Tax

Member States join Chancellor in his call for action to tackle tax evasion, as set out in his letter to EU finance ministry colleagues...

Letter of President Barroso to the Members of the European Council; 08 May 2013...

This update summarises current regulatory developments impacting the asset management sector in the UK and throughout the European Union...

Welcome to the new look edition of the Building Society Update for 2013. This annual publication aimed at professionals from building societies and other retail financial services has been updated to give a snapshot of the current issues affecting building societies...

Banks operating in London view the Financial Transaction Tax currently being discussed by some Member States under the enhanced cooperation procedure as having the potential to disrupt significantly capital markets and the transmission of liquidity which support the real economy...

Topics in this issue:

Dealing With Investment Errors: A U.S. Perspective

Marketing and Distributing Your Fund in the Middle East: If “Tolerated Practice” is Changing, Should “Market Practice” Change With It?

The European Financial Transactions Tax

New Rules for China’s RQFII Regime

FATCA: Next Steps for Asset Managers

The Role of the Depositary Under the AIFM Directive

Developments in the Luxembourg Financial Sector

The Regulation of Managers and Funds in France Following the Implementation of the AIFM Directive

The UCITS Agenda

The IMA published its monthly authorised investment fund statistics for March 2013...

The IBFed would like to express its strong opposition to the decision taken by the European Commission to allow its proposal for a financial transaction tax to be pursued through the Enhanced Co-operation Procedure...

Over the last year, Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service have engaged in extensive dialogue with the industry, and have gained a better understanding of the FATCA issues unique to insurance companies...

Two US state banker associations have filed a lawsuit against the IRS and the Treasury department over new rules requiring banks to assist in combating tax evasion by reporting account information for non-resident aliens to their home governments...

The UK Chancellor, George Osborne, has mounted a legal challenge at the European Court of Justice over the decision to allow 11 EU member states to impose a Financial Transaction Tax...

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, enacted in March 2010, creates a regime designed to prevent offshore tax evasion by US citizens and residents. The new regulations require foreign financial institutions to identify and report their US account holders and members, or become subject to a 30% withholding tax in regard to income earned from US persons. The final regulations were released in January 2013 detailing implementation...

The Financial Ombudsman Service has ruled that five investors in a film tax avoidance scheme should be awarded £2.6m following a claim against their advisers 20Twenty Independent Ltd. FOS ruled that the investment advice given was unsuitable and that they were not informed of the true nature of the risk that they were taking on, so the Financial Times reports...

Speech by Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, David Gauke MP; 10 April 2013...

The introduction by the US of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act 2010 ("FATCA") set the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons in the international loan financing markets by requiring foreign and domestic borrowers, lenders and agents suddenly to consider and deal with the application of this legislation to their transactions and allocate FATCA risks to one or other party even in cases where there is no obvious US nexus...

Ideally situated at the crossroads between Belgium, France and Germany, Luxembourg is a small but highly stable country boasting one of the highest GDP per capita in the world. The Luxembourg financial centre originally developed as a private banking centre and has grown to become a truly diversified hub for investment funds, banks, insurance and reinsurance companies, holding companies and family offices...

The Big Four accountancy practices - PwC, KPMG, Deloitte and Ernst & Young - have come in for a tough time of late - hauled before the Public Accounts Committee to answer questions about tax avoidance schemes and then criticised by the Competition Commission about their dominance of the auditing market...

Commenting on the taxation agreements between the UK and Jersey and Guernsey announced in Budget, Deepesh Upadhyay, tax expert at global law firm Eversheds, says: "In line with the UK Government's strategy of working with the international community to pursue offshore tax evasion and following its recent intergovernmental agreement with the US to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, the UK has agreed to enter into agreements with Jersey and Guernsey to automatically exchange information on UK taxpayers in these countries..."

Commenting on potential methods institutional investors could use to avoid paying the EU Financial Transactions Tax (FTT), Ben Jones, tax expert at global law firm Eversheds, says: "The FTT has been specifically designed to be difficult to avoid or circumvent and is wide in scope, with a broad definition for financial institutions resident in states applying the FTT..."

The Government has agreed with France, Germany, Italy and Spain to develop and pilot multilateral tax information exchange. Under the agreement, a wide range of financial information will be automatically exchanged between the five countries. This will help catch and deter tax evaders as well as provide a template for wider multilateral automatic tax information exchange...

HM Revenue & Customs this week made a surprise announcement regarding the tax treatment of fee rebates and similar payments made to UK investors in collective investment schemes and other investment products...

The Government is publishing the Finance Bill, which will enact tax measures announced since the March 2012 Budget...

Topics in this issue:

KPMG perspectives on the future of the investment management industry
Future perspectives for the Investment Management Industry
Impact of AIFMD
UCITS 5 and 6 initiatives
EU Shadow Banking reforms

The International View
The view from Luxembourg
The view from Ireland
The view from the UK
The view from the Netherlands
The view from Malta
The view from Spain