HSBC, Sovereign, FedEx, DHL & UPS all expecting summons from IRS American IRS officials are said to be carrying out investigative work concerning FATCA transgressions from the American Consulate in Hong Kong, according to a report issued in the South China Morning Post. The article quoted Travis Benjamin, a Partner… – Continue reading
The future for offshore tax planning, also known as “aggressive tax planning” is likely to be limited to if not curtailed by the global exchange of information agreement signed in October, 2014 by 51 countries and growing. The link below is to a video summary of the predicted consequences of… – Continue reading
Trusts established by Portuguese resident individuals are now to be taxed for the first time after new rules were introduced on 1 January. On 17 December last year, the Government of Portugal introduced a change to its tax law meaning distributions from trusts to Portuguese residents would be taxed at… – Continue reading
Multinationals told to be more cautious about intra-group transactions as Beijing imposes stiff measures against avoidance and evasion Multinationals have been advised to take notice of Beijing’s New Year resolution to crack down on tax avoidance and evasion, especially after the announcement of the general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) and new… – Continue reading
HSBC Holdings and the city of Hong Kong, which were last month linked to an international tax evasion network, are currently under scrutiny as part of efforts by U.S. authorities to hunt down American tax evaders, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported Monday, citing lawyers. Official with the U.S…. – Continue reading
FORMER Minister for Justice Gerry Collins has declined to comment on correspondence from his solicitors accusing the Public Accounts Committee of “exceeding its jurisdiction” in any further pursuit of allegations he had an Ansbacher offshore account. Mr Collins, as well as another retired Limerick minister, Des O’Malley, earlier this month… – Continue reading
New Delhi: As a probe continues into misuse of stock markets for routing black money and tax evasion, the regulatory and other agencies suspect that GDR route is being used for bringing back suspected illicit funds stashed abroad. The modus-operandi, in cases currently under scanner, involves an intricate web of… – Continue reading
We will probably never know their names, but one thing we do know – one in 20 of the richest people in Australia tried to evade paying their fair share of tax in recent years. By what authority do we know this? By none other than the Australian Taxation Office…. – Continue reading
The Price of Offshore Revisited was written by James Henry, a former chief economist at the consultancy McKinsey, for the Tax Justice Network. Tax expert and UK government adviser John Whiting said he was sceptical that the amount hidden was so large. Mr Whiting, tax policy director at the Chartered… – Continue reading
Four days out from Christmas, Blind Citizens Australia (BCA), Deaf Australia, Homelessness Australia and Down Syndrome Australia learned they were to be subject to federal government funding cuts. New Social Services Minister Scott Morrison assured concerned parties that frontline services to the disabled would not be cut, just grants to… – Continue reading
MUNICH (AP) – Former Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness has been granted day parole seven months after going to prison for tax evasion. Bavaria’s state justice ministry says Hoeness is allowed to leave prison during the day to work as of Friday, though he’ll have to return in the evening… – Continue reading
The new deoffshorisation legislation that passed with lightning speed through Russia’s Parliament and then hastingly signed by President Putin in the time span of a week and a half, comes into force on January 1, 2015. The new deoffshorisation legislation that passed with lightning speed through Russia’s Parliament and then… – Continue reading
The new year could bring important changes to the tax landscape. Here are several issues that will affect how much taxpayers owe for 2015 and beyond: Federal tax policy There is serious talk of overhauling the federal tax code. “There appears to be a consensus” on making changes, says Stephen… – Continue reading
New Zealand’s tax authorities have been given more power to pursue tax evaders who go offshore under changes which come into effect this year. Inland Revenue will have more power to go after tax evaders who leave New Zealand under changes that come into effect this year. The Convention on… – Continue reading
CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre, a leading French law firm, has noted that the 2015 Finance Act and the Rectificative Finance Act for 2014 were adopted by the French Parliament on December 18. Certain provisions have been reviewed by the Constitutional Court, which issued its ruling on December 29. Both laws… – Continue reading
Once a niche proposal, the recent public focus on corporate tax avoidance has sparked real interest in the idea of eliminating corporation tax altogether. Surprisingly, the statistics suggest that employees and other stakeholders may also benefit from this In winter 2012, hundreds of activists packed inside their local Starbucks after… – Continue reading
Summary New FATCA requirements that apply to U.S. and non-U.S. insurance brokers and insurance companies will take effect on January 1, 2015. Those requirements impose new information gathering and reporting rules when U.S. insurance and reinsurance premiums are sent outside the U.S. Background The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA)1… – Continue reading
