Switzerland, which has been working to end its years-long practice of banking secrecy, on Thursday said it aimed to dramatically increase the number of countries it cooperates with toward international fiscal transparency. The Swiss government said in a statement that it wanted to extend the automatic exchange of information (AEOI)...
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...
NEW DELHI: Aiming to curb tax evasion and avoidance, India has operationalised the Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with Seychelles, one of the major sources of foreign investment into the country. The agreement will enable the authorities of both nations to provide assistance through exchange of tax and banking information,...
Gibraltar, a tiny British territory at Europe’s southern tip, is famous for its geography — a huge limestone rock — that appears on the Prudential logo. It’s a global center for offshore banking, with the trappings of wealth to prove it: Luxury high-rises tower over super yachts in Gibraltar’s marina. The...
Bulgaria has definitively removed Gibraltar from its ‘tax haven’ list following intensive lobbying by Albert Isola, Minister for Financial Services, and the Gibraltar Finance Bulgaria team. This change has been reflected in the updated lists published on the European Commission website under ‘Tax good governance in the world as seen...
Offshore Financial Centres (OFCs) are jurisdictions, usually self-governing, which because of their low tax regimes, have specialized in providing commercial services to corporations and individuals, whether or not they are normally resident in that jurisdiction. The better-known offshore financial centres are small and sparsely populated countries or islands, and are...
MGA executive chairperson Joseph Cuschieri warns organised crime within gaming industry ‘has never been this sophisticated’ Malta Gaming Authority’s executive chairman insisted that the gaming industry will continue to flourish on the island, even if proposed EU legislation to clamp down on tax avoidance goes through. “The threat [of a...
An influential UK newspaper has called for Britain to force its Overseas Territories to create a public register of owners of companies. Chris Blackhurst, the group content director of a four-newspaper stable, writing in the London Evening Standard, said: “Only then, once we have put our own house in order,...
The British government is about to get tough with so-called tax havens that are dragging their feet on revealing the secret ownership of thousands of offshore companies. One of the main thrusts of Britain’s drive to clean up the murky world of tax avoidance has been to put pressure on...
A newly introduced amendment to the Bulgarian Offshore Companies Act (the “Act”) will bring significant changes to investment opportunities for offshore companies. If the Bulgarian Parliament adopts the amendment within the next month, the amended Act is expected to enter into force in the beginning of 2016. The proposed amendments...
Amid all the diplomatic comings and goings on Syria and how to tackle Islamic State, an important but little-noticed high-level gathering has been taking place in London. The Overseas Territories were holding the fourth meeting of their Joint Ministerial Council at Lancaster House. Leaders from Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands,...
The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) is the standard for automatic exchange of financial account information produced by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which provides for systematic and periodic automatic exchange of information between signatory jurisdictions. At its heart is a requirement for financial institutions, including British Virgin...
(CNS Business): A new report released by a coalition of NGOs, including Transparency International UK, has described some of the British overseas territories (BOTs) as “some of the most notorious purveyors of financial secrecy”, despite promises about more transparency. The authors say a World Bank study found that BOTs are...
Australian punters will be thrilled to know that when they do their shirts gambling their post-tax dollars, those very same dollars, which become the pre-tax dollars of the British online betting giants, are funnelled off to places like Gibraltar, pre-tax. University of NSW accounting academic, Jeff Knapp, and Fairfax Media...
Global taxpayers can expect to pay more tax in the years ahead. Many governments worldwide continue to update their tax legislation and expand their tax systems to repay debt and pay for increased social welfare, even as the memory of the last global financial crisis lingers. These are the conclusions...
DESPITE repeated allegations from the Spanish government that Gibraltar is a tax haven, news is regularly received that suggests this is far from the case, and that the government has been doing all that it can to ensure that it complies as fully as possible with international standards, whilst generating...
On the face of it, Malta literally has the highest corporate tax rate in the EU. At 35%, it hardly seems to be a competitor to European tax havens like Ireland and Cyprus, both applying a rate of 12.5%, or territories like Gibraltar. At a rate of 10%, the latter...
