A fresh drive by the European Commission to ensure companies pay their tax where they make their profits could have far-reaching consequences for Irish corporate tax revenue. Some new pieces of legislation will be presented over the next few months, but one of the biggest could be the revival of… – Continue reading
LONDON, Feb. 17 — The tax evasion scandal of HSBC’s Swiss Private Bank has heateddebates on the intactness of banks’ compliance and regulation, as well as the efficiency oftax system here in Britain. Experts believe that it is not an isolated case. The HSBC case is quite different from other… – Continue reading
BERLIN – Geneva prosecutors searched the premises of HSBC’s Swiss subsidiary on Wednesday after launching a money-laundering investigation over a report that the bank helped hide millions of dollars for drug traffickers, arms dealers and celebrities. Prosecutors said they were investigating HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA and persons unknown for… – Continue reading
Probes since 2001 into offshore accounts include €4.6m from Irish HSBC customers The Revenue Commissioners has collected just more than €1 billion since 2001 from various special investigations of offshore bank accounts held by Irish residents. This includes the €4.6 million received to date from the holders of offshore accounts… – Continue reading
NEW YORK â?? A founder of famed New York City restaurant Le Périgord faces a potential three-year prison sentence that could take him away from the paragon of traditional French cuisine after he pleaded guilty to hiding income in offshore bank accounts. Georges Briguet, 77, admitted during a Brooklyn federal… – Continue reading
Sen. Bernard Sanders took aim at some of America’s biggest corporations Wednesday in his crusade to raise taxes on the wealthy, accusing the companies of “legalized tax fraud” for using off-shore banks to avoid U.S. taxes. Mr. Sanders, the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, released a report that… – Continue reading
Mumbai: As a probe continues into the misuse of stock markets for evading taxes and laundering black money, 4-5 cartels of market operators have been identified for making illicit gains or showing fictional losses of several thousands of crores of rupees over last 2-3 years. According to sources, both ‘bull’… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has launched a drive to combat tax evasion following a series of probes into rules that allow multinationals to slash their bills in Luxembourg, Ireland and the Netherlands. The EU’s executive commission said Wednesday that it will propose new tax legislation next month, including… – Continue reading
A team of journalists from 45 nations who investigated documents leaked by a former systems engineer working for banking giant HSBC’s Geneva, Switzerland branch, found HSBC managed secret bank accounts for criminals, drug traffickers, tax dodgers, politicians and celebrities. The documents, covering the period from 2005 to 2007 revealed, according… – Continue reading
CHINA China Releases GAAR Administrative Measures Courtesy of Mr Glen Wei, an attorney at law, certified tax adviser, and CPA based in China.China’s State Administration of Taxation (SAT) on December 12 issued Decree 32 (dated December 2) introducing administrative measures for applying the domestic general anti-avoidance rule to special tax… – Continue reading
News leaked late last week that Swiss banking giant UBS is again under DOJ investigation for aiding tax fraud by U.S. clients. In 2009, UBS pled guilty to a criminal tax conspiracy charge, and received a deferred prosecution agreement. UBS admitted that thousands of unreported and untaxed accounts at the… – Continue reading
SYDNEY: Australian debt is set to be a major beneficiary of Japan’s offshore investment push, attracting up to $63 billion of Japanese bond investment by 2018, HSBC said on Thursday. HSBC estimated as much as $500 billion of Japanese savings could be re-allocated to international assets over the next two… – Continue reading
The abolition of unfair taxes was one of the foundational principles of Magna Carta, a document that King John assented to on June 15, 1215 at Runnymede, England. Taxation must be fair, and requires the consent of the people. There is no more unfair aspect of fiscal law than retroactive… – Continue reading
The Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility (LDF) has raised little over one third of its £3bn target yield with just over one year left until it is closed As of December 2014, the LDF has raised £1.023bn, just £44m more than in November 2014. Despite this, the number of people using the… – Continue reading
Basel, Switzerland (dpa) – Swiss prosecutors searched HSBC‘s private bank in Geneva Wednesday after launching an investigation into aggravated money laundering against the financial institute. The Geneva prosecution office said it was reacting to last week‘s media reports, which alleged that the Swiss branch of the major British lender helped… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — Bradley Birkenfeld, the former UBS Group AG banker who won a $104 million whistle-blower award after serving time in prison for tax conspiracy, won a U.S. judge’s permission to testify in France in a separate probe of the Swiss bank. U.S. District Judge William Zloch ruled Tuesday that… – Continue reading
George Osborne advised the public on how to avoid inheritance tax in 2003, a BBC2 video reveals. Amid criticism over the government’s failure to prosecute tax evaders embroiled in the HSBC scandal, the footage will prove embarrassing for the Tories. Downing Street has also come under fire for its appointment… – Continue reading
