24 Mar 2008

U.S. States Lead the World in High Corporate Tax Rates

The Tax Foundation has recently published the report U.S. States Lead the World in High Corporate Taxes:

"America's political leadership is finally waking up to the fact that the tax rates businesses face in the U.S. are way out of step with our major economic competitors. Last year, for example, Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel proposed cutting the federal corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 30.5 percent. While a 5 percentage point cut in the federal corporate tax rate may sound significant, it may not be sufficient to meaningfully improve the competitiveness of the United States.

Currently, the average combined federal and state corporate tax rate in the U.S. is 39.3 percent, second among OECD countries to Japan's combined rate of 39.5 percent.1 Lowering the federal rate to 30.5 percent would only lower the U.S.'s ranking to fifth highest among industrialized countries.

More recently, other members of Congress—including Sen. John McCain and Congressman Eric Cantor—have released proposals to cut the corporate rate even deeper to 25 percent. While this lower rate would improve the U.S.'s international ranking and competitiveness, that improvement would be mitigated by the high corporate tax rates imposed by many states.
Many states impose state corporate income taxes at rates above the national average of 6.6 percent. Iowa, for example, imposes the highest corporate tax rate of 12 percent, followed by Pennsylvania's 9.99 percent rate and Minnesota's 9.8 percent rate. When added to the federal rate, these states tax their businesses at rates far in excess of all other OECD countries.

When compared to other OECD countries:
24 U.S. states have a combined corporate tax rate higher than top-ranked Japan.
32 states have a combined corporate tax rate higher than third-ranked Germany.
46 states have a combined corporate tax rate higher than fourth-ranked Canada.
All 50 states have a combined corporate tax rate higher than fifth-ranked France.

Thus, if lawmakers are serious about making the U.S. corporate tax system more competitive internationally, corporate tax rates will have to be reduced both in Washington and in state capitals. State officials should be champions of substantial cuts in the federal corporate tax rate because there is only so much they can do to improve their own competitiveness. After all, even corporations that operate in the three states that do not impose a major state-level corporate tax—Nevada, South Dakota, and Wyoming—still shoulder a higher corporate tax rate than fifth-ranked France and 24 other OECD countries because of the 35 percent federal corporate rate.
The U.S. is among eight countries with extra corporate tax rates imposed by state or local levels of government. While the burden of these state-level taxes is somewhat lessened because they can be deducted from federal taxes, they do add a second layer of tax and also add considerable complexity for multi-state and multi-national businesses.

Some 44 states impose a traditional corporate income tax, with rates ranging from a low of 4.63 percent in Colorado to 12 percent in Iowa. Three states—Michigan, Texas, and Washington—impose a variant of a gross receipts tax in which businesses pay tax on their gross sales rather than their net profits.2 Ohio is currently transitioning from a traditional CIT to a gross receipts-style tax but now it has both. And, as mentioned above, three states do not have a state-level corporate tax.

Table 1 shows that when the state rates are combined with the federal rate (and accounting for federal deductibility), states are effectively imposing a corporate tax rate which ranges from 35 percent to 41.6 percent. Indeed, 16 U.S. states impose a combined corporate tax rate of more than 40 percent, which is at least 12 percentage points higher than the OECD average of 27.6 percent.

Assuming that no state cuts its business taxes in the next year, the U.S. federal rate would have to be cut to 20 percent in order to bring the combined federal-state rate down to the middle of the OECD pack. But Washington does not bear the entire blame for America's eroding tax competitiveness, nor does it shoulder the entire responsibility for fixing it. State officials also have to be cognizant of the fact that they are not only competing against each other for investment and jobs, but against the rest of the world. The emerging low-tax countries in Europe and Asia benefit from the U.S. remaining a high-tax country.

