How NGOs changed the global tax debate After winning battles over financial transparency, the Tax Justice Network (TJN) is helping to make radical proposals mainstream. First it was country-by-country reporting, now it may be formulary apportionment.
Tax transparency Imperfect vision Keith Brockman questions whether tax transparency initiatives are really accomplishing their objectives, or if it is an imperfect vision that is being achieved.
Auditors rely on trust and verification methods Former US President Ronald Reagan used the phrase “trust, but verify” during nuclear disarmament discussions with the Soviet Union. The same phrase is relevant to tax auditors today, writes Norah Al Khalaf, tax auditor at the Saudi General Authority of Zakat & Tax.
The B Team presents its business case for responsible tax Rebuilding trust in the tax system is critical for the successful operation of companies and countries. Ewan Livingston, cause strategist at The B Team explains how the organisation’s Responsible Tax Principles are guiding the way companies manage their risks and reputation.
Beyond and beneath the arm’s-length principle Educated pragmatism is the new normal under pillar one, and it might not be a bad answer for in-house tax and transfer pricing professionals. Philippe Paumier of Vector TP discusses why tax executives need to carefully consider if they want to remain married to the prevalent version of the arm’s-length principle.
‘Ease of Doing Business’ Large taxpayer GST units necessary in India India’s goods and services tax (GST) is posing serious challenges to taxpayers operating across the country with multiple registrations and administrators. Santosh Hatwar Tekkatte, senior manager of indirect taxes and GST at Infosys, proposes a structure for large taxpayer units in line with the government’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ promise.
Americas Tax Awards 2019: The winners The top tax and transfer pricing experts from across the Americas congregated at Essex House in New York, on September 19, to celebrate the very best firms and individuals across a host of categories.
EU circular economy plans could cut tax costs for companies Antonio Lanotte, certified professional tax advisor, explains why governments will need to redesign tax policies and how businesses could reduce their carbon footprint under a circular economy that may help the EU achieve its 2020 environment strategy.
Do new transparency obligations help us know our company better? Giles Parsons discusses the internal implications of transparency initiatives and offers his view over whether it is worth the effort of going beyond the legal requirements.
Taxpayers surprised by India’s corporate tax cuts India surprised companies with an immediate cut to its corporate tax rates to boost investment, but investors are cautious about India’s competitiveness amid a slowdown in regional and global growth.
EU court rules in favour of Starbucks, but against Fiat over state aid Starbucks has won its case against the European Commission’s (EC) 2015 state aid decision, but the EC clawed back a win against Fiat Chrysler in two conflicting cases over the use of the transactional net margin method.
First filings under UK Making Tax Digital go ‘fairly smoothly’ UK taxpayers have told ITR that the first filings and overall process to comply with HMRC’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) initiative has been relatively straightforward despite facing some obstacles.
Mexico’s VAT reforms risk foreign digital platforms exiting market Foreign companies targeted by Mexico’s VAT reforms are evaluating the potential losses they face from the burdensome and costly measures. Companies may exit the Mexican market if talks with the government fail.
India GST Council’s tax tweaks welcomed Tax heads tell ITR that the GST Council’s rules to change rates of tax across the affected sectors of hospitality and tourism will provide a boost to industry revenue and increased tax compliance on the part of businesses in the sector.
OECD MAP statistics offer mixed views on dispute resolution The OECD’s statistics on mutual agreement procedures (MAPs) released today show taxpayer confidence in the tool is growing, but it also reflects greater disagreement over international tax rules.
HMRC delays ‘sledgehammer’ VAT reverse charge Companies operating in the UK construction sector and industry associations are calling on HMRC to do more to help them prepare for the VAT reverse charges change and use the one-year delay effectively.
Glencore wins TP dispute against Australian Taxation Office Australia’s Federal Court has ruled in favour of Glencore in a A$92.7 million ($62 million) tax dispute with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) over whether or not transactions with a local subsidiary were at arm’s-length.
Treading water Achieving transparency, whether as a taxpayer or tax authority, can often feel like you are treading water.
Tax Relief Because tax doesn’t have to be taxing. A less-than-serious look back at some of the quirkier tax stories from the past month.
Australia: Glencore triumphs over ATO in landmark Australian transfer pricing case In Glencore Investment Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation of the Commonwealth of Australia [2019] FCA 1432, in a major victory for the mining giant, the Federal Court found in favour of Glencore, and held that the terms operating between the Glencore Australian subsidiary and its Swiss trader parent in the sale of copper concentrate were within an arm’s-length range.
