Following the release of the anti-tax-avoidance (ATA) package on January 28, 2016 by the European Commission, the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the European Union presented an EU-Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Roadmap (the Roadmap) to the Members of the High Level Working Party on Tax issues. The… – Continue reading
Before conducting business outside of the U.S. for the first time, a company must establish the business case for doing so. That means looking beyond just the profit potential on the product or service to the other costs that can be involved, of which there are many. “The culture of… – Continue reading
With the adoption of the BEPS package, OECD and G20 countries laid the foundations of a modern international tax framework under which profits would be taxed where economic activity and value creation occurs. It is now time to focus on implementation of the recommended changes in a consistent and coherent… – Continue reading
A “controlled foreign company” (CFC) is, as the name implies, a foreign company or subsidiary owned by a parent company which is situated in a country different from the parent company’s country of residence. The tax laws of many countries, including the Philippines, do not tax the CFC’s parent company… – Continue reading
Tax function of an organisation was traditionally run from the tax director’s room. Transfer Pricing (TP) was governed by contracts between related parties and this at times resulted in profits moving to legal entities that had contractual rights but had no significant people functions. There were instances of IP Holding… – Continue reading
The OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project – which is aimed at closing gaps and mismatches in tax laws that conspire to reduce corporate tax liability – is a game-changer for treasury planning. The final reports of the BEPS Action Plan, announced by the Organization for Economic Cooperation… – Continue reading
Transfer pricing (TP) issues have never been such a critical part of the global economic agenda as they are today. Following the release of the report addressing Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) in February 2013, OECD and G20 countries (including India) adopted a 15-point Action Plan to address BEPS… – Continue reading
Is India back on the world map as a lucrative investment jurisdiction? Does the world see the Make in India dream becoming a reality? Well, the $222 billion investment pledges received during the Make in India week do resonate the revived positive sentiment! In fact, recent policy measures have clearly… – Continue reading
The Treasurer announced this morning that the Government will use the foreign investment system to ensure tax compliance by multinational companies when investing in Australia. Using the FIRB process will add an additional mechanism for the Government to monitor and enforce tax compliance by multinational companies. It has long been… – Continue reading
FOREIGN investors could be stripped of their Australian assets if found to have deliberately shifted profits offshore to avoid paying tax. For the first time new tax rules will be imposed on large multinational companies buying into Australia, forcing them to either pay tax on their local earnings or pack… – Continue reading
Double tax treaties enable competent authorities of the treaty partners to exchange important tax information necessary for implementing the treaty or the domestic laws on taxes of every kind and description imposed. For instance, exchanges of information may be made regarding tax avoidance by companies of the contracting states.Nevertheless information… – Continue reading
Documents released during the internet giant’s court battle with the US Internal Revenue Service over a possible $1.5bn in unpaid taxes detail a complex restructuring and a deal with Luxembourg that delivered Amazon multimillion-dollar savings Amazon is facing a landmark court ruling in the US that could prise open its… – Continue reading
A quiet revolution is taking place across Europe. It isn’t playing out on the streets of capital cities or in the debating chambers of national parliaments. It has been slowly happening with every newspaper headline about how little corporation tax some companies pay relative to their size. It is also… – Continue reading
The 15 part action plan aims to tackle global inequalities in taxation income, increasing transparency for tax administrators and significantly improving Multinational Enterprises’s compliance. With tax regulations of large corporations at the forefront of all policy makers’ minds, this latest endeavour from the OECD and G20 will address the varying… – Continue reading
EU finance ministers will attempt to reach agreement by March on a directive requiring EU-wide country-by-country reporting for large multinationals and by July on a directive requiring EU states to adopt six anti-tax avoidance measures for corporations, Jeroen Dijsselbloem Dutch finance minister and president of the Eurogroup announced at an… – Continue reading
MANILA, Philippines – Corporations may soon be subject to a transfer pricing audit, a new type of tax audit, from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). Transfer pricing is used to describe inter-company pricing arrangements relating to transactions between related entities. These can include transfers of intellectual property, tangible goods,… – Continue reading
The 2016 Singapore Transfer Pricing Guidelines on related-party loans The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore published the 3rd edition of its Transfer Pricing Guidelines on the second working day of the New Year. In this new edition, the IRAS’ expectations concerning related-party loans have been slightly elaborated. The guidelines now… – Continue reading
