Tax

Latest News for Tax

• May 27, 2010 - Hong Kong, Austria Sign Double Tax Agreement
  

  Hong Kong has signed an agreement with Austria to avoid double taxation and prevent fiscal evasion regarding income and capital taxes, according to Tax-News. com.

• May 25, 2010 - Withers Adds To Hong Kong Based US Tax Team
  

  Withers, the international law firm that caters to high net worth individuals, has appointed two new lawyers to its Hong Kong office, in response to the growing demand for US tax advice. Todd Beutler has been named partner at the firm and will be based in Hong Kong.

• May 23, 2010 - Switzerland, Japan Sign DTA, Changing Withholding Tax Rules
  

  Switzerland's Federal Council and Japan signed an updated double taxation agreement, containing provisions on the exchange of information in accordance with the standards set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Apart from including the OECD rules on the exchange of information, key.

• May 19, 2010 - Australia, Marshall Islands Sign TIEA
  

  Australia’s government has inked a bilateral tax treaty with the Marshall Islands for the exchange of information. The agreement was signed in Majuro by the Marshall Islands Acting Finance Minister, Brenson Wase and Australia's Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands, Susan Cox.

• May 18, 2010 - Chinese Tycoon Sentenced To 14 Years In Prison
  

  China's richest businessman and Gome Electronics founder Huang Guangyu has been sentenced to prison for 14 years on insider trading and other related charges, the Daily Telegraph reports. Huang was detained in November 2008 for allegedly diverting company funds to repay a personal debt through a share buyback.

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Latest Features for Tax

• February 14, 2010 - Australia Tightens Screws On Trusts
  

  The Australian government continues to crack down on tax structures traditionally used by wealthy families with the release of draft legislation to extend withholding tax arrangements to family trusts. Assistant treasurer Nick Sherry released the draft legislation for public comment this week. The recommendations would enable the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to detect the non-disclosure of income earned by the trusts, and then attribute it to individuals and assess it along with their other income.

• April 2, 2009 - Tax Havens - How The Landscape Is Changing
  

  Offshore tax jurisdictions have featured strongly in the crescendo of media coverage leading up to the G20 summit in London that is now underway.   Both Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister and US president, Barack Obama, have been pushing for a clampdown on tax havens and offshore jurisdictions which have been blamed for their role in the global economic crisis. As ever, the noise and fury of the debate has drowned out other voices.

• November 7, 2002 - Taxing times for Australia's ultra wealthy
  

  Twenty-four of Australia's richest individuals were slugged an extra A$918m in taxes last financial year — an average of $38m each — following a crackdown on tax avoidance among ultra-high net-worth individuals. Tax commissioner Michael Carmody, launching his annual report for 2001-02, said the sum included $451m in penalties for fraud and evasion. He said the Australian Tax Office was focusing on the use of offshore tax havens to hide income, as well as capital gains tax avoidance and intellectual property arrangements.

• November 20, 2001 - Why Australians invest offshore: it comes down to the rate of return
  

  There are investment advantages alongside the tax implications for Australian investors who take out investment bonds and savings plans in jurisdictions outside their home country, particularly when they are non-resident for tax purposes in Australia. Taxation in Australia There are three main federal taxes in Australia: income tax, fringe benefit tax and capital gains tax. Each state in Australia also has its own taxation system, so state taxes may also be applicable; for example, in New South Wales, land tax may need to be paid.

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