Countries representing an approximate 70 percent of world trade have been deemed as not having taken enough action to combat the occurrence of international bribery. Only 7 countries in the world have been evaluated as actively enforcing anti-bribery laws and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) ban on foreign bribery instated through its Anti-Bribery Convention. The figures were revealed in Transparency International’s 2010 Progress Report on the illicit payments and bribes made to foreign public officials in international business transactions in ... Read More

The oil and gas industry is facing heavy criticism from the media, the public, and subsequently US Government politicians, under the assumption that the sector is under-taxed and action has to be taken to correct the situation. However, tax revenues arising from the sector in recent years have eclipsed the profits made by the entire oil extraction and exploration industry. The US oil and gas industry is a veritable “cash cow” for the Government, having resulted in almost USD 2 trillion in tax ... Read More

The UK Government is taking action to show national taxpayers and international investors that the country “is open for business”, by initiating an extensive round of public consultation of tax system legislation issues. The UK Government has stated its intentions to make the tax system “simpler and work better for people”, through an announcement made on July 27th by David Gauke, Exchequer Secretary, and the release of nine public consultation documents. The Government claims that its new initiative of greater public feedback on ... Read More

Over 300 000 US charities are at risk of losing their tax exemption status, unless they make use of the Government’s new tax return filing deadline extension. To stem the potential influx of US charities losing their tax-exempt status this year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced an extension to the tax filing deadline for not-for-profit organization. Under the one-time relief program, announced on July 26th, charities will now have until October 15th 2010 to complete necessary returns and declarations. The ... Read More

In an effort to maintain a relevant and up-to-date set of instruments to facilitate international tax agreements and transactions, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has published revised versions of its vital documents. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has updated and modernized the OECD Model Tax Convention, the OECD’s Transfer Pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprise and Tax Administrations, and the Report on the Attribution of Profits to Permanent Establishments to include several tax features missing from previous versions. The changes ... Read More