In line with international developments, the Italian Government has been focusing on fighting tax evasion and avoidance in recent years. Studies and in-depth analyses on evasion and aggressive avoidance, conducted under the OECD BEPS project, which was delivered in October 2015, have led to the issuing of a series of… – Continue reading
A while back in Germany, I was driving on the straight as an arrow B-1. That is Bundesstrasse, the equivalent of a U.S. highway, a notch below the Autobahn. Roads tend to curve around farmers’ fields, having been there first. The B-1 from Cologne on the Rhine toward Berlin was… – Continue reading
The Belarusian Tax and Duties Ministry will step up efforts to legalize revenues from international online trade in 2016, BelTA learned from Belarusian First Deputy Tax and Duties Minister Igor Klepcha during a press conference on 12 February. “We will greatly step up efforts to move revenues from international digital… – Continue reading
The Australian Treasury on February 11 opened a consultation on whether Australia should adopt into law final OECD/G20 base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) transfer pricing recommendations. The goverment seeks feedback on the adoption of the BEPS report, Alleging Transfer Pricing Outcomes with Value Creation, which has been approved by G20… – Continue reading
Kenya enacted a new law targeting units of foreign companies that escape remitting most of their domestic taxes by allocating income to tax havens while attributing expenses to the East African nation, a practice known as transfer pricing. The Tax Procedures Act gives the Kenya Revenue Authority powers to investigate… – Continue reading
In the first part of this article, we talked about provisions of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) final report on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan 14, which reflects the commitment of participating countries to implement substantial changes in their approach to dispute resolution in… – Continue reading
Senegal on February 4 signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, becoming the 93rd jurisdiction to sign the document, and the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement for the automatic exchange of Country-by-Country reports, becoming the 32nd signatory to that agreement, the OECD has announced. The Multilateral Convention… – Continue reading
The Authority for Advance Rulings, a quasi-judicial tax body under the finance ministry, has reaffirmed that capital gains earned by a Mauritius-registered company from transfer of shares of an Indian firm shall not be taxable in the country if the foreign corporation doesn’t have a local permanent establishment. In doing… – Continue reading
Many serious reforms have been implemented, and very strong Federal political will, together with strong state-based political consensus, will be needed for any further tax reform in 2016. Over the last couple of years, there has been a lot of talk about tax reform, notably base erosion profit shifting (BEPS)… – Continue reading
The present French Tax Update will focus on an overview of several noteworthy publications, including decisions issued during the past few months by the French Administrative Supreme Court (Conseil d’Etat) and French Constitutional Court (Conseil Constitutionnel), as well as the European Commission decision in respect of the Belgian Excess Profit… – Continue reading
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday announced that, starting February 16, its Advance Pricing and Mutual Agreement office will begin accepting requests for bilateral advance pricing agreements between the U.S. and India. This marks a big step forward to ensure tax certainty between the two countries, according to experts…. – Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG – A data sharing agreement signed by 31 countries – including South Africa – in a bid to enhance transparency by multinational enterprises, is unlikely to have an immediate impact on mining companies. Through the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the Exchange of Country-by-Country Reporting, signed by members of… – Continue reading
The debate about corporation tax intensifies. Is the tax on profit no longer viable now that the global nature of modern business is making it ever harder for individual governments to enforce? Director asks two business leaders, has globalisation made corporation tax redundant? Yes, says Stephen Herring, head of taxation… – Continue reading
COMMUNIST trade union leader Ken Gill famously referred to taxation as “the price we pay for civilisation.” If so last week gave further evidence of just how uncivilised a country Britain has become after decades of neoliberalism. Google’s deal with HMRC has rightly prompted outrage and consternation at the sheer… – Continue reading
In our previous columns, we discussed the final reports of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on the different action plans to address Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS). We will now focus on Action 14, which reflects the commitment of participating countries to implement substantial changes in… – Continue reading
Despite the anticipated tsunami of tax disputes generated by underlying tensions in international taxation, there is reason for hope that appropriate means are being developed to address them efficiently and effectively. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) should be addressing their existing international taxation planning structures in light of coming changes in international… – Continue reading