In just the past two months, at least six countries have announced plans to cut their corporate tax rates: Canada, Hong Kong, Korea, South Africa, Spain and Taiwan. In an interview in the Korea Times, Choi Kyung-hwan, a member of the new Administration's Presidential Transition Committee, said, "The corporate income tax reduction is not a matter of choice, but a matter of life and death for Korea in an increasingly globalized business environment.''
In a refrain that is equally applicable to the U.S., Choi went on to say, "Hong Kong and Singapore, which impose significantly lower corporate taxes than Korea, have further slashed taxes recently to draw more foreign investors. Also, France currently levies a 34.4 percent corporate income tax but plans to reduce the tax to as low as 20 percent. Unless Korea cuts corporate taxes, we will not be able to win over multinational firms."3

A growing body of academic research indicates that foreign direct investment (FDI) can be quite sensitive to the corporate tax rates imposed by a state or country. One recent study of the effects of corporate income taxes on the location of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the United States found a strong relationship between state corporate tax rates and FDI—for every 1 percent increase in a state's corporate tax rate FDI can be expected to fall by 1 percent.4
A new study of income tax rates in 85 countries by economists at the World Bank and Harvard University found a strong effect of both statutory and effective corporate tax rates on FDI as well as entrepreneurship. For example, the average rate of FDI as a share of GDP is 3.36 percent. But a 10 percentage point increase in the statutory corporate rate can be expected to reduce FDI by nearly 2 percentage points.5

In the end, the key to improving America's business tax competitiveness is a partnership between federal and state lawmakers to work toward the common goal of lowering the overall business tax burden in the U.S. Otherwise, the U.S. will continue to fall behind in the global tax race simply by standing still.

See Table 1

Notes
1. Because of the federal deductibility of state and local taxes, the effective "tax cost" of the average state rate is 35 percent less than 6.6 percent, or 4.3 percent. This rate is then added to the 35 percent federal rate to give an overall rate of 39.3 percent. In the appendix table, each state's rate is reduced by 35 percent before being added to the federal rate.
2. In 2007, Michigan's Single Business Tax rate was 1.9 percent, Texas's Franchise Tax rate was 1 percent, and Washington's B&O Tax rate was 0.484 percent. For the sake of comparison, these gross receipts rates have been converted into an effective corporate income tax rate. We did this by using federal corporate income tax collection data to determine the tax base in the state. Based upon Michigan Department of Revenue statistics, 65 percent of gross receipts taxes are paid by corporations; the remainder is paid by non-corporate businesses. Therefore, to determine the amount of replacement revenue needed to be raised by a corporate income tax, we multiplied the current amount of gross receipts tax collected by each state by 65 percent. This replacement amount was then divided by the base to create an effective CIT rate. These effective CIT rates have not been included in the state average. If they were to be averaged in, the overall state average rate would rise to 7.4 percent, which would give the U.S. an overall rate of 39.8 percent and, thus, higher than Japan.
3. Lee Hyo-sik, "Corporate Tax Cut Key to Economic Recovery," Korea Times, February 11, 2008.
4. Claudio A. Agostini, "The Impact of State Corporate Taxes on FDI Location," Public Finance Review 2007; 35; 335. http://pfr.sagepub.com/content/abstract/35/3/335
5. Sineon Djankov, Tim Ganser, Caralee McLiesh, Rita Ramalho, and Andrei Shleifer, "The Effect of Corporate Taxes on Investment and Entrepreneurship," National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 13756, January 2008. http://www.nber.org/papers/w13756

Attached Files: U.S. States Lead the World in High Corporate Taxes, PDF, 48.8 KB by Scott A. Hodge

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19 Mar 2008

The EC proposes measures to tackle VAT fraud effectively

The European Commission on 17th March this year adopted proposals for the amendment of the VAT Directive and the VAT Administrative Cooperation Regulation to speed up the collection and exchange of information on intra-Community transactions from 2010 onwards. This will enable the Member States to detect carousel fraud very quickly. The proposals follow on from the Communication on the improvement of administrative cooperation between Member States to improve the fight against VAT fraud. They are part of a range of legislative and administrative measures which have been, or are about to be, agreed in order to combat VAT fraud more effectively.

Intra-Community carousel VAT fraud occurs where a person liable for VAT who has acquired goods or services within the Community on which no VAT has been paid supplies these goods or services within the Community with VAT imposed but then ‘disappears’ without paying the VAT into the Exchequer.

