(CNS Business): Barclays Bank’s Swiss operations is ending its cooperation with the Internal Revenue Service’s efforts to prevent investors from investing money in foreign countries with more amenable tax structures and policies. During a Zurich speech, Barclays bank executive Francesco Grosoli announced that the firm’s Swiss operations had “recently exited… – Continue reading
Something strange happened in 2014 — Americans became very interested in corporate tax policy. It started in the spring, when U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, which produces blockbuster drugs like Lipitor and Viagra, floated a possible merger with its British-based rival AstraZeneca. Normally a merger of that size would make a… – Continue reading
Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL) allegedly negotiated a secret deal with the Swiss government when James Packer was chief executive officer, which set a tax rate of less than 2.15 per cent for the media group’s intra-company loans, The Australian Financial Review reports. According to correspondence obtained by the newspaper,… – Continue reading
The surge in U.S. companies avoiding taxes by taking a foreign address has been condemned by President Barack Obama and stirred a policy debate in Congress. What’s often overlooked is that these “inversions” are typically a final step in a hopscotch of multinational tax dodging. Many companies invert after years… – Continue reading
Former PricewaterhouseCoopers auditor charged with theft and violating trade secrets in wake of LuxLeaks scandal speaks out A 28-year-old former PricewaterhouseCoopers auditor charged with theft and violating trade secrets in Luxembourg in the wake of the LuxLeaks tax avoidance scandal has revealed his identity and claimed he acted out of… – Continue reading
A secret deal with the Swiss government negotiated by media group Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd when James Packer was chief executive set a tax rate of less than 2.15 per cent on PBL’s intra-company loans. “We do have good news for you!” Ernst & Young Swiss partner Markus Huber wrote… – Continue reading
Around the world, countries are desperately seeking ways to stop multinational companies from earning profits within their borders without paying taxes on them, while stashing trillions in tax havens like the Cayman Islands. The British government, after a search, says it knows how to tax the profits Google earns in… – Continue reading
SINGAPORE, Dec 15 (IFR) -China Construction Bank Corporation said its board had approved a proposal to sell up to Rmb80bn (US$12.9bn) in preference shares. It will sell up to Rmb60bn onshore and up to Rmb20bn offshore. Chinese banks have been selling preference shares to raise Additional Tier 1 capital, with… – Continue reading
When the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Johns Hopkins University and other Maryland nonprofits want to maximize the money they can spend in pursuit of their missions, they do what many wealthy individuals and businesses do. They open investment accounts overseas. Many of Maryland’s wealthiest nonprofits — including the University of… – Continue reading
MONTREAL – The problem is not that Bombardier Inc. played a complex shell game since at least 2010 by refinancing and redirecting US$500 million of its financing activities to Luxembourg, a notorious tax haven. It’s that it does so legally — and is hurting its home country despite being one… – Continue reading
All those Dutch sandwiches, double Irishes and Luxembourg, uh, lunchboxes that US multinational companies use to defer taxes and shift profits abroad are expected to be re-empowered today when the Senate votes to enact a one-year tax extension package. Included in the package is a renewal of two breaks, one… – Continue reading
Action Aid Zambia has welcomed the European Ombudsman ruling that the European Investment Bank (EIB) should reconsider its refusal to grant access to the findings of their investigation into alleged tax dodging by mining company Glencore’s Mopani subsidiary. And Action Aid Zambia has called on Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) to… – Continue reading
Jean-Claude Juncker under pressure over his deals as PM of Luxembourg The arch-federalist EU chief is alleged to have courted tax avoidance deals He has now admitted he has been ‘weakened’ by the revelations It emerged his regime agreed deals with Walt Disney and Koch Industries Jean-Claude Juncker has admitted… – Continue reading
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting The Walt Disney Co. generates $18.2 billion per year in economic activity in Florida and and is responsible for more than one in every 50 jobs in the Sunshine State, according to a study the company paid for in 2011. But here’s something Disney won’t… – Continue reading
Law360, New York (December 11, 2014, 3:21 PM ET) — Amazon.com Inc. CEO Jeff Bezos got out of having to testify in a suit concerning a Luxembourgian subsidiary and tax obligations for the years 2005-2006, when the U.S. Tax Court granted his motion to quash the Internal Revenue Service’s subpoena… – Continue reading
Findings from Americans for Tax Fairness directly contradict Burger King’s earlier insistence that the merger would create ‘no tax benefit’ Burger King acquires Tim Hortons and calls Obama’s bluff on tax Burger King stands to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in US taxes if it completes its pending… – Continue reading
Jeb Bush, a front-runner to become the Republican Party’s next presidential nominee, has used Britain to set up a private equity fund that could possibly allow it to avoid paying tax in America. The potentially damaging revelation was uncovered by the financial news wire Bloomberg and could pose a serious… – Continue reading