Swiss banks are training their crosshairs on Israeli customers. Legal sources said that in the past two weeks, the large banks in Switzerland have begun sending many queries to their Israeli customers demanding confirmation either that the assets deposited with the banks were reported to the Israeli tax authorities, or… – Continue reading
[HONG KONG] Asia could set another record for international bond issues in 2015 if Chinese companies continue to borrow offshore at the same voracious pace they did this year, while bankers expect a heavy redemption schedule and larger pipelines from India and Indonesia to lift activity. Barclays is forecasting volumes… – Continue reading
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has confirmed it has extended the lifetime of the Contractor Loan Settlement Opportunity (CLSO), a chance for contractors to own up to using an offshore tax avoidance scheme, until 30th June 2015. The settlement opportunity was originally meant to be open until January 2015. HMRC… – Continue reading
The Vatican Bank is the latest to join the ranks of a hundred other countries worldwide that have agreed to the terms of the FATCA. Since its enactment in 2010, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act or FATCA, has seen American Tax Law extend its reach further than ever before…. – Continue reading
Forbes is reporting on the Vatican Bank’s decision under pressure to comply with the FATCA requirements for reporting on American citizen accounts. In his annual Christmas messages to more than one billion Catholics, the Pope may have left out something: offshore account compliance. Maybe, but the U.S. Treasury is more… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: While India is yet to sign a final pact with the US for the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), close to 1,000 Indian financial institutions and their overseas units are believed to have already registered with the US tax authorities under this new regime. The tricky situation… – Continue reading
Currently, there is a tendency among those who take an interest in international tax developments to look to the future and try to guess how the international tax landscape will look in, say, three of four years, once countries begin to implement the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS)… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: The government has prepared draft bills to introduce amendments to four relevant laws to declare tax evasion as an offence related to money laundering, aimed at curbing misuse of foreign investment and remittance schemes. The step is being taken to meet a condition of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that… – Continue reading
The courtroom victory of the only Swiss banker to beat the U.S. in a trial over offshore tax evasion may embolden other indicted financial workers to leave a legal limbo some have endured more than five years. Twenty-five offshore bankers, lawyers and advisers have yet to answer U.S. Justice Department… – Continue reading
A mixed success record has been notched up by the US Justice Department when it comes to prosecuting offshore bankers, advisers and lawyers accused of assisting American taxpayers cheat their taxes. The United States Government, from 2008, has charged 38 individuals, including Swiss bankers like the top three managers of… – Continue reading
For centuries the inner workings of the Vatican Bank have been cloaked in secrecy. That was before Pope Francis, who has pledged to restore public confidence in the administration of the Roman Catholic Church. This week we learned the United States and the Holy See have brokered a FATCA agreement… – Continue reading
While the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) has focused worldwide attention on U.S. efforts to create a mandatory cross-border exchange of tax information, the enactment of FATCA was not an isolated occurrence. For more than a decade, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has been trying to… – Continue reading
Japan has remained a cornerstone of Pakistan’s economy for the past many years. Japanese Companies have invested in all sectors across Pakistan. Be it auto, trading, manufacturing, infrastructure development, packaging, steel manufacturing, indenting, etc a large number of Japanese Companies have a strong presence in Pakistan. Pakistan’s Investment and Corporate… – Continue reading
Bank Leumi Le-Israel Ltd. (LUMI) agreed to pay $400 million and admit it helped American clients evade taxes for a decade, in a case showing that U.S. prosecutors and New York regulators are extending their probes of offshore tax evasion beyond Switzerland. The Justice Department filed a conspiracy charge today… – Continue reading
Jakarta. A leading business lobby with strong ties to the administration of President Joko Widodo has called for a tax amnesty, in which the authorities will waive off past taxes and penalties to conglomerates and individuals parking billions of dollars worth of funds overseas, in a bid to reinvest that… – Continue reading
Swiss private bank Lombard Odier will seek to tap into the growing number of high-net-worth-individuals (HNWIs) in Southeast Asia via an agreement with Thailand’s Kasikornbank. A recent report by RBC Wealth Management and Capgemini showed that Asia is leading the way in terms of the regional rise in number of… – Continue reading
