The “Hound of Hounslow” day trader accused of helping trigger a Wall Street “flash crash” made more than £30 million profit dealing from his parents’ home in four years, the Evening Standard can reveal. FBI agents are investigating claims that Navinder Sarao, 36, transferred as much as £26 million to… – Continue reading
FATCA 1. New FATCA IGA guidance notes On 3 February 2015, the Jersey Chief Minister’s Department published the latest version of the Guidance Notes on the Taxation (International Tax Compliance) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 in relation to the implementation of obligations arising under the intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) with the US and… – Continue reading
In This Issue: • It’s Stifling in Here! SEC Rules That Companies Can’t Put Restrictive Language in Confidentiality Agreements That Could Potentially Stifle Whistleblowers • An Opinion on Opinions: U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Omnicare • Is OFAC the New Black? Schlumberger and PayPal—The Rise in the Enforcement of Sanctions… – Continue reading
1. NON-TAX ISSUES 1.1 Domestic law 1.1.1 Briefly describe your legal system and its origins The legal system of the Republic of Ireland is a common law system. In order to ensure consistency, a legal principle developed whereby courts were generally required to follow earlier relevant decisions. This doctrine of… – Continue reading
Two Kent fraudsters who denied £11.7 million from British taxpayers in a fraud worth £23 million have been jailed for a combined 15 years. Narinder Chada, 62, of The Russetts, Meopham, and Gurmail Dosanjh, 46, of Singlewell Road, Gravesend, were sentenced to seven and eight years in jail respectively, yesterday… – Continue reading
With regard to the First Financial case, the debarred entities include this company itself, its seven promoters and directors, 80 ‘preferential allottees’, 57 First Financial Group entities, as also seven others suspected to be related entities. Sebi has allowed First Financial, which has been barred from the capital market for… – Continue reading
CHINA Tax Free Reorganisations • With circulars 109 and 116 jointly issued in December 2014 by the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation, the Chinese authorities have relaxed the conditions for internal reorganisations. • Circular 109 deals with internal reorganisations. Provided the pertinent requirements are met, the… – Continue reading
BUFFALO, N.Y. — M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB) and Paramus, N.J.–based Hudson City Bancorp. Inc. (NASDAQ: HCBK) have again extended the deadline for finalizing their merger that they first announced in late August 2012. The banking companies said in a news release last Friday that they have pushed the deadline… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: In a fresh crackdown on suspected tax evasion and laundering of black money through stock markets, regulator Sebi today barred Mishka Finance and TradingBSE -1.93 % Ltd and 128 other entities from the securities market. While the total amount involved could not be ascertained, these entities are estimated to… – Continue reading
A British company run by the Conservative’s election guru Lynton Crosby lost more than £1 million in two years, public records show. Accounts filed by Crosby Textor Ltd reveal that the firm, owned by Mr Crosby and his business partner Mark Textor made losses of £511,000 in 2014 and £510,000… – Continue reading
Director of Institute for Fiscal Studies claims coalition’s move to cut the tax-free personal allowance achieves a similar outcome for low-paid workers The director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank has rubbished one of Labour’s key policies for tackling in-work poverty, the 10p starting rate of income tax, describing… – Continue reading
HSBC has appointed headhunters to find new non-executive directors in an effort to freshen up its board. Europe’s biggest bank has previously said its next chairman will be an external candidate, and it has also been reported that one of the new non-executives was likely to be a replacement for… – Continue reading
Tax directors at many organizations anticipate their companies will grow by entering into new domestic and international markets in the years ahead, according to a new survey by BDO USA. In a sign of an improving economy, 50 percent of the 100 tax directors at $1billion-plus public companies surveyed by… – Continue reading
David Maclean, Baron Blencathra, wrote to Cayman Islands in 2014 that transparency push was to head off G8 pressure and EU’s financial transaction tax A Conservative peer has described David Cameron’s flagship G8 anti-tax avoidance initiative as a “purely political gesture” designed to head off European attempts to curb the… – Continue reading
Introduction Soft commodity prices, divergent monetary policies across major economies, high unemployment rates and weak world trade have all conspired to slow down global economic recovery over the past seven years. Consequently, governments have had to cut spending as future revenues remain uncertain. This has led governments to look for… – Continue reading
– Rising Cost of Compliance Within The Tax And Financial Regulatory Environment Creates Opportunities For Increased Efficiency – CHICAGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–As the economy continues to accelerate, many organizations plan to grow by entering into new markets in the years ahead, reveals the first ever BDO USA, LLP Tax Outlook Survey. Fifty… – Continue reading
1. NON-TAX ISSUES 1.1 Domestic law 1.1.1 Briefly describe your legal system and its origins Canada is a federal state, with legislative powers divided between the federal and provincial governments. The federal government has legislative jurisdiction over issues concerning Canada as a whole, including foreign affairs, international trade, banking, telecommunications,… – Continue reading
