Bellary: While Union finance minister, Arun Jaitley has warned the Congress it could be embarrassed once the names of people holding illegal foreign accounts are made public, local mining industry sources say the BJP too could be in for some embarassment as its once powerful leader and jailed mining czar,… – Continue reading
Noting that tax evasion is not a criminal offence in Switzerland, a senior Swiss official has acknowledged differences with India on what can be made public about Indians having unaccounted money parked in Swiss banks. However, the Swiss Foreign Ministry official hoped that with the advent of the new government… – Continue reading
On Monday when the Centre revealed the names of Indians with bank accounts in Switzerland, a customary call to a chartered accountant made sense. Straight up, the question was how to make sure that a person be financially healthy and disciplined, without having back-of-the-mind worries of the tax man knocking… – Continue reading
The secret binder lay wedged in a hidden drawer inside a filing cabinet in his office on the Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich, the heart of the world of Swiss private banking. Martin Liechti, a former top private banker at Swiss bank giant UBS, privately called the binder his “CYA file,” a… – Continue reading
Here in America, tax collectors know when you earn interest on your bank deposits. That’s because U.S. banks are obliged to collect such information and report it to the IRS. This makes it impractical for would-be tax evaders to purposefully underreport their interest income for tax purposes. They’d be easily… – Continue reading
Finance ministers from at least 37 countries will take the biggest step yet in fighting tax evasion at a conference this week hosted by Germany’s Wolfgang Schaeuble, German officials said. Fifty states and jurisdictions are sending representatives to Berlin to sign an agreement on Oct. 29 on the automatic exchange… – Continue reading
There is nothing illegal about tax planning. Yet some things are legal while others are not, and the lines can sometimes get fuzzy. Add to that the fact that some people go to extraordinary lengths to avoid paying taxes, and it can be a recipe for disaster. Increasingly, if you… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The renewed vigour to unearth suspected blackmoney of Indians in Swiss bank accounts after a recent meeting of top officials on both sides is expected to initiate final prosecution in one of the most prominent tax crime cases related to Pune-based stud farm-owner Hasan Ali Khan. Sources privy… – Continue reading
The Treasury Department has spent millions of dollars on federal contracts for companies that have shifted their legal address abroad, even as the Obama administration pushes to rein in the practice. Just last month, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew moved to limit the appeal of those tax deals, known as inversions,… – Continue reading
The Swiss Federal Council has launched a consultation on legislation for the unilateral application of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD’s) Standard on the Exchange of Information to all double tax agreements that are not already in line with this model. The legislation would only involve the exchange… – Continue reading
Swiss police carried out a series of raids across German-speaking Switzerland in the early hours of Thursday morning, including the premises of private bank, J. Safra Sarasin. The authorities were acting on a request for legal assistance from Germany in a fraud and tax evasion case against the bank and… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Leading Swiss banks are trying to distance themselves from some of the dodgy Indian clients who have twisted rules and could be a cause of embarrassment in future. At least four individuals — three based in Mumbai and one in Delhi — holding the famously anonymous Swiss numbered accounts,… – Continue reading
A week after a high-level delegation of the revenue department met Swiss authorities in a bid to persuade them to assist with details of the 700-odd Indians who are reported to have bank accounts with the HSBC Bank in Geneva, the NDA government is set to send the first batch… – Continue reading
Around $180 million in undeclared offshore income has now been recovered as part of the amnesty, the ATO said. A further $1 billion in assets has also been recovered. Photo: Louie Douvis The Tax Office is keeping a close eye on foreign banks as part of its push to stop… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – A key witness in the federal tax evasion trial of a top Swiss bank executive took the stand on Thursday to testify against his former boss, Raoul Weil, who is accused of conspiring to conceal up to $20 billion in U.S. taxpayers’ assets in secret offshore accounts. The… – Continue reading
BERN/NEW DELHI: To comply with global norms, Switzerland today began consultation process for unilaterally amending bilateral tax treaties to allow exchange of information when there is a request from another country. Amid rising international pressure, including from India, Switzerland has been taking steps to share tax information as well as… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government has never said that it will not reveal the names of Indians who have undeclared income parked in foreign bank accounts. “The Congress will be embarrassed by the names when we reveal them in court,” said Mr Jaitley in an exclusive… – Continue reading
