With a slim new book that has the feel of Piketty’s bestselling Capital in the 21st Century, Zucman, a 28-year-old University of California-Berkeley economist, is taking his own swing at global capitalism. His target: tax havens that he says hide $7.6-trillion — about 8% of the world’s net financial wealth…. – Continue reading
WASHINGTON, D.C. — United States authorities have begun the exchange of information with Mexico on all Mexicans with bank accounts or investments in the U.S. who have obtained more than $10 USD in annual interest. With the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), Mexico plans to deliver… – Continue reading
Gabriel Zucman, one of 3 French economists who in recent times have published extensive research on wealth and equality, in a book, ‘The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens,’ published this month, estimates that 8% of the world’s financial wealth — some US$7.6tn — is hidden in… – Continue reading
PARIS – France’s fight against tax evaders is paying dividends, and will help the government cut taxes for households. On September 28th the Minister of Finance of France Michael Sapin announced that the upcoming budget plan for the 2016 year has been boosted by approximately EUR 2.4 billion, following a… – Continue reading
The Netherlands have requested information on a large number of Swiss bank accounts held by residents of its country in connection with a tax probe, Swiss authorities confirmed at the weekend, reports the Swiss Local. Swiss tax authorities received a request from their Dutch counterparts in July for access to… – Continue reading
French economist Gabriel Zucman, a protégé of Thomas Piketty, has a new book outlining how to avoid this. To Gabriel Zucman, protégé of rock star French economist Thomas Piketty, the United States is starting to look a lot like Europe in the late 1800s. “There’s been this great reversal where,… – Continue reading
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, passed in 2010, is a tool devised to help the U.S. locate funds of U.S. citizens being held in foreign banks. (See this earlier FATCA report on LBN). The law requires foreign banks to report data about accounts owned by U.S. citizens to the… – Continue reading
US taxpayers with secret bank accounts in Belize are about to feel the full force of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). A federal court in Miami has issued summonses against Belize Bank International and Belize Bank aiming to identify accounts controlled by US taxpayers from 2006 until 2014. Belize banks… – Continue reading
The tax office is beefing up efforts to catch international tax cheats by swapping banking information with US authorities. Details of more than 30,000 financial accounts worth over $5 billion held in Australia by US citizens will be provided to US Internal Revenue Services under the first wave of transparency… – Continue reading
A long-awaited legal challenge against the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was rejected in the courts. The Federal Court of Canada rejected an attempt from Virginia Hillis and Gwendolyn Deegan claiming that FATCA infringed the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and their right to enjoy security of… – Continue reading
(Seychelles News Agency) – The Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) says it is engaging with Barclays Bank Seychelles to ensure that clients have sufficient time to shift their deposits in their offshore bank accounts, following a recent decision by Barclays to discontinue its banking services for non-residents in foreign currencies…. – Continue reading
For years it has been the currency of the Costa, as criminals simply can’t do business without a bag of ‘black money’. Judges, solicitors and local councils have been prone to their cut on every transaction and complex property transfer for decades. However, now the Spanish are finally cracking down… – Continue reading
There are many Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) from the US that are fearful of being involuntary discovered through the impending Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) disclosures of their Indian accounts by their foreign banks. The US Internal Revenue Service has issued a notice extending the time under which certain transitional… – Continue reading
There are now 50 foreign financial institutions on the IRS list of “bad banks” The list is published at the following link: http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/International-Businesses/Foreign-Financial-Institutions-or-Facilitators If a U.S. taxpayer has or had a foreign financial account that is unreported for FBAR purposes at any of the foreign financial institutions on the “bad… – Continue reading
The Georgian side has taken responsibility to inform the Revenue Office of the United States (US) about the financial assets of US residents living in Georgia. From September 18, when Parliament of Georgia ratified an agreement on Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) with the US, all Georgian financial institutions,… – Continue reading
Look out, Thomas Piketty. Here comes Gabriel Zucman. With a slim new book that has the feel of Piketty’s bestselling “Capital in the 21st Century,” Zucman, a baby-faced 28-year-old University of California-Berkeley economist, is taking his own swing at global capitalism. His target: tax havens that he says hide $7.6… – Continue reading
