CARACAS, VENEZUELA – Venezuela is launching a probe into large offshore bank deposits amid a spate of reports that at least $2 billion was siphoned off by corrupt, top-level officials at state-run oil company PDVSA. Chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz’s announcement Tuesday was the socialist government’s first response to the… – Continue reading
As part of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill which Parliament is expected to approve today, the government is attempting to implement a public register showing who really owns companies. The bill is a good example of how UK legislation can affect countries around the world, especially those in… – Continue reading
Law firm boss Tom Maher has been invited to be a speaker at a prestigious conference alongside the FBI special agent who caught the notorious ‘Wolf of Wall Street.’ He will also share the platform with a host of other newsworthy people in the business world including the whistleblower who… – Continue reading
Clearstream now offers five offshore RMB accounts in four leading financial centres and will give customers more options and flexibility in managing offshore RMB liquidity Clearstream, the international central securities depository of Deutsche Börse Group, is making further progress in its Asia strategy: the company will open three new offshore… – Continue reading
A former Director of Public Prosecutions has accused banking giant HSBC of “grave” cross border crime and of engaging in “a systematic and profitable collusion in serious criminal activity” in the UK. According to the Independent, in a damming intervention Lord Ken Macdonald, who led the Crown Prosecution Service until… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Net profits at LGT, Liechtenstein’s biggest bank, rose more than 18 percent last year, the bank reported on Monday, after it attracted fresh funds and acquired a large portfolio of accounts from HSBC’s private bank. The Vaduz-based lender, owned by the principality’s royal family, said last year it… – Continue reading
Colby Smith took a “one-man direct action protest” inside HSBC in Ely on Saturday to highlight the campaign against tax avoidance. The painter and decorator from Sutton answered the call to action by national activist group UK Uncut with his two hour sit-in at the Ely bank. Mr Smith, 29,… – Continue reading
International bank HSBC has declined to comment on whether they are cracking down on Isle of Man accounts held by UK residents. It was widely reported this week that the bank is contacting holders of accounts in Jersey and asking them to produce identity documents at one of the Channel… – Continue reading
ZURICH, March 23 (Reuters) – Liechtenstein’s biggest bank LGT does not expect to suffer any fallout from assets it bought from HSBC’s private bank months before that business was embroiled in a scandal over allegedly helping clients to dodge taxes. Vaduz-based LGT, owned by the principality’s royal family, snapped up… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: India has offered a “cash reward” to a former HSBC bank employee-turned-whistleblower in exchange for any fresh information about its citizens holding illegal accounts in various tax haven countries, including in Swiss banks, as it looks to combat black money and unearth funds stashed away abroad. Sources said… – Continue reading
FORMER HM Revenue & Customs chief Dave Hartnett is to be grilled tomorrow by MPs over why he failed to prosecute more HSBC customers for alleged tax evasion. Hartnett is set to appear before the Public Accounts Committee and chairwoman Margaret Hodge is expected to take him to task for… – Continue reading
It’s been dubbed the ‘Google tax’! Starting April 1st, the UK will levy a new ‘diverted profits tax’. This is the British government’s offensive against multinationals like Google, Amazon, Starbucks and others accused of shifting profits and avoiding tax. In doing so UK will become the first country to implement… – Continue reading
Argentina will move forward with its investigation of the HSBC offshore accounts in Switzerland, and will make public the names of those Argentine citizens and organizations that held money overseas in the financial entity, allegedly with the purpose of eluding local taxes. Swiss and French officials are also looking into… – Continue reading
UK bank HSBC is the first non-Chinese bank to take advantage of new Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ) rules designed to ease foreign currency borrowing and bring down funding costs. Shanghai FTZ allows corporates to use its free trade account to conduct foreign currency borrowing from offshore markets. People’s Bank… – Continue reading
Bern and Brussels have clinched a deal to exchange bank account data in an effort to tackle tax fraud. The agreement comes after a recent report exposed the global economic damage caused by offshore accounts. Switzerland and the European Union are teaming up to crack down on tax cheats, officials… – Continue reading
Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan says information sharing with foreign nations has allowed it to raise $730 million worth of tax liabilities over the past two financial years. In a speech to be delivered at the Tax Institute’s annual conference in Gold Coast on Thursday morning, Mr Jordan says he is… – Continue reading