Faster information exchanges
When an intra-Community transaction takes place, it currently takes between three and six months for information about that transaction to be sent to the Member State in which the VAT is due. Under the proposals for a Directive and a Regulation, this period will be reduced to between one and two months, thus enabling any fraud to be detected much faster.
With this in mind, the Commission proposes:
- harmonising and reducing to one month the period which persons liable to VAT have for declaring intra-Community transactions involving the supply of goods or services within the Community;
- reducing from three months to one month the period for transmission of this information between Member States;
- collecting information monthly on intra-Community purchases of goods or services where the buyer or customer is liable for VAT to make it easier to cross-check the data with that provided by suppliers. For this purpose, buyers or customers making transactions to a value of more than EUR 200 000 per calendar year will be obliged to submit their VAT declarations monthly. The threshold has been set at this level to avoid imposing extra obligations on undertakings which make intra-Community acquisitions only occasionally or only for small amounts, while having regard to the significant amounts which fraud represents;
- simplifying the procedures for submitting declarations on intra-Community transactions in Member States in which these procedures are abnormally complex to reduce the burden which the procedures may impose on undertakings.

According to the various consultations carried out within the private sector, these measures will not impose an additional administrative burden on economic operators.

Other conventional measures under discussion
In addition to the proposals for a Directive and a Regulation, the Commission recently submitted several other conventional measures to the Member States’ tax authorities for consideration and for a decision. Some of these measures do not require any changes to EU legislation and can therefore be implemented quickly by the national authorities.

With effect from 2009, the department which checks the data on registration for VAT purposes on the Europa website will enable confirmation to be obtained of the name and address of trading partners established in other Member States and will issue personal consultation certificates.

This measure is intended to increase the legal certainty of operators acting in good faith and to enable the tax authorities to carry out more effective controls.

Considerable progress has also been made in discussions with the national authorities on the following points:

- automated access by all other Member States to certain non-sensitive data held by Member States on their own taxable persons (business sector, certain data concerning turnover, etc.),

- harmonisation of the procedures for the registration and de-registration of persons liable for VAT to ensure the swift detection and de-registration of fake taxable persons. The Expert Group is considering the introduction of minimum standards.

This Blog/Web Site ("Blog") does not to provide specific legal advice, it is for educational purposes only. This Blog is made available by the international adviser, lawyer or law firm for educational purposes only as well as to give you general information and a general understanding of the law, not to provide specific legal advice.

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15 Mar 2008

Tributación de no residentes (1)


Acreditación de la condición de no residente

La condición de no residente se podrá acreditar mediante la aportación de un certificado de residencia en otro Estado emitido por las autoridades fiscales de dicho Estado. El plazo de validez de dichos certificados se extiende a un año.

Tributación en España por las actuaciones realizadas por artistas y deportistas en territorio español

Se consideran rentas obtenidas en territorio español, y por tanto sujetas al Impuesto sobre la Renta de no Residentes, aun cuando se perciban por persona o entidad distinta del artista o deportista. Por tanto, cuando un deportista o artista no residente en España realiza alguna actuación en territorio español, los rendimientos que obtenga se someterán a tributación en España al tipo de gravamen general, desde 1 de enero de 2007, del 24 %. Todo ello, sin perjuicio, de la aplicación de Tratados y Convenios Internacionales. Por ejemplo, en algunos Convenios se contiene una cláusula que permite gravar las rentas derivadas de las actividades ejercidas por un artista o deportista, cuando se atribuyan, no al propio artista o deportista, sino a otra persona o sociedad interpuesta.


Regla general para determinar la base sobre la cual se efectúa la retención por el Impuesto sobre la Renta de no Residentes, cuando se trata de contribuyentes sin establecimiento permanente

Con carácter general, la retención debe ser una cantidad equivalente a la deuda tributaria que se derive del propio impuesto. No obstante, el retenedor no deberá tener en cuenta los siguientes gastos o deducciones (que sí son aplicables al calcular el impuesto): los gastos de personal, aprovisionamiento y suministro en los casos de actividades económicas sin EP, la cuota del gravamen especial sobre bienes inmuebles de entidades no residentes y la deducción por donativos.

Tributación de los bienes inmuebles situados en España cuyos propietarios son personas físicas no residentes.

La tributación dependerá de si el bien inmueble está arrendado o no:
En el caso de que el inmueble esté alquilado, la base del impuesto estará constituida por los rendimientos íntegros obtenidos, tributando separadamente por cada devengo, desde 1-1-2007, al 24 % (para devengos hasta 31 de diciembre de 2006, 25%).

