How analytics will nab cheaters. Tomorrow is the Australian Taxation Office’s official cutoff for 2014-15 personal tax returns. Will you be tempted to tell fibs about your income? How will the tax man ever know? Take note: it may already know – or at least can find out – a… – Continue reading
The Department of Justice announced today that Luzerner Kantonalbank AG (Luzerner), Habib Bank AG Zurich (HBZ), Banque Heritage S.A. and Hyposwiss Private Bank Genève S.A. (Hyposwiss Geneva) have reached resolutions under the department’s Swiss Bank Program. These banks will collectively pay penalties totaling more than $25 million and continue to… – Continue reading
FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, is up and running. If you have foreign accounts or foreign assets, it is an important law that has changed banking and privacy in radical ways. And it has done so worldwide, not just for Americans, but for anyone having even remote American… – Continue reading
Case involving Dr Brian Mulrean and firm Keveney Monahan settled confidentially An accountant who sued a Dublin dentist for just under €50,000 in professional fees told a judge he had to navigate his way through 41 offshore and local bank accounts. Barrister Jeananne McGovern said in the Circuit Civil Court… – Continue reading
The yuan in Hong Kong rose the most in more than two weeks on speculation China’s central bank intervened to prop up the currency after its discount to the Shanghai spot price widened. Large Chinese banks sold dollars in the offshore market in early Asian trading hours Thursday, according to… – Continue reading
The earnings momentum of Taiwanese banks has tapered off this year due to China’s slowing economy and yuan devaluation, CIMB Securities Ltd said on Tuesday. Overseas earnings, which drive 35 percent of local banks’ pretax profits, might not see a hefty increase this year as in previous years, as banks… – Continue reading
(October 28, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) “I and my family members have no secret accounts in Dubai banks,”said the Rajapaksa ‘Crown Prince’ Namal when the media published reports about a secret account in a Dubai bank of a son of a VVIP. The media reports stated that the Sri… – Continue reading
Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, who played a key role in the bailout of UBS Group and in the U.S. dispute over offshore bank accounts, announced she won’t run for re-election to Switzerland’s government. Speaking at a press conference in Bern on Wednesday, she said she has told her government colleagues that she… – Continue reading
With new UK domicile rules coming into force in April 2017, Luca should consider an offshore bond to protect his assets from income tax and CGT, writes Gordon Andrews of Old Mutual Wealth. THE CASE Luca is 52. He is Italian, but he has been living in the UK for… – Continue reading
National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), the largest lender by assets in the United Arab Emirates, bought Royal Bank of Scotland’s offshore loan book in India for 3 billion dirhams ($816.8 million) in October, the bank’s chief executive Alex Thursby said in a conference call on Wednesday. The bank is… – Continue reading
The Bank of Butterfield has agreed to buy the multibillion dollar private banking trust and investment arm of rivals HSBC Bermuda. The move means Butterfield will acquire the Bermuda Trust Company Ltd as well as the trust and investment business of HSBC. At the end of last year, HSBC’s trust… – Continue reading
THE NUMBER of Slovak companies with ownership registered in a tax haven decreased in the first half of 2015 by 112, to a total of 4,250. The biggest outflows were recorded in Monaco and the British island of Jersey. The declining trend of companies selecting a tax haven for their… – Continue reading
Legal Week’s latest offshore supplement covers the banking regulations and litigation cases shaping the offshore world In the competitive offshore world, where several financial hubs are chasing the same work, reputation has become a badge by which law firms market their wares. This supplement from Legal Week includes research from… – Continue reading
Since the initiation of the U.S.Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) which originally began in 2009 and the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures first offered on September 1, 2012, the IRS recently reported that more than 54,000 taxpayers have come forward and the result is more than $8… – Continue reading
Ayar Law Group speaks about Amnesty Programs expiring as foreign banks comply with FATCA. Oct. 22, 2015 / PRZen / DELHI, India — The unofficial period of grace to reveal foreign bank accounts to the IRS is ending for U.S. taxpayers. Those who don’t comply with the law may soon… – Continue reading
The rogue regime in Banjul is on the verge of finalizing an Offshore Banking deal with some Hong Kong multi-million dollar companies, the Freedom Newspaper can reveal. Under the new deal, the Jammeh government is going to open an Offshore Bank in The Gambia, with the primary objective of helping… – Continue reading
On June 16 of this year, the California Department of Business Oversight issued a desist and refrain order to Encinitas’s Lawrence (Larry) Freeman and two of his many now-defunct companies, Yeshilkoy Insurance Services and Structured Marketing. In peddling financial products, Freeman made “an untrue statement of material fact to investors,”… – Continue reading
