Category: Offshore Tax Haven
Ukraine aims to fight tax evasion with new law
Here is a discussion into the new legislation set to take place in Ukraine which aims to tackle profit shifting. While its objective is to encourage tax transparency, many businesses believe that this measure might have adverse effects for offshore trade. ... - Continue reading
UN launches panel to tackle illicit finance
The United Nations has launched the High-Level Panel on Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity (FACTI) to address corporate tax abuse and other illicit financial flows. ... - Continue reading
Japan to tighten rules on wealthy residents with overseas assets
The government is set to tighten rules on disclosure by Japan’s wealthier residents about their overseas assets in a bid to prevent tax avoidance, sources close to the matter said Sunday. ... - Continue reading
China’s firms report shrinking tax burdens: survey
China’s efforts to cut taxes have taken effect as firms reported lighter tax burdens, a new survey showed. The ratio of the total taxes paid by firms to their business revenue stood at 2.3 percent in 2018, down from 2.62 percent in 2017 and 3.41 percent in 2016, according to… – Continue reading
CIAT’s transfer pricing “Cocktail” provides solutions for transactional net margin method overuse
In recent years there has been a major public outcry for governments to take action to force multinational groups to pay a fair share of tax in the jurisdictions where their economic activities take place and to stop shifting profits to offshore tax havens. ... - Continue reading
Corporate Canada’s Pile of Cash in Offshore Tax Havens Has Hit $353 Billion For the First Time in History
Luxembourg, Barbados and Bermuda are three of Canada’s top five destinations in the world for corporate cash After exploding to record levels under Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, the amount of money Corporate Canada is funneling through offshore tax havens has hit a new all-time high. According to data newly released… – Continue reading
Democrats introduce bill to curb tax havens
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., a member of the Senate Finance Committee, introduced a pair of bills aimed at stopping corporations from using offshore tax havens and outsourcing jobs to other countries. The first bill, the No… – Continue reading
Jersey no longer a safe haven for dormant shell companies
Mumbai: For many rich Indians, 2019 has begun on an awkward note. Jersey, one of their favourite tax havens, is questioning the lack of ‘substance’ in the nameplate firms set up to either hold undisclosed money, or invest in other countries. In the last few days, service providers in Jersey… – Continue reading
Dutch add Guernsey, Belize and Isle of Man to tax evasion blacklist
The Dutch finance ministry is expanding its official list of places it considers to be involved in tax evasion by a further 16 low tax jurisdictions, including the islands of Guernsey and Jersey, the Isle of Man, and Belize. The list contains five jurisdictions currently blacklisted by the EU: American… – Continue reading
Income Tax Dept cannot probe Foreign Assets of Assessee after Six Years: Delhi High Court [Read Judgment]
The Delhi High Court, in its recent decision, quashed an order of the Income Tax department questioning the overseas earnings and assets prior to March 31, 2005. The earnings included money in tax-haven banks, overseas properties and interests in offshore trusts and applies to non-resident Indians as well. The assessee,… – Continue reading
Australian corporate tax takes up 20 percent: data
CANBERRA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) — The amount of tax paid by Australia’s biggest companies has risen 20 percent in a single year, data has revealed. According to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) ‘s corporate tax data for financial year 2016-17, which was released on Thursday, the nation’s 1,470 biggest companies… – Continue reading
ACC sets June 30 deadline to complete probes into Panama, Paradise Paper leaks
Anti-Corruption Commission chairman Iqbal Mahmood on Wednesday ordered all ACC officials to complete enquiries by June 30 against individuals or entities whose names have been appeared in Panama Paper and Paradise Paper leaks. He made the order in an urgent meeting with the secretary, all director generals, and directors of… – Continue reading
Canada’s legal weed sparks Cayman money laundering claims
(CNS): While the prospect of legal cannabis for recreational use in the Cayman Islands is not expected anytime soon, Canada is just a couple of months away from full legalisation. As that date approaches, legislators have raised concerns that the multi-billion dollar legal weed market could be taken over by… – Continue reading
UM Foundation invests tens of millions in offshore tax havens
The Paradise Papers leak exposes how university foundations across the country hide money in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda The University of Montana Foundation has invested more than $30 million in offshore hedge funds and private equity firms in Caribbean and Central American tax havens, including an investment in a… – Continue reading
Loophole In New Global Tax Evasion Crackdown: Why An International Effort May Be Blunted
A major new global transparency measure aimed at curbing cross-border tax evasion by requiring countries to share information on the wealth of each other’s nationals could be undermined by the abuse of residency- and citizenship-for-sale schemes. Tax justice campaigners say that some of these schemes are already being marketed as… – Continue reading
Web of Australian Adani solar companies leads to offshore tax havens
Three companies are ultimately owned in the Cayman and British Virgin islands, raising questions about the tax implications of profits generated by solar assets Adani has spread its use of offshore tax havens to its Australian solar projects, providing another avenue that could allow the wealthy Indian family behind the… – Continue reading
