Luiz Felipe Scolari is the subject of a criminal investigation in Portugal, authorities said Wednesday, bringing an unwelcome distraction for the Brazil coach as his country prepares to host the World Cup. Officials wouldn’t say what the investigation is about. In Portugal, ongoing investigations fall under the country’s judicial secrecy… – Continue reading
Up to December 31, 2013, Mexico did not tax dividend payments. However, the Mexican Income Tax Law (“MITL”) that entered into force on January 1, 2014 established a new 10 percent withholding tax on the gross amount of dividend payments made by legal entities resident in Mexico for tax purposes… – Continue reading
Tax avoidance and money laundering charges against former CVC Limited chairman Vanda Gould, former Sunland chairman John Leaver and Swiss resident Peter Borgas have been dropped. The trio were arrested by Federal Police in October on allegations they used a complex network of companies in tax havens to avoid millions… – Continue reading
Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of the Thorn Law Group discusses the recent negotiations between the U.S. Department of Justice and Swiss bank Credit Suisse and the effect that any potential settlement may have on the rest of the banking community and the U.S. Taxpayers who still may have undisclosed… – Continue reading
Samuel and Charles Wyly used a web of offshore trusts to illegally hide their stock holdings and evade trading limits, a jury found, leaving Samuel Wyly and his brother’s estate potentially liable for as much as $550 million. The panel of eight women and four men today delivered the verdict… – Continue reading
Three members of Take That are reported to have invested in a tax avoidance scheme – so will they join our festival line-up of stars who, through schemes or leaving the country, have avoided tax? Whether by moving country or through schemes and accountants, celebrities finding ways to avoid tax… – Continue reading
African countries are losing up to 12.7% of their national GDP due to shady practices in international trade. Global Financial Integrity, a Washington DC-based think-tank, reports that $542bn (£321bn) worth of capital was lost from Africa in illicit capital flows and estimates that almost 80% of this coming through “trade… – Continue reading
On December 17, 2013, the Protocol Amending the Convention between Japan and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital Gains (the “Protocol”) was executed in London. The… – Continue reading
Swisspartners Group, a Zurich-based money-manager, resolved a U.S. criminal tax probe by paying $4.4 million for helping American clients use secret accounts to evade taxes. In return, the government agreed not to prosecute the firm, citing its “extraordinary cooperation.” The agreement resulted from Swisspartners’ voluntary production of the files for… – Continue reading
Oil major Cairn India and its former British parent Cairn Energy Plc have moved the Delhi High Court challenging the validity of New Delhi’s controversial 2012 retrospective amendment to law that imposed tax liabilities on several high-profile offshore transactions of Indian assets including Cairn’s. The court will take up the… – Continue reading
The Minister with responsibility for Financial Services, Albert Isola, signed an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the US Government and the Government of Gibraltar at a signing ceremony in the US Embassy in London on Thursday. The agreement aims to improve international tax compliance through mutual assistance in tax matters based… – Continue reading
The tax evasion trial and conviction of former Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness triggered a wave of self-disclosures resulting in 16,926 tax dodgers turning themselves in during the first four months of the year, a newspaper reported on Sunday. The Welt am Sonntag newspaper said it had surveyed finance authorities in Germany’s… – Continue reading
Some key tax or moneylaundering havens may be all set to lose the secrecy that surrounds their banking practices, with 64 jurisdictions, including Switzerland, Singapore, Liechtenstein and the Cayman Islands signing on Tuesday a far-reaching declaration on tax data sharing. Signatories to the ‘Declaration on Automatic Exchange of Information in… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Foreign Direct Investment inflows from Mauritius have almost halved during April-February period of last fiscal to $4.48 billion, according to the data of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). India had received $8.97 billion during April-February 2012-13. According to an expert, investors are apprehensive that they… – Continue reading
May 7th, 2014 (InsideCostaRica.com) Tax evaders and privacy advocates beware – Costa Rica and 46 other countries signed up yesterday to automatically share banking, financial, and tax information in what the OECD is touting as a major step towards cracking down on global tax evasion. The Declaration on Automatic Exchange… – Continue reading
The Decree Law No. 145 of December 23, 2013 (ratified by Law No. 9 of February 21, 2014) broadens the scope of the international ruling procedure. The main area of application is transfer pricing, in particular advance pricing agreements, but it may also apply to (i) the attribution of income… – Continue reading
Switzerland is no longer considered as a “tax haven”. Being the world’s largest offshore financial center, Switzerland has agreed automatically to share foreigners’ account information with other countries. Analysts say that this is good news for the other countries, however, for the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) corrupt officials, it seems… – Continue reading
