AUSTRALIA is onboard for the international effort to upgrade a creaking 100-year-old global tax system. AUSTRALIAN Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan told a Senate committee on Tuesday the present tax architecture was developed in the early 1920s for the now defunct League of Nations. It also depended on the physical presence… – Continue reading
Governing and opposition MPs submitted a bill to the Hungarian Parliament yesterday that would amend legislation on the state-owned Hungarian Development Bank (MFB) to exempt a broader range of its dealings with failed brokerage Quaestor from rules on banking secrecy. The bill was designed to broaden the scope of data… – Continue reading
Sinn Féin TD calls on Taoiseach to defend constitutional protection Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald has again defended her use Dáil privilege to name former politicians who were accused of having offshore bank accounts to evade tax In an Irish Times piece on Tuesday, businessman Denis O’Brien was critical of… – Continue reading
Africa is known as the ‘paradox of plenty’. How can a continent so rich in natural resources be so poor? Economic growth is predicted to increase by 4.5% across the continent this year, despite falling oil prices and the Ebola crisis. South Africa’s economy, the second biggest in Africa is… – Continue reading
Following on from revelations which emerged on the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme last week, the recruitment industry has responded to reports of tax avoidance by one company. “I am very concerned to hear about such poor practice taking place, and I would like to emphasise that FCSA does not… – Continue reading
SAN DIEGO – A former J.P. Morgan Chase banker was ordered today to serve six months in prison for her role in a commercial bribery and tax-evasion scheme. While handing down the sentence to 51-year-old Lynda Sanabria in a San Diego courtroom, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez also ordered her… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS, June 1 (KUNA) ¬¬ The European Parliament’s Development Committee Monday called on companies in all countries to adopt country¬by¬country reporting and make all information public in order to fight tax evasion and illicit money flows in developing countries. The committee in a resolution also called on the EU’s financial… – Continue reading
A sharp fall in the average length of custodial sentences given to criminal tax evaders is a clear signal that HM Revenue & Customs is increasingly targeting smaller cases, according to research by Pinsent Masons. Over the last four years, the average sentence length for these criminal tax evaders has… – Continue reading
Poland has removed Gibraltar from its schedule of countries and territories that it considers to be non-cooperative tax havens, the latest in a string of countries to do the same. The move means Gibraltar companies have been freed from previously held restrictions when doing business with Polish companies. It follows… – Continue reading
HSBC, the giant UK bank, is so slow it’s dangerous. The bank, hammered in 2012 for its lax anti-money-laundering safeguards, is still “under serious money-laundering and sanctions risk” because it hasn’t tightened up parts of its operation, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said Monday. Without top-flight safeguards, HSBC could still be… – Continue reading
State Street Corp. was ordered by regulators to revamp its compliance programs after deficiencies were found related to internal controls, customer due-diligence procedures and transaction monitoring. The Boston-based bank had warned last month that it would likely face a public enforcement action from the Federal Reserve and Massachusetts Division of… – Continue reading
New Zealand: Budget 2015 The New Zealand Budget was handed down on 21 May 2015 and included a new tax on residential property sold within two years of purchase (with some exceptions). For further information on the New Zealand Budget see PwC New Zealand’s Budget commentary. New Zealand: Issues paper… – Continue reading
From today, negotiation on the Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (IPPA) between Nigeria and Singapore will start in Abuja, aimed at enhancing business between the two countries. Revealing this in an interview with the African Independent Television (AIT), Nigerian High Commissioner to Singapore. Mrs. Nonye Rajis-Opara, said there would be… – Continue reading
The British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands have entered into agreements with the UK for automatic disclosure of information in respect of interests in financial accounts held by UK residents. Most UK residents are taxed on the “arising” basis meaning they are liable to pay UK tax on worldwide… – Continue reading
Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, has met with the new TAXE committee of the European Parliament and defended the territory’s tax ruling regime. The TAXE Committee was established earlier this year in the wake of the leak of confidential tax rulings provided by EU member states to certain multinationals. The… – Continue reading
RODRIGO RATO, a former IMF chief and veteran Popular Party (PP) official, is under scrutiny for tax fraud, as well as other crimes. In 2013, it is reported that he transferred company shares to his children, worth €2.5 million, in an attempt to avoid paying civil liability bonds in an… – Continue reading
New Delhi: The government on Sunday introduced simplified income tax return forms, abandoning a previous attempt to seek detailed disclosures of foreign trips and bank accounts from taxpayers, even as it retained clauses to check evasion. While taxpayers will not have to disclose details of all foreign travel undertaken by… – Continue reading