Echegaray says account holders can take part in country’s fiscal amnesty If Argentines who hold 4,040 undeclared bank accounts in Switzerland don’t normalize their fiscal status and pay their debts, the AFIP tax bureau will file a complaint before the Office of Economic Crime and Money-Laundering (PROCELAC) requesting it investigates… – Continue reading
Lump sum taxation, the tailor-made measure tax regime designed to attract wealthy foreigners to Switzerland, is facing a crucial test as voters head to the polls on November 30 to decide whether or not to abolish the system for good. Proponents of the initiative say lump sum taxation is unfair… – Continue reading
A Residence Programme (“TRP Rules”) has been introduced with effect from 1 July 2013 for individuals who are nationals of the EU, EEA or Switzerland (but not Maltese nationals) in terms of Legal Notice 270 of 2014 and Articles 56(23) and 96 of the (Malta) Income Tax Act, Chapter 123… – Continue reading
Switzerland and Italy may agree amendments to their existing double tax agreement by spring 2015, Vieri Ceriani, Italy’s chief negotiator, has said. With the appointment of a new Government in Italy, Ceriani said that the provisions being sought by Italy, in particular on the division of taxes collected from Italian… – Continue reading
European Union finance ministers have reached a breakthrough agreement that will make it more difficult for tax cheats to hide their money. The new legislation, which had been blocked for years by countries with a reputation as tax havens, was approved last week after Luxembourg and Austria agreed to lift… – Continue reading
Switzerland took a step forward on implementing its double taxation agreement (DTA) with Argentina as the Federal Council adopted the dispatch on the deal and submitted it to parliament for approval. Meanwhile, in Argentina the agreement has already been passed by the Foreign Affairs and Budget Committees of the Lower… – Continue reading
Nearly 105,000 financial institutions are listed on the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) database of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) organisations complying with the tax reporting rules for US citizens. The latest list was published on October 1, 2014 by the IRS and shows 104,344 financial organisations have signed… – Continue reading
New Delhi: Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat on Saturday criticized the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA Government at the Centre for not disclosing the names of persons having money stashed away in safe havens abroad, and alleged that it exposed the utter hypocrisy and double standards of… – Continue reading
New Delhi: A delegation led by Shri Shaktikanta Das, Revenue Secretary and consisting of Shri K.V. Chowdary, Chairman, CBDT and ShriAkhileshRanjan, Joint Secretary (FT&TR) visited Switzerland on 15.10.2014 and held discussions with Swiss Finance and Tax Authorities on issues relating to Exchange of Information in tax matters. The Swiss delegation… – Continue reading
The visit of an Indian delegation to Switzerland to discuss tax issues has garnered a lot of media attention in both countries. While offering some concessions, Switzerland refused to budge on the issue of providing assistance on the basis of stolen bank data. On Wednesday, the Swiss State Secretary for… – Continue reading
erne/New Delhi: In a major breakthrough in India’s fight against black money allegedly stashed abroad, Switzerland today said it will examine Indian requests for banking information on a priority basis and provide requested details in a time-bound manner. The Swiss authorities would also “assist in obtaining confirmation on genuineness of… – Continue reading
A former banker at UBS has been found guilty of handing over protected Swiss bank account data to the US, according to a penalty order issued by the Swiss prosecutors’ office. According to the order, the banker was found to have breached Swiss data privacy laws but not its banking… – Continue reading
Blue-ribbon corporations are deserting our country “to avoid paying taxes but expect to keep receiving the full array of benefits that being American confers, and that everyone else is paying for,” Fortune magazine reports. That’s right, Fortune wrote it; not Pravda. In a scathing article titled “Positively Un-American” by Allan… – Continue reading
Wealth inequality is growing worldwide, according to a new report by Credit Suisse. A greater share of wealth is being held by a smaller number of ultra-rich families worldwide as larger inheritances, family trusts, and similar arrangements to avoid taxes help the ultra-wealthy gain a greater portion of total capital… – Continue reading
The screw is being turned on American companies that use complex structures to whittle down their tax bills. But is the latest EU probe a paper tiger or a game changer? It was supposed to be good news. Amazon’s announcement yesterday that it would hire 1,000 staff was dressed up… – Continue reading
The Swiss finance minister, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, and her counterparts from European Union member states have signed a joint statement aimed at ending a controversy over corporate taxes. The declaration, signed in Luxembourg on Tuesday, includes the Swiss government’s plans to push ahead with abolishing certain preferential tax regimes for foreign… – Continue reading