Si el inmueble no está alquilado (se utiliza por el propietario o está desocupado) se estimará como rendimiento el 2% del valor catastral de cada inmueble y sobre esa base se aplicará el tipo de gravamen general (para devengos desde 2007 al 24%). En caso de inmuebles cuyos valores catastrales hayan sido revisados o modificados de conformidad con la normativa catastral y hayan entrado en vigor a partir del 1-1-94, el rendimiento estimado será el 1,1%. El devengo se produce el último día del año natural.

Ejemplo: Devengo: 31 de diciembre de 2008

Valor catastral (recibo IBI) 100.000 euros

Base imponible 2% de 100.000 = 2000 euros

Cuota a ingresar 24% de 2000= 480 euros

10 Mar 2008

Financiación de la compra de inmuebles en el extranjero

Financiando la compra de su inmueble en el extranjero

En general, hay básicamente dos opciones para financiar la inversión en una propiedad en el extranjero: utilizar dinero propio o el de alguien (el de un banco o incluso de una promotora). Llevar a cabo la inversión usando el dinero del banco para financiar su inversión es la situación ideal pues reduce los requisitos económicos y realmente mejora la rentabilidad en el retorno de inversión en la perspectiva de las ganancias sobre el capital. Si decide no utilizar su propio dinero para financiar la compra entonces hay tres opciones principales disponibles:
1) Pedir una hipoteca de la propiedad que quiera comprar
2) Rehipotecar otra propiedad que posee en su país
3) Encontrar una propiedad donde el promotor permita el pago mediante cuotas.

Pedir una hipoteca local para su inversión internacional
En gran medida, obtener una hipoteca local para su propiedad es ideal. Una de las principales ventajas de financiar la compra de esta forma es que el préstamo y los pagos estarán en la misma divisa que el ingreso de su renta, las fluctuaciones de divisa no tendrán ningún impacto en la capacidad de hacer pagos de las cuotas hipotecarias.

Tener la hipoteca en el exterior también hará que se sienta más seguro, pues sus inmuebles del país de residencia se mantendrán (si no hay aval personal, claro). Esto crea un equilibrio entre los activos (la propiedad) y las responsabilidades (deuda de la hipoteca) que es importante considerar. Si se retrasa en los pagos, la propiedad será el único activo colocado en riesgo.

Sin embargo, en muchos países el mercado de las hipotecas simplemente no está suficientemente desarrollado para que le concedan una. En otros, las hipotecas no están al alcance de los extranjeros. Y si lo están, a menudo existen criterios restrictivos de préstamos o tipos de intereses prohibitivos.

Fuera de la zona euro o de los países de la OCDE, los tipos de interés son más altos de los que estamos acostumbrados, lo que erosionarán pesadamente cualquier renta pero, al mismo tiempo, representan una buena oportunidad si lo que se quiere es rentabilizar el pago con alquileres, pues estos suelen ser también altos, de acuerdo al coste del dinero del país.

Las condiciones de crédito en los países emergentes son también más exigentes que en los países de la OCDE. La cantidad prestada será a menudo menor. Usualmente, los bancos no prestarán más del 80% del valor de una propiedad en la primera compra (y menos en la segunda), algo que contrastaba con el 100% que se podía obtener antes en el Reino Unido o Estados Unidos. Los plazos de reembolso también son más cortos, entre 10 y 15 años (aunque esto esté cambiando), comparados con los plazos de 25 a 30 años a que estaban acostumbrados muchos inversores occidentales. Esto incrementa perceptiblemente la cantidad a pagar en los pagos mensuales. La crisis financiera tiene un efecto dominó sobre la capacidad de préstamo de los bancos locales, que contaban tradicionalmente con los mercados de capital norteamericanos y europeos para sostener el crecimiento del mercado hipotecario local, por lo que las restricciones se han agravado en algunos países, rompiendo una tendencia clara a un mercado financiero hipotecario similar al de los países OCDE. Frecuentemente hay también restricciones como el límite de edad en los préstamos, haciendo difícil para cualquier persona más de 60 años acceder a los mismos.

Como regla general, si se quiere optar por esta modalidad de financiación, el primer paso es averiguar si se conceden préstamos hipotecarios en el país donde desea comprar. El segundo paso es pedir a un agente que se ocupe de esa área.

