The focus has been on increasing global participation in India through liberalisation of foreign direct investment (FDI) laws. It covered easing FDI sectorial caps and conditions in diverse sectors ranging from highly regulated sectors like defence, construction& development, civil aviation to single brand retailing, automatic route for FDI in Limited… – Continue reading
As part of the ATO’s reinvention agenda we have been reviewing our Advance pricing arrangement (APA), Mutual agreement procedure (MAP) programs and our Competent Authority Network to identify opportunities to: improve the client experience and better support willing participation improve our bilateral and multilateral engagement increase our efficiency and effectiveness…. – Continue reading
HAVE YOU worked on an overseas project for a Thai employer where you’ve had to stay in an overseas assignment for 183 days or more in a year or over two consecutive years? If so, how should you handle any double taxation? While it’s important to pay tax correctly, you… – Continue reading
Changes in I-T Act likely to curb tax evasion by multinational companies The government might change transfer pricing provisions in Budget 2016-17 to ensure companies with overseas presence and consolidated revenue of more than Rs 5,000 crore comply with extensive data reporting and documentation. Legislative changes in the Income Tax… – Continue reading
This is the first of our series of posts on Brazilian tax treaties. In each post we will provide an overview of a specific tax treaty between Brazil and a particular foreign country, as well as comments on any Brazilian administrative or judicial precedents applying the treaty, and highlights on… – Continue reading
NAIROBI, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) — Kenya and Canada are set to sign an agreement on the promotion of investments and trade between the two countries, officials said on Monday. Canadian High Commissioner to Kenya David Angell told Xinhua in Nairobi that the two governments are talking to each other and… – Continue reading
The European Union ordered Belgium to recover about 700 million euros ($762 million) in illegal tax breaks given to at least 35 companies, including Anheuser-Busch InBev NVand BP Plc, as regulators continued a crackdown on overly generous tax schemes throughout the 28-nation bloc. The European Commission told Belgium to recoup… – Continue reading
Malta and Andorra have signed a Double Taxation Agreement for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion. The agreement was signed on Andorra’s behalf by Claudia Cornella, Andorra’s Secretary of State for International Financial Affairs, and on Malta’s part by Aldo Farrugia, Director General for Legal… – Continue reading
On January 8, 2016 the UK HM Revenue & Customs issued a media release announcing that on December 15, 2015 the Convention between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Bulgaria for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with… – Continue reading
Action Plan 6 of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) final reports identifies treaty abuse, particularly treaty shopping, as one of the most significant causes of BEPS. It recognizes that existing domestic and international tax rules, including double taxation treaties, should be… – Continue reading
On January 8, 2016 the UK HM Revenue & Customs issued a media release announcing that on November 19, 2015 the Agreement between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Croatia for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with… – Continue reading
If the place of effective management of a foreign company is established in India, then it becomes tax resident as per domestic laws The Finance Act, 2015, amended the provisions of the provisions of income tax act relating to determination of residence of a company. According to the amended provisions,… – Continue reading
On January 8, 2016 the UK HM Revenue & Customs issued a media release announcing that on December 16, 2015 the Convention between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the Republic of Kosovo for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s hopes to seek information from Switzerland about the presumed $200 billion stashed in Swiss banks have apparently been ruined by tax authorities who mishandled delicate negotiations for amending a convention on avoidance of double taxation. A Pakistani delegation that visited Switzerland in August 2014 to renegotiate the 2005 treaty… – Continue reading
A draft agreement on avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion convention was handed to Afghanistan in February 2014 Pakistan and Afghanistan will hold talks in March on a treaty to avoid double taxation and prevent fiscal evasion, an official said. A draft agreement on avoidance of double… – Continue reading
Range Extension Public Notice [2015] No. 60 provides non-resident taxpayers enjoying bilateral tax agreement and the international transport agreement with applicable unified, standardized management processes. Specific changes include: signed agreements for the avoidance of double taxation signed tax provisions of airlines, shipping and car services, tax agreement for the mutual… – Continue reading
The Irish Revenue has published a statement announcing that on December 23, 2015 the Convention between Ireland and the Republic of Zambia for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and Capital Gains (Hereafter: the new DTA) as concluded on… – Continue reading
