Plans to force the largest companies to disclose more about their tax affairs will be unveiled by the European Union on Tuesday.
Britain’s EU Commissioner, Lord Hill, is set to present the rules, which will affect multinational firms with more than €750m (£600m) in sales.
They will have to detail how much tax they pay and in which EU countries.
The plans come amid heightened scrutiny of the use of tax havens following the Panama Papers revelations.
The Internal Revenue Service announced this week that taxpayers who need to make a payment in cash can now do so at 7-Eleven convenience stores.
While it may seem unusual to pay your taxes where you might otherwise pick up a Slurpee, it caters to a large number of Americans who do not have a bank account or credit card. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation estimates one in 13 households in the U.S. do not have a bank account.
“We continue to look for new ways to provide services for our taxpayers … this provides a new way for people who can only pay their taxes in cash without having to travel to an IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.
v.20 n.14 – Released April 6, 2016
FOR MOST OF the past six weeks, the biggest story out of Silicon Valley was Apple’s battle with the FBI over a federal order to unlock the iPhone of a mass shooter. The company’s refusal touched off a searing debate over privacy and security in the digital age. But this morning, at a small office in Mountain View, California, three guys made the scope of that enormous debate look kinda small.
Facebook’s debut of a bot store is already being heralded as the “most important launch since the App Store.” Except that it hasn’t happened yet.
Kik, a messaging app favored by teens, beat them to the punch today by announcing its own bot shop first.
Chat bots are being touted as the next-generation platform, replacing most of the apps you use today.
People are tired of downloading apps, creating new accounts, and then learning how to use them, explains Kik CEO Ted Livingston. Instead, the next generation of bots act in place of those apps.
There’s going to be a little less competition among airlines following a big takeover announced Monday.
Alaska Air Group has agreed to buy Virgin America for $2.6 billion, the airlines said. Alaska Air (ALK) said it will pay $57 per share, sending Virgin America (VA) stock soaring 40%. Including debt and aircraft leases, the transaction is worth about $4 billion.
The combined airline will have 1,200 daily departures, 280 aircraft, and hubs in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Anchorage, Alaska, and Portland, Oregon.
With great Twitter power comes great responsibility. At least, that’s the lesson this week after the owner of the @DietDrPepper Twitter handle made an epic deal with Dr Pepper Snapple Group.
But Diana Hussein didn’t want money or even free soda for life in exchange for her undoubtedly valuable Twitter handle. All she wanted was for water to be donated to Flint, Michigan, to aid in their water crisis.
Hussein, a communications specialist, has lived in Dearborn, Michigan, for almost 25 years. She says there’s a strong sense of community within Dearborn, within the Detroit Metro area and in connection to Flint.
Look out, Ronald. Chipotle is coming.
The leader of the “fast casual” restaurant revolution best known for its burritos and guacamole now has its eyes on the burger industry.
Chipotle Mexican Grill confirmed on Wednesday that the company has applied for the trademark for “Better Burger,” a move that signals what could be a new chain under the Chipotle empire.
Chipotle already runs two other chains in addition to its flagship Mexican restaurants — the Southeast Asia-inspired ShopHouse and Pizzeria Locale.
Millennials are GRRREAT!
That, anyway, is what Kellogg Co. is banking on to help revive soggy cereal demand. Tony the Tiger and its other ageless characters have been losing the breakfast battle for years, so Kellogg is repositioning some of its brands as a snack for the nation’s largest demographic: people born from the early 1980s to about 2000.
While total U.S. cereal sales have fallen 8.8 percent since 2012, the share eaten in the afternoon and evening has risen steadily in recent years, hitting about 35 percent in 2015, according to the Battle Creek, Michigan-based company. That’s partly because millennials have embraced Froot Loops and Smorz as indulgent snacks, says Craig Bahner, president of Kellogg’s U.S. Morning Foods division. To ride the trend, Kellogg is repackaging products including Frosted Flakes and Special K in grab-and-go containers and emphasizing the nostalgic pull of cereal as a late-night treat.
California has reached a deal which will raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next few years. It’s likely to be formally announced by Jerry Brown later today. Such a deal raises such hopes, doesn’t it? All those poorly paid workers in Los Angeles and San Francisco will be able to pay their way in life. And yet there’s always that nagging doubt that such price fixing might turn around and bite us. And we actually do have proof of this: a report about what a $15 minimum wage will do to employment in Los Angeles City. This is not, by the way, a report by some from market fundamentalist like myself. This is from Michael Reich et al at Berkeley, stout supporters of a rise to $15. And yet even their report states that the net effect will be fewer jobs. And that’s after they play rather fast and loose with one of the major effects they are thinking of.
There’s also the problem that not all of California is all that rich so the towns of the Central Valley are going to have a much harder time. This simply isn’t going to work out well.