Barclays has launched an internal review into whether its accounts were used for corrupt payments by FIFA officials, a banking source told AFP on Sunday. Standard Chartered has also said it was investigating payments cited in the US indictment. UK-headquartered Barclays, Standard Chartered and HSBC were among more than a… – Continue reading
The European Union and Switzerland signed a bilateral agreement on the automatic exchange of financial information on Wednesday morning, reports Ahram Online. According to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), a major Swiss newspaper, the agreement commits both parties to collect information on banking accounts starting in 2017 and exchanging this… – Continue reading
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina tax officials say they’re seeking U.S. information about alleged corruption involving FIFA. Tax chief Ricardo Echegaray tells La Once Diez radio that his agency has asked the U.S. for “all the documentation that permits us to quantify” Argentina’s tax losses. And he’s not ruling out… – Continue reading
British Virgin Islands, Caymans and Turks & Caicos feature heavily in justice department indictment of senior football officials British overseas tax havens play a key role in what US authorities have called “rampant, systemic and deep-rooted” corruption in the world of football, analysis by the Observer reveals. The 164-page US… – Continue reading
Even 30 years would not suffice for the existing mechanisms to complete their investigation of all seven lists of suspected tax dodgers and money launderers that financial prosecutors have in their hands, accounting for billions of euros. The sum of the tax ID numbers (AFM) included on the lists –… – Continue reading
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has in an exclusive interview with ANI said that his government is ‘fully committed’ on the black money issue, adding that they want to make it more difficult to evade taxes and siphon money abroad. “My Government is fully committed on the issue of Black Money…. – Continue reading
G7 Finance Ministers meeting in Dresden today discussed the reform needed and progress made regarding international taxation and the role of multinational companies. It is positive the G7 wants to spur on international tax reform to stop multinationals avoiding taxes, and wants to support tax administrations and fair taxation in… – Continue reading
The leadership of Costa Rican football has circled the wagons around their embattled president, Eduardo Li, after Li was arrested in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday on charges of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering. Jorge Hidalgo, acting president of the Costa Rican Football Federation, FEDEFÚTBOL, told the website Amelia Rueda that… – Continue reading
People who have filed late tax returns have been let off paying a £100 fine for missing the deadline, HM Revenue and Customs has confirmed. But the penalty has only been waived for individuals who provide a “reasonable” excuse for being late. The development was disclosed to the Daily Telegraph,… – Continue reading
Irish citizens holding bank accounts in Switzerland will no longer be able to avail of the traditional secrecy pertaining to Swiss bank accounts, MEP Marian Harkin has said. The European Commission and Switzerland this week signed an agreement that is intended to clamp down on tax evasion. Both sides will… – Continue reading
DRESDEN — Finance chiefs from the Group of Seven (G-7) economic powers met on Thursday to discuss how to revive a faltering global recovery, with the US leaning on Europe to reach a deal to avert a Greek bankruptcy. The threat of a Greek default, rising oil prices and bond… – Continue reading
A unit of Societe Generale SA based in Switzerland and three other banks agreed to pay a total of $2.2 million in penalties for helping American clients avoid taxes. The settlement comes under a U.S. program that lets Swiss banks avoid prosecution if they agree to cooperate with prosecutors and… – Continue reading
Anderson Group, one of the recruitment industry’s most high-profile companies, is promoting an “aggressive” tax avoidance scheme which experts are calling “abusive”. The scheme works by exploiting the government’s Employment Allowance. The scam could deprive the Treasury of tens of millions of pounds of National Insurance payments. Anderson Group says… – Continue reading
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced that four Swiss banks have reached a resolution with the Government under the DoJ Tax Division’s regularization program. The DoJ’s Swiss Bank Program was signed by the two countries on August 29, 2013. It provides a framework for Swiss banks that were… – Continue reading
John Kendall paid some employees off the books to divert the money intended for income tax to business and personal expenses. A Falmouth man who paid the employees of his now-closed poker chip manufacturing company off the books and misused the money intended for income tax was sentenced on Friday… – Continue reading
On 31 March 2015 amendments were made to the Income Tax (Approved International Agreements) (Implementation) (United Kingdom and United States of America) Regulations, 2014 (the “2014 Regulations”) which brought FATCA-based reporting into force under Guernsey law. FATCA-based reporting is implemented in Guernsey pursuant to the UK-Guernsey IGA, signed on 22… – Continue reading