The international community led by the G20 initiated the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project a few years ago with the aim of ensuring that profits are taxed where economic activities are performed and where value is created, the Business Standard reports. Governments, tax authorities and social groups have… – Continue reading
January 2016 You will find below a summary of some of the most important tax developments that have happened since the release of our last newsletter, at OECD, EU or country level, in the area of tax transparency and the fight against tax avoidance. EU – Tax transparency and anti-BEPS… – Continue reading
Hong Kong (HKSAR) – The Inland Revenue (Amendment) Bill 2016 was gazetted today (January 8). “The Bill seeks to put in place a legal framework for Hong Kong to implement the new international standard for automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters (AEOI) as promulgated by the Organisation… – Continue reading
On 13 November 2015 the Treasurer and Minister of Finance jointly announced that a new double tax treaty had been negotiated with Germany, replacing the 1972 agreement. The new treaty has not yet been formally adopted as part of Australian law, as a change to the International Tax Agreements Act… – Continue reading
Interest paid by UK companies is generally subject to withholding tax at 20%. Although various exemptions apply, most notably in respect of interest payments to banks and other UK companies, and in respect of securities listed on a recognised stock exchange (so called “quoted eurobonds”), such exemptions are often of… – Continue reading
Now that the final report on BEPS Action 7 has been released, “Preventing the Artificial Avoidance of Permanent Establishment Status” (Final Report), taxpayers are able to consider the final language to be incorporated into Article 5(5) of the OECD Model Tax Convention.1 This language also will be incorporated into the… – Continue reading
On October 5, the OECD issued it formal recommendations on the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan. These recommendations have been subsequently adopted by the G20. We acknowledge the monumental effort that has been put forth to produce a modernized international system of tax rules through the BEPS… – Continue reading
Taipei, Jan. 6 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) lauded his administration’s efforts to improve the country’s development and expressed optimism Wednesday about the future for Taiwan’s next generation, citing a recent survey that found Taiwan the most optimistic about the future among other Asian nations. If peace and prosperity in… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Government has collected a total of Rs 2,428.4 crore in taxes after over 600 declarations were made by stash holders to the Income Tax department under the one-time black money compliance window that ended last year. The Central Board of Direct Taxes, in a statement, said this amount… – Continue reading
A striking example of the EU’s efforts to accelerate the implementation of anti-base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) measures is the amended Parent Subsidiary Directive (PSD). Originally designed to prevent economic double taxation of profits distributed within an EU corporate, the PSD is now also being deployed to counter undesired… – Continue reading
The international community led by the had initiated the (BEPS) project a few years ago with the aim of ensuring that profits are taxed where economic activities are performed and where value is created. Governments, and social groups have been voicing their concern over the past decade that multinational enterprises… – Continue reading
Representatives of the Cyprus and the Ukrainian governments have signed, in Kiev, on Friday, 11 December 2015, a protocol amending their Double Tax Avoidance Treaty. The protocol is based on the Model Tax Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation OECD. The changes need to be ratified by both the… – Continue reading
Non-Belgian shareholders with a participation in a Belgian company with an acquisition value of at least €2.5m (but not reaching the 10 per cent participation threshold under the Parent–Subsidiary Directive) are now entitled to the Belgian participation exemption regime. In C-384/11 (Tate & Lyle Investments), the European Court of Justice… – Continue reading
The Belgian general withholding tax rate applicable to dividends and interest attributed as of 1 January 2016 increases from 25 per cent to 27 per cent. Interest on ordinary saving accounts and on certain government bonds (so-called ‘Leterme bonds’) as well as royalties continue to benefit from reduced withholding tax… – Continue reading
Here’s our overview of recent Belgian tax developments, including the main new Belgian tax measures adopted by the laws of 18 and 26 December 2015. Speculation tax A ‘speculation tax’ of 33 per cent is introduced on capital gains realised by Belgian resident and non-resident individuals within six months from… – Continue reading
Japan, Taiwan January 4 2016 After many years of discussion and negotiation, Taiwan’s Association of East Asian Relation and Japan’s Interchange Association finally signed 「THE AVOIDANCE OF DOUBLE TAXATION AND THE PREVENTION OF FISCAL EVAION WITH RESPECT TO TAXES ON INCOME」(the “DTA”) in Tokyo on 26 November 2015. For the… – Continue reading
This is apropos a Business Recorder news item ‘Investment in Dubai real estate: NAB asks FBR to verify claims of Transparency International-Pakistan ‘. According to the report, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has asked the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to verify claims of Transparency International-Pakistan on a huge investment… – Continue reading
THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (DC) recently enacted, as part of its budget, provisions that force entities doing business in any of 39 arbitrarily designated “tax havens” to report their income on worldwide combined reporting. Eighteen are Caribbean jurisdictions. A tax haven is defined by the DC code… – Continue reading
Georgia and Iceland are stepping up their bilateral cooperation in taxation and customs affairs. Today a cooperation agreement on avoidance of double taxation, prevention of evasion of income and capital taxes, came into force. The agreement initially was signed in May this year when Finance Ministers of Cyprus, Liechtenstein and… – Continue reading
VietNamNet Bridge – The agreements on double taxation avoidance that Vietnam has signed with other countries is one of the reasons that have made it impossible for state agencies to clarify the suspected cases of multinational conglomerates conducting transfer pricing. A lot of multinational conglomerates such as Coca-Cola, Metro Cash… – Continue reading
In order to exchange information aimed at curbing tax evasion and avoidance, Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the signing and ratification of an agreement between India and Maldives. The Agreement will stimulate effective exchange of information between the two countries which will help curb tax… – Continue reading
On December 30, 2015 on the website of the Dutch Staatscourant the text of the Competent Authority Arrangement between the Competent Authorities of the United States of America and the Kingdom of theNetherlands was published. The Competent Authority Arrangement between the Competent Authorities of theUnited States of America and the… – Continue reading
On 28 December 2015, the revised Luxembourg-Singapore Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation (the New Treaty) entered into force. The New Treaty (1) allows Luxembourg investment vehicles to invoke benefits under the New Treaty, (2) reduces the withholding tax rates for dividends, interest and royalties, (3) increases thresholds to… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Many manufacturing and trading subsidiaries of Indian companies that are currently operating independently outside India may have to pay taxes in India as they could fail the new test set under the Place of Effective Management (POEM) guidelines. Not just that, some of the companies could see complications with… – Continue reading
At the House of the approval bill filed from between the Kingdom of the Netherlands, on behalf of Curaçao, and the United States of America Convention concluded improve international tax compliance and implementing FATCA (hereinafter Cur IGA). The Convention is published in Trb. 2015, 11 and 144. The approval is… – Continue reading
On Nov. 18, 2015, reforms to the Mexican Income Tax Law (MITL), Tax Code, Excise Tax and Federal Income Law for 2016 (collectively, the Tax Reform) were published in the Federal Gazette. The Tax Reform reestablishes measures to promote savings and increase incentives for doing business in Mexico, some of… – Continue reading
“Cash Booked Offshore for Tax Purposes by U.S. Multinationals Doubled between 2008 and 2014” In recent years, U.S. multinational companies have sharply increased the amount of money that they book to foreign subsidiaries. An April 2015 study by research firm Audit Analytics found that the Russell 1000 list of U.S…. – Continue reading
Algiers — President of the Republic Abdelaziz Bouteflika signed presidential decrees on the ratification of many cooperation agreements between Algeria and other States and international organizations, in accordance with Article 77-11 of the Constitution, said Sunday the Presidency of the Republic in a statement. One of the decrees concerns the… – Continue reading
Hybrid mismatch arrangements are the focus of the 2-part Action Plan 2 of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) initiative. Hybrid Mismatch Arrangements abuse differences in the tax treatment of an instrument (i.e., a hybrid instrument) or an entity (i.e., a hybrid… – Continue reading
According to the CBDT communique, foreign investors and companies will not be liable to pay MAT prior to April 1, 2015. According to estimates, foreign investors have to pay tax of Rs 40,000 crore for the 14-year period since April 1, 2001, when MAT was introduced. Foreign investors and companies… – Continue reading
ZIMBABWE and China have signed an agreement to curb double taxation and prevent fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income between the two countries. Double taxation is the levying of tax by two or more jurisdictions on the same declared income, asset and financial transaction. Basically, a country will… – Continue reading
The Transition Authority has asked counties to stop levying some fees that have seen companies exposed to double taxation. In its advisory opinion dated December 2015 on levying of taxes, fees and charges by county governments, the authority said it has over the transition period received several complaints on the… – Continue reading
The Finance Act 2015 introduced an exemption from a borrower’s obligation to withhold tax from interest payments arising on qualifying private placements. It was introduced to stimulate and grow the private placements market in the UK in order to unlock a new source of financing for mid-sized borrowers. Following a… – Continue reading
