Switzerland’s parliament will soon take up the issue of inking a crucial Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) agreement with India, a move that could help combat the menace of black money and erect a platform to enable the exchange of information between the two countries. “The domestic procedures regarding AEOI… – Continue reading
The Bank of Israel asked Bank Leumi Le-Israel Ltd. to set up an independent committee to examine management performance and bonuses after the lender agreed in December to pay a fine to U.S. authorities in a tax probe. Leumi, Israel’s second-largest lender, agreed the $400 million fine after a seven-year… – Continue reading
The Revenue Agency has confirmed that it has finalized its instructions for Italian financial institutions (FIs) to transmit their data to comply with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) inter-governmental agreement (IGA) between Italy and the United States. FATCA, enacted by the US Congress in 2010, is intended to… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: Power politics within the ruling party may ruin the move to control tax evasion, as traders supported by Punjab government have backed out from the agreement they signed earlier this month that would bring them under the tax net in return of seeking major concessions. Daylong talks between representatives… – Continue reading
The Finance Ministry of the United Arab Emirates has released US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act guidance notes and the registration form for entities to access the FATCA reporting portal. FATCA, enacted by the US Congress in 2010, is intended to ensure that the US obtains information on accounts held… – Continue reading
Post Finance, the banking arm of the Swiss post office, has informed clients living abroad that their credit cards will be cancelled at the end of October. The Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA) has criticised the decision that has been motivated by tightening money laundering and tax evasion regulations…. – Continue reading
After almost a year of wrangling, the EU Council and the European Parliament have finally reached an agreement on a new Anti-Money Laundering Directive. The 4th AML Directive expands the scope of its predecessor (which was adopted in 2005, before the global banking scandals and the push towards tax transparency)… – Continue reading
The British government said on Thursday it would step up efforts to boost competition in banking and rejected criticism that its tax changes would leave the sector worse off, Reuters reports. The government surprised banks earlier this month by announcing a new eight per cent surcharge on profits from January,… – Continue reading
Abu Dhabi: The UAE’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) announced that the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) Guidance Notes along with a Registration Form to access the Fatca reporting portal are now available on the Ministry’s website. The Guidance Notes provide a detailed explanation of the Fatca, and the terms… – Continue reading
Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—July 9, 2015. The Department of Justice announced today that two banks, Banque Pasche SA and ARVEST Privatbank AG, have reached resolutions under the department’s Swiss Bank Program. “Banque Pasche and ARVEST have provided detailed information regarding the ways in which Swiss banks helped U.S. taxpayers conceal foreign accounts… – Continue reading
Turkish banks and companies are trying to sell syndicated loans to Asian investors after a drop in Asian lending but investors are wary of increasing Turkish exposure due to political instability following June’s elections, bankers said. Turkish borrowers are targeting Asian investors in a bid to extend loan maturities after… – Continue reading
SAN DIEGO – A former J.P. Morgan Chase banker was ordered today to serve six months in prison for her role in a commercial bribery and tax-evasion scheme. While handing down the sentence to 51-year-old Lynda Sanabria in a San Diego courtroom, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez also ordered her… – Continue reading
The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed Conrad Black’s bid to have his multi-million-dollar battle with the Canada Revenue Agency over back taxes heard by the country’s highest court. The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed Conrad Black’s bid to have his multi-million-dollar battle with the Canada Revenue Agency over… – Continue reading
At least 21 financial advisers in Switzerland charged with aiding American tax dodgers are at large With its tan marble floors and leather-clad reception desk, the staid Zurich offices of the Julius Baer Group, one of Switzerland’s largest private banks, are an unlikely place to find an alleged fugitive from… – Continue reading
Swiss banks, for decades the bastions of secrecy, are preaching the virtue of transparency to their U.S. clients as they try to head off billions of dollars in potential fines for helping Americans evade taxes. Faced with the threat of penalties that could bankrupt some of them, almost 100 of… – Continue reading
Swiss banks, for decades the bastions of secrecy, are preaching the virtue of transparency to their U.S. clients as they try to head off billions of dollars in potential fines for helping Americans evade taxes. Faced with the threat of penalties that could bankrupt some of them, almost 100 of… – Continue reading
Who Will Be Next? How To Respond To A Tax Investigation The international political community continues to make the most threatening noises about those who they believe do not pay enough tax. Long gone it seems are the days where it was accepted that a person could properly organise his… – Continue reading
Former UBS AG executive Hansruedi Schumacher pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. as part of the government’s prosecution of financial industry officials who help Americans dodge taxes. Schumacher, 56, entered his plea Thursday in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida. Schumacher, who also worked at Neue Zuercher… – Continue reading