Since 2011, €5.5bn held in secret bank accounts abroad has been ‘legalised’ by the tax office, generating over €600m for the treasury, according to the tax office’s latest report, according to Dutch News. Seven out of 10 people who had illicit savings in foreign accounts were over the age of… – Continue reading
U.S. authorities have targeted Belize-based banks in a new expansion of their hunt for Americans suspected of evading taxes by hiding income and assets in offshore accounts. A federal court in Miami on Wednesday approved special “John Doe” legal summonses seeking information about U.S. taxpayers who may hold undeclared accounts… – Continue reading
Chevron’s tax filings face repeated challenges from the United States and other global tax authorities, according to a new union-backed report that calls on world governments to crack down on the energy giant’s alleged profit-shifting tactics. The world’s largest trade union body, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), has called… – Continue reading
BANGALORE: The world’s largest PE firm Blackstone has acquired the Indian and most of the offshore business process outsourcing (BPO) operations of London-headquartered Serco Plc – formerly Intelenet — for Rs 2,558 crore, or $383 million. This marks Blackstone’s biggest deal in India till date, and a rare instance of… – Continue reading
Banks are threatening to close accounts of British expats living in the USA if they fail to complete piles of paperwork to comply with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Millions of US expats worldwide are already caught by the law which requires foreign financial institutions to supply details… – Continue reading
Hong Kong’s Financial Services Development Council (FSDC) has released a report setting out recommendations on policies, including tax measures, to enhance the city’s role as a regional and global financial booking center. Financial institutions utilize such centers to enter into contracts for financial products, undertake primary obligations for delivery or… – Continue reading
AUGUST DECLINE:Deposits at banks’ offshore banking units plunged 7.3 percent to 49.79 billion yuan and fell 2 percent to 277.15 billion yuan at domestic banking units Yuan deposits at Taiwanese banks fell 2.88 percent to 326.94 billion yuan (US$51.29 billion) last month from July, as the Chinese currency’s widening volatility… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — Grupo BTG Pactual, the only publicly traded investment bank in Brazil, said it’s willing to consider more acquisitions in Switzerland after completing the purchase of BSI, the Swiss private-banking unit of Assicurazioni Generali SpA. “We are looking. We are always looking,” Renato Cohn, a BTG partner and member… – Continue reading
The Department of Justice announced today that Bank La Roche & Co AG has reached a resolution under the department’s Swiss Bank Program. “Today’s agreement is yet another example of a foreign financial institution coming forward, acknowledging its criminal conduct, taking the necessary steps to resolve its criminal exposure, cooperating… – 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
The Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is like a global think tank for advancing ideas and policy for the leading developed nations. Based in Paris with 2,500 staff, the OECD gathers social and economic data from member states which is analysed, discussed and edited into digests with recommendations… – Continue reading
An initiative intended to catch tax dodgers could have a negative impact on those with perfectly legitimate bank accounts. Tax expert Howard Bilton offers advice The draconian Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), introduced by the US Government to tackle tax evasion by its citizens, has already affected Britons living… – Continue reading
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to bring home millions of dollars of illicit money stashed abroad. Indians call undisclosed money ‘black money,’ and how much there is remains unclear. But it isn’t just billions. It could be hundreds of billions to more than $1 trillion. It isn’t merely offshore… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued guidelines for compounding of offences under Income Tax Act, 1961/Wealth Tax Act, 1957, in cases of persons holding undisclosed foreign bank accounts/assets. The CBDT on Friday issued directions to all field formations, including principal chief commissioners, chief commissioners and… – Continue reading
As the Indian rupee touched a new 2-year low, State Bank chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya today said it must fall further to help domestic exporters. “It (further fall in the rupee) is required, otherwise exports will become absolutely unviable. It is important to maintain parity. It can be achieved only if… – Continue reading
More Koreans have reported their foreign bank accounts this year, as the government has warned of increased penalties on undeclared offshore balances. The aggregate amount of money divulged in foreign bank accounts and exceeding 1 billion won ($840,000) on any last day of the month in 2014 stood at 36.9… – Continue reading
UBS Group AG and Credit Suisse Group AG accounted for about three out of four job losses in the Swiss banking industry last year, even though they employ less than half the local workforce. At the end of 2014, 104,053 people were working full-time in Switzerland for the country’s banks,… – Continue reading
