In November of 2008, America was sold on the “Hopey, Changey, Yes We Can” promise of Barack Obama. Well America, your hope has been shot since you elected him into office. Now, here comes more of the change Obama was really talking about. Are you ready? On July 1, America… – Continue reading
Abstract The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) represents a powerful response by the United States to flagrant offshore tax evasion. Although the new reporting regime has been criticized as unilateral and extraterritorial, this short article, prepared for a symposium hosted by Pepperdine Law Review, shows that multilateralism and cooperation… – Continue reading
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act is a US law, obligating banks in other countries to disclose to the American tax authorities information about the accounts of American taxpayers in these banks WASHINGTON, April 11. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has notified US Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew of… – Continue reading
In round-tripping, U.S. investors move funds to offshore tax havens, then invest in U.S. equity and debt markets with these “foreign” funds. In essence, the U.S. investors are disguising themselves as foreign investors, who are not subject to the same tax rates on capital gains and interest income. The money… – Continue reading
The Finance Ministry is drawing up legislation allowing Russian banks to give information about their clients to foreign tax authorities, after U.S. stonewalling halted bilateral negotiations on a financial information sharing agreement. At the same time, the ministry intends to oblige foreign banks to report similar information to the Russian tax service, Vedomosti reported Wednesday, citing sources in the ministry…. – Continue reading
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Banks in Hong Kong are now offering higher interest rates than their mainland cousins on new renminbi (RMB) currency deposits as the recent sharp fall in the Chinese currency dampened investor interest in holding Chinese assets. These aggressive measures will help bolster the offshore yuan liquidity… – Continue reading
To anyone who even casually monitors international agencies — such as the UN, the OECD, and the IMF — it will come as no surprise that those agencies have long wanted stable sources of funding that they could count on, rather than relying on handouts from governments around the world…. – Continue reading
On Tuesday, the House Ways and Means Committee holds a hearing to discuss making permanent several of multinationals’ favorite tax code provisions, including the Apple loophole. Thus the House, like the Senate, is in the early stages of enacting these expired provisions yet again. That’s how Congress traditionally gives multinationals their offshore tax loopholes: propose… – Continue reading
The bitter marital split of aviation tycoon Clive Joy has highlighted the issue the role tax efficient offshore trusts can play in lengthy High Court divorces. Recently aviation tycoon Clive Joy hit the headlines, but not for his expertise in aerospace issues. It was because in the course of a bitter… – Continue reading
The schedule of the Russian parliament has been updated yet again and it appears that forex dealing regulation is coming back to the fray. According to recent reports by Russian media there might be some key amendments aimed to limit the participation of brokers residing in offshore financial centres (OFCs)…. – Continue reading
Where do you stand on the issue of taxing profits earned overseas by American companies? I ask because Caterpillar (CAT) found itself on the U.S. Senate hot seat last week. There, what should have been an information-gathering hearing about offshore earnings turned into a full-blown attack on Caterpillar and its… – Continue reading
Australian tax laws are inhibiting the export of financial services and the nation’s development as an “international financial centre”, according to Macquarie Group. In its submission to the Financial System Inquiry, Macquarie said Australia’s tax provisions are becoming “increasingly detailed, complex and hard to interpret, making it difficult for businesses… – Continue reading
Irish Corporate Tax 2014: The Government today issued what it calls a technical paper on effective corporation tax rates to effectively confuse the public by avoiding the key issues about its facilitation of corporate tax avoidance. It’s irrelevant to the core issues as it is simply trying to divert attention… – Continue reading
Starting July 1, every international business and investment in the world is going to feel the full weight of U.S. tax law directly or indirectly. It is all part of the Congress’s long-time policy of making international business — referred to derogatorily as offshore — the scapegoat in order to… – Continue reading
If there is a demand for a good or service, whether legal or not, it will be supplied by someone. This basic fact of life is understood by most people, except for those who believe in utopia or are so power-possessed that they deny reality. All too often, attempts by… – Continue reading
IRELAND’s effective rate of corporation tax averaged between 10.7pc and 10.9pc over the last decade, a report by the Department of Finance states. It claims that the tax paid by companies is close to the 12.5pc headline rate, amid controversy over the amount paid by multinationals here. The Department commissioned… – Continue reading
ZURICH (Reuters) – Credit Suisse faces the threat of a new investigation into its role in helping wealthy Americans avoid paying taxes after New York state’s top financial regulator requested documents from the Swiss bank. Switzerland’s second-largest lender had raised expectations it was putting the long-running American tax controversy behind it when it… – Continue reading
