More leaked documents relating to tax avoidance schemes involving Luxembourg’s government under the leadership of Jean-Claude Juncker, now President of the European Union (EU) Commission, have intensified the political crisis surrounding the EU. It comes at a time of growing opposition to the pro-business EU and the vicious austerity cuts… – Continue reading
A father and son who ran a tax-preparation business were convicted in Los Angeles of conspiring to help clients cheat the Internal Revenue Service by setting up undeclared offshore bank accounts. David Kalai, the founder and former chief executive officer of United Revenue Service, and his son Nadav, who was… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS – It was supposed to be all about investments and Russia, but the issue of tax avoidance is likely to creep onto the EU summit agenda on Thursday (18 December). In the draft summit conclusions circulated among EU ambassadors on Wednesday, there is one paragraph mentioning the “urgent need… – Continue reading
UBS Fund Services has had one of its strongest years in terms of winning new clients according to Monette Windsor (pictured), who heads up the Cayman Islands business. “We’ve invested heavily in our business development team this year and we’ve had to beef up our client onboarding team. We have 165… – Continue reading
NEW YORK – The multiyear federal crackdown on wealthy Americans who duck taxes by hiding income and assets offshore is targeting a Panamanian legal services firm suspected of arranging anonymous banking services. A Manhattan federal judge on Friday approved special summonses for Sovereign Management & Legal. The approval also covered… – Continue reading
Debate on multinational tax avoidance widens The surprise announcement by the European Commission that it is to extend its request for information on tax rulings to all European Union member states has the potential to significantly shift the terms of the debate on multinational tax avoidance. The timing of the… – Continue reading
The European Commission has announced that its ongoing inquiry into advance tax rulings will be expanded to cover all European Union member states. The Commission said on December 17 that it will ask member states to confirm whether they offer tax rulings. If they do, they will be requested to… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Luxembourg acceded on Thursday to the demand of the European Commission to release data to further EU antitrust regulators’ investigation into whether it allowed multinationals to pay excessively low taxes. The European Commission launched investigations this year into whether U.S. retailer Amazon (AMZN.O) and a unit of Italian… – Continue reading
There has been a recent surge in anti-tax inversion legislation discouraging companies attempting to shift corporate subsidiaries or headquarters to low-tax or tax-free countries. The issue was subjected to a great deal of publicity in April 2014 during the failed hostile takeover by Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) for AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) when Pfizer… – Continue reading
Advance Agreements The so-called tax rulings and advance pricing agreements will be formalised by the introduction of appropriate provisions in the Luxembourg tax laws. By this means, Luxembourg will be able to offer as from 1 January 2015 a unified system providing taxpayers with legal certainty and a consistent and egalitarian… – Continue reading
The European Union’s probe of tax deals expanded as the competition regulator asked all EU countries to give it information about financial agreements with multinational corporations. The EU is seeking lists of every company granted a so-called tax ruling between 2010 and 2013, the European Commission said today in an… – Continue reading
[BRUSSELS] Owners of secretive companies in Europe will have a harder time keeping out of the public eye, EU negotiators agreed Wednesday, in another blow against opaque business practices after the LuxLeaks scandal. The agreement reached by the European Commission, European parliament and member states approves the creation of a… – Continue reading
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. Brussels has widened a probe into corporate tax rulings to include all 28 member states amid heightened scrutiny of sweetheart tax deals granted to businesses by national… – Continue reading
An investigation into tax rulings provided by certain EU member states is to be widened to cover all member states, according to a press release from the European Commission.17 Dec 2014 Tax Disputes and Investigations EU & Competition Tax Public procurement and state aid Corporate tax International tax UK Europe… – Continue reading
The European Union’s probe of sweetheart fiscal deals expanded as EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager asked all EU countries to provide information about tax accords with multinationals. The EU is seeking lists of every company granted a tax ruling from 2010 to 2013, the European Commission said today in an… – Continue reading
A tax based on turnover penalises companies that hang on to their profits ro reinvest in the business One week it is Starbucks. The week afterwards it is Amazon. And the week after that it is Apple or Vodafone. The names in the headlines might change from time to time…. – Continue reading
* EU to examine tax arrangements across bloc * Several deals with multinationals already under scrutiny * Questions asked of new Commission President Juncker (Adds Luxembourg reaction, background) By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS, Dec 17 (Reuters) – European Union competition regulators have asked all 28 member countries for details of… – Continue reading
Think tank targets key aspects of Republic’s role in multinationals’ tax affairs Key features of Ireland’s role in the tax affairs of major technology companies such as Google and Microsoft are being targeted by the OECD’s base-erosion and profit-shifting (Beps) project, it has emerged. Ideas being worked on by the… – Continue reading