The government’s determination to tackle tax evasion via offshore accounts is evident in its commitment to increasing international tax transparency, but it is in danger of veering seriously off course. Taking evasion action The government has been a key player in developing a common approach to automatically exchanging financial account… – Continue reading
An agent who brokered offshore contracts between Sevan Marine and Petrobras in Brazil has come under scrutiny after receiving up to $40m of Sevan’s money into its offshore bank account, Norwegian reports say. The agent’s company is now part of the investigation into whether ex-Sevan Marine employees made bribes to… – Continue reading
UBS trades at 1.7 times book value while Barclays and Deutsche Bank trade at 0.7-0.8 times book value UBS RoE is 14 per cent while Barclays and Deutsche Bank can hardly manage five per cent. Ubs under Marcel Ospel was a victim of the 2008-09 global crash that lost $50… – Continue reading
A former Valparaiso businessman who federal prosecutors say lived in Canada for seven years to avoid an obstruction and perjury trial has been sentenced to not quite two years in prison, after finally admitting that he lied under oath to protect an offshore account worth millions of dollars from creditors…. – Continue reading
The number of banks with deferred prosecution agreements with the U.S. government keeps growing. The subject is tax evasion involving American account holders. Today, under FATCA, banks everywhere want to know if you are compliant with the IRS. And the IRS keeps updating its list of foreign banks where offshore… – Continue reading
Cyprus will as of January 1, 2016 have a new tool in its arsenal to identify monies hidden abroad as the island will begin implementing the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), the Institute of Certified Public Accountants said. The CRS is formally referred to as the Standard for Automatic Exchange of… – Continue reading
With more than 54,000 taxpayers coming in to participate in offshore disclosure programs since 2009, the Internal Revenue Service is reminding U.S. taxpayers with undisclosed offshore accounts that they should strongly consider existing paths established to come into full compliance with their federal tax obligations. Both the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure… – Continue reading
Several close associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin may have benefited from Deutsche Bank AG trades that are now coming under the glare of U.S. prosecutors, according to people familiar with the matter. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether Germany’s biggest bank properly vetted as much as $6… – Continue reading
FATCA was passed to prevent U.S. citizens from evading tax by focusing primarily on foreign financial institutions with U.S. account holders. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was enacted as part of the 2010 Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act, and its provisions became effective as of 7/1/14. FATCA… – Continue reading
Lawmakers on Tuesday complained of an ongoing ‘information blackout’ concerning the outflow of deposits in the midst of the 2013 banking meltdown. Politicians claim that, amid the confusion during the March 2013 haircut, companies and individuals whisked their deposits abroad, thus enabling them to avoid detection by tax authorities here,… – Continue reading
Banking jobs in Geneva slipped to the lowest level since the 2008 financial crisis amid regulatory pressures, tax scrutiny and consolidation in the Swiss finance industry, according to lobby group Geneva Financial Center. Employees at banks in the city fell 3 percent to 18,855 in the 12 months through August,… – Continue reading
The US Internal Revenue Service has begun receiving data from foreign banks about US expats’ overseas bank accounts and is now sharing data with certain foreign tax authorities to also support their tax enforcement efforts. The first tax information exchanges on September 30, 2015, were facilitated by a platform put… – Continue reading
At a recent tax conference a senior Justice Department official reaffirmed the commitment of the U.S. Department of Justice to continue offshore enforcement efforts. As is widely reported the official stated: “We are well beyond Switzerland at this point,” she said, citing enforcement announcements concerning India, Israel, Liechtenstein, Panama, the… – Continue reading
Dozens of banks signed amnesty agreements disclosing tactics, providing prosecutors with valuable information At a rate of one or two a week, Swiss banks are doing what was once unthinkable: revealing to the world how they helped wealthy Americans cheat on their taxes. Once bastions of secrecy, 41 Swiss banks… – Continue reading
DBS Bank’s Chinese unit has been chosen to be among the first group of banks to test a new international payment system that promises faster transactions for businesses using the yuan. The Cross-border International Payment System (CIPS), launched yesterday, is seen as a big step towards making the yuan a… – Continue reading
The Department of Justice announced today that Schaffhauser Kantonalbank (SHKB) has reached a resolution under the department’s Swiss Bank Program. The Swiss Bank Program, which was announced on Aug. 29, 2013, provides a path for Swiss banks to resolve potential criminal liabilities in the United States. Swiss banks eligible to… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON — The Texas and Florida Bankers Associations have requested a rehearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals (D.C. Circuit) of its August decision to dismiss their case challenging the validity of 2012 IRS regulations requiring deposit interest income to be reported and setting up an exchange agreement on U.S…. – Continue reading
