Mesopotamia is a name for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system (corresponding to most of Iraq, Kuwait, the eastern parts of Syria, and regions along the Turkish-Syrian and Iran–Iraq borders). Widely considered to be one of the cradles of civilization by the Western world, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian, and…
Capital city: Hong Kong Currency: Hong Kong dollar (HK$) Population: 7.3 m (93.6% Chinese) Language: Chinese & English GDP …
This strategy is ideal for taxpayers who meet two criteria: They own a company with a franking account surplus (normally as the result of profits from operating a business or investments, the company paying tax and retaining those profits). The taxpayers (shareholders in the company) currently have nil or low taxable incomes (normally due to…
The US is the world’s largest economy with a gross national product (the value of all goods and services produced) of $18.5 trillion. The US accounts for a massive 24.5% of the world economy. The election of Donald Trump as President of the US will bring many changes. Probably none more so than his promise…
Capital city: Avarua Currency: New Zealand dollar (NZD) & Cook Islands dollar Population: 13,100 (2016) Language: Cook Islands Māori & English GDP: US $295.2 million (2016) The Cook Islands is…
Capital city: Singapore Currency: Singapore dollar (SGD) Population: 5.6m Language: English, Malay, Tamil, and Mandarin GDP: …
Tax planning strategy 183 The Australian Bureau of Statistics advises that Australia’s population has grown to 24,274,575 (as at 17th November 2016). The overall total population is increasing at the rate of one person every 1 minute and 29 seconds as the result of: One birth every 1 minute and 44 seconds. One death every…
Capital city: Port Vila Currency: Vanuatu vatu (VUV) Population: 286,249 (98.5% Ni-Vanuatu) Language: Bislama, French & English …
The double Irish tax strategy has been used since the late 1980s by some multinational corporations (including Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook) to lower their corporate tax liability. The strategy uses payments between related entities in a corporate structure to move income from a higher-tax country to a lower or no tax jurisdiction. It relies…
The Singapore Sling is a gin-based cocktail from Singapore that was developed in 1915 by Ngiam Tong Boon, a Hainanese bartender working at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel, Singapore. It was initially called the gin sling – a sling was originally an American drink composed of spirit and water, sweetened and flavored. BHP Billiton…
"You’d be stupid not to try to cut your tax bill and those that don’t are stupid in business"
- Bono: U2