Multinational giants accused of shifting Australian revenue offshore
Four of the world’s largest companies have been under investigation by Australian tax authorities, amid new evidence from US executives about how Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft are shifting money to offshore tax havens. Appearing before a highly anticipated public hearing into corporate tax evasion, the executives endured questions about… – Continue reading
Britain’s Links With Offshore Tax Havens Revealed
Britain is the world’s second largest conduit for multinational companies avoiding tax on profits, according to new research. Although the British government has taken a leading stand in the fight to tackle corporate tax avoidance, data analysis by researchers at Amsterdam University in The Netherlands shows The City of London… – Continue reading
The consequences of scrapping tax exemptions on income earned outside SA
Economist Magnus Heystek says that government’s push towards scrapping tax exemptions for South Africans earning a salary in foreign country will encourage a tax revolt. South Africans have expressed a mix of concern and outrage over the past week, following the news that the government is seeking to scrap tax… – Continue reading
‘Come to CRA before we go to you’: International deal designed to expose offshore tax cheats
Canada and dozens of other countries will automatically share banking information of non-residents Canadians with secret overseas bank accounts could soon find themselves at risk of being exposed by a new international agreement designed to help catch tax cheats. Under the Common Reporting Standard, dozens of countries will share information… – Continue reading
Wealthy ‘turn their backs on offshore tax havens’: FT
UK wealth managers “are quietly scaling back access to offshore accounts for their clients”, as the global crackdown on tax havens, of which the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard is a major component, “gathers pace”, the Financial Times is reporting today, citing research it commissioned. The American tax legislation known as… – Continue reading
Deal that sends Canadian bank records to IRS is ‘illegal,’ lawyer tells U.S. committee
Witnesses call for repeal of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act An agreement that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of Canadian banking records being sent to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service could violate the U.S. constitution, a congressional subcommittee heard Wednesday. Testifying before a subcommittee of the House Committee on… – Continue reading
Sao Paulo Property Secrecy Exposes Continuing Role of UK Tax Havens
A new report from Transparency International has revealed that more than US$2.7 billion worth of property in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city, is hidden behind shell companies, many of which have close links to the United Kingdom, which has many offshore tax havens in its overseas dependencies. Using newly released… – Continue reading
Sao Paulo Property Secrecy Exposes Continuing Role of UK Tax Havens
A new report from Transparency International has revealed that more than US$2.7 billion worth of property in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city, is hidden behind shell companies, many of which have close links to the United Kingdom, which has many offshore tax havens in its overseas dependencies. Using newly released… – Continue reading
Art of the deal: Trump, Dems look for common ground to close tax loopholes
Venture capitalists, investors left unfazed Both President Trump and Capitol Hill Democrats head into negotiations over tax reform vowing to put the squeeze on hedge fund managers by closing the carried interest tax loophole — a point of agreement that held out promise for becoming a foundation for a once-in-a-generation… – Continue reading
Swiss Banks Warn on Data-Sharing
Switzerland introduced the automatic exchange of information of data concerning bank customers at the beginning of this year. Swiss private banks now warn the government that the planned extension of the system to a further set of countries may endanger their wealthy clients in some of the highly corrupt partner… – Continue reading
House bills to fund infrastructure reward big multinationals
U.S. Rep. John Delaney has introduced two infrastructure funding bills — H.R. 1669 and H.R. 1670 — that good government groups say would further incentivize corporate tax dodging, reward the biggest multinational corporations for stashing their profits in offshore tax havens and replace one system riddled with tax loopholes with… – Continue reading
Chancellor slaps 25% charge on people who move pensions abroad to dodge UK tax bills
People still be able to shift pensions overseas tax-free if they and their pot are located in same country Stiff new penalty is aimed at those who retire to one country while parking their pension in an offshore tax haven The Chancellor is to slap a 25 per cent charge… – Continue reading
HSBC discloses tax evasion probes in India, other countries
Global banking giant HSBC has disclosed being probed by tax authorities in India and several other countries, including against its Swiss and Dubai units, for allegedly abetting tax evasion of four Indians and their families. Besides, the bank has been approached by the regulatory and law enforcement agencies of various… – Continue reading
CRA’s new fingerprinting policy could create travel problems for accused tax evaders
Tax agency calls mandatory fingerprinting ‘a powerful deterrent’ The Canada Revenue Agency’s new policy to fingerprint every person it charges with tax evasion could create travel problems at the U.S. border for some Canadians who haven’t had their day in court The Canada Revenue Agency has begun to record the… – Continue reading