In the history of the old west when gun fighters survived a gun fight they might put a “notch” in their pistol as a badge of honor. Well the U.S. Department of Justice can put another notch in its weapon of choice, threat of prosecution” because Deutsche Banks’ Swiss unit… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Italian and Swiss ministers clashed on Monday over the failure to reach an agreement aimed at fighting tax evasion that foresees Switzerland opening up its bank databases to Italian tax authorities. Both Italian Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan and Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said they spoke on… – Continue reading
The NDA government is sending a high-level delegation to Switzerland in a bid to persuade them to assist with details of the 700-odd Indians who have bank accounts with the HSBC Bank in Geneva. This is being seen as the last-ditch attempt by the Indian government since the Swiss authorities… – Continue reading
India may have to wait longer for joining “selected” countries with whom Switzerland plans to do automatic exchange of information on tax matters, even as Indian and Swiss officials will meet soon to iron out their bilateral arrangements on suspected tax evasion cases. Switzerland has started a process for putting… – Continue reading
Moshe Asher is seeking information about accounts in Switzerland belonging to Israelis. The Israel Tax Authority is stepping up it efforts to combat overseas tax shelters for Israelis. Sources inform “Globes” that Israel Tax Authority director Moshe Asher is expected to travel to Switzerland next week in order to meet… – Continue reading
Say judge may find evidence inadmissible because it was supplied by a whistleblower As the AFIP tax bureau starts reviewing information it recently obtained from the French government on undeclared bank accounts held by Argentines in Switzerland, tax experts have warned that using the data might be harder than it… – Continue reading
ZURICH (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking “total cooperation” from Swiss banks in a draft agreement aimed at allowing the banks to make amends for aiding tax evasion by wealthy Americans, a Swiss newspaper reported on Saturday. About 100 Swiss banks signed up to work with… – Continue reading
This week brings a wealth of news in the FATCA arena, which we summarize in today’s post. First, former acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller speaks out against FATCA and suggests that the benefits of the new information reporting regime imposed by FATCA may not outweigh its costs. An article published… – Continue reading
On October 8, 2014, Swiss officials announced that they intend to negotiate a reciprocal Model 1 FATCA IGA to replace the Model 2 IGA that they signed in 2013. The motivation for the change is unknown, but the automatic exchange of information under Model 1 is more in line with… – Continue reading
Asian financial institutions could come under closer scrutiny by US authorities that are seeking to expand a probe into offshore tax avoidance activities across more jurisdictions, according to consultancy firm AlixPartners. The US government has stepped up efforts to counter tax evasion activities by its citizens in recent years. Last… – Continue reading
European body adds another high-profile name to its crackdown on multinationals’ tax avoidance in bloc. The European Union is broadening its crackdown on multinationals’ tax avoidance schemes, opening an investigation yesterday into Amazon’s practices on suspicion the online retailer is not paying its dues on profits made across the 28-nation… – Continue reading
In Starr International Company, Inc., v. United States, the taxpayer (“Starr International Company, Inc.” or “SICO”) filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia seeking a tax refund from the IRS of approximately $38 million. The refund is allegedly due to an overpayment of… – Continue reading
UBS AG (UBSN), the Swiss bank facing French allegations of helping clients evade taxes, has handed over details on about 100 accounts, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Swiss authorities at the start of the year notified UBS of a request from France for information on 300… – Continue reading
When the U.S. fined Credit Suisse Group (CSGN:VX) $2.6 billion in May, the Justice Department said it was the biggest penalty ever in a criminal tax-evasion case. That record could soon be shattered. France could impose a fine of €4.9 billion ($6.2 billion) on another Swiss bank, UBS (UBSN:VX), for… – Continue reading
The cost of renouncing US citizenship has gone up with the introduction of the new Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) tax reporting rules. Many US expats are unhappy with their government because of special tax rules. The US is one of few nations to tax expats on their worldwide… – Continue reading
A federal crackdown and a new act make life tougher for lawyers and accountants. Criminal tax attorney Robert Fink views the conviction and sentencing of his client Dr. Michael Canale—on tax fraud charges in New York state federal court in 2012—as representative of everything that’s wrong with the government crackdown… – Continue reading
Swiss private bank Julius Baer is cooperating in a French investigation into suspected money laundering and tax fraud by a former client involved in the European carbon allowances market, a spokeswoman said, following French media reports. News agency AFP said last week the bank is suspected of receiving funds in… – Continue reading
