Category: Offshore Wealth
Singapore Bankers ‘Flooded’ With Inquiries from Hong Kong – Reports
Following Hong Kong’s extradition bill protests, wealth managers and private banks have seen increased queries from clients looking to set up channels to move assets to Singapore. MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) officials have reportedly been asking wealth managers not to aggressively target Hong Kong clients in their market campaigns,… – Continue reading
Money trail must for offshore assets’ owners: Asad
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance Asad Umar Thursday made it abundantly clear that those having offshore properties had no option but to give the trail of their money. Addressing a post-mini budget press conference at the P-block here, he said the government had obtained assistance from friendly countries, including Saudi… – Continue reading
Proportion of HNWIs investing offshore rises
The wealthy are showing a keen interest to invest offshore, as the HNWIs seek to achieve benefits from global diversification and gain tax efficiencies. The proportion of HNWIs who invest offshore has risen from 11.2% in 2014 to 16.9% by December 2018, , according to GlobalData’s HNW Offshore Investment survey…. – 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
HMRC targets wealthy families with trusts
Changes to Britain’s centuries-old trust regime are looming as HMRC is concerned that trusts are letting some families pay less inheritance tax than those who do not pay accountants to set up the complex arrangements. To look at if the law should be changed, HMRC has published wide-ranging research of… – Continue reading
Cryptocurrencies Could Emerge As Top Save Haven For Chinese Investors Amidst Govt Crackdown
The Chinese government has decided to tight policies that target investors in the country and that hold their wealth overseas with the intention to avoid paying taxes. However, these investors that are now threatened by the government might move to cryptocurrencies and avoid being investigated by Chinese authorities. Most of… – Continue reading
Tax havens refuse cooperation with Pakistan
Pakistan has been unable to get much cooperation from 11 countries known as tax havens around the world to share information on offshore wealth amid a global clampdown on tax evasion. Under the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) new automatic exchange of information programme, effective since September 1,… – Continue reading
China’s new income tax laws to bring ‘profound implications’
In June this year, the Chinese government announced much-anticipated revisions to the country’s individual income tax laws. KPMG Partner and Senior Advisor Michael Olesnicky says that these new revisions will likely have ‘profound implications’ within the wealth management community in Asia. Hubbis CEO Michael Stanhope recently spoke with him about… – Continue reading
Behind the amnesty
The extension of the deadline of the tax amnesty scheme has not borne the results it was expected to. The FBR is said to have taken the advice of accounting firms to extend the deadline, but the results have not matched the early optimism. Despite this, though, the amnesty scheme… – Continue reading
PWS: New Reporting Regulation Will Have Big Effect on Family Offices
A new agreement on international tax and financial information exchange aims to provide less opportunity to shelter wealth from taxation. Global wealth managers and advisors need to make sure they and their clients are in compliance. CHARLOTTE, N.C. (PRWEB) JULY 18, 2018 The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for the automatic… – Continue reading
Offshore wealth investigation
ONCE again reports are appearing in the media about the billions of dollars stashed by Pakistanis in foreign accounts or the investments they have made especially in property market abroad. National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance was informed on Friday that seven thousand Pakistanis have invested a whopping Rs 800… – Continue reading
Foreign assets and estate planning: What to consider
Forced succession may come into play. In a bid to protect themselves against geopolitical and currency risks, many South Africans have been investing a growing part of their wealth offshore. Due to the different laws applicable, estate planning across multiple jurisdictions is a complicated exercise and it is advisable to… – Continue reading
Declare Offshore Wealth? Russia Tycoons Would Rather Ship Themselves Off Shore
MOSCOW — Some of Russia’s super-rich have given up residency to escape a 2014 law requiring them to disclose offshore assets, wealthy businessmen told Reuters, a practice that could keep billions of dollars hidden from Moscow’s tax authorities. Interviews with more than a dozen people familiar with the practice —… – Continue reading
Dubai no longer a tax haven! Indians rush to hide undeclared wealth
Dubai,, till now considered a tax haven , has decided to share information of the bank accounts in the UAE with the Indian government starting next year. This has sent jitters among several Indians, who are rushing to hide their undeclared wealth stashed abroad. From January 2018, the UAE will… – Continue reading
Can current offshore wealth management centres survive?
After recent scandals, many financial and wealth management centres are losing their allure and ‘mid-shore’ options are taking their place, argues Philip Marcovici. Will all existing financial and wealth management centres survive? Are tax-free secrecy havens (the “offshore world”) a feature of the past? Is there room for entry of… – Continue reading
Time for U.K. to Get Tough on Offshore Transparency?
With the exception of British Antarctica, the U.K.’s overseas territories and offshore dependencies are all surrounded by sun-winking ocean water. But that’s not their only common feature—they are all under increasing political pressure to become more transparent with their financial information. In a parliamentary report on tackling overseas corruption, the… – Continue reading
UN expert urges next UN chief to crack down on Malta and other ‘tax havens’
A United Nations human rights expert has urged the next UN secretary-general to make the elimination of tax havens a priority to ensure that corporations, billionaires and ‘kleptocrats’ pay their fair share of taxes. Speaking on Friday, American law professor Alfred de Zayas also urged Antonio Guterres, who will succeed… – Continue reading
Panama Papers: IT Department invokes tax treaties, sends 200 requests for data on Indians implicated
Officials said around 192 requests had been sent to a number of countries, while another dozen were being processed as part of their investigation. The Income Tax Department on Sunday said it had invoked several tax information treaties and made around 200 requests to collect banking- and finance-related evidence on… – Continue reading
Swiss banks feel threatened by LatAm tax clampdown
Countries pursuing billions in unpaid taxes push region’s wealthy to pull cash from accounts LONDON — Switzerland’s private bankers fear cash-strapped Latin American countries pursuing billions of dollars in unpaid taxes will push the region’s wealthy to pull cash from their Swiss bank accounts. For these banks, still recovering from… – Continue reading
Swiss get ‘largely compliant’ rating for tax assistance – finance ministry
Neutral Switzerland has got an overall rating of “largely compliant” in an international review of how well it shares information with other countries on tax matters, the finance ministry said on Tuesday. Swiss officials hailed the outcome as crucial recognition of their efforts to shed the country’s reputation as a… – Continue reading
Panama Papers Expose Celebs, Politicians, Billionaires With Offshore Tax Havens Despite FATCA
The Panama Papers–the biggest leak of financial data in history–has blown the lid off offshore tax havens, again. This time, those in the limelight include twelve current or former world leaders, many celebrities, and wealthy persons who are using offshore tax havens to hide their wealth. In scope, this is… – Continue reading
Inequality to stay until tax havens go, says Oxfam
There will be no end to the inequality crisis until world leaders end the era of tax havens, once and for all, according to a report from charity Oxfam. In its report, “An Economy for the 1%”, published ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Oxfam has challenged world… – Continue reading