SCOTS who hide their money offshore are being targeted in a new offensive against tax evasion that costs the UK Treasury billions of pounds a year. In what are thought to be the first probes of their kind, tax officials and prosecutors have started targeting gangland bank accounts in jurisdictions… – Continue reading
During 2013, the Central Bank of Barbados (Bank) continued to enhance its regulatory framework in response to emerging international standards and best practices and to collaborate with other domestic regulators and stakeholders on various national issues, including the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes Peer… – Continue reading
Monrovia — Liberia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has described as a misrepresentation suggestions that a recent decision by a banking institution in the US to shutdown the bank accounts of Liberia’s mission in America may have been tied to violations of flaunting US banking regulations. FrontPageAfrica recently came in possession… – Continue reading
U.S. authorities are expanding their investigation of hidden overseas assets far beyond Switzerland. The latest focus: the Cayman Islands. Undercover agents from the Internal Revenue Service conducted a yearlong probe that led to the arrests in Miami last month of three financial advisers based in the Caribbean territory. This past week, an… – Continue reading
The much-anticipated initial public offering of Chinese Internet giant Alibaba Group could be a double-edged sword for the company: Investors are drooling for a piece of the action in that country’s burgeoning online payment market, but its growing use in illegal transactions could attract scrutiny from Chinese government regulators. Alibaba,… – Continue reading
A correspondent told me that last week’s column on Caribbean response to the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was puzzling. Why didn’t the column expose those wimps – Caribbean ministers of finance and governments? How could they accept this bullying US imposition? My response was that I expressed… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday gave foreign financial institutions 10 extra days to register with the U.S. government, under a new law to combat offshore tax dodging by Americans that goes into effect on July 1. Under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), foreign banks,… – Continue reading
Offshore companies can not acquire and have ownership of agricultural land in Bulgaria, according to the latest amendments to the Agricultural Land Ownership and Use Act. The changes to the Agriculture Land Act were passed on second reading, Thursday, Bulgarian BTV reports. The restriction applies to joint-stock companies that have issued bearer shares, as well…. – Continue reading
The Justice Department is cracking down on wealthy Americans sheltering their money in the Cayman Islands. On Wednesday night’s Daily Show, John Hodgman strapped on his “deranged millionaire” persona to find an alternative tax haven. David Marchant, an offshore banking expert at OffshoreAlert.com, recommends that Hodgman park his panda-hunting assets in… – Continue reading
Aggressive tax strategies pioneered by Macquarie Group are under scrutiny both internationally and in Australia, putting at risk techniques the company has used to claim more than $1.3 billion in deductions. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development is targeting ”foreign tax credit generators” as part of its battle against… – Continue reading
Bloomberg news reports that on March 18, 2014, U.S. Senators Carl Levin and John McCain wrote a letter urging the Justice Department to seek extradition of about 30 Swiss bankers and others who are charged with enabling offshore tax evasion and failed to appear in federal courts. McCain and Levin,… – Continue reading
Banking regulations in Caribbean nations are more robust than those in countries that are critical of the region’s financial sector, Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie said Monday in Nassau. In an address to open the third Caribbean Conference on the International Financial Services Sector, Christie blasted those who seem to… – Continue reading
The development of free trade zones and the rise of the new offshore market for the renminbi, will continue to ensure that offshore renminbi-denominated capital grows at a relatively fast pace. Standard Chartered Bank has projected that the total renminbi-denominated capital will grow by at least 40% to 2.5 trillion… – Continue reading
Texas tycoons Sam and Charles Wyly employed a labyrinthine system of offshore trusts to conceal stock trades in four companies on whose boards they sat, netting themselves more than $550 million in undisclosed profits, a U.S. government lawyer told a federal jury on Thursday. “This is a case about lies,… – Continue reading
Macquarie Group successfully lobbied the Abbott government to water down and delay moves to tighten laws over which the bank is fighting a tax battle worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Fairfax Media has learnt that Macquarie was among industry players who attended a November 6 meeting with then-assistant treasurer… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON, DC: As the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) opened its doors to this year’s round of H-1B visa applications, data show that about 50% of last year’s H-1B visas were granted to offshore companies, and the top two of those are based in India – Infosys and Tata… – Continue reading
