A new report from the Tax Justice Network (TJN), which calls for unitary taxation to prevent multinational corporations avoiding tax, will divide opinion among authorities.
The OECD is making strong progress with its VAT Guidelines after its Global Forum on VAT met for the first time last month and agreed on the need for principles to ensure VAT systems interact consistently to facilitate rather than distort international trade.
The European Commission has another busy year ahead as the financial transaction tax (FTT) and VAT reform go full speed ahead, while it looks at ways to crack down on tax avoidance and it looks to press on with the common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB). Salman Shaheen speaks to Algirdas Šemeta, Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union, Audit and Anti-Fraud about what he has planned for 2013.
Margaret Hodge MP, chair of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC), hauled Google, Amazon and Starbucks over the hot coals earlier this month for avoiding UK taxes. She tells Salman Shaheen how transparency measures such as country-by-country reporting and FATCA can be used to ensure companies pay their fair share of tax, and calls for HMRC to step up its game.
Media speculation ahead of Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne’s Autumn Statement is rife that the UK could need to raise VAT to 25% if it is to plug a £23 billion ($40 billion) hole in public finances. But there are other options.
A leaked government document seen by International Tax Review reveals that the UK is planning to impose its own version of the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) on its Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories. The move will deal an almost-fatal blow to tax evasion through the UK’s tax havens.