The Dail’s Public Accounts Committee has declined a legal demand from former Fianna Fail Finance Minster Ray MacSharry to hand over the Ansbacher dossier to him. Lawyers acting for Mr MacSharry had given PAC seven days to hand over the Ansbacher dossier, the Irish Independent has learned. Mr MacSharry took… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – EU regulators hope to wrap up ongoing probes into the legality of tax deals between Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Ireland with Apple (AAPL.O), Starbucks (SBUX.O), Amazon (AMZN.O) and Fiat (FCHA.MI) by the second quarter of 2015, the EU anti-trust’s chief said on Thursday. European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager… – Continue reading
The new EU Competition Commissioner has said there is reasonable doubt about whether Apple’s tax arrangements with Ireland were legal. In her first comments on the investigation into the US tech giant’s tax affairs in Ireland, the Danish Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the case remained open. This is despite Minister… – Continue reading
In the light of new revelations in the Luxembourg tax evasion schemes, some MEPs will push to fast-track the European Parliament’s legislative reports being drafted by the legislature’s economic committee. “The new revelations show this is a European problem that needs a European solution. Citizens and SMEs pay their taxes,… – Continue reading
Bank Leumi Le-Israel Ltd. (LUMI) expects to reach an accord with the U.S. government by next month over accusations Israel’s second-largest bank helped Americans evade taxes. “The management believes it is right to reach an agreement with authorities, just as global banks have done,” Leumi’s legal adviser Hanan Friedman said… – Continue reading
Summary Corporate tax reform is getting closer, repatriation of foreign profits is a possible outcome. Reform may end the practice of deferment, meaning overseas cash hordes will no longer be part of common corporate practice. Many large U.S. companies will have decisions on how to use funds that are no… – Continue reading
The European Investment Bank, which gives loans and grants using taxpayers’ money, acted wrongly when it refused to disclose details of alleged tax evasion by mining giant Glencore, the EU’s watchdog has ruled. The EIB failed to disclose the results of its own investigation into the allegations surrounding a mining… – Continue reading
Quebec’s finance minister says he understands Bombardier Inc. pays its taxes according to Quebec and Canadian laws and that “we receive what we should receive.” But nevertheless, Carlos Leitão said he has asked Revenue Quebec to look into whether Bombardier is using a European tax haven to avoid provincial taxes…. – Continue reading
Fund wanted to buy distressed debt in media and communications companies Ireland played a key role in international tax and funding structures set up by a $100 million Cayman Islands fund that wanted to buy distressed debt in media and communications companies in 2010. Accountancy firm Ernst & Young (now… – Continue reading
About 10 years ago Citigroup’s then chief executive Chuck Prince started his global apology tour, aimed at mending relationships with regulators and bolstering Citi’s reputation. Tokyo was the first stop. The US bank had been embroiled in scandals that led to the termination of its Japanese private banking licence. To… – Continue reading
NEW YORK (InsideBitcoins) — Federal prosecutors with the U.S. Attorneys Office in Manhattan are suing Deutsche Bank, stating that the German bank owes the US Government roughly $190 million in unpaid taxes. The claims of tax evasion stem from gains related to the sale of Bristol-Meyers shares in 2000. Prosecutors… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS–European Union finance ministers struck two separate deals on Tuesday aimed at cracking down on tax avoidance by multinationals, an issue that is high on Europe’s political agenda as a lackluster economic recovery fails to replenish crisis-hit state coffers. At a meeting in Brussels, finance ministers agreed to update a… – Continue reading
The US government sued Deutsche Bank Monday for creating shell companies that allowed it to avoid paying tens of millions of dollars in taxes. The suit filed by the US attorney in New York asks for $190 million in back taxes and penalties for an operation it alleged was made… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Tax deals that entertainment giant Walt Disney Co., commodities group Koch Industries [KCHIN.UL] and others agreed with the Luxembourg authorities were revealed on Tuesday by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The ICIJ said the two companies engaged in complex restructurings, and channeled hundreds of millions of… – Continue reading
Four years after entering a punishing €67bn bailout, the Irish economy is booming again. Gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 5.5 per cent between January and June. The European Commission expects Ireland to be the fastest-growing country in the eurozone in 2014. Yet a chorus of economists… – Continue reading
The EU’s most powerful official is under mounting pressure as dozens more multinational corporate names are dragged into the Luxembourg tax scandal following a new leak of confidential documents on Tuesday. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European commission, has been battling to distance himself from the growing furore over the… – Continue reading