Brazil: Brazilian tax authorities provide guidance on ‘debit to shareholders account’ transactions On July 1 2019, the Federal Brazilian Tax Authorities (RFB) published Solução de Consulta – Cosit 210/2019 (dated June 24 2019), providing that withholding tax should be levied at a rate of 15% on interest that is accrued but not yet due, where the outstanding debt is used to reduce accounting losses of a Brazilian company via a ‘debit to shareholders account’ transaction.
Chile: Chile continues with the modernisation of its tax system The Chilean government presented a Tax Modernisation Bill on August 23 2018.
China: China introduces new free trade zones and improved practices Since 2013 China has established an increasing number of free trade zones (FTZs) around the country.
Colombia: Colombia begins taxing indirect sales Aleksan Oundjian of EY discusses the impact in practice of new rules on taxing the indirect transfer of goods and shares.
Germany: How to adapt to the DEMPE concept when using third-party licensing agreements for transfer pricing Yves Hervé and Philip de Homont of NERA Economic Consulting show how taxpayers can adapt their defence strategies to the DEMPE concept, focusing particularly on the use of third-party agreements.
Greece: Analysing partial demergers The partial demerger type of restructuring was one of the not-so-few novelties introduced into Greece in the context of the major tax reform that took place in 2013.
Hong Kong: IRD publishes long awaited practice notes on transfer pricing Following the enactment of the transfer pricing (TP) legislation in Hong Kong on July 13 2018, the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department (IRD) published on July 19 2019 the three long-awaited Departmental Interpretation and Practice Notes (DIPN) Numbers 58, 59 and 60.
India: Analysing foreign portfolio investor taxation in India Foreign institutional investors (FII) have enjoyed a beneficial tax regime in India since the introduction of section 115AD of the Income-tax Act 1961 (Act), via the Finance Act 1993.
Indonesia: Indonesia issues a flurry of tax-related regulations The Indonesian government, through the Minister of Finance (MoF), issued Regulation 116/PMK.04/2019 (PMK-116) on August 13 2019.
Israel: How the Israel tax authorities are interpreting intergroup intangibles exports Henriette Fuchs of Pearl Cohen Zedek Latzer Baratz highlights increasing challenges in relation to intergroup intangible asset transactions in light of recent and progressing case law.
Italy: Italy issues guidelines on prevention of tax evasion On August 8 2019, the Italian tax administration published Circular Letter N19/E.
Luxembourg: Mandatory disclosure rules announced in Luxembourg On August 8 2019, the draft law that would transpose the EU tax intermediaries directive (Directive 2018/822, commonly referred to as DAC6) into Luxembourg legislation was introduced in Parliament.
New Zealand: New Zealand government updates tax reform priorities The New Zealand government has updated its short to medium-term priorities for tax reform by releasing a “refreshed” Tax Policy Work Programme (work programme).
Poland: Poland introduces the white list of VAT taxpayers The amendment of the Polish VAT Act, in force since September 1 2019, introduced regulations on the electronic database of taxpayers registered for VAT purposes in Poland (the so-called ‘white list’, or ‘e-register’).
Romania: The future of taxation in the digital era looks promising for Romania Miruna Enache of EY expounds high hopes for the further development potential and taxation of digital services in Romania.
Russia: Supreme Court issues decision on allocation of costs to income Dmitry Garaev and Anastasia Avdonina of KPMG discuss the Supreme Court’s decision A47-9881/2017 of August 26 2019, which is of specific interest for companies receiving both operating profit and dividend income.
South Africa: National Treasury releases proposed international tax amendments Proposed changes to the Income Tax Act, contained in the 2019 draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill, were released for comment by the National Treasury on July 21 2019.
Spain: Protocol of the Spain-US tax treaty enters into force Gonzalo Gallardo of Garrigues explains the changes to come following ratification of the Spain-US protocol.
Switzerland: Swiss-US double tax treaty protocol enters into force Brandi Caruso and Robin King of Deloitte summarise the notable changes introduced under the recently ratified 2009 protocol to the Swiss-US double tax treaty.
Thailand: Thailand issues regulation on stamp duty payment for electronic documents Saravut Krailadsiri of Kudun and Partners provides a practical summary on how stamp duty for electronic documents is being collected under the new regulations.
US inbound: IRS proposes new guidance for cloud transactions The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has proposed new guidance regarding cloud transactions.
US outbound: OECD statistics show continued effectiveness of MAP cases globally and in US The OECD recently published statistics on mutual agreement procedure (MAP) cases for 2018.