1.GENERAL QUESTIONS 1.1 Why is the Commission presenting a Tax Transparency Package? The Commission has made the fight against tax evasion and corporate tax avoidance a political priority, with a view to creating a socially and economically more efficient Single Market. While much has been done to advance this agenda… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — Switzerland has frozen $400 million of assets in more than 30 banks as the country’s attorney general probes money laundering related to Petroleo Brasileiro SA’s widening corruption scandal. Nine investigations have been opened since last April based on allegations of corruption involving eight Brazilian citizens, the Bern-based Federal… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — The European Union launched a new salvo in its battle against tax evasion with a slate of proposals that would make it harder for companies to avoid taxes. Countries would need to share information on cross-border tax rulings every three months under one piece of the tax package,… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – European Union countries will have to share information on tax deals agreed with major corporations under European Commission plans to limit the ability of big business to avoid tax across the 28-nation bloc. EU members would from next year have three months to tell neighbors about new cross-border… – Continue reading
Irish eyes are smiling in corporate America. The Emerald Isle has emerged as the world’s top recipient of U.S. foreign direct investment, according to a report from the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland. In the first nine months of 2014, Ireland beat the likes of Canada, Mexico, the U.K. and… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Axis Bank, the country’s third-biggest private sector lender, plans to step up offshore investment banking as it aims to market bonds globally amid rising corporate India’s interest in overseas markets. The bank, which has been topping the league table on bond sales, may also tie up with some international… – Continue reading
HSBC is closing all accounts on Jersey belonging to customers living in the UK. It is part of a move by UK banks carrying out checks on the identity and addresses of thousands of their customers on the Channel Islands. HSBC is among those carrying out the move, according to… – Continue reading
THE LAW SOCIETY has “denounced” HM Revenue & Customs’ plans to curb tax avoidance activity as “premature”. HMRC and the government are proposing to introduce new penalties for serial users of tax avoidance schemes and those whose planning is counteracted by the general anti-abuse rule (GAAR). In particular, the society… – Continue reading
Switzerland has made further progress on meeting international tax compliance standards after being upgraded to phase 2 of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) tax transparency review process. However, Switzerland faces a potentially tougher examination in the coming months, particularly regarding the use of stolen bank data by… – Continue reading
UK tax authorities withdrew a fourth case from the Crown Prosecution Service as it sought justice over alleged HSBC-aided tax evasion, despite telling MPs that just three files were passed to prosecutors. HMRC has always maintained it was only able to submit three files to prosecutors following a lengthy investigation… – Continue reading
Tocqueville Asset Management founder Francois Sicart warns that hiding from the taxman is futile, but postponing taxes is profitable You can’t escape taxes, but you can gain an advantage by legally delaying their payment. That is a model that legendary investor Warren Buffet exemplifies, and it is one of several… – Continue reading
LONDON, GENEVA — The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) is narrowing the field of bidders for its Coutts International private-banking arm to focus on Switzerland’s Union Bancaire Privée (UBP), people with knowledge of the matter said. UBP is the preferred bidder and an agreement might be reached as early… – Continue reading
Multinational tech giants Google and Facebook could soon be charged goods and services tax on advertising booked by Australian companies if a proposal flagged by federal Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull is adopted. While multinational corporations continue to come under fire for minimising their tax bills in Australia, Turnbull has floated… – Continue reading
Lawyers are urging investors who have been advised to invest in disputed tax avoidance schemes to take their financial advisers to court for compensation. A number of legal experts called on investors to pool together and launch US-style class action law suits against their advisers, who they said, had failed… – Continue reading
I SUPPORT the tax-dodging bill” badges are handed to the group of 20, gathering at the Eros statue in London’s Piccadilly Circus. This is a walking tour with a twist. The two guides sporting bowler hats will avoid the traditional tourist traps. Instead, we will be touring the banks, shops… – Continue reading
Tom Gordon Scottish Political Editor DANNY Alexander was last night at the centre of a new donations row after accepting money from a millionaire defender of tax avoidance. The LibDem Chief Secretary to the Treasury, who in 2013 said he was “livid” at companies and individuals “avoiding paying the proper… – Continue reading
The findings revealed that 76 per cent of those surveyed believe people open bank accounts in Switzerland for “underhand reasons”, and just one in 10 consider it is done for “legitimate reasons.” The UK’s The Times newspaper recently asked individuals for their thoughts as to why Britons might hold Swiss… – Continue reading
