The Cayman Islands is better positioned to police terrorism financing than the U.S., an American congressional subcommittee heard Wednesday. The comments came from New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who was called before the U.S. House Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Finance. “On a near daily basis, we encounter… – Continue reading
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) issued a statement on Thursday to “strongly” oppose a recent blacklisting of its members as “non-cooperative” tax jurisdictions by the European Union (EU). The list published last week named 14 Caribbean states and territories, including Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Grenada, St. Vincent and… – Continue reading
The countries’ leaders say the label is doing untold damage to their reputations, reports The Voice. A number of Caribbean prime ministers have said the blacklisting by the European Union (EU) is unacceptable and they will not take the move lightly. The Union’s European Commission said the countries were singled… – Continue reading
SEOUL, June 25 (Yonhap) — More than half of big business groups in South Korea have set up companies in overseas tax havens, with SK Group, the nation’s third-largest conglomerate, having the most, data showed Thursday. Out of 61 business groups with combined assets of more than 5 trillion won… – Continue reading
DUBAI: This week the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) published their 2015 National Strategic Assessment. The Assessment presents a comprehensive picture of the threat to the UK from serious and organised crime, and helps to inform the work of the NCA and their international partners, including in the UAE. Some… – Continue reading
The children of craft store kingpins Charles and Sam Wyly say they shouldn’t suffer for their fathers’ transgressions. The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission says they shouldn’t be allowed to spend the proceeds of the brothers’ fraud. The Wyly brothers used gains from secret, illegal, offshore transactions “as their own… – Continue reading
As America’s highly controversial global tax law reaches its first birthday, almost half of Americans who live overseas would support a presidential candidate who vowed to move to repeal it, reveals a new survey by one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organizations. In a global poll, deVere Group… – Continue reading
The taxman in the United States is reminding people with one or more bank or financial accounts outside the country that they need to file their Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts by the end of June. The Internal Revenue Service said FBAR’s must be completed by Tuesday 30 June and… – Continue reading
Almost all estate planning clients own real estate in one form or another – a residence, a vacation home, or rental property. Real estate presents unique challenges in estate planning because debt is often associated with the property and because it may be difficult (or not desirable) to sell the… – Continue reading
DeVere poll finds large percentage of expats want a president who’d repeal the tax law; ACAGF, University of Nevada studying FATCA’s impact The five-year-old Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act is coming under fire, with a number of Americans living abroad calling for its repeal. Signed into U.S. law on July… – Continue reading
The Turks and Caicos Islands is compliant with the Global Forum’s standards on exchange of tax information said its Minister of Finance today, Thursday, 25 June 2015. The Honourable Washington Misick was responding to a European Commission (EC) document that appeared to list 30 territories across the world that it… – Continue reading
Another round of International Tax Compliance Required under the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard The Cayman Islands Department of International Tax Compliance (DITC) has notified Cayman financial institutions of its intention to move forward with implementing the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (CRS), with the introduction of local regulations by October 2015…. – Continue reading
The biggest hurdle to stopping multinational tax evasion isn’t the companies themselves. It’s the governments behind them. As the OECD works swiftly on its plan to stop multinational tax evasion, the United States has already signalled it’s not happy with what’s being proposed. The US has always been clear on… – Continue reading
The Cyprus Tax Authorities have announced that the FATCA reporting deadline has been extended to 31 July 2015 (from 30 June 2015). The FATCA Agreement between Cyprus and the United States was signed on 2 December 2014. FATCA seeks to obtain information on accounts held by U.S. taxpayers in other… – Continue reading
The government should probe Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara)’s three other property purchases in Australia if allegations of kickbacks in its purchase of Dudley Intenational House apartments has basis, the National Oversight and Whistleblowers (NOW) said today. Its directors Rafizi Ramli and Akmal Nasir, in a joint statement, questioned if Mara,… – Continue reading
Tax Authority chief Moshe Asher: Banking secrecy is over. Another wave of arrests of Israelis with unreported overseas bank accounts and money is expected. In the coming day, Israelis who have not filled out forms sent to them by the Israel Tax Authority for declaring their assets will be summoned… – Continue reading
Tax Authority chief Moshe Asher: Banking secrecy is over. Another wave of arrests of Israelis with unreported overseas bank accounts and money is expected. In the coming day, Israelis who have not filled out forms sent to them by the Israel Tax Authority for declaring their assets will be summoned… – Continue reading
