With the announced end of banking secrecy for non-residents, the time has come to make use of favourable repatriation schemes, such as the voluntary disclosure regime in Italy. Despite increasing pressure for fiscal transparency and exchange of information, beneficial owners still have a choice: move the capital out (of Luxembourg),… – Continue reading
Since all economic theories – even Marxism and socialism – recognize that capital formation is a key to long-run growth, higher wages, and improved living standards, it obviously doesn’t make sense to penalize saving and investment. Yet that’s exactly what happens because of double taxation in the United States, as… – Continue reading
Green Left Weekly and ActionAid will be co-sponsoring a Political Economy Society seminar at Sydney University on October 29 to discuss the case for greater international efforts to combat corporate tax avoidance before the G20 summit. Large corporations systematically avoid paying the statutory level of company tax — a low… – Continue reading
India Blooms News Service New Delhi, Oct 24 (IBNS): Supreme Court advocate Ram Jethmalani, who was also an ex-BJP member, has written a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley accusing him of not taking proper steps to bring back black money. n his letter, Jethmalani has slammed Jaitley’s stand that… – Continue reading
Council leader Jo Lovelock laid down a motion at a meeting on Tuesday saying “aggressive corporate tax avoidance schemes are unfair, unjust and morally wrong” Big name brands like Vodafone, Starbucks, Apple and Facebook were bandied around the council chamber as companies the council did not want to do business… – Continue reading
The Crown has asked that a couple who laundered millions in drug money for a prolific trafficker before he was murdered receive the maximum sentence for their crimes. Prosecutor Marie Michèle Meloche said sentences of between eight and 10 years were justified for Sy Veng Chun, 67, and his wife… – Continue reading
By the wide margin of a 250-76 vote on October 16, the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament passed a decree law to introduce a voluntary disclosure program for undeclared assets and funds held abroad or in Italy. Under the new program, such taxpayers would be allowed to declare… – Continue reading
Wednesday, October 22, 2014 – The BVI Advantage was the theme of a feature presentation at the recent China Offshore Summit. The summit was held from October 15-16 in Shanghai, China. Global Head of BVI Practice at Maples and Calder, Mr. Michael Gagie presented on behalf of the BVI International… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Leading Swiss banks are trying to distance themselves from some of the dodgy Indian clients who have twisted rules and could be a cause of embarrassment in future. At least four individuals — three based in Mumbai and one in Delhi — holding the famously anonymous Swiss numbered accounts,… – Continue reading
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Liechtenstein wants to lure wealthy Muslims to its private banks as it seeks to revive an industry hurt by the loss of the nation’s status as a tax haven. The principality of 37,000 people nestled between Switzerland and Austria will hold its first Islamic finance conference on… – Continue reading
A week after a high-level delegation of the revenue department met Swiss authorities in a bid to persuade them to assist with details of the 700-odd Indians who are reported to have bank accounts with the HSBC Bank in Geneva, the NDA government is set to send the first batch… – Continue reading
Credit Suisse’s future is more workmanlike than its racy third quarter may suggest. The Swiss group revealed on Thursday that its investment bank had trumped Wall Street. Fixed-income trading revenue leaped by a half over the same period a year ago, against its American peers’ average increase in the mid-teens…. – Continue reading
Around $180 million in undeclared offshore income has now been recovered as part of the amnesty, the ATO said. A further $1 billion in assets has also been recovered. Photo: Louie Douvis The Tax Office is keeping a close eye on foreign banks as part of its push to stop… – Continue reading
On June 18, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service introduced significant changes to both its Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) and its Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures (Streamlined) and posted updated Frequently Asked Questions on its website.1 These changes apply to new OVDP “submissions” (which most practitioners believe refer to the Offshore… – 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
On 29 July 2014, the China State Administration of Taxation (SAT) released an internal notice to the China tax authorities at the provincial levels, in the name of “Notice on Antiavoidance Investigation against Large Amount Outbound Payments” (Circular Shui Zong Ban Fa [2014] No. 146, Notice 146), urging a nationwide… – Continue reading
LUXEMBOURG — On the first floor of a rust-colored building near the main railway station, Marius Kohl spent years engineering this country’s most valuable export: tax relief. As head of a federal agency called Societes 6, Mr. Kohl approved thousands of tax arrangements for multinational corporations, sometimes helping them save… – Continue reading