Calls for crackdown as investigation finds huge Indonesian corporations evading tax through network of secret shell companies in British Virgin Islands and other tax havens Giant Asian logging companies that make billions from destroying rainforests use a labyrinth of secret shell companies based in a UK overseas territory, the British Virgin… – Continue reading
Yesterday, headlines in the majority of the press focussed on allegations that Gary Barlow and his Take That band mates had used a “shady investment scheme” in order to avoid paying taxes on their whopping incomes… The Sun reported that following a tribunal, Gary and band mates Mark Owen and… – Continue reading
As they continue their efforts to clamp down on the menace of black money, India and other countries will have to wait at least till 2017 before the new global standard for automatic exchange of tax information comes into effect. India, Switzerland and 45 other nations had agreed upon automatic… – Continue reading
Beanie Baby creator Ty Warner might be headed to prison after all. The billionaire was originally sentenced to probation after hiding $25 million in Swiss banksto avoid US taxes, but federal prosecutors are now asking for re-sentencing. Their appeal argued that Warner appears to be getting a different standard of justice than the… – Continue reading
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – NEWS reaching this publication states that a businessman from Wyoming, United States of America was on Wednesday (May 7) sentenced to serve 36 months in jail for tax evasion. According to a US Department of Justice press release, the businessman, Robert C. Sathre, appeared before US District… – Continue reading
New Delhi: Foreign Direct Investment inflows from Mauritius have almost halved during April-February period of last fiscal to USD 4.48 billion, according to the data of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). India had received USD 8.97 billion during April-February 2012-13. According to an expert, investors are apprehensive… – Continue reading
Agreement will help ease reporting burden of financial firms of American customers The government said yesterday it would sign a tax agreement with the United States this year that will help reduce the reporting burden of financial firms under the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca). The accord will… – Continue reading
Margaret Hodge, the chair of the public accounts committee, has called on shoppers to boycott Amazon after it was revealed that the online store paid just 0.1% tax last year. Drawing on the indignation provoked earlier by Starbucks, Hodge advised shoppers to shun Amazon, noting that it paid just £4.2m… – Continue reading
Pakistan to engage in exchange of confidential information from Switzerland for recovery of $200b illegally deposited by Pakistanis in Swiss banks The Government of Pakistan is looking forward to make use of the new Swiss laws for exchange of confidential information about the ill-gotten funds from Pakistan banked in the… – Continue reading
Forty seven countries, including Singapore and Switzerland have endorsed a declaration agreeing to automatically exchange tax information at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD’s) annual Ministerial Council Meeting which took place on 6 May. The declaration commits the signatories to implement a new single global standard on automatic… – Continue reading
Swiss asset management firm, Swisspartners Group, agreed to pay $4.4 million to the United States to settle a probe over whether it helped U.S. taxpayers evade their federal income taxes, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Friday. From about 2001 to about 2011, according to a Justice Department statement,… – Continue reading
According to The Times Gary, Mark Owen and Howard Donald now face having to pay back tens of millions of pounds after a court found that they were part of a tax avoidance scheme. The newspaper reported that the trio and their manager Jonathan Wild “poured £66 million into two… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hong Kong has reached an information-sharing agreement with the United States under a new law meant to combat offshore tax dodging by Americans, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday. Set to take effect on July 1, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2010 (FATCA) will… – Continue reading
In Budget 2013, the Government announced its intention to consult on possible measures to combat treaty shopping. Eleven months later, in Budget 2014, the Government invited comments on a proposed domestic anti-treaty abuse rule. This article briefly reviews developments arising between the two budgets and provides high level comments in… – Continue reading
Press reports indicate that Cyprus and India will finalise the amendments to their double tax avoidance agreement in the coming weeks. A team from the Indian Ministry of Finance is expected to visit Cyprus shortly to carry forward negotiations to finalise the revised agreement and the matter is being followed… – Continue reading
Last week, Israel and the US signed an information-sharing agreement for financial assets (primarily bank accounts) belonging to Israeli and US citizens, in an attempt to improve tax enforcement in both countries. “US residents who do not disclose information about accounts they hold in Israel could risk fines of up to 50%… – Continue reading