The Irish Government announced that the FATCA reporting deadline has been extended to 31 July 2015 (from 30 June 2015) for reporting Irish financial institutions to file a FATCA return with respect to 2014. FATCA seeks to obtain information on accounts held by U.S. taxpayers in other countries. It requires… – Continue reading
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has extended its Third Party Business Requirement Specification (BRS) for data submissions via Direct Data Flow (DDF) to include withholding tax on interest and tax-free savings and investments. The extension will be available for year-end data submissions due on May 31, 2016 (for the… – Continue reading
(Newsroom America) — Gregg R. Mulholland, a dual U.S. and Canadian citizen, has been arrested at Phoenix International Airport during a layover of his flight from Canada to Mexico on charges of securities fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy for fraudulently manipulating the stocks of numerous U.S. publicly-traded companies and… – Continue reading
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said India will sign an agreement with the US under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) that would facilitate automatic transmission of information and would help counter the scourge of black money. Wrapping up his nine-day US visit, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said India will… – Continue reading
U.S. lawmakers are exploring a new corporate tax break that would benefit companies already adept at avoiding taxes. The idea — known as a patent box or innovation box — would impose a lower tax rate on income generated from patents and other intellectual property housed in the U.S. This… – Continue reading
Rand Paul is poised to become the first major presidential candidate in memory to sue the government he seeks to lead as president. The Kentucky senator will take legal action against the U.S. Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service for what he says is the denial of his constitutional right… – Continue reading
Government data suggests there may be tax shenanigans going on in the city of Richmond, a situation that clearly is intolerable. Questions have been raised by a recent Vancouver Sun report by Douglas Todd about residents in the upscale neighbourhood of Thompson, located in northwest Richmond. Former Richmond mayor Greg… – Continue reading
A man accused of helping orchestrate a stock-fraud scheme involving Belize-based Cynk Technology Corp., which surged briefly to a market value of $6 billion last year, was charged by U.S. officials with conspiracy. Gregg Mulholland, also known as “Stamps,” and “Charlie Wolf,” was arrested Tuesday as part of a probe… – Continue reading
The governments of Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines have complained about the European Union’s decision to include them on a list of 30 international tax havens, reports the Latin American Herald. “Grenada’s inclusion implies that Grenada is not doing sufficient to guard against harmful tax practices,” Prime Minister… – Continue reading
Last year at this time, more than a dozen U.S.-based corporations were threatening to move their legal residence to foreign tax havens in a paper transaction known as an inversion. Facing a wave of public opposition, some corporations abandoned these inversion attempts—notably, drugstore chain Walgreens put its plans on ice,… – Continue reading
A penny-stock firm’s mysterious surge last year to a $6 billion market cap that stunned Wall Street was allegedly the work of a California stock promoter who conspired with a network of corrupt offshore brokers. Gregg R. Mulholland, also known as “Stamps” and “Charlie Wolf” according to the government, was… – Continue reading
It’s taken some time, but it’s harder for U.S. citizens to hold foreign accounts away from the eyes of the IRS. FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, was signed into law in 2010 with the goal of ferreting out accounts hidden by U.S. taxpayers in foreign lands. While FATCA… – Continue reading
ST. JOHN’S –– Antigua and Barbuda has written to the European Union’s representative in the Caribbean, strongly objecting to the twin-island nation being named a tax haven and calling on the EU to apologize and withdraw the list. In a strongly worded letter to Head of the Delegation of the… – Continue reading
Newcomers to the United States on temporary visas may be unpleasantly surprised at the income tax consequences. A little advance planning with tax and immigration professionals can go a long way towards mitigating income taxes due. Many countries imposes taxes on income earned in that country (i.e., a territorial tax… – Continue reading
A recent report by Americans For Tax Fairness looks at how Walmart, the world’s largest corporation, uses a vast network of subsidiaries and branches in overseas tax havens with two purposes: 1.) to minimize taxes owed on its foreign operations. 2.) most importantly, to avoid United States taxes on those… – Continue reading
While the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) became law in 2010, it has been slowly transitioning to implementation, with 2015 being the first year of required reportings. For anyone not familiar with the Act, FATCA aims to prevent tax non-compliance among U.S. taxpayers with foreign accounts by requiring U.S…. – Continue reading