The European Union’s new antitrust chief said the EU is braced for a legal battle with governments embroiled in its probe of sweetheart tax deals for multinationals from Apple Inc. (AAPL:US) to Amazon.com Inc. Margrethe Vestager said the process needs to be legally watertight as officials investigate whether deals handed… – Continue reading
Armenia’s Central Bank (CB) claims thatsome data regarding money flows to and from offshore financial centers is protected from public disclosure under the law. We say ‘some’, because the CB is being selective when it comes to which information can be disclosed and what cannot. When Hetq contacted the CB,… – 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
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
Rome (dpa) – The head of Italy‘s tax office, Rossella Orlandi, on Monday criticized automaker Fiat‘s decision to move its tax residence to Britain after completing a merger with US peer Chrysler. “I would … like to stress that we need some sense of national pride. In Germany tax rates… – 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
The suspected leaker of documents that revealed confidential tax avoidance deals between Luxembourg and hundreds of multinational companies has been charged with theft, money-laundering and exposing trade secrets, prosecutors said. The suspect’s identity has not been revealed, but at Luxemburger Wort we have identified that he is a French former… – 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
There’s big news from across the pond. The U.K. government’s Autumn Statement (formerly known as the pre-Budget report), released December 3, promises to change how multinational corporations will be taxed – and offers a cautionary tale for would-be U.S. tax reformers. Britain will introduce a “diverted profits” tax, targeting corporations… – Continue reading
Responding to another leak, the Luxembourg Finance Ministry has said that the advance tax rulings issued to multinationals by the country’s tax authority are not, and never have been, secret. The Ministry issued a statement on December 10 acknowledging the publication by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) of… – 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
There’s big news from across the pond. The U.K. government’s Autumn Statement (formerly known as the pre-Budget report), released December 3, promises to change how multinational corporations will be taxed – and offers a cautionary tale for would-be U.S. tax reformers. Britain will introduce a “diverted profits” tax, targeting corporations… – Continue reading
Responding to another leak, the Luxembourg Finance Ministry has said that the advance tax rulings issued to multinationals by the country’s tax authority are not, and never have been, secret. The Ministry issued a statement on December 10 acknowledging the publication by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) of… – 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
Jean-Claude Juncker breaks silence to say revelations are personally damaging as calls increase for harmonisation of EU tax rules European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has admitted that his position has been weakened by a scandal exposing Luxembourg’s role in corporate tax avoidance schemes. Juncker survived a no-confidence vote in the… – 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
The ministry of Finance acknowledges the publication by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and affiliated medias of a further series of advance tax decisions (“rulings”) issued by the Luxembourg tax administration. As with previous publications (“Luxleaks”), the way in which these documents were acquired is highly questionable. The… – Continue reading
Hutchison Whampoa had profit of €429.6m but paid just €65,067 tax in Luxembourg A Luxembourg company that provides indirect financial support to 3 Ireland, is among the latest batch of entities found to be availing of secret tax deals in Luxembourg. Hutchison Whampoa Europe Investments Sarl (HWEI) – part of… – Continue reading
China set up a website to collect tips about officials who have fled with ill-gotten gains, as leaders press ahead with a campaign that’s resulted in the arrests of hundreds of alleged economic fugitives so far. The Communist Party’s anti-graft watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, encouraged whistle-blowers at… – Continue reading
LUXEMBOURG — Palm Beach billionaire David Koch and his equally-loaded brother Charles got the government of Luxembourg to sign a secret, custom-made deal that allowed their companies to save hundreds of millions of dollars that otherwise would have been taxed in the United States. On its website this morning, the… – Continue reading
Peter Mac Swedish “flatpack” furniture manufacturer IKEA has suffered a number of blistering mass media attacks for business practices that reduce their Australian tax liabilities to a tiny fraction of the company’s profits here. The criticism is certainly justified. Most ordinary working taxpayers, as well as companies that don’t engage… – Continue reading
Some statistics rank London as the fourth largest ‘French’ city by population, and the number of French individuals moving to the UK is growing. This is not surprising – the UK offers a highly favourable tax regime for ‘non-domiciled’ individuals moving to the UK, while entrepreneurs, professionals and high net… – 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
Grand Duchy accused of allowing multinational firms to pay virtually no tax Leaked documents reveal more firms used Luxembourg to lower tax There is no suggestion that the tax schemes used by firms are illegal But scandal has dragged in Luxembourg’s former PM Mr Juncker Giant US businesses Disney and… – Continue reading
Tax rulings “issued by the Luxembourg tax authorities are not, and have never been, secret,” the nation’s finance ministry said in an e-mailed statement. “In fact, Luxembourg, spontaneously and upon request, exchanges information on rulings with other countries, as foreseen by non-double taxation treaties as well as by directives and… – 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