This week revelations on BBC’s Panorama have sparked an explosive scandal: HSBC, the UK’s largest – and the world’s second largest – bank, has been caught facilitating industrial-scale tax evasion, committed by some of its wealthiest clients. Thousands of leaked bank account files obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative… – Continue reading
The Government may have retreated on its promises to crack down on multinational IT companies avoiding tax, but the Australian Tax Office says it’s on the case. Less than a year ago the ATO appointed Andrew Mills, a tax lawyer from outside the government bureaucracy, to the important role of… – Continue reading
KUALA LUMPUR: A student movement today demanded that the government make it mandatory for top officials to publicly declare their assets in the wake of news about Malaysian public figures keeping millions of ringgit in offshore accounts. Anak Muda Harapan Malaysia (AMHM) said in a press statement that wealth declaration… – Continue reading
Drug firm has come out fighting after allegations it engaged in tax avoidance on an industrial scale Ireland’s largest drug company has come out fighting following allegations that, with its tax adviser PricewaterhouseCoopers, it has engaged in tax avoidance on an industrial scale – as alleged by the public accounts… – Continue reading
An FCA spokesman said the regulator faced difficulty in pursuing action against HSBC because the behaviour publicised so far involved its Swiss unit, HSBC Private Banking (Suisse) SA, which the spokesman said was beyond the FCA’s jurisdiction. Britain’s financial watchdog said it was investigating HSBC following reports it helped clients… – Continue reading
Firms need clear rules, certainty to remain in compliance with tax law, says expert Heightened scrutiny of foreign companies’ tax practices is a sign of China’s effort to modernize its taxation system to keep up with the fast-changing international business environment, but there is another dimension that concerns the foreign… – Continue reading
Labour will carry out a comprehensive review of tax planning schemes, including the use of deeds of variation on wills, should the party get to power following the general elections, shadow chancellor Ed Balls has said. Balls (pictured) told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on 15 February he would review… – Continue reading
Britain’s tax office has seen a surge in foreign governments making information requests about tax evasion over recent years. The number of requests to HM Revenue & Customs rose by 45% in 2013 to total 2,466, research from international law firm Pinsent Masons revealed. Ukraine had the biggest boost in… – Continue reading
Key staff at bank given £21m in salaries and bonuses in 2011 and 2012 But figure jumped almost 40% to £29.2m in 2013, financial reports say Bank is accused of helping customers to cheat taxman out of millions Admits failings in compliance & controls in Swiss private banking wing Staff… – Continue reading
CANBERRA: Australian Tax Office has said that Australia’s corporate tax base is in crisis because of tax relief by multinational companies in the country. The alarming data in these internal documents is at odds with the public position of the Australian Tax Office (ATO), which maintains the tax regime in… – Continue reading
Ed Miliband will stand by his claim that Tory treasurer Lord Fink was involved in ‘tax avoidance activities’, Harriet Harman says Ed Miliband has challenged David Cameron to say whether he agrees with a former Conservative treasurer’s claim that “everyone” engages in tax avoidance. After Tory peer Lord Fink’s admission… – Continue reading
A list of leaked Swiss bank accounts is making news in Belize tonight. And that’s because the list shows that 97 Belizean bank accounts holding 54.8 million US dollars are hidden away in these accounts. Now, in a country like Belize with an active offshore banking sector, that’s not too… – Continue reading
HSBC has issued an apology as a political row over its Swiss private banking arm grows, saying it has “no appetite” to deal with clients seeking to dodge tax. In a full-page letter published in some Sunday newspapers, the bank’s chief executive, Stuart Gulliver, said the media revelations in the… – Continue reading
LONDON: HSBC’s Indian banking unit is at the heart of fresh revelations around tax evasion, days after a global expose showed tax dodging through accounts in the British major’s Swiss banking unit, a media report said today. It is alleged that representatives of HSBC India, which has employees based in… – Continue reading
The shadow chancellor has promised that a Labour government would crack down on what he called “systemic tax evasion”. Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Ed Balls drew a distinction between families who legitimately plan their tax affairs and those who, in his words, “set up false structures”. He… – Continue reading
Sir David Garrard transferred shares offshore before some were later sold The tycoon has given the Labour Party more than £1.2million Ed Miliband attacked ‘dodgy Tory donors’ for having off-shore accounts Sir David held accounts in Liechtenstein and Jersey according to reports By GLEN OWEN FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY… – Continue reading
