Two registries of significant interest to shipowners are the registries of the Republics of the Marshall Islands and Liberia. Significantly, insofar as it does not conflict with the statutory laws, each country has adopted the non-statutory general maritime laws of the United States. This gives added certainty to shipowners, particularly… – Continue reading
The CEIB has “disseminated” the data of these 600 cases to the Income Tax dept, Enforcement Directorate (ED) etc. In another instance of suspected black money stashed by Indians abroad, investigative agencies are probing a set of 600 new names and identities which have been provided to India by a… – Continue reading
Since the global financial crisis struck in 2008, offshore financial centres (OFCs) have come under sustained attack. As the world’s leading economies struggled to balance their books in the face of massive declines in tax revenue, the lowest fruit was seen to be hanging from the offshore tree. Estimates of… – Continue reading
Clandestine accounts in Switzerland are clearly becoming too hot for many people. In the first half of 2014 in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), three times as many voluntary declarations of an incomplete tax return relating to Switzerland are reported to have been received than in the same period of the previous… – Continue reading
Luxembourg has appointed HSBC and BNP Paribas as co-lead arrangers of its first issue of sovereign Islamic bonds, and is organising a roadshow for investors at the end of September, the country’s finance ministry said on Monday. The roadshow will visit London, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Malaysia and Qatar, the ministry… – Continue reading
As one of the nation’s most competitive governor’s races picks up, voters in Illinois are hearing a whole lot about a British territory thousands of miles away in the Caribbean. Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn hammered his wealthy Republican rival for days after reports that Bruce Rauner put some investments in… – Continue reading
An American attempt to close a loophole could have a major impact on the recovering Irish economy, writes John Walsh in Dublin. “The company concluded it was not in the best long-term interests of our shareholders to attempt to redomicile outside the US.” That single sentence, uttered by Walgreens’ chief… – Continue reading
New Delhi: In its effort to unearth black money stashed away abroad, India has received data on over 24,000 instances of alleged tax evasion and dubious funds, which has been detected in foreign shores in the last financial year. These cases are now under investigation by the taxman even as… – Continue reading
A new global standard for governments to crack down on tax evasion has been released by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Almost 70 countries have already signed up to the charter, which will roll out a US style Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) law globally. FATCA… – Continue reading
London: At least £122 billion (Dh755 billion) of property in England and Wales is held through companies in offshore tax havens where ownership is difficult to trace, a Financial Times analysis of Land Registry data has found. The figure — more than the total value of all housing stock in… – Continue reading
PORT-LOUIS, Mauritius, August 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Living on a paradise island has always been your dream? Don’t look any further. Mauritius is the right destination. Located in the pristine turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean, Mauritius is a small tropical island, only 12 hours of flight from Paris. Since… – Continue reading
While Congress has been obsessing about tax inversions, it turns out another—potentially more important–tax avoidance technique is getting increased attention from the business community: Spinning off tangible assets into Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). If these deals become widespread, they’d be another nail in the coffin of the corporate income… – Continue reading
Despite being among the smallest countries in terms of area and population, over the past 40 years Cyprus has developed into one of the world’s most important financial and business centres. It has numerous advantages, including a strategic location, a mature and transparent legal system based on common law, world… – Continue reading
FATCA Background The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) was enacted in response to concerns that US taxpayers were avoiding US tax by using offshore financial institutions to hide assets and avoid reporting income. Generally, FATCA imposes due diligence, information reporting and withholding obligations on non-US financial institutions (“FFIs”) and… – Continue reading
Illinois gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner (R) made part of his fortune from investments in a Caribbean tax haven, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. But because Rauner won’t release details on his tax filings it is impossible to tell just how much of his wealth comes from those offshore accounts. The newspaper… – Continue reading
Russia’s Finance Minister, Anton Siluanov, has told President Vladimir Putin that a new bill to deter Russian tax residents from hiding income offshore is expected to raise about RUB30bn (USD844m) from overseas accounts in Cyprus and the Netherlands. During a Government meeting on July 30, 2014, Siluanov explained that entrepreneurs… – Continue reading