Credit Suisse may be pressed for a guilty plea as it attempts to settle a US tax evasion probe The US is pressing for guilty pleas from the parent companies of banks under investigation, including Credit Suisse Group AG, in a marked departure from the past, according to a person familiar… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI With India stepping up pressure for data on alleged illicit funds parked in Swiss banks, Switzerland has asserted that it cannot positively respond to requests which are beyond the ambit of bilateral tax treaty. Reiterating that it is committed to fighting tax evasion, Switzerland also said both nations… – Continue reading
Without a firm deadline in place from the IRS, U.S. citizens and resident aliens need to comply as soon as possible with the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program to avoid significant penalties and criminal prosecution. Modeled after the Offshore Disclosure Initiative, OVDP was passed in 2012 and increases the maximum Foreign… – Continue reading
The tax office has announced an amnesty for taxpayers with unreported offshore financial activities, codenamed Project DO IT (disclose offshore income today). Among the transactions it’s interested in are interest income from offshore bank accounts, undeclared capital gains on overseas assets and ongoing income flows from businesses owned overseas. Though… – Continue reading
A host of countries, including Switzerland and Singapore, have committed to share all financial information with other governments New Delhi: India moved a step closer to gain access to bank account information of its citizens in offshore banks after a host of countries, including Switzerland and Singapore, committed to share all… – Continue reading
Forty-seven countries signed up Tuesday to automatically share bank data, including key financial centres Singapore and Switzerland, the OECD said, in what has been touted as a major step towards cracking down on global tax evasion. Under the declaration, the 47 countries have committed to “swiftly” pass new domestic laws… – Continue reading
• Partnership creates end-to-end solution for enabling and ensuring FATCA compliance, including: data consolidation, indicia identification, additional KYC data/document capture, alerts/notifications and dashboards to monitor compliance, withholding calculations and remittance, and tax reporting. Banking analytics, risk and compliance pioneer, iCreate, today announced a strategic partnership with tax information reporting leader,… – Continue reading
Large subsidiaries of multinationals, such as Apple and Google, which are based in Ireland are able to escape paying corporation tax due to an “exceptional” interpretation of tax laws by the Revenue Commissioners, a new study claims. A research paper by James Stewart, associate professor in finance at Trinity College… – Continue reading
Credit Suisse is expected to face criminal charges, according to an American official, as US Attorney General Eric Holder warned on Monday that no financial institution should consider itself “above the law”. “There is no such thing as ‘too big to jail’,” Holder said while investigations continue into alleged tax… – Continue reading
The Cayman Islands and Belgium have officially signed a tax information exchange agreement. Cayman Financial Services Minister Wayne Panton and Belgian Ambassador Godelieve Van den Bergh signed the agreement last week at the Government Administration Building in Grand Cayman. The tax information exchange agreement is the 35th into which the… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore has reached a tax information-sharing agreement with the United States under a new law meant to combat offshore tax dodging by Americans, a U.S. Treasury Department spokeswoman said on Monday. The deal, which was expected for more than a year, will make it much easier for… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: After resisting for more than three years, the Centre on Tuesday revealed names of 18 people in the Supreme Court who allegedly stashed black money with LST bank in Liechtenstein and against whom prosecution have been launched by the income tax department. Centre also placed in a sealed… – Continue reading
Hong Kong has signed its first ever tax information exchange agreement (TIEA), paving the way for its implementation of the US foreign account tax compliance act. Signed last month, the TIEA was enacted following an order made by the head of the Government of Hong Kong, Leung Chun-ying. It comes… – Continue reading
United States Intergovernmental Agreement The British Virgin Islands (“BVI”) Government on 6 March 2014 initialled a “Model 1 intergovernmental agreement” (the “BVI-US IGA”) with the government of the United States of America with respect to the “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act” provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (“FATCA”), designed to… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Israel has become the latest country to reach a tax information-sharing agreement with the United States under a new law meant to combat offshore tax dodging by Americans, a U.S. Treasury Department spokesperson said on Thursday. Set to take effect on July 1, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of… – Continue reading
MILAN: Fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were each given a reduced, suspended sentence of 18 months in jail on Wednesday for a conviction on charges of hiding hundreds of millions of euros from Italian tax authorities. Italy’s appeals court upheld a verdict issued last June against the pair,… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI, MAY 2: Irked by non-corporation, India has warned Switzerland that reluctance on not sharing tax-related information may impact the economic co-operation between the two countries. The Government is pressing hard to get information about the account details of certain Indians at HSBC’s Swiss bank branches, in whose cases… – Continue reading