The “blanket assumption” of tax avoidance that HM Revenue & Customs makes when it approaches Personal Service Companies has been left in tatters by its own research. Stephen Herring, head of tax at the Institute of Directors, revealed this tendency of HMRC to regard PSCs as “automatic evidence of some… – Continue reading
The lower house of Parliament has approved legislation that allows the exchange of information about banking accounts with other countries. The bill is a prerequisite for the implementation of the FATCA agreement with the United States which will require Czech financial institutions to inform US authorities about account owned by… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Panama and Colombia will negotiate a financial information-sharing deal, ending a stand-off over Colombia’s classification of the Central American country as a tax haven and removing it from that status, Colombia’s president said on Tuesday. The Colombian government is trying to curb tax evasion and two weeks ago… – Continue reading
The financial regulator said on Tuesday that it has ordered four foreign banks operating in Korea to strengthen their anti-money laundering protections. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) inspected some 60 local and foreign banks to check whether they are equipped with relevant safeguards. Among them were the Seoul branches of… – Continue reading
Oct. 20 — U.S. insurance companies don’t like the extra reporting burdens their overseas operations are facing under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act combined with existing requirements. The industry is asking the Internal Revenue Service to lighten that burden, asserting that the layers of reporting now being imposed could… – Continue reading
Dyson, the engineering company best known for its vacuum cleaners, is in dispute with HMRC over a possible £1m income tax bill for founder and owner James Dyson. Dyson disclosed in company accounts that it had set aside the eight-figure sum in relation to its dispute with HMRC, the Financial… – Continue reading
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) agreed to pay 72.2 million euros ($92 million) in fines to European Union regulators for attempting to rig the Swiss franc Libor rate and fixing spreads with rivals, the EU said today. UBS AG (UBSN) was fined 12.7 million euros by the EU and Credit… – Continue reading
Standard Chartered has notified thousands of UAE small and medium enterprise customers it is closing their accounts as it responds to pressure from US regulators to cut its risks following an anti-money laundering settlement. “We regret to notify you that Standard Chartered Bank will no longer be able to provide… – Continue reading
Mark Davies is not happy that accidents are going to cost you as much as intentions Recently, the government issued a consultation document on new legislation to extend HM Revenue & Customs’ powers of retribution for undeclared income and gains hidden offshore. It believes that offshore tax evasion is difficult… – Continue reading
Samuel Wyly, the U.S. businessman who may have to forfeit as much as $400 million after being found liable for using offshore trusts to hide stock holdings and make illegal trades, filed for bankruptcy. Wyly, 80, listed assets and debt of $100 million to $500 million each in a Chapter… – Continue reading
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dd154b40-5866-11e4-a31b-00144feab7de.html#ixzz3GxohXLDx ig, bad companies are firmly in the sights of politicians. Last week UK Labour… – Continue reading
As of July 1, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has implemented several changes to the streamlined filing procedures for offshore compliance, as well as the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP). These programs provide taxpayers with offshore assets an avenue to bring their tax obligations into compliance. The expanded programs… – Continue reading
There is a common misunderstanding in the charity world that tax avoidance, and its ugly sister – tax abuse, cannot be regarded as applying to charities except where charities are ‘hijacked’ to line the pockets of wealthy ostensible donors. But that is simply not the case. A charity which seeks… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government has never said that it will not reveal the names of Indians who have undeclared income parked in foreign bank accounts. “The Congress will be embarrassed by the names when we reveal them in court,” said Mr Jaitley in an exclusive… – Continue reading
Echegaray says account holders can take part in country’s fiscal amnesty If Argentines who hold 4,040 undeclared bank accounts in Switzerland don’t normalize their fiscal status and pay their debts, the AFIP tax bureau will file a complaint before the Office of Economic Crime and Money-Laundering (PROCELAC) requesting it investigates… – Continue reading
Foreign structures are tempting targets for governments, says Vanessa Houlder. When governments around the world embarked on a drive to plug tax loopholes in 2012, the urgency of the move was underpinned by rising tensions over austerity and inequality. Widespread public outrage over alleged tax-dodging by wealthy individuals and multinationals… – Continue reading
DALLAS (CN) – Former Texas billionaire Sam Wyly filed for bankruptcy protection after a federal jury ordered him to pay as much as $400 million for using offshore trusts to hide stock trades. A noted philanthropist and contributor to Republican causes, Wyly, 77, of Dallas, made his fortune… – Continue reading