Property in England and Wales worth £122bn or more is held through companies in offshore tax jurisdictions where ownership is tricky to establish, according to Land Registry data analysed by the Financial Times. The detailed report showed that around two-thirds of the 91,248 foreign-company owned properties were held through the… – 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/0/26dbdbce-1409-11e4-8485-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz39PGGY2lR Property ownership through an offshore company evokes an image of a rich foreign buyer… – Continue reading
Guyana and the United States have concluded “in substance” an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) for implementation of the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). FATCA was enacted by the US in March 2010 as a mechanism designed to reduce the level of tax evasion which currently exists. It seeks to… – Continue reading
JEMIMA WHYTE AND BIANCA HARTGE-HAZELMAN Institutional investors are increasingly open to the merits of Australian companies expanding offshore, as local growth looks set to be outpaced by foreign economies. “There’s no doubt that there have been plenty of Australia companies that have gone offshore in search of new revenue opportunities…. – Continue reading
We feel the blush of confidence that wealthy celebrities who invested in film funding schemes were on the wrong side of it othing quite tickles our appetite for indignation like seeing a fresh bunch of famouses named and shamed in the Sunday papers for their involvement in a possible tax… – Continue reading
Governments across the world have collected more than €37bn of tax from secret offshore accounts since 2009, it emerged on Monday as new details were unveiled of the next phase of the global crackdown on tax evasion. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development published its global standard for automatic… – Continue reading
The Cayman Islands dominates the offshore world, but can it maintain its leading position? The Cayman Islands is the quintessential offshore jurisdiction. Tax-neutral, with a government and financial regulator keen to keep up with the latest developments in the financial services sector, Cayman has ridden out the financial crisis and… – Continue reading
Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) plans to allow the sale of offshore structured products linked to China’s securities and stock indexes on the island as early in late July and no later than the end of this year, our sister paper Taipei’s Want Daily reports, citing FSC chairperson William Tseng…. – Continue reading
Tighter cross-border rules, less arbitrary national government policy and improving returns at home are likely to prompt rich investors from emerging markets to move assets back onshore. Offshore assets are likely to move increasingly onshore as cross-border rules tighten and grow more aligned and wealthy individuals feel domestic tax authorities… – Continue reading
Andrea Leadsom, a high-flying Treasury minister, received more than £70,000 from a family business, the parent company of which is controlled out of the Virgin Islands tax haven. The payments, which appear to be within the letter of the rules for political donations, have been criticised because of the contrast… – Continue reading
To energise capital markets, the government today proposed a slew of measures, including tax benefits and easier regulations for foreign investors and corporate bonds besides creating a new instrument Bharat Depository Receipts, helping BSE benchmark Sensex to jump 434 points. Finance Minister Arun Jaitely in his maiden budget also annouced… – Continue reading
QCs doctors, pop stars and others have been caught up in a major tax avoidance plan in the UK, which have included former UK-based and now Wellington City CEO Kevin Lavery. Mr Lavery formerly worked as chief executiv e of the Cornwall Council and invested £1.2m according to the documents… – Continue reading
Advisers with expatriate clients, or whose clients’ investments span multiple jurisdictions, may find a more level playing field as global regulators work together more, Angelo Venardos has said. The editor of tax book World’s Leading Financial and Trust Centres said that many offshore financial centres, such as the British Virgin… – Continue reading
The Seychelles offer a wide variety of financial services, including offshore banking, investments and insurance. The inexpensive International Business Company (IBC) is the most popular corporate entity and can be used for many purposes with few limitations. The International Business Company IBC is the most widely used vehicle for offshore… – Continue reading
To act as an investment manager the company is required to be appropriately regulated Offshore companies owned by NRIs or persons of Indian origin can act as investment manager for newly created class of overseas investors, FPIs, provided they are well regulated in their jurisdiction, Sebi has said. As per… – Continue reading
New Delhi: Offshore companies owned by NRIs or persons of Indian origin can act as investment manager for newly created class of overseas investors, FPIs, provided they are well regulated in their jurisdiction, Sebi has said.As per Sebi, non-resident Indian (NRI) or person of Indian origin (PIO) is not eligible… – Continue reading
The Stock Exchange of Mauritius plans to boost the value of its markets to match the size of the Indian Ocean island’s economy by attracting foreign companies to sell shares on the bourse. The Port Louis-based exchange owns and manages two markets with a combined capitalization of 276 billion rupees… – Continue reading
