Category: Eritrea

Google And The UK Tax System – Tax Avoidance?

For several years now Google has been facing what appears to be a case of tax avoidance in the UK, at some point in time, the company went as far saying it did not make any money from business in the UK all in a desperate attempt to pay less… – Continue reading

The ugly face of FATCA: Why life for American expats is getting harder

The Foreign Account Compliance Act (FACTA), while designed to “minimize tax cheats”, is making banking — and life in general — painfully difficult for millions of American expats, according to Mike Michelini, a Hong Kong-based business consultant withglobalfromasia.com. Here is his editorial. Under FACTA, all 8 million or so Americans… – Continue reading

African leaders reject EU ‘charity’ over ‘investment’

Macky Sall, the Senegalese president, tells journalists on the sidelines of the Malta migrants summit that Africa would have no need of handouts if wealthy governments stopped multinationals avoiding legitimate taxation in their countries African leaders have rejected a European Union bid to curb migration with aid payments as “not… – Continue reading

Renounce Citizenship: U.S. Government Makes Record $7.5 Million On Mandatory Citizenship Renouncement Fees

Applying to renounce U.S. citizenship costs $2,350, up from the $450 it cost just last year. The U.S. government made more than $7.5 million from the record number of people who decided to officially renounce their citizenship in the first nine months of 2015. Simply applying to renounce U.S. citizenship… – Continue reading

Ethiopia, Switzerland keen to bolster ties

Ethiopia and Switzerland have expressed their commitment to strengthen bilateral relations covering various regional and global issues of common interest, according to a joint statement issued on Tuesday by the two countries.The communiqué was released after talks between Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga and Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, on Tuesday… – Continue reading

Conference Focuses on Intersection of Tax Law and Citizenship

Tax experts from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil and Israel spoke at a two-day conference at Michigan Law about the challenges of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and a multitude of other issues at the intersection of the law of taxation and citizenship. Panel discussions at… – Continue reading

Americans abroad need tax justice too

“Why are we doing this to folks? Why are we tormenting them in this way?” IRS Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson asked in an address to Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association FATCA Policy Symposium in Washington last year. These “folks” are Americans living abroad: NGO workers, English teachers, physicians, taxi… – Continue reading

Australia: US Citizens and Green Card Holders – the long arm of the IRS

You may be forgiven for thinking that once you no longer live in the United States, that your ongoing US tax obligations may be relatively simple or even non-existent, particularly if you have never held a US Passport or lived in the US. However the definition of US citizen is… – Continue reading

Taxpayers No Longer

Some 776 American citizens or long-time residents renounced their status in the third quarter of 2014, according to the Treasury Department. If that trend continues, the U.S. will see more than 3,000 renunciations this year-a record. Why are so many Americans forfeiting their citizenship? In 2010, Congress passed the Foreign… – Continue reading

‘The age of financial privacy is over’

Jonathan Weiss hasn’t lived in the US for 25 years. But that didn’t keep his foreign bank account from being frozen in the wake of new US tax laws. Find out how you can avoid the same fate at the hands of FATCA. “I had been living in Switzerland for… – Continue reading

U.S. and China Team Up to Launch Global Tax System

In the world of offshore asset protection and personal finance, you regularly come across the claim that there are only two countries that actively tax their residents’ worldwide income: the United States and Eritrea. All other countries only tax income earned at home. That’s apparently no longer true. It turns… – Continue reading

London mayor’s unpaid tax bill provides food for thought

You may have heard in the news about Boris Johnson. He’s a flamboyant politician in the U.K. with an unruly mop of blonde hair. Recently, he made news by publicly saying he absolutely won’t pay his U.S. taxes. And yes, he is the mayor of London (the “real” London, where… – Continue reading

New bank law raises privacy fears

Attempts by the country’s banks to comply with new American tax legislation are raising fears about customers’ privacy. The United States is one of two countries – the other being Eritrea – that tax their citizens who live overseas, even if their income is generated in a foreign country and… – Continue reading