Algunos de los países donde es posible pedir prestado localmente son Albania, Andorra, Australia, Austria, Bélgica, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Canadá, el Caribe, China, Croacia, Chipre, República Checa, Estonia, Finlandia, Francia, Alemania, Ghana, Grecia, Holanda, Hong Kong, Hungría, India, Irlanda, Israel, Italia, Latvia, Malasia, Malta, Montenegro, Emiratos Árabes, Eslovenia, Estados Unidos, Reino Unido, Sudáfrica, Suecia, Suiza y Turquía.

Ventajas de un Mercado hipotecario desarrollado
La existencia de un mercado hipotecario desarrollado en un país emergente es uno de los mejores indicadores de que un país está en el buen camino. Sin un desarrollo del mercado hipotecario es más difícil predecir el aumento de los precios inmobiliarios. Donde no hay mercado hipotecario, la mayoría de las transacciones son en efectivo, el poder adquisitivo sigue siendo bajo, y los precios permanecen artificialmente bajos.

Todavía hay muchos países donde los tipos de intereses están prohibidos y hay poco respaldo legislativo para un mercado hipotecario. En Venezuela o Brasil, por ejemplo, los tipos de interés pueden ser tan altos como un 35% y los plazos de reembolso son generalmente bastante cortos, de modo que los plazos mensuales son más altos que las rentas. Por ello, muchos compradores eligen los métodos alternativos de financiación. Algunos promotores en Brasil han comenzado a introducir formulas de financiación inmobiliaria, y es probable que exista un incipiente mercado hipotecario en los próximos años. Por ello, los que puedan comprar a través de otros medios se beneficiarán ampliamente de la demanda adicional que se creará.

Turquía es otro buen ejemplo de un mercado hipotecario que se está iniciando. Previamente, los tipos de interés han sido tan altos como el 22.5% y los plazos de reembolso eran de 60 meses para los préstamos en liras y 180 meses para los préstamos en divisa extranjera. Actualmente, solamente el 3% de las compras en Turquía se hacen con la ayuda de préstamos locales. Una nueva ley de hipotecas de este año permitirá concederlas hasta de 30 años.

Rehipotecar para financiar una inversión en el extranjero
Otra opción es rehipotecar su hogar u otros inmuebles que posee en su país de residencia. Esto era (y todavía es, aunque en menor medida) una práctica relativamente común en países como el Reino Unido y los Estados Unidos, debido a las altas tasaciones de la propia vivienda como resultado de incrementos importantísimos del precio de las mismas.

Las ventajas a esta propuesta es que antes que encuentre una propiedad en el extranjero, podrá arreglar sus asuntos financieros, lo que significa que estará listo para proceder cuando sea necesario. Probablemente estará familiarizado con el proceso de préstamo, siendo menos complicado incrementar sus fondos en el extranjero. También se beneficia de unos tipos de interés generalmente inferiores al del país destinatario de la inversión. Y, si el precio de la compra no es alto, podrá financiar el 100% del costo de la compra de la propiedad en el extranjero.

La desventaja del préstamo en el país es que si usted no puede hacer frente a los pagos, arriesgará su residencia principal. También existe el riesgo de divisa. Si usted alquila su propiedad del extranjero, recibirá muy probablemente una renta en la divisa local. Sin embargo, los pagos deberán ser hechos en la divisa de su país. En función de cómo fluctúan las dos divisas, usted puede encontrarse haciendo frente al pago de pagos en una divisa fuerte con rentas procedentes de un país con una divisa débil.

Divisa y tipo de cambio en el extranjero
A menudo, la gente subestima el impacto de las fluctuaciones de la divisa. Estos cambios pueden convertir un beneficio (una ganancia de capital resultado de una venta a buen precio) en una pérdida muy rápidamente. Sin embargo, también es bueno recordar que igualmente puede convertir una pérdida en un beneficio.

Los mercados de divisa son una oportunidad de inversión en sí mismos y siempre debe considerar el impacto del cambio de la divisa cuando se evalúa una inversión en una propiedad. Especialmente si el pago de la inversión se realiza a través de pagos regulares de una hipoteca, con plazos muy largos en el tiempo, por lo que es muy difícil hacer pronósticos.

Un ejemplo extremo de una divisa donde los inversores han logrado beneficios substanciales es la divisa china, el yuan. Durante algunos años, el yuan fue fijo respecto del dólar americano, lo cual mantuvo la divisa en un valor artificialmente bajo.