Ecuador Referendum Blazes Trail in Fight Against Tax Havens
If the referendum passes, all public servants and elected officials in Ecuador will be barred from holding wealth in offshore accounts. As Ecuador heads to the polls Sunday to elect a new president and National Assembly, deciding the fate of President Rafael Correa’s 10-year Citizens’ Revolution, the small South American… – Continue reading
Canada misses out on nearly $50 billion in tax each year
The federal government forgoes as much as $47.8 billion in uncollected taxes every year, according to a new report that Ottawa has yet to release. These billions represent only a fraction of all taxes that go unpaid because they don’t include taxes owed to the provinces and municipalities — all… – Continue reading
‘Tax haven’ Canada being used by offshore cheats, Panama Papers show
Country’s reputation being exploited for ‘snow washing’ global money trails, experts warn Far from the palm-fringed beaches of the usual offshore tax havens, Canada has quietly become a go-to destination for international tax cheats eager to exploit the country’s twin benefits of a sterling reputation and rules that allow private… – Continue reading
Expose the true beneficiaries
THE Panama Papers, the world’s biggest leak, highlighted the complex ways used by companies and individuals to conceal who the actual beneficiaries of a company are. Some of them put their money into offshore accounts such as in Labuan, which is also an off-shore financial centre and tax haven. One… – Continue reading
Amendment sought for greater transparency over UK’s offshore tax havens
A parliamentary drive to force greater transparency on the UK’s offshore tax havens is being led by former Commons spending watchdog chairwoman Dame Margaret Hodge and ex-international development secretary Andrew Mitchell. The pair, backed by scores of MPs from across the Commons and supported by an alliance of charities, are… – Continue reading
OFFSHORE TAX HAVENS COST SMALL BUSINESSES ON AVERAGE $5,128 A YEAR
Small businesses in the U.S. have to shoulder, on average, an extra $5,128 in taxes to make up for the revenue lost due to the abuse of offshore tax havens by multinational corporations, according to a new report by U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund. As a new administration… – Continue reading
Anti-terrorism tactics should be applied to tax havens, report says
The same aggressive and uncompromising international effort used to combat terrorism must be employed to eliminate tax havens, says Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz in a report being released Tuesday. In a copy of the report, obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and shared with the Star, Stiglitz… – Continue reading
CRA investigating 85 Canadians for tax evasion tied to Panama Papers
Eighty-five Canadians identified in the Panama Papers leak are now being investigated for tax evasion, the Canada Revenue Agency has revealed. Details of Canada’s enforcement effort were provided to the Star the same week the U.K., which is a major hub of the offshore finance world, said it has launched… – Continue reading
BANKING UPROAR LINGERS
The row between commercial banks in the Caribbean and the larger ones on the American mainland just would not go away. In the past week, finance officials from across the globe and from multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) flew to Antigua for a conference on the… – Continue reading
Panama to join international tax convention on Thursday: OECD
Panama will take a big step towards ending its status as an offshore tax haven on Thursday by signing a multilateral convention to share foreign taxpayer details with other governments, the OECD‘s head of tax said. Panama’s role as a major offshore tax haven came into the public spotlight earlier… – Continue reading
Ecuador a Step Closer to Ending Politicians’ Use of Tax Havens
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa wants the country to consider a novel approach to limit the use of tax havens: preventing politicians from using them. Accompanied by leaders from social movements and political allies, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa made the case before the constitutional court for a plebiscite to give lawmakers… – Continue reading
STUDY: 73% OF FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES USED TAX HAVENS IN 2015
In 2015, more than 73 percent of Fortune 500 companies maintained subsidiaries in offshore tax havens, according to “Offshore Shell Games,” released today by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Collectively, multinationals reported booking $2.5 trillion offshore, with just… – Continue reading
European Parliament Begins Panama Papers Probe Despite Tax Haven Splits
Members of the European Parliament, September 27, have begun their investigation into the Panama Papers scandal, which exposed the sheer extent of rich people and companies using offshore tax havens to reduce their tax liabilities in EU member states. However, the latest probe comes on the back of another investigation… – Continue reading
Canadians in Panama Papers shouldn’t expect a tax deal, CRA says
More than 2,000 files under review, 85 taxpayers under audit National Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier said in a statement Monday that a few thousand files are now being pursued by the tax agency after it sifted through the Panama Papers. Canadians implicated in the Panama Papers shouldn’t expect any leniency… – Continue reading
Democrats Introduce Corporate Tax Transparency Bill in Congress
House Democrats have introduced legislation that would require multinational corporations to disclose more information about the taxes they pay in other countries. The bill, known as the Corporate Transparency and Accountability Act, aims to shine more light on corporate tax avoidance strategies, requiring the disclosure of country-by-country and pre-tax profit… – Continue reading