Bradley Birkenfeld, the former UBS AG banker who won a $104 million whistle-blower award after serving time in U.S. prison for tax conspiracy, now wants to move back to Europe before his term of probation is set to end. Birkenfeld asked a judge to end his probation with less than… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The finance ministry is planning to rush through a Cabinet note seeking permission to sign an accord with the US on exchanging investment information before a December 31 deadline, ahead of President Barack Obama’s visit to Delhi at the end of January. The government has got the goahead… – Continue reading
More countries are requiring an exchange of client information In 2014, we saw a marked increase in transparency regarding foreign assets. The United States took the lead, and other countries followed suit. It looks like we’ve reached the tipping point, that is, “the magic moment when an idea, trend, or… – Continue reading
KOTA KINABALU: For Malaysian property investors, especially in the London property market where some Malaysian developers, welcomed by Mayor Boris Johnson are active in projects, the United Kingdom Government will introduce new Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on the sale of UK residential property with effect from April 6, 2015. Following… – Continue reading
Gov. Maggie Hassan has done an excellent job working with legislative leaders to craft and oversee the state’s current two-year budget. An array of problems is being effectively managed. This budget will end in balance. But looking ahead to the next two-year budget, we in state government face difficult challenges…. – Continue reading
Dec 21 (Reuters) – Authorities in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia have bought a CD containing data about several thousand German clients of a Swiss bank, German newspaper Bild am Sonntag said on Sunday without citing its sources. The clients each have accounts containing up to 5 million euros… – Continue reading
Gov. Maggie Hassan has done an excellent job working with legislative leaders to craft and oversee the state’s current two-year budget. An array of problems is being effectively managed. This budget will end in balance. But looking ahead to the next two-year budget, we in state government face difficult challenges…. – Continue reading
A father and son who ran a tax-preparation business were convicted in Los Angeles of conspiring to help clients cheat the Internal Revenue Service by setting up undeclared offshore bank accounts. David Kalai, the founder and former chief executive officer of United Revenue Service, and his son Nadav, who was… – Continue reading
UBS Fund Services has had one of its strongest years in terms of winning new clients according to Monette Windsor (pictured), who heads up the Cayman Islands business. “We’ve invested heavily in our business development team this year and we’ve had to beef up our client onboarding team. We have 165… – Continue reading
Transferring money abroad can be an expensive business if you choose the wrong company. Hidden fees, excessive charges and poor exchange rates can take a sizeable chunk out of your transfer, but there are campaigns on the go that aim to stop this practice. The problem Research from World Bank… – Continue reading
NEW YORK – The multiyear federal crackdown on wealthy Americans who duck taxes by hiding income and assets offshore is targeting a Panamanian legal services firm suspected of arranging anonymous banking services. A Manhattan federal judge on Friday approved special summonses for Sovereign Management & Legal. The approval also covered… – Continue reading
Burger King Chief Executive Officer Daniel Schwartz swears that the company’s plan to renounce its U.S. “citizenship” and become a Canadian corporation “is really not about taxes.” But a new report by my group, Americans for Tax Fairness, finds that it really is about taxes after all. The report reveals… – Continue reading
“These measures were taken in line with the policy announced by President Vladimir Putin for the Russian economy’s de-offshorization,” USM Holdings owned by billionaire Alisher Usmanov said MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. USM Holdings owned by billionaire Alisher Usmanov is transferring key assets to Russian holding companies, USM said in a… – Continue reading
Five Senate Democrats urged the IRS to put harsher rules into place to stop the offshore tax deals known as inversions. The five Democrats said the recently finalized deal between Burger King and the Canadian doughnut chain Tim Hortons – perhaps the most prominent in the recent wave of cross-border… – Continue reading
The UK Treasury has recovered a further £1.36bn from Iceland after its Landsbanki bank collapsed at the height of the financial crisis, forcing a taxpayer bailout for 230,000 savers in the UK. The British government through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme paid out £4.5bn after the collapse in October 2008… – Continue reading
Coalition plan for stripping ‘cloak of secrecy’ from shell firms that leaves housing loophole slated by politicians and other critics Business minister Matthew Hancock unveiled ‘the first UK anti-corruption plan bringing action across the government’. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Barcroft Media Government plans to rip “the cloak of secrecy” from corrupt officials… – Continue reading
Regional Adoption on Pace with Europe as Singapore Signs Agreement Experts at Wolters Kluwer Financial Services today issued guidance on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act in an effort to help support banks’ regulatory compliance efforts within the region. The commentary comes in reaction to the news last week that… – Continue reading