If you are a US taxpayer with overseas bank accounts or investments, you need to take immediate steps to show you are reporting your overseas earnings to avoid tax penalties under Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Now FATCA is in full swing with foreign financial institutions filing reports on… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Italian luxury fashion house Prada SpA said on Monday its chairwoman Miuccia Prada and her husband, chief executive officer and fellow shareholder Patrizio Bertelli, are being investigated by Italian authorities over past taxes. The Hong Kong-listed company said in a statement it had been informed by the Italian… – Continue reading
The energy company has published retrospective accounts and pledges to stay away from tax havens Energy company SSE has become the first FTSE 100 business to be awarded the Fair Tax Mark, a scheme that aims to hold companies to account over their tax affairs. SSE, which has nine million… – Continue reading
Dividend represents a share of the company’s post-tax profit that is divided among its shareholders. In other words, once corporate tax has been paid on profit, the remaining earnings are distributed amongst shareholders as dividend. So far, so good. Then, this dividend is characterised as income in the hands of… – Continue reading
European Union finance ministers have reached a breakthrough agreement that will make it more difficult for tax cheats to hide their money. The new legislation, which had been blocked for years by countries with a reputation as tax havens, was approved last week after Luxembourg and Austria agreed to lift… – Continue reading
Swiss authorities have confirmed that, if asked, they will assist India in efforts to confirm the genuineness of bank documents and will swiftly provide information on requests relating to non-banking dossiers. The commitment was made in a joint statement following a meeting between the Swiss State Secretary, Jacques de Watteville,… – Continue reading
Non-EU investment firms’ access to EU investors under MiFID 2 The recast Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID 2), along with its accompanying Regulation (MiFIR), were published in the Official Journal of the EU in June. The new legislation is currently expected to come into effect in January 2017. The… – Continue reading
Representation of foreign individuals who wish to purchase US residential property should include careful attention to the manner in which the income and gain from the property will be taxed in addition to the other aspects of ownership. In addition, it is important to be aware of the manner in… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – International banking activity expanded for a second straight quarter between April and June with banks lending more to emerging markets, particularly China, and to investment funds in offshore centers such as the Cayman Islands, data showed on Monday. Foreign lending to offshore centers rose to $2.269 trillion in… – Continue reading
In recent years, the United States has increased initiatives to counter tax evasion committed by U.S. persons who are not reporting and paying U.S. income tax on earnings derived from foreign financial assets. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) represents the latest major initiative in this regard, having been… – Continue reading
A number of American corporations are making news, and not in a good way. They have announced mergers with foreign companies so they can avoid paying U.S. taxes. They are seeking what is called a “tax inversion” and it allows an American corporation to merge with a foreign corporation, move… – Continue reading
New Delhi: Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat on Saturday criticized the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA Government at the Centre for not disclosing the names of persons having money stashed away in safe havens abroad, and alleged that it exposed the utter hypocrisy and double standards of… – Continue reading
New Delhi: A delegation led by Shri Shaktikanta Das, Revenue Secretary and consisting of Shri K.V. Chowdary, Chairman, CBDT and ShriAkhileshRanjan, Joint Secretary (FT&TR) visited Switzerland on 15.10.2014 and held discussions with Swiss Finance and Tax Authorities on issues relating to Exchange of Information in tax matters. The Swiss delegation… – Continue reading
Some 19 British firms are at the center of an investigation into in a mammoth global money-laundering operation. The scheme was allegedly contrived to make $20bn (£12.5bn) worth of ill-gotten gains appear legitimate. The illicit funds are thought to have originated from criminal gangs and corrupt officials across the globe,… – Continue reading
Our Reaction The Irish Minister for Finance delivered his Budget 2015 (the “Budget”) speech this week. There was considerable domestic and international anticipation in advance of the Budget against a backdrop of significant recovery in the Irish economy and also international focus (including, in particular, under the OECD BEPS project)… – Continue reading
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Emailftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. Trustees of private family trusts are being urged to register with the US tax… – Continue reading