LISBON (Reuters) – The former head of Banco Espirito Santo <BES.LS> on Tuesday denied any wrongdoing in the collapse of the bank his family founded and blamed the Bank of Portugal for accelerating its demise. Portugal had to rescue the country’s largest bank, known as BES, in a 4.9 billion… – Continue reading
European Union nations that offer “patent box” tax breaks should retool their laws so that only deserving companies can claim benefits tied to technical innovations, according to a draft report from a European Union working group. Countries that use this kind of technology tax break should start legislative work next… – Continue reading
A new leak of confidential documents expands the list of big companies seeking secret tax deals in Luxembourg, exposing tax-saving maneuvers by American entertainment icon The Walt Disney Co., politically controversial Koch Industries Inc. and 33 other companies. Disney and Koch Industries, a U.S.-based energy and chemical conglomerate, both created… – Continue reading
MOSCOW, December 8 (RAPSI) – The world’s four largest audit firms, which provide services under the FATCA norms, have provided contradictory consultations to their Russian clients, Kommersant newspaper writes on Monday. The Big Four are the four largest international professional services networks, offering audit, assurance, tax, consulting, advisory, actuarial, corporate… – Continue reading
Although Thailand’s largest bank, Bangkok Bank (BBL), already has the greatest foot-|print overseas, it continues to look for further opportunities in the |offshore market and plans to open at least four additional branches next year. One will be a sub-branch |in Shanghai’s free-trade zone, |and another will be located |in… – Continue reading
Reversing earlier moves taken this summer and fall, a major international bank is ending its cooperation with the Internal Revenue Service’s efforts to prevent investors from investing money in foreign countries with more amenable tax structures and policies, such as Ireland or Switzerland. During a Zurich speech, Barclays bank executive… – Continue reading
Germany’s Deutsche Bank dodged over $100 million in federal taxes, according to allegations in a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York Monday afternoon. “Through fraudulent conveyances involving shell companies, Deutsche Bank tried to make its potential tax liabilities disappear. This was nothing… – Continue reading
GCC-based Islamic banks are increasingly eyeing international markets Islamic banks in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations need to expand abroad to maintain their pace of growth in the future, according to Al-Baraka Banking Group, which operates in 15 countries from the Middle East to Asia. “Banks have no alternative,” says… – Continue reading
Labour Jon Ashworth calls for explanation over why Tories’ ‘big-money backers’ benefit from autumn statement George Osborne has been accused of using his autumn statement to give tax breaks to Tory supporters as it emerged that several companies run by Conservative donors stand to benefit from a more generous tax… – Continue reading
The factbox devoted to two years of the so-called Magnitsky Act passed by US Senate. This act allows Washington to deny visas and freeze assets of Russian officials allegedly involved in the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. Five years ago, on November 16, 2009, Sergei Magnitsky, a tax and… – Continue reading
Former tánaiste Mary Harney last night denied she halted a probe into offshore tax accounts because prominent PD Des O’Malley’s name was on a list of people allegedly involved and that every opportunity had been afforded the investigation to finish its work. “I am satisfied that correct procedures were followed… – Continue reading
Public Accounts Committee is questioning the Revenue Commissioners All files drawn up by a whistleblower into alleged tax evasion by former senior politicians were fully examined and followed up, the chairman of the Revenue Commissioners has said. Addressing the Dáil Public Accounts Committee, Josephine Feehily said all material on the… – Continue reading
The United States won’t give up its right to tax multinationals, and nations will go to war soon with countries like China on taxing rights, a US tax head says. Grant Thornton’s national managing partner of tax in the United States, Randy Robason, is in Australia this week for a… – Continue reading
Dec 3 (Reuters) – A Luxembourg court on Wednesday confirmed that a holding company of Portugal’s Espirito Santo family could not receive bankruptcy protection. Rioforte Investments, whose assets include many of the family’s holdings in real estate, hotels and plantations, had appealed against an earlier decision by a Luxembourg court… – Continue reading
Names of former politicians investigated for alleged tax evasion read into Dáil record Five former politicians named in the Dáil by Sinn Féin TD Mary Lou McDonald as having been in a dossier of alleged offshore account holders have rejected the claims. Former European commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, former Progressive Democrat… – Continue reading
Legislation seeking to stop U.S. corporations from moving their legal address abroad to avoid paying U.S. tax rates would raise significantly more revenue than originally thought, according to the official congressional scorekeeper. The Joint Committee on Taxation now says that Democratic legislation to curb inversions would raise $33.6 billion over… – Continue reading
The controversial ‘double Irish’ tax mechanism was never part of the Irish tax code and was not a viable way of building a sustainable economy, says Minister for Finance Michael Noonan. Speaking at a major tax conference organised by the Institute of International and European Affairs, Mr Noonan, said the… – Continue reading