The Ministry is considering 20% mark up under the safe harbour rule, which would mean that transactions following the norms would not be scrutinised by the tax authorities Press Trust of India | New Delhi July 6, 2014 Last Updated at 11:25 IST In order to encourage foreign investment, the… – Continue reading
Here’s a question for investors in any big U.S. corporation with foreign operations: Do you know what the company’s tax bill would be if it had to bring its overseas earnings home? The answer, alas, is that they probably don’t. That’s because most companies with large foreign earnings don’t disclose… – Continue reading
Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s second-richest parliamentarian, has invested in a ”vulture fund” based in the tax haven Cayman Islands. Disclosure of what appears to be a $1 million stake in a New York-run fund targeting distressed and bankrupt companies sparked criticism from financial transparency campaigners on Thursday. They argue the Communications… – Continue reading
The authorities are looking to entice Russian-owned offshore firms to repatriate capital. A new law will impose penalties on such companies for tax evasion, but offers 2-year amnesty for those firms which decide to relocate to Russia. The Finance Ministry has decided to grant a 2-year amnesty for offshore companies… – Continue reading
Players say it amounts to double taxation, prompts companies to refrain from giving dividends As foreign investors once again bet on India ‘story’, stock markets in the country are on a high. They are not running out of steam as predicted by many, but gaining strength by the day. Every… – Continue reading
Greece’s Energy minister, Yiannis Maniatis spent the first days of July in London launching the country’s most ambitious programme so far to develop its untapped hydrocarbon potential. Greece has made several fruitless attempts over the years to find big reserves of oil or natural gas as it bids to reduce… – Continue reading
LONDON (Reuters) – Greece is planning to cut tax rates for oil and gas companies as it wants to attract them to help exploit its untapped offshore hydrocarbon resources, its energy minister said on Tuesday. Under the plan, oil and gas explorers will pay 25 percent tax, down from 40… – Continue reading
Australia’s taxing agency is doubling efforts to identify individuals with undisclosed foreign income and assets so they can participate in a streamlined tax program for individuals with offshore assets, the agency said Monday. The Australian Taxation Office said it is sorting through data to identify people with offshore assets so… – Continue reading
Liechtenstein is betting its offer to automatically share tax data on banking clients will end the principality’s decades-long reputation as a tax haven, a top bank official said. Simon Tribelhorn, director of the Liechtenstein Bankers Association, said the announcement in November to lock in automatic-exchange agreements with five European nations… – Continue reading
Many people are mis-sold offshore company formation packages with no guarantee of a bank account Over the years we’ve received so many queries from poor souls who’ve been sold an offshore company formation package, only to discover that they aren’t eligible to open an offshore bank account (or even an… – Continue reading
Seven-year program targets deep water reserves. MILAN, Italy, June 27 (UPI) –Italian energy company Eni said it signed an agreement with PetroVietnam to explore the deep waters off the coast of Vietnam for the next seven years. “This new agreement confirms Eni’s interest to continue and consolidate its presence in… – Continue reading
The first Chinese company to issue offshore bonds under a more liberal guarantee framework has underlined the premium attached to a simplified security package. In a departure from the keepwell deeds and pledges of support featured on recent offshore financings, last week’s US$1bn issue from Greenland Global Investment came with… – Continue reading
Asia Pacific shares were down on Wednesday, 25 June 2014, as losses in the United States overnight and ongoing violence in Middle East dampened sentiment. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.4% Investors prompted to take profit off the table as fresh reports of violence in Iraq, including unconfirmed airstrikes… – Continue reading
Should investors pay much heed to domicile when investing in an investment trust IPO? The first half of 2014 has very much mirrored what we saw last year, certainly from a new issues perspective. The investment trust sector is going full throttle, with the sector raising £1.8bn so far this… – Continue reading
Australians with undeclared offshore investments are being urged to take advantage of a once-off chance to avoid hefty fines, and a possible jail sentence, by disclosing their foreign income. Australian Taxation Office (ATO) deputy commissioner, Michael Cranston, warned investors who have not reported their overseas earnings in the past that… – Continue reading
Wesfarmers chief executive Richard Goyder has backed calls for bigger cuts to the corporate tax rate, amid concerns that living standards and jobs could be at risk if Australia continues to fall behind Asia and the developed world in attracting big business. The 30 per cent rate has not changed in… – Continue reading
ANZ Bank chairman David Gonski has called for changes to dividend imputation, saying the system discourages offshore investment by large corporates that provide “enormous benefits” to the nation. While a “huge fan” of dividend imputation’s role in raising local investment and stimulating companies to pay a full tax rate, Mr… – Continue reading