Ireland’s corporate tax regime is not transparent, the head of the European Parliament’s special committee on tax rulings said. On a visit to Dublin yesterday, Alain Lamassoure said Ireland’s regime may be transparent for “the experts, for the big four [audit firms], for Apple, probably”. But he added: “The simple… – Continue reading
Swiss and Italian foreign ministers recently met to discuss taxation, finance, transport, and other cross-border issues. Didier Burkhalter, head of Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, received Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni for official talks in Bern on May 28. The ministers welcomed the bilateral agreement on finance and taxation… – Continue reading
Dutch tax advisors are increasingly questioning the way some companies use shell or letterbox companies purely to move income from interest and royalties through the Netherlands to tax havens, the Financieele Dagblad says on Friday. A committee from the European parliament is in the Netherlands on Friday to look into… – Continue reading
The company that runs a swathe of Britain’s internet service is being bought by an American predator that plans to fold it into a giant international tax haven. Telecity operates data centres all over Europe – which house the wires that make the internet work – including sites in London… – Continue reading
The State government has initiated the process of attending to the long-standing issue related to taxing e-commerce companies in the State. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday held a meeting with representatives of global online retailer, Amazon, and senior officials of the Commercial Taxes and Finance Departments. The department, in last… – Continue reading
Capital gains tax charges from 6 April 2015 The scope of capital gains tax (CGT) has been extended and now applies to gains arising on the sale of UK residential property by non-UK tax residents (non-residents). Only gains arising after 5 April 2015 are subject to the new charge as… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: India’s capital markets regulator has stepped in to back foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) as they oppose the minimum alternate tax (MAT). In a recent letter to the finance ministry, Sebi has voiced its concerns over the possible impact of MAT on foreign funds — the largest group of investors… – Continue reading
Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjártó met with local political and business leaders in Singapore yesterday. Szijjártó told Hungarian news agency MTI by phone that an agreement had been reached on the transfer of Patec Automotiveʼs capacity in China to Hungary. As a first step, the Singapore-based… – Continue reading
At least 800 British-born United Kingdom residents enjoy “non-domiciled” status, a tax break intended for temporary residents, according to data released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by Reuters. Lawmakers said the information highlighted the need to change the tax rules to ban so-called “hereditary non-doms”, where… – Continue reading
The Swiss government and hundreds of Swiss banks have been roiled by the U.S. crackdown on American tax evaders. With six years of almost non-stop hits to the country and its bankers, it may be no surprise that now Switzerland is publishing the names of foreign tax evaders. Some observers… – Continue reading
After securing Switzerland’s cooperation in getting information about people with undisclosed income in bank accounts, the tax department is now focusing on other such destinations. According to sources, other countries have also begun sharing information on assets held there by Indians, and the I-T department will investigate this and issue… – Continue reading
Registering a company in Singapore is as good as declaring that you have judged your options, made your preparations, and now that the time is right, you mean nothing but, business. Opening a company in Singapore is an act enough for the investors to gauge the depth of your intent… – Continue reading
Ireland still offers unfair tax deals to multinationals despite its claims of being fair and open, Alain Lamassoure, the head of the European Parliament’s tax committee has said, reports the Irish Examiner. His allegation comes as the European Commission announces it wants every member state to agree to adopt the… – Continue reading
The government is likely to introduce measures to include majority of the withholding tax (WHT) paying but non-tax complying people in the tax net and is considering establishing a border security force to replace numerous agencies to regulate the movement of people and goods during the next financial year. An… – Continue reading
A South Florida man who ran a $15 million pill mill operation that sold hundreds of thousands of addictive painkillers to drug dealers and addicts was sentenced Thursday to 14 years in federal prison. Joel Shumrak, 67, of Boca Raton, has been locked up since June when federal agents raided… – Continue reading
It is not uncommon for affluent families from certain countries to maintain offshore structures to hold a portion, and often times a significant portion, of their wealth. The reasons for holding assets outside of their country of residence are many, and such assets are frequently held in foreign corporations. As… – Continue reading
The Chief Minister Fabian Picardo this morning defended Gibraltar’s position on taxation before members of the new TAXE committee of the European Parliament. He was accompanied by the Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia, Attorney General Michael Llamas and Sir Graham Watson. The meeting took place at the request of… – Continue reading