Esto hizo que las mercancías chinas fueran perceptiblemente más baratas que en los mercados internacionales. En julio de 2005 el Gobierno chino suprimió el cambio fijo, asociando el yuan a una cesta de divisas integradas por euros, otras divisas asiáticas y el dólar, y permitiendo el valor de la divisa que oscilara basada en la oferta y demanda del mercado. En el mes de mayo del 2007, el yuan se negociaba a 7 yuan el dólar, un incremento del 7.5% respecto a la anterior situación. Aún así, con frecuencia se insinúa que la divisa está desvalorada, y las subidas inicialmente previstas por los analistas es hasta el 40% en términos relativos a otras divisas en diez años. Esto presentaría una excelente oportunidad para que los inversores de propiedades internacionales invierten en China, con una posibilidad de ver el incremento del valor de su propiedad hasta el 40% en euros o dólares incluso si el precio en yuan no cambio en absoluto. Pero nadie puede saber con certeza si esto realmente se producirá. Los mercados de divisas internacionales son complicados y es muy difícil para los inversores ordinarios predecir los cambios de la divisa.

Estos tipos de consideraciones es mejor dejarlo a los expertos, pero la buena noticia es que hay una industria entera cuyo trabajo es supervisar los cambios de la divisa y sus servicios son fácilmente disponibles a los inversores de propiedades internacionales. Así, por ejemplo, los brokers de divisas le pueden proporcionar la opción de un contrato forward donde se reserva la divisa a un tipo de cambio acordado usando un depósito aproximado del 10% de la cantidad de dinero que quiere comprar. Esto puede ser una muy buena opción cuando tiene cuotas por pagar. Por ejemplo, imagine que está comprando una casa en Tailandia y que el valor del baht se está incrementando en contra del euro – significando que el precio de su inmueble costará más en euros. El precio de compra tiene que ser satisfecho en tres meses. Mediante el contrato forward podría acordar comprar el baht al tipo de cambio de hoy, o de mañana, o siempre que su agente piense que existe un optimo tipo de cambio. Después de pagar el depósito, si el Baht continúa incrementándose, en tres meses el dinero será entregado de acuerdo a las tarifas establecidas. De esta manera, puede fijar los tipos de cambio hasta dos años por adelantado.

Financiación por el promotor
Una alternativa potencial de financiación de hipoteca a tener en cuenta es la financiación realizada por el promotor del inmueble elegido. En las áreas donde conseguir una hipoteca puede ser difícil, algunas grandes inmobiliarias pueden ofrecer esquemas de financiación o de pago diferido. Los promotores pueden aceptar el pago de las compraventas mediante desembolsos regulares, poniendo los inmuebles al alcance de más personas.

Los esquemas de pago diferido son diferentes de las cuotas de pago. Las cuotas de pagos son de financiación limitado donde se paga por la propiedad en cuotas hasta que se termine y sea dueño de la propiedad. Los esquemas de pago diferido incluyen cuotas de pagos pero las cuotas son continúas y van más allá de la terminación de la construcción del edificio o casa. Un típico esquema del pago diferido permitiría pagar una parte del precio de la propiedad en intervalos regulares durante un período de siete años aunque se termine la construcción de la propiedad y le den la propiedad en el plazo de dos años.

La financiación por el promotor del inmueble es una estrategia de marketing que le ayuda a vender más propiedades, o a arrancar compradores a la competencia. En los casos donde el promotor no repercute abiertamente el interés en los pagos diferidos, probablemente se ha aumentado el precio de compra. Compruebe esto, comparando propiedades similares sin la financiación del promotor. A veces, dado los tipos de interés, el aumento en este tipo de plan de pago es perfectamente razonable, pero otras veces no, así que cerciórese que el sobrecoste no sea excesivo.

La decisión de optar por una financiación nacional o internacional, o la financiación del promotor, debería hacerse mediante un estudio detallado de todas las ventajas y riesgos. Si esta inseguro de la opción que se adapte mejor a sus necesidades, hable con un asesor financiero profesional que pueda ayudarle a asegurarse que está tomando una decisión correcta.

