House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R – Texas) has disclosed that, under his leadership, the Committee will immediately draft US international tax reform legislation, while laying the framework for more comprehensive tax reform in 2017.
On February 12, 2016, Mr. Brady delivered the keynote address at the Tax Council Policy Institute's 17th Annual Tax Policy & Practice Symposium, and confirmed that, "in the months ahead and beyond, the Ways and Means Committee will be the center of the tax reform discussion and debate. … The code we have is too costly, complex and unfair. It is abundantly clear that now is the time to overhaul our tax system from top to bottom".
Chairman Brady’s proposed changes include:
• Making the tax code simpler, fairer, and flatter
• Replacing the current world-wide tax system with a permanent, modern territorial-type system
• Closing loopholes, eliminating special rules and limiting deductions, exclusions and credits
• Providing businesses both large and small with a competitive tax system, including a fair and competitive tax rate
• Encouraging businesses to locate their operations in the United States rather than incentivizing (effectively) the shift of jobs overseas
Mr. Brady confirmed that the Committee will move forward immediately to draft international tax reform legislation – "as we plan for that finish line in 2017, developments in the global environment demand our immediate attention."
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Friday 26 February 2016
Monday 1 February 2016
Mossack Fonseca on Singapore Joins OECD Multilateral Tax Convention
On January 20, 2016, Singapore deposited with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) its instrument of ratification for the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, reports Lowtax.net.
With this development, Singapore became the 93rd jurisdiction to join the pact, touted by the OECD as the world's leading instrument for boosting transparency and combating offshore tax evasion.
The Convention provides for all forms of administrative assistance in tax matters: exchange of information on request, spontaneous exchange, automatic exchange, tax examinations abroad, simultaneous tax examinations, and assistance in tax collection. It guarantees extensive safeguards for the protection of taxpayers' rights.
Ratifying the Convention will expand Singapore's network of partners for the exchange of information on request by 34 jurisdictions. This is part of a series of changes that Singapore has made in recent years to combat cross-border tax evasion, following Singapore's adoption of the internationally agreed standard for exchange of information on request in 2009, Singapore's Ministry of Finance said.
Minister for Finance, Heng Swee Keat, said: "Ratifying the Convention reflects Singapore's commitment to effective exchange of information based on international standards, but the standards can only work if all financial centres, such as Switzerland, Luxembourg, Singapore, and Hong Kong, move together. We will continue to work with our international partners to achieve this and prevent regulatory arbitrage."
The Convention was developed jointly by the OECD and the Council of Europe in 1988. It was amended in 2010 to respond to a call by the Group of Twenty (G-20) nations that it be aligned to the new international standard on the automatic exchange of information and that it be opened up to all countries.
The Convention is now seen as the instrument for swift implementation of the new Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters developed by the OECD. It will also be critical for the automatic exchange of country-by-country reports, proposed in the OECD's base erosion and profit shifting project.
With this development, Singapore became the 93rd jurisdiction to join the pact, touted by the OECD as the world's leading instrument for boosting transparency and combating offshore tax evasion.
The Convention provides for all forms of administrative assistance in tax matters: exchange of information on request, spontaneous exchange, automatic exchange, tax examinations abroad, simultaneous tax examinations, and assistance in tax collection. It guarantees extensive safeguards for the protection of taxpayers' rights.
Ratifying the Convention will expand Singapore's network of partners for the exchange of information on request by 34 jurisdictions. This is part of a series of changes that Singapore has made in recent years to combat cross-border tax evasion, following Singapore's adoption of the internationally agreed standard for exchange of information on request in 2009, Singapore's Ministry of Finance said.
Minister for Finance, Heng Swee Keat, said: "Ratifying the Convention reflects Singapore's commitment to effective exchange of information based on international standards, but the standards can only work if all financial centres, such as Switzerland, Luxembourg, Singapore, and Hong Kong, move together. We will continue to work with our international partners to achieve this and prevent regulatory arbitrage."
The Convention was developed jointly by the OECD and the Council of Europe in 1988. It was amended in 2010 to respond to a call by the Group of Twenty (G-20) nations that it be aligned to the new international standard on the automatic exchange of information and that it be opened up to all countries.
The Convention is now seen as the instrument for swift implementation of the new Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters developed by the OECD. It will also be critical for the automatic exchange of country-by-country reports, proposed in the OECD's base erosion and profit shifting project.
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