Bank appoints headhunters MWM Consulting after revelations about its Swiss banking arm have brought board composition under intense scrutiny HSBC is preparing to bring in new non-executive directors to overhaul a board that has faced intense scrutiny following revelations of its Swiss arm’s involvement in tax evasion. The appointment of… – Continue reading
Enterprise minister Nick Boles says big corporations are ‘taking the mickey’ and Labour’s Chuka Umunna said the issue makes his constituents ‘very angry indeed’ A senior Conservative MP has advised businesses and accountants to check whether their tax policies are ethical by asking an NHS nurse. The enterprise minister Nick… – Continue reading
On 26 March 2015, the United Kingdom Parliament passed into law the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 (the “Act”). The Act will bring about a number of fundamental changes to UK company law including, amongst others, the abolition of bearer shares and corporations acting as directors and, perhaps… – Continue reading
Offshore investment entities in the Cayman Islands and many other international financial centers should now start turning their attention to compliance with the Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”) promulgated by GATCA – Global FATCA. They must document all account holders existing on December 31, 2015, with the exception of entities with… – Continue reading
A veteran lawyer of 35 years, Mr Pascal Netto, has been struck off the rolls for professional misconduct. The 68-year-old had been a nominee director in a client’s firm but issued company shares to himself and borrowed some US$158,000 (S$215,000) from the firm without authorisation. In disbarring Mr Netto on… – Continue reading
Changes are in the pipeline which will have a dramatic impact on the way that auditing firms handle public-interest entities (PIEs) as from December 2016 – but Deloitte CEO Malcolm Booker is very wary about how this could work in practice. According to the legislation, auditors would have to enter… – Continue reading
Since entering the Illinois Senate race last week, Democratic Rep. Tammy Duckworth has been running a protectionist campaign, railing against her Republican opponent’s alleged support for outsourcing jobs and overseas tax havens. But financial records obtained by The Daily Caller show that Duckworth has investments in companies that use offshore… – Continue reading
In my practice, I have found that a majority of my clients who create significant wealth do so through ownership of a private business or a concentrated stock position in a publicly traded company. What that means for you is that if you haven’t yet started a business or taken… – Continue reading
Suspicions rising that ‘hot money’ is being washed through Vancouver real estate As affluent Chinese buyers – spurred by relaxed regulations and a lower Canadian dollar – flood into British Columbia’s real estate market, warnings are rising that some cash deals may contravene federal money laundering rules. A 2015 report… – Continue reading
Nearly every second listed state-owned company is yet to comply with the regulatory requirement of appointing a woman director on its board, well after the March 31 deadline announced by market regulator Sebi has passed. Those in violation of the norm are bluechip public sector firms that include ONGC, NTPC… – Continue reading
Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in the US has siphoned off $4.5 billion of cash and shares from his Australian media businesses in the past two years, virtually tax free. According to calculations by University of NSW accounting academic, Jeffrey Knapp, over the past 10 years, Mr Murdoch’s companies here have… – Continue reading
The Luxembourg supervisory authority, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), has recently issued FAQs regarding the immobilisation of bearer shares and units, as well as a press release to remind Luxembourg alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs) and non-EU AIFMs that market alternative investment funds (AIFs) in Luxembourg under… – Continue reading
Law360, New York (April 03, 2015, 10:12 AM ET) –One of the tougher issues buyers face when engaging in preliminary discussions regarding a potential going-private transaction is whether and when an amendment to required U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission stock ownership disclosures needs to be filed as steps are taken… – Continue reading
In Washington, they haul the bigwigs up to Capitol Hill for congressional hearings. Nobody is immune from scrutiny, whether the bosses at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan or Apple chief Tim Cook, compelled to defend his company’s “tax gimmickry” before a sardonic Carl Levin. In Westminster, the head of Google… – Continue reading
The Luxembourg supervisory authority, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), has recently issued FAQs regarding the immobilisation of bearer shares and units, as well as a press release to remind Luxembourg alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs) and non-EU AIFMs that market alternative investment funds (AIFs) in Luxembourg under… – Continue reading
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has approached Finance Minister Ishaq Dar seeking withholding tax exemption on the payments made or transactions carried out by the IFC, through an amendment in the Second Schedule of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 along with an exemption certificate from withholding tax provisions from July… – Continue reading