ALGUNOS CONSEJOS PARA FINANCIAR LA COMPRA DE UNA PROPIEDAD EN EL EXTRANJERO
1) Si está negociando la financiación de una propiedad, asegúrese que esté indicado en cualquier contrato de arras o de compraventa, y que tenga una cláusula de salida (“opt-out clause”) si el préstamo no le conviene (esto le asegurará que cualquier depósito pagado sea devuelto)
2) Si es posible, tenga concedida un préstamo hipotecario antes de acordar la compra o antes de firmar contratos y de pagar un depósito. Esto le ayudará a evitar retrasos y dificultades si su solicitud es rechazada.
3) Abra una cuenta bancaria en el país elegido (lo cual no es siempre fácil en países como Estados Unidos o Reino Unido) y asegúrese de conseguir un certificado de importación del dinero que llevará de su país de origen. Esto hará que la repatriación de fondos sea mucho más fácil. Aquí hay que tener en cuenta, al hacer la inversión, si el país destino del dinero es considerado en su país un paraíso fiscal o no. Consulte siempre a un asesor fiscal internacional.
4) Fije débitos automáticos en una cuenta bancaria local para satisfacer los pagos de la hipoteca y los impuestos. La falta de pago de sus impuestos en algunos países, como Francia o Portugal, podría implicar una demanda judicial y posiblemente el embargo de su propiedad.
5) Considere contratar un especialista internacional en hipotecas - esto será inestimable al tratar con el papeleo burocrático de los bancos extranjeros y previamente podrán negociar mejores condiciones y precios.
6) Negocie asimismo con el banco de su país. Si transfiere regularmente dinero para el pago de su hipoteca, las comisiones por transferencia puede ser una sorpresa desagradable.
7) Si no quiere especular con la divisa, procure que la fuente de dinero del pago de la hipoteca (su salario, la renta por alquiler) sea en la misma divisa que tiene la hipoteca. Aunque es posible cambiar de divisa la hipoteca en muchos países, en ocasiones hay unas consecuencias fiscales desastrosas al hacerlo.


Salvador Trinxet
CEO
Banco Internacional de Investimentos
http://www.bancoii.com/

7 Mar 2008

Liechtenstein probe likely to boost Singapore


Liechtenstein probe likely to boost Singapore
Article published by John Burton in the Financial Times (www.ft.com) on March 3 2008.

Singapore, the world’s fastest growing private banking centre, could be the main beneficiary from the Liechtenstein tax evasion investigation, according to the global head of Société Générale’s private banking business.

“Because of what happened in Liechtenstein, we will see a higher flow of funds into Singapore,” said Daniel Truchi, who previously headed SG Private Banking’s Asian operations from Singapore. “The momentum is accelerating.”

Liechtenstein lays plans for more transparency - Aug-15The recent events in Liechtenstein are “sort of like an earthquake for European private banking” because “it undermines client confidence” and its effects will be felt in other European wealth management centres, including Switzerland and Luxembourg, Mr Truchi said.

Singapore will attract more money because its bank secrecy and trust laws governing inheritance are among the tightest in the world, Mr Truchi said. Those who break Singapore bank secrecy laws are subject to harsher punishments than applied in Switzerland. Singapore also has no laws against international tax evasion.

Singapore has introduced new rules on bank secrecy and trusts in the past few years in consultation with the global private banking industry as the south-east Asian city-state has identified wealth management as a growth industry.

Singapore could receive a significant boost as money flows from Europe.

“Switzerland’s private banking business is 10 times bigger than Singapore’s but if we see 10 per cent of those funds moving from Switzerland, it will double the amount of assets managed in Singapore,” Mr Truchi said.

However, Singapore is under growing pressure from the European Union to ease its secrecy rules to help catch tax evaders. The issue has emerged as the main stumbling block in a trade pact being negotiated between Singapore and the EU.

“Singapore is not a tax haven. We are a low-tax country but not a tax haven. The situation that arose in Liechtenstein cannot happen here,” said George Yeo, the Singapore foreign minister, after meeting his German counterpart last week to discuss the issue.

Singapore’s bank secrecy laws are “very important” to Singapore’s development as an international finance centre but “we do not condone drug money or terrorism money or money laundering. These are crimes,” Mr Yeo said.

Mr Truchi said that Singapore is unlikely to bow to EU pressure in the near-term as it seeks to expand its ­private banking business.

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