After 2008, BSI has more than 3,000 US accounts on its books The Lugano-based BSI bank has been fined $211 million (CHF203 million) by the United States for aiding and abetting tax cheats. It is the first Swiss-based bank to complete the non-prosecution programme set up in 2013 to clear… – Continue reading
Who Will Be Next? How To Respond To A Tax Investigation The international political community continues to make the most threatening noises about those who they believe do not pay enough tax. Long gone it seems are the days where it was accepted that a person could properly organise his… – Continue reading
The issue of whether Israeli banks should take the Swiss approach and refuse to disclose customer identities may be a moot point, in light of a new international anti-tax-evasion treaty that is taking shape. There is a direct line connecting the disclosure of the identities of 6,200 Israelis with Swiss… – Continue reading
A senior figure is suspected of secretly keeping accounts in a Swiss bank that were not reported to the tax authorities in Israel, in an affair called the “Swiss Bank Affair,” sources inform “Globes.” Israel Tax Authority investigators conducted a search of the senior figure’s home. As in the information… – Continue reading
The lesson from the ongoing trial of former UBS wealth management chief executive Raoul Weil really shouldn’t be a surprise, but we’ll say it anyway: Do not fail to declare income from offshore investments to avoid taxes. Unless, that is, you and your clients would prefer a really close relationship… – Continue reading
A Swiss banker accused of helping American clients cheat on their taxes is a fugitive who must show up in a New York courtroom if he wants bail, U.S. prosecutors argued in a legal filing. Stefan Buck, who was Bank Frey & Co.’s head of private banking in Switzerland and… – Continue reading
A Swiss banker accused of helping U.S. clients cheat on their taxes wants a judge to grant him bail without his having to appear first in a New York courtroom. Stefan Buck, who was Bank Frey & Co.’s head of private banking in Switzerland and an executive board member, was… – Continue reading
Tax Authority considering criminal charges against bank on suspicion of assisting Israeli clients evade taxes. It has been disclosed that Roni Elias is the high-ranking Israeli at the Swiss-based bank UBS who was arrested this summer on a visit to Israel on suspicion of helping Israeli clients evade taxes. The… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – A Swiss banker charged in the United States last year with helping wealthy Americans avoid taxes said in a court filing on Tuesday that he wanted to fight the charges and asked a federal judge to consider his application for bail before he travelled to the United States…. – Continue reading
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Shantelle P. Kitchen, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (“IRS-CI”), announced today the indictment of MARTIN DUNKI, a former client advisor and Senior Vice… – Continue reading
In a big setback to the IRS’s juggernaut against tax evasion and offshore accounts, a former top UBS banker has been acquitted of tax evasion. The U.S. charged Raoul Weil with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government. The former exec was facing five years in prison and a $250,000 fine,… – Continue reading
FORT LAUDERDALE Fla./ZURICH (Reuters) – From bundles of cash inside scraps of newspaper to setting up shell companies, the trial in Florida of a former UBS executive is a reminder of the extreme methods some Swiss bankers used to hide clients’ cash. Raoul Weil, 54, is the highest… – Continue reading
The secret binder lay wedged in a hidden drawer inside a filing cabinet in his office on the Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich, the heart of the world of Swiss private banking. Martin Liechti, a former top private banker at Swiss bank giant UBS, privately called the binder his “CYA file,” a… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – A key witness in the federal tax evasion trial of a top Swiss bank executive took the stand on Thursday to testify against his former boss, Raoul Weil, who is accused of conspiring to conceal up to $20 billion in U.S. taxpayers’ assets in secret offshore accounts. The… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Former UBS bank executive Raoul Weil was the mastermind of the Swiss bank’s illegal offshore operations that helped thousands of Americans evade taxes, prosecutors said at the start of his federal trial on Tuesday. Weil, 54, was the third-highest ranked executive at the Zurich-based wealth management firm and… – Continue reading
LONDON – The Espírito Santo Financial Group, which at one point held about 25 percent of the bailed-out Portuguese lender Banco Espírito Santo, said on Thursday that it would file for bankruptcy after it was denied creditor protection by a Luxembourg court last week. Espírito Santo Financial is part of… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Liechtenstein is investigating the main owner of Bulgaria’s Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank), Tsvetan Vassilev, and have asked for information about him, Bulgarian prosecutors said on Tuesday. Corpbank was hit by a run on deposits in June, triggering Bulgaria’s worst financial crisis since the 1990s. Vassilev was charged with… – Continue reading
Aug 21 (Reuters) – Leumi, Israel’s second-largest bank, reported a smaller-than-expected decline in quarterly net profit, as the lender’s bottom line was hit by a provision to settle a U.S. tax probe. Leumi said on Thursday it earned 290 million shekels ($82 million) in the second quarter, compared with 474… – Continue reading
KUALA LUMPUR: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) should tap Hong Kong’s access to the markets in China, Japan and South Korea to gain tax advantages under the double-taxation deduction pact signed between Malaysia and HK. Hong Kong Trade Development Council deputy executive director, Margaret Fong, said HK SMEs paid five… – Continue reading
Winston Churchill said there is “no such thing as a good tax.” Surely, then, it follows that no good can come from double taxation. While it’s difficult to feel sympathy for Conrad Black, who earned approximately $3.39 million with another $1.7 million of taxable benefits in 2002, the underlying principles… – Continue reading
