2 March 2017, US law enforcement officials searched the headquarters of heavy machine manufacturer Caterpillar and two other facilities as part of a tax investigation linked to the firm’s Swiss parts subsidiary, Caterpillar SARL, in Geneva. In a 2014 report the US Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations said that Caterpillar had adopted “a tax strategy…
Switzerland’s Federal Department of Finance (FDF) announced it had begun work on a new corporate tax reform proposal, which it has named “Tax Proposal 17”. The move followed the rejection of its Corporate Tax Reform III proposal by popular referendum in February. The aim of the corporate tax reform proposal is to replace Switzerland’s existing…
The UK Ministry of Justice confirmed that it is to proceed, following a consultation, with government proposals to reform the fee payable for an application for a grant of probate. The regime will move, as of 1 May, from a flat fee to a banded structure where the fees increase in line with the value…
The Taxation (Business Tax, Exchange of Information, and Remedial Matters) Act, which will increase disclosure obligations for NZ resident trustees of NZ foreign trusts, received Royal Assent and was brought into force. Approved by Parliament on 14 February, the law further provides for New Zealand’s participation in the G20/OECD Common Reporting Standard for automatic international…
The UK Court of Appeal overturned a High Court decision that law firm Taylor Wessing LLP had not breached the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) by refusing to carry out searches on grounds of proportionality, legal privilege and improper purpose. Subject to any appeal to the Supreme Court, the ruling reverses the previous position regarding…
Swiss voters decisively rejected the proposed federal bill on Corporate Tax Reform III (CTR III), which was adopted by the Federal Parliament last June, by a majority 59.1% vote in a referendum. CTR III was designed to align the Swiss corporate tax system with international standards, particularly the OECD’s base erosion and profit sharing (BEPS)…
The government introduced legislation into the Parliament to implement the new Diverted Profits Tax (DPT). Designed to prevent multinational companies from shifting their Australian profits to offshore-related parties in order to avoid paying Australian tax, it will commence on 1 July. By making it easier to apply Australia’s anti‑avoidance provisions and applying a 40% rate…
Switzerland’s Federal Department of Finance launched a consultation on introducing automatic exchange of information (AEOI) in tax matters with 20 additional countries. The countries under consideration are: China, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Liechtenstein, Colombia, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Montserrat, Aruba, Curaçao, Belize, Costa Rica, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia,…
European Union member states sent letters to 92 countries to inform them that they will be “screened” with a view to inclusion on a future “blacklist” of “jurisdictions refusing to comply with good tax governance standards”. The EU is to prepare a definitive list of tax havens by the end of 2017. The EU Code…
23 January 2017, Hong Kong signed a competent authority agreement (CAA) with Korea with a view to commencing the automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters (AEOI) in 2019. The two countries have been exchanging tax information upon request since 2016 when the Korea-Hong Kong tax treaty entered into force, In order to…
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