Giant financial institutions that benefitted from federal bailouts during the depths of the recession have repaid the American people’s largesse by hiding profits overseas to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. According to a report (pdf) commissioned by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), four big banks—Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Bank of… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS, March 10 (Reuters) – The following are mergers under review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU merger process: APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS — British bank Barclays (LSE: BARC.L – news) to acquire sole control of Spanish insurer CNP Barclays Vida y Pensiones Compania de Seguros,… – Continue reading
There is a double standard when it comes to paying taxes in Canada. And the Canada Revenue Agency makes it worse with each passing year. Take the recent news story about Irwin Rodier, the Montreal doctor with accounts at the Swiss branch of HSBC. Leaked data showed that he had… – Continue reading
Things just got worse for HSBC. Its private banking arm faces new criminal charges after a French magistrate officially requested that the Swiss bank be brought to trial over a suspected tax-dodging scheme for wealthy customers, the Guardian reports. The request for trial comes after a series of allegations against… – Continue reading
HSBC Holdings plc’s (LON:HSBA) shares were down 0.23 percent to 559.00p as of 13:13 GMT yesterday, after earlier on Friday the French financial prosecutor’s office announced it had formally requested that the lender’s Swiss private banking unit be put on trial for helping French citizens to aggressively avoid taxes. HSBC… – Continue reading
The Price We Pay argues that profit-shifting by corporations is undermining democracies A new Canadian documentary draws attention to the profit-shifting tactics used by multinationals to avoid billions of dollars of taxes. Directed by Montrealer Harold Crooks, the film The Price We Pay opens this Friday in Toronto and Montreal,… – Continue reading
The public accounts chair has been accused of being a bully, but she has rocked the tax world by asking difficult questions about how taxpayers’ money is spent Her verdict on HMRC’s efforts to prosecute tax evaders: pathetic. The gagging of civil service whistleblowers: outrageous. And as for tax-avoiding Google,… – Continue reading
Under a plan baked into the White House’s budget for 2016, U.S. corporations would theoretically be forced to pay hundreds of billions in new taxes on money kept abroad. Levying fees on the $2.1 trillion in funds largely held by shell companies through an accounting trick called deferral, the move,… – Continue reading
Revenue had initiated 33 investigations on suspicion of tax evasion relating to HSBC, 27 of which were complete, with six ongoing, the Committee of Public Accounts has been told. Some 19 accounts have made settlements so far yielding €4.6 million, with the average tax recovered for each of the 19… – Continue reading
Harold Crooks had an epiphany Tuesday afternoon. Asked where he gets his social consciousness from, the New York-based filmmaker recalled something he had never told anyone, a memory from his childhood growing up in Westmount. “I was probably 11 or 12 years old,” he said. “I lived in the middle… – Continue reading
Tax avoidance schemes are hitting the headlines on a daily basis, particularly in light of the recent allegations that HSBC supposedly assisted clients to “dodge tax” and the reported involvement of thousands of celebrities, sports stars and politicians in film finance schemes. Any such scheme which bears the hallmarks of… – Continue reading
You may have noted there’s an election in the offing Worstall on Wednesday As the tech news outlet of record has told us, UK chancellor George Osborne is preparing to bring in the “Google Tax”. Properly known as the Diverted Profits Tax, it is supposed to be a way of… – Continue reading
The Australian Taxation Office should be given the power to ignore multinational transactions that fail to pass the “common sense test” and ensure that technology company profits are taxed where they are earned, the Australia Institute submission to the inquiry into corporate tax avoidance says. The submission takes a swipe… – Continue reading
Robert Jenkins says Douglas Flint should resign over Swiss scandal for the good of his own reputation A former member of the Bank of England’s financial policy committee has called on HSBC’s chairman to resign following the scandal at its Swiss operation and other debacles. Robert Jenkins said Douglas Flint,… – Continue reading
Argentina has sent requests for information to tax authorities in the Virgin Islands, Uruguay and Bermuda, according to a Reuters report. This comes as Argentina wants HSBC Holdings Plc to repatriate some $3.5 billion that it says the bank’s Argentine branch moved offshore to help clients evade taxes and move… – Continue reading
The Finance Bill 2015 (the Bill) has quietly slipped in an amendment that could engender a fresh set of disputes with foreign companies away from the hitherto transfer pricing hair-splitting. Hitherto, all Indian companies were residents and all foreign companies were non-resident, period. Of course foreign companies would have become… – Continue reading
There is a sense of déjà vu in tax and legal circles. Vodafone bought itself into Hutch’s Indian telecom operations by acquiring controlling interest in a Cayman Island company that called the shots in the Indian company hitherto controlled by Hutchison Hong Kong. The tax authorities slapped a notice on… – Continue reading