Though the use of the retrospective tax on Vodafone and Cairn tend to grab the headlines, a large part of the ‘tax terror’ in India has really been the contribution of the high-pitched transfer pricing (TP) additions to the income of the MNCs Though the use of the retrospective tax… – Continue reading
India and the U.S. have reached an agreement to resolve more than 100 pending transfer pricing cases, one of the biggest deterrents for foreign investors planning an India foray, according to a government statement. Some more are expected to be resolved soon. Transfer pricing refers to the setting of the… – Continue reading
The Italian Patent Box regime largely complies with the OECD recommendations to prevent base erosion and profit shifting. Its non-compliant features offer a brief window of opportunity for companies able to take swift advantage of its wide range of qualifying intangible assets. Many countries have implemented specific IP regimes through… – Continue reading
Australia is one of 31 countries to sign an agreement in Paris to confidentially share tax information on multinational companies in a bid to stamp out tax avoidance. The deal comes as Apple has taken advantage of accounting rules in its local business that could allow it to pay virtually… – Continue reading
The revived Asia Tax Awards will feature categories for companies, firms and individuals. The Asia Tax Awards are back! More than five years after they last took place in November 2010, the Asia Tax Awards will be held once again on Thursday May 5 2016, following the Asia Tax Forum,… – Continue reading
2015 has officially come to an end. Amidst the ending celebrations, packing away of decorations, and last spoonful of dessert, many of us are putting together our work plans and resolutions for 2016. And looking back at last years’ list, there remains one capitalised, un-crossed-off item: BEPS Perhaps your organisation… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) today said it has resolved as many as 100 transfer pricing disputes with the US, which will lead to an environment of “tax certainty and encourage MNCs” to do business in India. The resolution of such issues, CBDT said further, follows… – Continue reading
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) has published additional record-keeping requirements for large multi-national companies which they will have to comply with in future. Many companies have already included some of the required information in their transfer pricing documentation and on their annual tax returns, but there seems to be… – Continue reading
In an effort to provide their tax administrations with more tools to combat corporate tax avoidance through transfer pricing, officials from 31 countries today signed an agreement setting out the parameters for automatic exchange of country-by-country reports on large multinational corporations. The agreement — the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 26:Ministers and top tax officials from more than 30 countries including India will sign an international agreement on Wednesday to significantly advance the fight against corporate tax avoidance. This agreement – Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) – will be signed at the OECD in Paris, sources said…. – Continue reading
Transfer pricing is the general term for the pricing of cross-border and domestic, intra-group transactions between connected parties. It refers to the setting of prices for transactions between connected persons involving the transfer of property or services. Companies can be connected in various ways, for example, two wholly owned subsidiaries… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 26:A majority of Indian multinationals see the implementation of base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development leading to increase in double taxation and compliance burden for them, an India-specific BEPS survey by Deloitte India has revealed. This is interesting… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI, JAN 25: A majority of Indian multinationals see the implementation of OECD’s BEPS project leading to increase in double taxation and compliance burden for them, an India-specific BEPS survey by Deloitte India has revealed. This is interesting given that one of the objectives of OECD’s Action Plan on Base… – Continue reading
The Internal Revenue Service appears to have violated a court order once again requiring the preservation of evidence needed by investigators looking into questionable practices at the agency. In a case sure to stir up memories of the Lois Lerner investigation, which saw IRS Commissioner John Koskinen dragged before Congress… – Continue reading
In a move to woo offshore fund managers to locate in India, the Union Budget for 2016-17 is likely to relax conditions for them to avail of tax exemptions. Budget 2015 had announced some exemptions by amending the permanent establishment (PE) norms. The rules were changed to the extent that… – Continue reading
The President highlighted transfer pricing, taxation of digital economy and international taxation as the frontier areas of taxation which require special skill sets to deal with disputes. Stressing on the need to improve India’s ranking in ease of doing business, President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said rising tax disputes and… – Continue reading
The new advanced pricing agreements cover sectors like investment advisory, IT enabled services and manufacturing In the current fiscal year, which is the third year of APA programme, 30 agreements have been signed so far. As part of efforts to reduce tax disputes related to international transactions carried out by… – Continue reading