Leave.EU, supported by Ukip and financed by a multimillionaire, vies to lead Britain’s exit from Europe A leading campaign group seeking to take Britain out of the European Union was set up by an offshore company that offers tax avoidance services to “high net worth individuals”, the Observer can reveal....
A blacklist of tax havens by the U.S District of Columbia, which featured the Channel Islands, has been repealed. The Bailiwicks were listed as part of a plan to highlight international jurisdictions the U.S. considers to be used by people trying to avoid paying tax. The Chief Minister was opposed...
Lawmakers at the European Parliament are set to vote on a controversial series of proposals to harmonize the corporate tax system in Europe in a move that will put them on a collision course with some member states which favor sovereignty over taxation. The EU lawmakers on the TAXE committee...
Gibraltar’s Government has released a public consultation on the establishment of private foundations, in a bid to level the playing field with other jurisdictions. As an incorporated body, foundations are able to transact, sue, and be sued in their own name. They are primarily used for private wealth management, succession...
Gibraltar has for many years extending long before December 2011 sought to be accepted within Moneyval. The Govt today announce that confirmation has now been received that henceforth Gibraltar will be subject to MONEYVAL’s mutual evaluation processes and procedures. Moneyval was established in September 1997 by the Committee of Ministers...
EY: Four out of 10 Czech businessmen asked for bribe Four out of 10 Czech entrepreneurs have been explicitly asked for a bribe and up to six out of 10 have encountered the possibility of gaining an advantage in their business in exchange for a bribe, according to a survey...
The number of EU countries that regard Gibraltar’s tax regime as harmful has dropped from nine to seven, according to updated information released by the European Commission yesterday, report the Gibraltar Chronicle. The Commission database collects information on how the EU’s 28 members view other countries’ tax regimes. When it...
On October 2, 2015, the Internal Revenue Service announced that it had achieved a key milestone in implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), a critical anti-tax evasion law passed by Congress in 2010 but not fully implemented until July 2014. The milestone announced by the IRS was...
The IRS has announced that as of September 30, 2015 it will implement the automatic exchange of tax information as set forth in the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, (FATCA). The IRS Commissioner in announcing the implementation of the automatic exchange of information stated: “This information exchange is part of...
For years it has been the currency of the Costa, as criminals simply can’t do business without a bag of ‘black money’. Judges, solicitors and local councils have been prone to their cut on every transaction and complex property transfer for decades. However, now the Spanish are finally cracking down...
The question for many expats is in Australia is if switching their UK pension to a Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS) is worthwhile? Tax is a personal issue and no one-size-fits-all solution is available, but here are some general pointers to how pensions are taxed in different financial centres...
PHUKET: In 2005 the EU Commission proposed a directive that laid the foundations for a radical change in the portability of an individual’s pension. British, Dutch and Irish nationals were given the flexibility to move certain private pensions to the jurisdiction of their choice, rather than leave it in their...
The U.S. district of Columbia has blacklisted the Channel Islands as a tax haven. It’s part of a plan to highlight international jurisdictions they consider to be used by people trying to avoid paying tax. D.C want to use the list to deter businesses there dealing with businesses in Jersey....
International pensions administrator STM Group is looking to offer QROPS tailored for UK expats in Australia after HMRC scrapped thousands of schemes from its approved list in July. During an interview with International Adviser, STM – which has trading offices in both Malta and Gibraltar – cited plans to expand...
To check black money generation, the government today approved signing and ratification of the agreement between India and Seychelles for exchange of information with respect to taxes, reports the Economic Times. The agreement will stimulate the information exchange between India and Seychelles for tax purposes, which will help curb tax...
QROPS specialists are offering free transfers to Gibraltar QROPS for August only for teachers who want to retire abroad and avoid all UK taxes and future UK taxes on their existing teacher’s pension scheme. This is the final chance for teachers living abroad to transfer their UK pensions outside the...
Following successful conferences in the Isle of Man in 2014 and in Gibraltar in March 2015, leading offshore law firm DQ Advocates and global law firm Latham & Watkins will be hosting their latest Global Tax Investigations Conference in the Isle of Man on 11 September 2015. The conference is...
