Links Jul 14

Tax Havens lure one third of foreign investments by Indian companies Institute of International Trade
Jul 13 - 'In India, a company has to pay 30% on the operating income while in Mauritius it is 3%. It is interesting to note that Mauritius alone accounts for 60% of equity investments by Indian companies.'

US, UK on high donation list Hindustan Times
Jul 8 - 'US, United Kingdom and Germany are the biggest donors for Indian voluntary sector but contributions from smaller countries such as Luxembourg and Liechtenstein are on the rise ... The sharp spike in FCRA inflow from tax havens raises suspicion about `round tripping’ of black money by Indian entities'

South Africa: Tax Regime, Part 1: Taxing Times Financial Mail

Jul 14 - 'Ismail Momoniat, treasury’s deputy director- general responsible for tax & financial sector policy ... disagrees that SA’s corporate tax rate is uncompetitive: “We need to take long-term sustainability into account and not create artificial bubbles through a race to the bottom ... We strive to ensure certainty in the tax system, particularly for those companies and investors that don’t indulge in aggressive tax-avoidance measures.

Then see:
Tax Regime, Part 2: Low Tax Countries - The Way to Do Business Financial Mail
Jul 14 - More on the race to the bottom, and the reputation of Mauritius as the “Guernsey of the Indian Ocean”.

Seoul clamps down wealthy peoples' offshore tax evasion Yonhap News Agency
Jul 12 - 'The probe comes amid growing suspicion that wealthy people are turning their eye to offshore tax havens to conceal income and evade taxes as transparency has increased here since the introduction of the real-name bank account system in 1993.'

Stealth and Taxes: Australian Taxation Office sets its technology on evaders BusinessDay
Jul 9 - 'For the well-off, the Tax Office's second commissioner (compliance), Bruce Quigley, says it is building a profile of the lifestyles of the rich, to see if it matches what is declared in their income tax returns. The Tax Office will conduct about 380 reviews of people worth more than $30 million for the 2011-12 financial year, resulting in 60 full tax audits for the ''highly wealthy''.'

"Puppet Trustees" get another chance advisor.ca
Jul 6 - 'The practice of sheltering income from Canada’s tax man by setting up what amount to nominal trustees in a tax haven like Barbados was dealt a severe blow in a recent court case.' ...' In [the Garron case], the Court shifted away from the generally accepted, long-standing, common law basis for determining trust residency based on trustee residence, to a residency determination based on the location of the central management and control of the trust'.

Then see:
Do's and Don'ts for advising trusts advisor.ca
Jul 8 - 'The Canada Revenue Agency has been concerned about the use of inter-provincial and offshore trusts as a way of minimizing income tax, and the central management and control test has been their weapon of choice'.

Business Group Slams Central America Security Tax InSight Crime
Jul 13 - The Federation of Central American Chambers of Commerce (FECAMCO) has come out against the imposition of new "security taxes" to fund governments' fight against organized crime in the region. Instead the body called for governments to implement “effective measures to control tax evasion, broaden the tax base, combat corruption.”