Daily Archives: February 16, 2017

*DCT v Vasiliades & Ors – Asset freezing orders issued including against a trust in which it was alleged Mr Vasiliades had a contingent interest [17]

The Federal Court has issued asset freezing orders against several taxpayers in respect of which the Commissioner had issued amended assessments totalling almost $33m in tax debts, including penalties. The Deputy Commissioner sought orders freezing the assets of the first respondent (Mr Vasiliades) and against his wife, the second respondent (Ms Vasiliades), in respect of…

*Asia-Pacific tax administrators plan to tackle multinational profit shifting [13]

The ATO has advised that Tax Commissioners from the Asia-Pacific will meet 24-27 November 2014, to agree on a regional plan to tackle multinational profit shifting and drive greater tax transparency and cooperation. Mr Jordan will host the 44th meeting of the Study Group on Asian Tax Administration and Research (SGATAR) in Sydney. SGATAR will bring together 16…

OECD releases 2013 mutual agreement procedure statistics [16]

As part of the OECD’s work to improve the timeliness of processing and completing mutual agreement procedure (MAP) cases under tax treaties and to enhance the transparency of the MAP process, the OECD makes available to the public, via its website, annual statistics on the MAP caseloads of all its member countries and of Partner…

*BEPS discussion draft released on preventing treaty abuse [15]

The OECD has released a discussion draft which deals with follow-up work mandated by the Report on Action 6 (Prevent the granting of treaty benefits in inappropriate circumstances) of the BEPS Action Plan. Paragraph 5 of the Report on Action 6 indicated that follow-up work would be done on certain aspects of the Report: “……

*Asia-Pacific tax taskforce announced to share compliance tactics [14]

Tax Commissioners from the Asia Pacific will establish a regional taskforce to share compliance tactics, increase tax transparency and help countries to tackle base erosion and profit shifting. This is the outcome of the 44th meeting of the Study Group on Asian Tax Administration and Research (SGATAR) held in Sydney from 24 to 27 November 2014, which…

*Institutional investors back global tax reform modernisation and transparency at G20 Summit [10]

A group of institutional asset owners and managers have jointly called for comprehensive transparency and disclosure to be adopted as core principles in reform of the international taxation system to be put before the G20 Leaders Summit in Brisbane on 12-14 November 2014. The group, including the £150bn UK Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF), Quebec fund…

*G20 Leaders endorse reporting standard on tax info, commit to finalise BEPS in 2015 [12]

In their G20 Leaders’ Communiqué at the end of the G20 Brisbane Summit on 15-16 November 2014, the G20 Leaders welcomed the progress on the G20/OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan and committed to finalising this work in 2015, including transparency of taxpayer-specific rulings found to constitute harmful tax practices. The Leaders also: Welcomed…

*Developing countries to play greater role in BEPS project [11]

The OECD has released its new Strategy for Deepening Developing Country Engagement in the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project, which seeks to strengthen their involvement in the decision-making processes and bring them to the heart of the technical work. The BEPS Project aims to create a coherent set of international tax rules to…

*China and Australia complete negotiations for Free Trade Agreement; revised DTA to follow [8]

The Prime Minister on Mon 17.11.2014, announced the completion of negotiations for a China-Australia Free Trade Agreement. With a view to maximising the benefits of the FTA for business, Australia and China have also agreed to review their bilateral taxation arrangements, including relief from double taxation. Key outcomes under the China-Australia FTA include: More than…

Employee incentive schemes: ASIC disclosure relief expanded [7]

ASIC has updated its Regulatory Guide RG 49 (Employee incentive schemes) and issued 2 new class orders to facilitate the range of financial products that can be offered under employee incentive schemes (previously referred to as employee share schemes). To this end, ASIC has replaced Class Order [CO 03/184] with 2 separate class orders –…