Introduction Every non-US entity has FATCA status Passive NFFEs report substantial US owners Trustee of trust or its sponsoring entity will report US persons Other reporting FFIs in structure will carry out FATCA due diligence Reporting when US account holders are identified Enforcement Comment Introduction The policy statement in the… – Continue reading
Ghana and the Netherlands have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the Automatic Exchange of Information to help in efforts to fight tax evasion. The agreement would allow the tax authorities of the two countries to automatically provide each other with information about income from immovable property earned by… – Continue reading
Vivienne Westwood’s donation of £300,000 to the Green Party sparks controversy over her company’s use of off-shore account She is probably Britain’s most influential — and definitely most controversial — fashion designer. So perhaps it was inevitable that when Dame Vivienne Westwood became the Green Party’s biggest supporter with a… – Continue reading
A judge has given HM Revenue & Customs two weeks to decide whether to put allegations of dishonesty to directors of media firm Ingenious in a court case to decide if its film investment schemes broke tax avoidance rules. Ingenious, founded by accountant Patrick McKenna, and HMRC are facing each… – Continue reading
MCC interviews three attorneys from Mourant Ozannes. Hayden Isbister is a partner and head of the Corporate practice in the Cayman firm. He specializes in investment funds, general corporate and commercial work. James Burch is a partner and leads the Structured Finance/Banks practice in the Cayman Islands, and Tim Dawson… – Continue reading
Capital Gains tax and inheritance tax should be merged to prevent wealthy homeowners being taxed twice, IoD suggests Capital gains tax and inheritance tax should be merged to prevent wealthy homeowners being taxed twice, according to the Institute of Directors. Taxes raising less than £5billion a year should be merged… – Continue reading
A few days ago we posted a warning to folks that opened offshore bank accounts through a company called Sovereign Management & Legal, Ltd. Based in Panama, the company offers to help Americans open offshore bank accounts with nominee corporations. Knowing that many people who do take these actions are… – Continue reading
AROUND the world, large, listed companies are troubled by cyber-security risks and company taxes, yet these concerns remain fairly low on the priority list of boards of directors. According to a PwC report on nonexecutive directors’ practices and remuneration trends, 60% of directors said their board had not discussed public… – Continue reading
Japan has remained a cornerstone of Pakistan’s economy for the past many years. Japanese Companies have invested in all sectors across Pakistan. Be it auto, trading, manufacturing, infrastructure development, packaging, steel manufacturing, indenting, etc a large number of Japanese Companies have a strong presence in Pakistan. Pakistan’s Investment and Corporate… – Continue reading
Malta continues to receive glowing reviews internationally as a stable financial services centre of repute within the European Union. Over the past fifteen years, Malta has moved seamlessly from being an offshore to an onshore jurisdiction, through the implementation of several legal, tax and regulatory rules intended to stimulate domestic… – Continue reading
Some statistics rank London as the fourth largest ‘French’ city by population, and the number of French individuals moving to the UK is growing. This is not surprising – the UK offers a highly favourable tax regime for ‘non-domiciled’ individuals moving to the UK, while entrepreneurs, professionals and high net… – Continue reading
The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee on Monday held a hearing on the role of accountancy firms in tax avoidance and PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), the Big 4 accounting firm, was represented by Kevin Nicholson, PwC head of tax in the UK and former HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs) tax inspector,… – Continue reading
UK and multinational enterprises are starting to consider (re)organising themselves under a UK holding company for their global operations, rather than using other traditional onshore holding company jurisdictions. This new trend is the result of a number of factors, which have moved the UK from an outside choice as an… – Continue reading
G20 guide: what to expect Brisbane residents will experience “longer travel times” as G20 forces roads and bus stations to be closed in the CBD and South Bank. Autoplay ONOFFVideo feedbackVideo settings G20: full coverage The global coalition against corruption – Transparency International – hopes Sunday’s G20 closing statement in… – Continue reading
Imagine a scenario in which a Hong Kong-based hedge fund manager establishes and appoints an offshore management company to provide investment management services for its fund. On one hand, the fund’s structure ensures a clear operational base. But at another level, key governance procedures are often neglected. These tasks include… – Continue reading
The government may have revealed the names of three black money account holders, but will it be able to get the money back or catch big fishes who have stashed the illegal money in tax havens across the globe. As of now it seems impossible. With at least three different… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: The Isle of Man appellate court last week rejected builder Niranjan Hiranandani’s appeal, challenging its jurisdiction over a case of fraud and misconduct filed against him by Hirco Plc. Hirco, a property investment fund, had raised Rs 3,000 crore from global investors in 2006, to be invested in Hiranandani’s… – Continue reading