Offshore reporting carries many special rules, all of them with a raft of potential penalties. By now, most U.S. persons are familiar with the requirement to report their offshore accounts and assets. For those who are not, you must report all income and disclose the existence of accounts on tax… – Continue reading
It’s the $2 trillion question. That’s roughly how much U.S. multinational corporations have stashed offshore — money that both Republicans and Democrats would like to tap for revenue and cash that even some companies wouldn’t mind paying a reduced tax rate on. Democrats and some Republicans are interested in using… – Continue reading
Tax havens are used for more than just saving money. When companies take advantage of their lack of transparency for more sinister activities, shareholders can lose out. When Enron collapsed in 2002 investigators were faced with a convoluted network of subsidiaries and offshore partnerships stretching from the Cayman Islands to… – Continue reading
Conor Hynes and Ronan Connaughton of Deloitte Ireland explore the impending changes arising from BEPS Action 7 and the Skandia case and provide insight on the potential tax impact for the insurance industry. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is attributed with the saying, “the only thing that is constant is change”…. – Continue reading
Two more Swiss banks, Bank Linth LLB AG and Bank Sparhafen Zurich AG, have entered deferred prosecution agreements with the U.S. government. The subject is tax evasion involving American account holders. Today, banks everywhere want to know if you are compliant with the IRS. Under FATCA, the entire world is… – Continue reading
A “captive” insurance company is an insurer formed for the limited purpose of insuring the risks of its non-insurer owner or owners. A captive can be an effective risk-management tool, especially for costly or unconventional risks, and it can also give businesses direct access to reinsurance markets. The number of… – Continue reading
A “captive” insurance company is an insurer formed for the limited purpose of insuring the risks of its non-insurer owner or owners. A captive can be an effective risk-management tool, especially for costly or unconventional risks, and it can also give businesses direct access to reinsurance markets. The number of… – Continue reading
Former head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Valentyn Nalyvaichenko has unveiled the names of offshore companies which he says received the money of former Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine Eduard Stavytsky which was derived from Ukraine, Advisor to the Interior Minister, MP Anton Heraschenko has… – Continue reading
A former Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges has agreed to plead guilty to charges of stealing hundreds of thousands of bitcoins from Silk Road. Shaun Bridges, the second of the two former US agents accused of stealing cryptocurrency during the investigation of the Silk Road marketplace, will plead guilty to… – Continue reading
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A dual U.S. and Canadian citizen has been criminally charged with running a stock manipulation fraud that generated $300 million of illegal profit, and included a pump-and-dump scheme that caused the market value of little-known Cynk Technology to rocket past $6 billion. Gregg Mulholland, 45, is… – Continue reading
Last week Belize was blacklisted by the European Union, along with thirty other countries. The European Union claims that Belize is a tax haven for companies which are seeking to avoid paying taxes. It’s just another in a series of hits from the international community against the offshore sector, and… – Continue reading
Despite the inevitable move towards automatic exchange of tax information and Common Reporting Standards internationally, there continues to be a steady flow of litigation in the Courts of International Financial Centres such as Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and Singapore relating to challenges to inter-governmental Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) requests…. – Continue reading
Channel island claims inclusion is in error because Brussels miscounted the required 10 nominations by wrongly including one for neighbouring Sark Guernsey has written to the European commission demanding to be removed from a blacklist of the worst international tax havens – as nominated by EU member states. Chief minister… – Continue reading
The United States has been criticized on more than one occasion for failing to be a meaningful participant in the OECD’s multi-pronged initiative to address base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). Some commentators have even gone so far as to accuse the United States of actively working against the BEPS… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is currently on a nine-day visit to the United States, will on Monday meet representatives of pension funds and other long- term investors to allay their concerns over tax issues and ease of investing in India. He is scheduled to meet investors, including… – Continue reading
The G20’s efforts to crack down on multinational tax avoidance are likely to be defeated by national self-interest, particularly from the United States, one of Australasia’s top tax advisers says, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Rod Houng-Lee, formerly Asia Pacific Tax Leader head of tax in Asia Pacific for big-four… – Continue reading
CONNIE Smith, President of the Barbados International Business Association (BIBA), said BIBA is very disappointed that Barbados’ name has appeared on this list of allegedly non co-operative countries indulging on tax avoidance. News broke about the development last week. However, the EU has withdrawn the blacklist. But at a news… – Continue reading