While the thought of going abroad to work or retire may be exciting, the months leading up to departure are likely to be highly stressful. It is vital that you pay adequate attention to financial planning. In particular, the tax consequences of leaving the UK are quite complex, so it’s… – Continue reading
TRYNESS MBALE, Lusaka IN A bid to contribute to economic growth, Stanbic Bank Zambia has disbursed over K25 million to small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) in various sectors this year. Stanbic Bank chief executive officer for east and southern Africa Zweli Munyati said the bank realises that the SMEs sector… – Continue reading
On October 2, 2015, the Internal Revenue Service announced that it had achieved a key milestone in implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), a critical anti-tax evasion law passed by Congress in 2010 but not fully implemented until July 2014. The milestone announced by the IRS was… – Continue reading
The IRS has announced that as of September 30, 2015 it will implement the automatic exchange of tax information as set forth in the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, (FATCA). The IRS Commissioner in announcing the implementation of the automatic exchange of information stated: “This information exchange is part of… – Continue reading
Wealthy Dutch people are abusing tax havens abroad to prevent from being taxed on 129 billion euros in deposits, a former tax inspector told television show Nieuwsuur. The money is held in the accounts of shell companies based in the Cayman Islands, Seychelles and Virgin Islands, among other locations, the… – Continue reading
Two banks owned by former Tory Party vice-chairman Lord Ashcroft are at the centre of a major US tax evasion investigation. Authorities are probing whether wealthy Americans have been using the banks, based in the Central American tax haven Belize, to shelter funds offshore. Billionaire Lord Ashcroft is the majority… – Continue reading
Once again, Commonwealth Caribbean countries are under attack as “tax havens”, even though they are nothing of the sort. This time it is not only the usual countries which have been listed. Trinidad and Tobago has been included, and we can bet that Jamaica and Guyana will be added unless… – Continue reading
Under the intergovernmental agreement between the UAE and the US the first report, disclosing the financial activities of US citizens in 2014, was due to be submitted to the US by September 30, 2015. This agreement was signed to facilitate implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca), a… – Continue reading
AS the more lurid and unproven claims in Lord Ashcroft’s self-published hatchet job on the prime minister attract widespread ridicule, more embarrassment looms for the Tory peer concerning his banking operations in shady Belize. The US Department of Justice recently issued a summons for details of so-called correspondent bank accounts… – Continue reading
Efforts to block the exchange of information on US taxpayers’ foreign accounts are halted as an Ohio federal judge says Sen. Paul and six others don’t have standing to challenge parts of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, reports BNA. US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio Judge… – Continue reading
An offshore bank account is a must for many internationally mobile expats operating in the UAE and Middle East. But finding the right bank with the right extras as well as high service standards isn’t easy. There are plenty of big names to choose from, including the global operators Barclays,… – Continue reading
It’s not just about the pig’s head. Britain’s headline writers went into high porcine pun mode last month over a suggestion that Prime Minister David Cameron, while still in university, had taken part in a club-initiation ritual that bizarrely incorporated part of a pig carcass. The second-hand allegation appears in… – Continue reading
The Internal Revenue Service said Friday it has met a key milestone relating to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, having begun exchanging tax information with certain foreign governments in time to meet a Sept. 30, 2015 deadline. The automatic exchange of account information with tax authorities abroad… – Continue reading
Introduction The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) requires non-US financial institutions, including investment entities, to report US account holders to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This reporting is causing US taxpayers living abroad to consider whether they have been adequately filing annually their income and information returns in the… – Continue reading
After a whistleblower leaked the details of secret Swiss accounts at global bank HSBC earlier this year, the strongest reaction came from advanced economies, where governments launched efforts to reclaim tax money hidden abroad. But a new analysis by the Financial Transparency Coalition and Christian Aid shows that the financial… – Continue reading
30 September 2015 -New, detailed examination of the SwissLeaks files by Christian Aid working with the US-based Financial Transparency Coalition (FTC) graphically reveals the harm tax haven secrecy does to the economies of developing countries. The SwissLeaks scandal involves thousands of secret accounts at HSBC’s Swiss subsidiary HSBC Private Bank… – Continue reading