Whether or not the point-of-consumption tax (POC) enacted by the United Kingdom in 2014 is a barrier to the free trade of services across the European Union is a question that will now head to the Court of Justice of the EU, following a ruling in a UK case yesterday....
The Republic of Latvia has removed Gibraltar from its blacklist of tax havens, the latest EU country to recognise that the Rock complies with international rules on exchange of financial information, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle. The decision by Latvia comes after the EU last month published a list of the...
Spain will call on the European Commission to include Gibraltar on the EU blacklist of tax havens published last week, it emerged over the weekend. The list names the 30 top tax havens as identified by EU countries, but Gibraltar is not on it. Only nine of the EU’s 28...
Channel island claims inclusion is in error because Brussels miscounted the required 10 nominations by wrongly including one for neighbouring Sark Guernsey has written to the European commission demanding to be removed from a blacklist of the worst international tax havens – as nominated by EU member states. Chief minister...
FATCA – Which Countries Are In And Out The controversial US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) law is set to start from July 1, 2014, so with less than 21 days to go, here’s a look at which countries are in and who is outside of the tax network....
Guernsey’s Chief Minister and Commerce and Employment Minister have expressed their astonishment that Guernsey has been included on a list of 30 so-called ‘non-cooperative’ non-EU jurisdictions, which was published today, reports Guernsey Finance. The list consolidates national tax ‘blacklists’ as they stood six months ago, and includes any jurisdiction on...
The European Commission is set to adopt an Action Plan to tackle corporate tax avoidance and promote growth-friendly taxation in the Single Market despite an uphill battle against global giants such as Apple and Starbucks, as well as some hypocritical member states. The European Commission’s plans unveiled Wednesday include a...
Poland has removed Gibraltar from its schedule of countries and territories that it considers to be non-cooperative tax havens, the latest in a string of countries to do the same. The move means Gibraltar companies have been freed from previously held restrictions when doing business with Polish companies. It follows...
Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, has met with the new TAXE committee of the European Parliament and defended the territory’s tax ruling regime. The TAXE Committee was established earlier this year in the wake of the leak of confidential tax rulings provided by EU member states to certain multinationals. The...
RODRIGO RATO, a former IMF chief and veteran Popular Party (PP) official, is under scrutiny for tax fraud, as well as other crimes. In 2013, it is reported that he transferred company shares to his children, worth €2.5 million, in an attempt to avoid paying civil liability bonds in an...
The Chief Minister Fabian Picardo this morning defended Gibraltar’s position on taxation before members of the new TAXE committee of the European Parliament. He was accompanied by the Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia, Attorney General Michael Llamas and Sir Graham Watson. The meeting took place at the request of...
Portugal can be a very attractive country to live in from a tax point of view. The inheritance tax regime is very benign here, and there is no wealth tax. Tax efficient arrangements can lower tax liabilities on your investment and pension income. And if you are a new resident,...
The medium-term uncertainty of the UK’s continued membership of the EU remains a cloud on Gibraltar’s financial horizon, for the Rock’s membership of the 27-nation body – and thus her role as a stepping-stone into Europe’s vast financial market – is under Britain’s umbrella. And it is partly in response...
The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (“FSC”) has welcomed the new Standard of Regulation that has been issued by the Group of International Finance Centre Supervisors (“GIFCS”). The FSC is a member of GIFCS and actively participated in the working group which drafted the standard. The FSC has been regulating this...
FSC restructuring plans for 2015 he Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (FSC) has recently announced restructuring plans for 2015. The restructure will take effect on 1 January 2015, focussing on supporting efficient and effective delivery of the FSC’s regulatory objectives and with a particular focus on strengthening existing sector-specific expertise. This...
Pressed by the Gibraltar Government, the rightwing Spanish newspaper ABC yesterday backtracked on an earlier article in which it made damaging, but incorrect claims about Gibraltar and its commitment to tax transparency. The newspaper published a clarification yesterday following an article earlier this month in which it claimed Gibraltar was...