Public fury over tax dodging by some clients of HSBC’s Swiss arm is set to escalate after sources close to the Revenue’s investigation said there would be no more prosecutions for tax evasion. Despite Revenue and Customs being handed details of 6,000 Swiss bank accounts held by UK residents and… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The government plans to defer implementation of the General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) until the time the tax administration is able to rebuild trust with companies on the controversial issue. “Given the low level of confidence in tax authorities, investors fear that the provisions may result in harassment…. – Continue reading
AMSTERDAM: Google shifted nearly €10bn in royalties to the tax haven of Bermuda via the Netherlands in 2013. That is almost €1bn up on 2012, the paper says. It bases its claims on an analysis of the annual reports of Dutch-registered Google Netherlands Holdings BV. Over €9bn came from Google… – Continue reading
Budget should issue a) rules for announcements that were made in the budget in July 2014, (b) clarifications and guidance on matters that were at the centre of controversy during the past few years like equity infusion, valuations, etc. and (c) tax administrations, infrastructure and approach. The new government in… – Continue reading
COMPANIES registered in Caribbean islands by Cypriot law firms or consultancies form the bulk of the list of Cyprus-affiliated entries with deposits in HSBC Switzerland, daily Politis reported yesterday. The paper claimed to have obtained access to the full list of 106,000 depositors in the Swiss bank during 2006 and… – Continue reading
Feb 13 (Reuters) – France’s finance minister said on Friday Paris had not restricted the use of HSBC client data it passed on to UK authorities to help pursue tax evaders, contradicting comments by a senior British official. Britain’s Financial Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke said in parliament this… – Continue reading
Australian retail billionaire Gerry Harvey slammed the country’s powerful business lobby groups for pushing the interests of profit-shifting multinational corporations ahead of Australian companies. Harvey said companies that pay their fair share in taxes have no voice in government. The billionaire retailer spoke after it was publicly revealed that Apple… – Continue reading
Former Enemalta chairman Tancred Tabone had set up a Jersey offshore trust into which he deposited $1 million, according to the HSBC data revealed in Swiss leaks. Reporting on the matter today, The Guardian said Mr Tabone planned to transfer more funds, with the bank noting “the potential is evaluated… – Continue reading
In the last several years, a “record” number of Americans abroad have been giving up their passports: That’s supposedly due to the demands of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, known as FATCA, a US law enacted in 2010 to fight tax evasion by forcing foreign banks to share information… – Continue reading
HMRC has failed to prosecute a wealthy tycoon who did not pay tax for 24 years as Richard Bilton reports Tax inspectors failed to prosecute a wealthy tax cheat who did not submit returns or pay any tax for 24 years, documents seen by BBC Panorama show. HM Revenue and… – Continue reading
If the Davis tax committee’s recommendations are followed, tax avoidance could be effectively reined in. Zeroing in on the super-wealthy and tax reluctant remains at the top of the global agenda as budgets across the world grow increasingly hungry for extra revenues. Now a draft report from the Davis tax… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — The backlash against acquisitions meant to skirt U.S. tax laws could spur more midsize U.S. drugmakers to sell to overseas buyers, Bill Ackman, the billionaire activist hedge fund manager, said Thursday. Takeover activity in 2014 was highlighted by U.S. companies — including Medtronic Inc. and Pfizer Inc. —… – Continue reading
Mr Falciani says his email warned tax collectors that thousands of British clients of an HSBC subsidiary in Geneva were using the bank to hide money. The email, from 2008, has been uncovered by Le Monde and seen by the BBC. Revenue and Customs and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)… – Continue reading
Local businesses still have a lot to consider for the next stages of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) implementation, delegates heard at a recent breakfast seminar hosted by EY. The event, led by Wendy Martin, EY’s Tax Executive Director, highlighted the recent updates made to the FATCA guidance… – Continue reading
Santo Domingo.- Five members of a single family figure on the list published on the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) website with the names of customers who allegedly own accounts in Swiss bank HSBC. José A. Rodríguez Yangüela, Laura Rodríguez Yangüela, Luis Rodriguez Yangüela, Tomás Rodríguez Yangüela and Catalina… – Continue reading
Documents detail customers who faced allegations including drug-running, corruption, doping and money laundering This article is the subject of a legal complaint made on behalf of Anura Perera. HSBC’s Swiss bank concealed large sums of money for people facing allegations of serious wrongdoing, including drug-running, corruption and money laundering, leaked… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — Swiss banks are making progress in negotiations with the U.S. Justice Department on an agreement that would allow lenders to avoid prosecution in return for disclosing how they helped Americans dodge taxes, the head of an industry group said. The process almost derailed in September when Swiss banks… – Continue reading
