LONDON (CNN) – Greece is a tourist hot spot. But if you’re going to the islands this summer, would you mind being wired to catch tax cheats? A few tourists were asked if they would. “I’m here on holiday. I want to have a good time and I want to… – Continue reading
Athens: The Greek government plans to hire an army of amateur tax sleuths – including tourists – in a bid to fill the gaping hole in the country’s finances. According to a leak purporting to list the major reforms Athens will present at a crunch meeting of the Eurogroup in… – Continue reading
It is estimated that there are at least 100,000 Greeks with American citizenship living in Greece. In addition, thousands of US citizens live and work in Greece, either on a short-term or permanent basis. According to US law, all of these citizens, with very few exceptions, are required to file… – Continue reading
Eurozone finance ministers are expected to hold a conference call on Tuesday to weigh Greece’s new economic reform plans, raising expectations that they are inclined to sign off on a tentative deal to extend Athens’ €172bn bailout until June. The Greek list of economic reforms, due to be submitted to… – Continue reading
Greece’s far-left government was last night thrashing out a new package of economic reforms that it claims will crack down on tax evasion and overhaul its bloated civil service. The stricken Mediterranean country has been given until today to unveil the measures after reaching an agreement with its creditors from… – Continue reading
Private Sector Key KUWAIT CITY, Feb 11: The Parliament on Wednesday approved the development plan for fiscals 2015/2016 to 2019/2020 in its first and second readings with 33 votes in favor, four against and one abstention. It also approved the 20th report of the Finance and Economic Affairs Committee on… – Continue reading
A swath of changes to corporation tax in the European Commission’s pipeline topped the Taoiseach’s agenda when he met the president of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker officially in Brussels. New rules that would force every country to make public the tax arrangements with larger companies, including multi nationals… – Continue reading
A recent report detailing how Africa lost $US1-trillion in the last 50 years through illicit financial flows of money has raised questions about it’s abilities to curb fraud evasion and other means of corporate profit hiding. It has also sparked interest in holding multinational corporates, which are mainly responsible for… – Continue reading
The IRS recently announced an expansion of the list of banks and advisors that trigger the highest penalty bracket within its Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program. The addition of Sovereign Management & Legal, Ltd. and Bank Leumi to the increased penalty list will have repercussions in Asia, Israel and the United… – Continue reading
European Parliament President Martin Schulz expressed optimism on Thursday about a solution being found between Greece and its lenders, while stressing support for the new government’s plans to tackle tax evasion. Schulz was in Athens to hold talks with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras as well as other officials. He is… – Continue reading
This edition of the Tax-News monthly feature takes in noteworthy events in the international tax arena, including attempts to inject new life into the campaign for comprehensive tax reform in the United States, and developments in the areas of free trade, indirect taxation, BEPS and tax transparency and compliance. US… – Continue reading
The man who blew the whistle on the HSBC tax scandal tells Sky he first raised concerns seven years ago, when Labour was in power. Herve Falciani, the man who exposed a tax scandal at HSBC by leaking thousands of account details from a Geneva branch, says he first raised… – Continue reading
(ATHENS) – Greece’s new anti-corruption tsar Panagiotis Nikoloudis has been tasked with recovering 2.5 billion euros ($2.8 billion) for the debt-strapped government’s coffers through a ruthless crackdown on tax evasion. The former Supreme Court deputy prosecutor and Greece’s first ever anti-corruption minister told AFP he was itching to tackle the… – Continue reading
President Putin’s surprise amnesty allowing Russians with cash stashed abroad to bring it back home with no penalty may be a windfall, but then maybe not. The US, Mexico, Italy, Kazakhstan, and many others have tried it with varied success. When financial crises hit, governments have tried to reel in… – Continue reading
Greece is currently implementing a fiscal adjustment programme aimed at tackling tax evasion. This column discusses the impact of recent tax administration reforms on tax compliance in Greece. The intensification of audits, enforcement of penalties, and efficient collection of past debts can induce tax compliance and raise the collected revenue…. – Continue reading
Even though it was the French tax office that handed over encrypted information to AFIP head Ricardo Echegaray, the source of the revelations was former HSBC employee and whistleblower Hervé Falciani, a man responsible for giving the details of up to 130,000 Swiss bank accounts he suspected were linked with… – Continue reading
More than 23,000 foreign and offshore companies have developed profitable activity in Greece over the last thirty years. Data released by the Greek newspaper “TA NEA” show that most foreign and offshore companies acquired a Greek taxpayer identification number (TIM) and legal representatives in Greece between the 1980s and 2011…. – Continue reading
ITR Correspondent In an effort to provide taxpayers with an integrated procedural framework for the negotiation of advance pricing agreements (APAs), the Greek Ministry of Finance recently released template application forms for both preliminary consultations and formal negotiations, as well as additional guidelines on the overall APA procedure. The forms… – Continue reading
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has launched an investigation regarding the income and property that members of the Greek Diaspora have in Greece. Greek-Australians have a deadline until December 2014 to voluntarily declare all their homeland assets in order to avoid being considered as tax evaders and paying the full… – Continue reading
Northern Ireland looks set to be handed the power to slash corporation tax in a move with the potential to significantly boost our stuttering economy. In a development which could transform international investment, senior sources in London and Belfast predict that an announcement will be made no later than October… – 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
Prosecutors investigating a list of 2,602 Greeks with 1.5 billion euros ($1.95 billion) in secret Swiss bank accounts have reportedly found that 90 percent of them are tax cheats. – See more at: The ongoing probe by financial prosecutors, Panagiotis Athanasiou and Galinos Mpris in cooperation with the Deputy Prosecutor… – Continue reading
If you have clients who own Greek bonds (government or corporate), they may have immediate tax-filing concerns. A PwC notice explains that investors not resident in Greece who realized gains between February 29, 2012 and December 31, 2013 owe the Greek government 20% in taxes. It’s due June 25, and… – Continue reading
Greece is asking Swiss authorities to lift bank secrecy practices and allow its investigators to reveal the names and details of bank accounts held by Greek citizens. The request comes as Greece is already poring through a list of 2,059 Greeks who have put away 1.5 billion euros in the… – Continue reading
Greece’s chronic difficulties with tax evasion was a topic of discussion today when Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras met his Swiss counterpart Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf in Athens. “We reiterated that we want the British model” for Greece, Stournaras said after the meeting, referring to a 2011 withholding tax agreement between Switzerland and… – Continue reading
