. Unlike citizens and resident aliens, a non-resident… – 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

Federal Budget 2017: Foreign home buyers hit by vacancy tax and restrictions

Foreign ownership of new developments will be restricted, there will be steeper charges applied to purchases, less favourable tax treatment and charges on those with empty properties, in a raft of measures in the federal budget aimed at taking the sting out of the housing market. One measure to be… – Continue reading

How to Manage the tax Affairs of Foreign Managers

It often occurs that a multinational company employs a foreign manager based on an employment contract or secondment. In the first case, the Hungarian company is considered as the legal and economic employer, therefore the salary is payed directly by it. In the second case, the employee maintains the employment… – Continue reading

Tax residency certificate is vital for claiming relief under DTAA

Tax residency certificate is required from the resident country tax authorities to claim applicable relief under the DTAA What is the purpose of a tax residency certificate? —Srivats Typically, source of income lies where the services are performed, or where the asset, from which the income arises, is located. Residential… – Continue reading

OECD’s BEPS 13 implemented in Croatia

With a total of 15 action points, the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project aims at fighting the artificial shift of profits from jurisdictions with high taxes to tax havens, often as a part of an entirely legal strategy used by MNEs. The BEPS Action 13 (Transfer Pricing… – Continue reading

Westpac crackdown on foreign buyers and money laundering

Property buyers will be quizzed about their tax residency under new anti-money-laundering rules being introduced by Westpac and its subsidiaries St George Bank, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA. Mortgage brokers, who act as intermediaries between the banks and buyers, are being told that from this week they must also ask… – Continue reading

Transfer of Canadian banking records to U.S. tax agency doubled last year

Documents for thousands of Canadian residents transferred under controversial FATCA legislation Banking records of more than 315,000 Canadian residents were turned over to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service last year under a controversial information sharing deal, CBC News has learned. That is double the number transferred in the deal’s first… – Continue reading

Income-tax dept issues norms to determine residency status of companies

New guidelines aim to check tax evasion, ensure foreign firms are not taxed on their global income. New Delhi: The income-tax (I-T) department on Tuesday issued the final guidelines for place of effective management (PoEM) rules that seek to determine the residency status of a firm for calculating its tax liability. The… – Continue reading

Singapore-based FIs must establish tax residency status of account holders: IRAS

SINGAPORE: Under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) which has been in effect since Jan 1, Singapore-based Financial Institutions (FIs) are now required to establish the tax residency status of all their account holders, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) said on Friday (Jan 6). The CRS is an internationally… – Continue reading

Juncker accused of blocking EU efforts against tax avoidance

Jean-Claude Juncker deliberately blocked the EU’s efforts to fight tax avoidance while in office as prime minister of Luxembourg, according to documents revealed by The Guardian and the International Consortium of Journalists. EurActiv France reports. Member states have supposedly spent the last two decades cooperating in the committee on business… – Continue reading