March 20, 2020

J-5 Step Up Anti-Money Laundering in 2020, Sights Set on Central America

March 20, 2020/ Ruchelman P.L.L.C.

The Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement, known as the J-5, is a coordinated team of crime-fighting tax authorities from the U.K., the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the Netherlands. Formed in 2018, the mandate of the J-5 is to stop the facilitation of offshore tax evasion and money laundering. In January, the J-5 conducted coordinated action regarding a Central American financial institution believed to be involved in money laundering and tax evasion on a global basis. Denisse Lopez reports.

December 13, 2019

IR35 – Why Are U.K. Businesses So Concerned?

December 13, 2019/ Ruchelman P.L.L.C.

New U.K. tax rules are being introduced from April 2020 to make businesses liable for determining the employment tax status of contractors who work through personal service companies (“P.S.C.’s”). These outsourcing arrangements have had a devastating effect on tax collections and funding for National Insurance, the U.K. version of Social Security. The goal of the new rules is to make customers of P.S.C.’s liable for collecting wage withholding tax and National Insurance contributions that are not collected by the P.S.C. when the worker of the P.S.C. would otherwise be properly characterized for U.K. tax purposes as an employee of the customer of the P.S.C. under tests published by H.M.R.C. Any company involved in the P.S.C. arrangement may have inchoate liability for payments of wage withholding tax and National Insurance. Penny Simmons, of Pinsent Masons LLP, London, explains the scope of the exposure and expounds on procedures that should be adopted in advance of the April 2020 effective date.

November 29, 2018

The U.K. Digital Sales Tax – It Could Be You

November 29, 2018/ Ruchelman P.L.L.C.

On November 7, 2018, the U.K. government confirmed that it will proceed with the introduction of a digital services tax ("D.S.T.") on large businesses. The tax will be charged beginning April 2020. It will apply to three key areas, which the government has concluded derive a huge value from the participation of U.K. users and are largely untaxed. Eloise Walker of Pinsent Masons, London, provides an overview of the D.S.T., cautioning that problems exist in identifying both the revenue to which the D.S.T. will apply and the hallmarks of jurisdiction that must exist in order for the tax to be imposed.

January 26, 2018

Insights Vol. 5 No. 1: Updates & Tidbits

January 26, 2018/ Ruchelman P.L.L.C.

This month, Neha Rastogi and Nina Krauthamer look briefly at three recent developments in international tax: (i) expired I.T.I.N.’s and how tax returns that use an expired I.T.I.N. will be treated by the I.R.S., (ii) the E.U. blacklist of uncooperative jurisdictions, which includes American Samoa and Guam, and (iii) and unanticipated tax demands on contributions to the Brexit campaign.