NEWS

Baron Laudermilk In mid May 2013 Guernsey, one of the world's premier offshore financial centers, signed a Double Taxation Arrangement (DTA) with Luxembourg. This means that Guernsey has no signed "full" DTAs with eight jurisdictions. In addition to the DTA with Luxembourg, the island has had a DTA with the UK for multiple years and has signed DTAs with Malta, in 2012, and earlier this year with Isle of Man, Jersey, Qatar, Singapore and even Hong Kong last month. Treasury and Resources Minister of Guernsey said, "This is an important further component in Guernsey's network of tax agreements. Following on...

NEWS 2020

By Anas Almasri The Maltese government has recently announced plans to enhance its foreign investment incentive program offered to high net worth individuals (HNWI) looking to obtain residency permits in the country. Launching the new scheme, Malta Parliamentary Secretary for Competitiveness and Economic Growth, Edward Zammit Lewis, hailed the program potential in improving the local economy. Certain sectors including real estate, financial services, leisure, and hospitality are all set to receive a strong boost. The core of the previous investor incentive scheme will be reinstated; wealthy individuals seeking a permanent residency in Malta are required to purchase a high-value property...

NEWS 2020

By Anas Almasri Hedge fund industry representatives and private equity firms have voiced their support to recently proposed tax reforms launched by the Special Administrative Region government that aim to attract more hedge funds to set up in Hong Kong. The ongoing internationalization of the Yuan is also seen as one of the city strengths in this sector. Philip Tye, Chairman of the Hong Kong branch of the Alternative Investment Management Association a hedge fund lobby group praised Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah proposal to revamp the industry laws. In a media interview, Tye said he expected more fund managers...

NEWS 2020

By Courtesy of Mike Godfrey The Canadian Government has announced the introduction of tougher foreign income declaration requirements, as part of its crackdown on international tax evasion and so-called "aggressive tax avoidance. Under plans announced in Finance Minister Jim Flaherty latest Budget, Canadians holding overseas property costing over CAD100,000 (USD95,220) will have to provide additional information to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Starting from the 2013 taxation year, they must use a revised Foreign Income Verification Statement (Form T1135) to state which foreign institution or entity holds funds for them outside of Canada. They must additionally hand over details of...

NEWS 2020

By Courtesy of Vanessa Houlder. Plans for a global crackdown on tax arbitrage that marks "the end of a golden era" for multinationals that minimize their tax bills were unveiled on Friday (July 19th)at the meeting of G20 finance ministers in Moscow.The proposals for tackling multinational tax avoidance drawn up in response to criticism of the low tax rates paid by companies such as Google were hailed by ministersas a significant step towards re-establishing confidence in the tax system.Pierre Moscovici, the French finance minister said: "It is a major breakthrough and is at the heart of the social contract." George...

NEWS 2020

By courtesy of Asia Briefing. Singapore is now planning to market itself as a fast-growing hub for offshore RMB exchange after it recently started dealing in the Chinese currency this past May. The Chinese government also just recently cleared the Singapore branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for such transactions. Prior to such approval, RMBclearing services outside of China were only supplied by banks in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Singapore currently has access to RMB 100 billion (US$16.3 billion), but the country's central bank hopes to increase this number in an attempt to improve liquidity for offshore...

NEWS 2020

By Courtesy of Lorys Charalambous. The Dubai Multi-Commodities Center Authority is set to become the largest free zone in the United Arab Emirates, having registered 1,270 new member companies in the first six months of 2013, bringing the total to more than 6,890. About 95 percent of the newly registered companies in the first half of 2013 were newcomers to Dubai,indicating that the free zone is highly attractive to foreign investors. About one-third of those companies were from other parts of the Middle East, while South Asia, the Americas and the UK accounted for 28 percent, 14 percent and 14...

NEWS 2020

By Courtesy of Jason Gorringe. The governments of Malta and Macau recently signed an agreement to work together to prevent tax evasion and tax avoidance.The agreement was signed by Macau Secretary for Economy and Finance, Francis Tam Pak Yuen, and Malta's ambassador to China, Joseph Cassar, on May 30. The treaty, expected to enter into force in January 2014, will enable the tax authorities in the two jurisdictions to share information about their citizens relevant to "the determination, assessment and collection of taxes, the recovery and enforcement of tax claims, or the investigation or prosecution of tax matters." Under the...

NEWS 2020