HMRC have increasingly been targeting the offshore arena in recent years, but it should not be overlooked that they continue to undertake civil and criminal investigations without any overseas angle whatsoever. This is all to evident in a recent case involving a chain of children’s nurseries, where the co-owner, Michael… – Continue reading
SEJONG, Sept. 3 (Yonhap) — More South Koreans reported their overseas financial accounts to authorities in 2015 than a year earlier as the government turns up the heat on individuals and companies to disclose hidden assets, the tax office said Thursday. The government has taken a firmer stance toward people… – Continue reading
The number of Swiss banks that have entered deferred prosecution agreements with the U.S. government keeps growing. 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 lending the IRS a hand…. – Continue reading
Schroders Plc’s Swiss bank will pay a $10.4 million penalty to avoid prosecution under a U.S. program that requires participating firms in Switzerland to say how they helped American clients avoid taxes. Schroder & Co. Bank AG’s penalty is the fourth highest among 33 banks that have settled with the… – Continue reading
HSBC Argentina has been asked to appoint a new president and vice president within 24 hours by Argentina’s central bank for failing to prevent tax evasion and money laundering. Last year, HSBC was charged for helping more than 4,000 clients evade taxes by hiding their money in secret Swiss bank… – Continue reading
Funds Discovered in Kolomoyskyi’s Cyprus Kitty Investigative reporters have discovered that IMF bailout funds intended for Ukraine have mysteriously found their way to a Cyprus bank account controlled by notorious Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi. A huge chunk of the $17 billion in bailout money the IMF granted to Ukraine in… – Continue reading
The former chief executive of Nudie Juice, Andrew Binetter, is being sued by the Australian Taxation Office following allegations he oversaw a tax scam involving millions of dollars. The case, which is due to be heard in the Federal Court before Justice Gleeson today in Sydney, follows investigations by the… – Continue reading
Investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova delivered a scathing final statement in a Baku courtroom on August 31, calling Azerbaijan’s government a “repression machine” and dismissing her trial as a “scam” aimed to silence her. Before she was cut off without finishing her remarks, Ismayilova told the court that her reporting proved… – Continue reading
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) requires, in essence, that U.S. citizens who reside outside the U.S. disclose to the IRS all of their foreign banking assets including retirement plans, savings accounts, etc. It also requires foreign banks to assist the IRS in applying the disclosure rules or else… – Continue reading
Greece’s Deputy Finance Minister, Trifon Alexiadis, has fired Greece’s first salvo in the fight to overcome the country’s non-compliance problems, announcing the introduction of a comprehensive scheme of asset registration for all taxpayers. The new “Asset Declaration” measure will apply from the beginning of 2016. In preparation, the tax authorities… – Continue reading
Security fears; Global authorities to begin sharing sensitive data If you have a bank account somewhere overseas, that information will make its way back to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in a couple of years. In 2018, international tax authorities will begin automatically sharing financial information under the terms of… – Continue reading
Foreign asset declarations by Spanish taxpayers have totaled EUR126.3bn (USD145bn) since 2013, when such declarations became compulsory, Spain’s Ministry of Finance has said. The Ministry said that in the past three months 1,813 taxpayers declared EUR1.9bn in foreign assets under Modelo 720, which requires tax resident individuals to report assets… – Continue reading
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was enacted in 2010 by the Government of the United States of America (USA) (Govt. of US) with a view to combat tax evasion by U.S. citizens and residents through the use of offshore accounts. FATCA requires financial institutions globally to share information about… – Continue reading
Aug 24 (Reuters) – Switzerland expects to adopt a new law by the end of the year that will speed restitution of illicit funds stashed in the Alpine country, where thousands of ‘politically exposed persons’ are believed to hold bank accounts, a top Swiss official said on Monday. Swiss authorities… – Continue reading
A new paper shows that British banks engaged in more offshore banking than any other financial centre. Researchers examining the resilience of the world’s financial centres after the global economic crisis conclude that the future stability of the UK is perhaps the most uncertain of all. The paper concludes that… – Continue reading
What to think about when moving your money. SANDTON – Since 2000 there has been a dramatic change in how much money South African residents are legally allowed to transfer overseas. Fifteen years ago, individuals were only entitled to a lifetime allowance of R750 000, and that required a tax… – Continue reading
Banks overseas, spooked by India’s stringent new black money law, are asking tough questions of people and entities from the country looking to open accounts with them, reports the Economic Times. That’s because it’s not just those who possess unaccounted wealth who will get punished, those found guilty of helping… – Continue reading