Corporate Tax Reform: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) held a briefing and webcast at its Paris headquarters Wednesday on its Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project and Pascal Saint-Amans, the director of the OECD’s tax centre confirmed that “Double Irish Dutch” sandwich tax schemes, which involve… – Continue reading
The decision by Luxembourg and Austria to automatically exchange tax data with other European Union countries has isolated Switzerland in the global crusade against banking secrecy, a Tax Justice Network (TJN) expert tells swissinfo.ch. The two European Union states caved in to demands last month by signing up to the revised… – Continue reading
Caterpillar channeled 85 percent of its international parts profits into what amounts to a tax shelter. The dictionary defines the caterpillar as a “wormlike larva” and a “crawler.” Also, that “pillar” part of the word is derived from a French verb that means to “pillage, abuse, mistreat.” Good to know…. – Continue reading
Expats should put their financial affairs in order while they have the chance as governments around the world prepare a global tax net aimed at wiping out avoidance. The operation is headed by the Organisation of Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) and closely follows the lines of the controversial US… – Continue reading
Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said the conclusions adopted at the recent European Council meeting on the revised Savings Tax Directive have enabled “a green light from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.” He expressed his satisfaction that all 28 European Union (EU) member states reached an agreement at the latest… – Continue reading
The Isle of Man, a self-governing British Crown Dependency, is looking mighty interested in digital currencies. On Wednesday, the island’s Financial Supervision Commission(FSC) affirmed that “a Bitcoin exchange that holds client funds with a licensed overseas payment service provider is not required to obtain a license in the country for its… – Continue reading
Harben Barker is breathing a huge sigh of relief – along with the accountancy profession in general – after the Court of Appeal threw out a High Court finding that the firm had a duty to advise wealthy clients to avoid tax The five-director firm based in the West Midlands… – Continue reading
The European Council this week adopted a directive strengthening EU rules on the exchange of information on savings incomes, aimed at enabling the member states to better clamp down on tax fraud and tax evasion. The EU Directive requires the member states to exchange information automatically so as to enable… – Continue reading
Hong Kong may feel affect of any new law to uncover financial information China is expected to impose its own version of the new US tax law which requires financial institutions around the world to provide Washington with information on US taxpayers, analysts say. On March 25, the Secretary for… – Continue reading
Québec Solidaire on Saturday asked Pierre Karl Péladeau, the Parti Québécois candidate for Saint-Jérôme, to confirm or deny the registration of more than 60 Quebecor affiliates in Delaware, a state considered by many to be a popular tax haven. Amir Khadir, Québec Solidaire’s candidate in the Montreal riding of Mercier, described Delaware as a known tax haven for… – Continue reading
It would be surprising if Union finance minister P. Chidambaram’s threat to his Swiss counterpart — to declare Switzerland an uncooperative nation for not sharing information on the 562 Indians who allegedly stashed their black money in Swiss banks — is actually carried out. The threat has trade implications. These… – Continue reading
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA and CALGARY, ALBERTA–(Marketwired – March 27, 2014) – Tax announcements don’t usually get the same attention as the Olympics, politics or other stories that commonly hit the front page of newspapers. But if you are a US person who has not complied with your annual US tax filing… – Continue reading
In the early hours of Thursday Morning, Australia announced a tax amnesty on any tax resident with offshore assets not declared to the Australian Taxation Office Geraint Davies, Managing Director of Montfort International sees this move as significant from many perspectives. “We have seen the breaking news of a complete… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The Indian Tax authorities and the Swiss government could be headed for a showdown over what the Indian side regards as lack of co-operation from the Alpine country over access to information on bank accounts. Last week Finance Minister P Chidambaram wrote to his Swiss counterpart – officials… – Continue reading
Quebec Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard opened an offshore account in a tax haven on the island of Jersey while he worked as a neurosurgeon in Saudi Arabia in the 1990s, a Radio-Canada report says. While Mr. Couillard did nothing illegal, the news report raises questions about his credibility to demand… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Caterpillar Inc’s offshore tax strategies will come under scrutiny on Tuesday at a U.S. Senate hearing expected to examine dealings by the world’s largest mining and construction equipment maker in Switzerland, Bermuda and Luxembourg. With many multinationals being criticized for tax avoidance, veteran tax sleuth Senator Carl Levin… – Continue reading
A MIDLANDS ACCOUNTANCY FIRM held negligent by the High Court after it failed to advise a client domiciled outside the UK of a tax avoidance scheme has claimed victory on appeal. Iranian refugee Hossein Mehjoo – who had established a multi-million pound fashion business in Britain – successfully sued his local… – Continue reading
