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
HOLDER LEGACY AS TAX-CHEAT CATCHER. Attorney General Eric Holder, who on Thursday announced he’s stepping down, made some pretty huge contributions to tax land during his six years on the job. Continuing the work his predecessor started prosecuting Swiss bank UBS, Holder maintained the department’s laser focus on tax evasion, starting… – Continue reading
The Government of Canada has been moving ahead with its plans to solve the deficit by cutting services to Canadians and yet, there are billions of dollars in taxable assets illegally hidden by some Canadians in overseas tax havens. Overseas tax evasion is a serious problem requiring assertive action. Eight… – Continue reading
The Swiss Federal Council has launched a consultation on changes to the flat-rate tax credit, which seeks to ensure double tax relief for permanent establishments of companies that are located in Switzerland. The proposed change affects permanent establishments in Switzerland that are part of a company domiciled in a country… – Continue reading
Thousands of Americans abroad are giving up their citizenship as the implementation of a complex new tax law causes banks to shut down accounts for US expatriates Angry Canadians are rare. But Patricia Moon qualifies. Until 2012, Moon was actually an American – albeit one who had lived in Canada… – Continue reading
The Government of Canada has been moving ahead with its plans to solve the deficit by cutting services to Canadians and yet, there are billions of dollars in taxable assets illegally hidden by some Canadians in overseas tax havens. Overseas tax evasion is a serious problem requiring assertive action not… – Continue reading
High-tax countries unable to compete with tax havens have instead opted to subjugate them Rivalry between governments to attract capital and labour can lead to pro-growth policies. That this comes from the power of people to “vote with their feet” has been known for long. For instance, it was the… – Continue reading
India’s desire to have a global system, which will ensure tax-evaders will have no sanctuary anywhere, received a shot in the arm when finance ministers of G-20 nations took a concrete step in this regard. At their meeting in Australia on Sunday, they endorsed a plan to exchange tax information… – Continue reading
Plans to curb tax avoidance will hit Ireland. Most countries are set to force multinationals to pay more tax and as the political controversy grows, our own role in these activities will come under ever increasing scrutiny On Tuesday the OECD, the Paris-based club of the world’s richest economies, published… – Continue reading
Archaic rules mean the world sees us as a tax haven Think of tax havens and you’ll probably think of Switzerland, Isle of Man and Luxembourg but for the rest of the world, they think of us. You see the UK’s quirky and ancient laws mean we have rules that… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday ruled out possibility of the recovery of billions of dollars stashed in Swiss banks any time soon. ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday ruled out possibility of the recovery of billions of dollars stashed in Swiss banks any time soon. The minister… – Continue reading
Clients of UBS AG (UBSN), Switzerland’s largest bank, have led a five-fold surge in the number of Canadian residents reporting hidden offshore income over the past eight years. Almost 6,000 taxpayers came forward in the past 12 months as part of the Canada Revenue Agency’s voluntary disclosure program to report… – Continue reading
UBS AG, the world’s biggest manager of money for the rich, has become the test case for French President Francois Hollande’s tax-evasion crackdown. The Swiss bank is set to learn from a Paris appeals court on Sept. 22 if it must post a 1.1 billion-euro ($1.4 billion) bond to cover… – Continue reading
As Switzerland’s long-cherished banking secrecy practices evaporate, the institutions in the world’s largest offshore tax haven are dramatically rethinking their business models in a bid to survive. Already reeling from the painful process of making amends for allowing foreign nationals to hide assets from the taxman back home, the secretive… – Continue reading
Remember the study last year that ranked our tax code right below Zimbabwe? Now, a new study by the Tax Foundation still ranks us near last. Zimbabwe wasn’t a part of this contest, since the new study looked only at the 34 countries making up the OECD. Still, we have… – Continue reading
Introduction On July 25, 2014, Switzerland and Cyprus signed a new agreement for the avoidance of double taxation (DTA) with respect to taxes on income and capital. It is the first DTA between the two countries, and will contribute to the development of bilateral economic relations. The agreement will come… – Continue reading
American taxpayers are being robbed by yet another giant corporation that is deserting the USA after using the country’s advantages to build untold wealth. Burger King’s recent decision to pursue a corporate inversion to Canada is the culmination of years of maneuvering to dodge paying its fair share in corporate… – Continue reading
GENEVA: As Switzerland’s long-cherished banking secrecy practices evaporate, the institutions that helped create the world’s largest offshore tax haven are dramatically rethinking their business models in a bid to survive. Already reeling from the painful process of making amends for allowing foreign nationals to hide assets from the taxman back… – Continue reading
As Switzerland’s long-cherished banking secrecy practices evaporate, the institutions that helped create the world’s largest offshore tax haven are dramatically rethinking their business models in a bid to survive. Already reeling from the painful process of making amends for allowing foreign nationals to hide assets from the taxman back home,… – Continue reading
Financial institutions outside Switzerland may be tempted to think that the U.S. Department of Justice’s focus and pressure on Swiss banks in recent years leaves them in the clear. And, indeed, the DOJ has had great success in targeting these institutions far from U.S. shores. It has levied monetary penalties… – Continue reading
The offshore tax affairs of a company previously headed by the economics minister are to be re-examined by the finance department of canton Bern. The move comes after Swiss Public Television, SRF, published a memo written by the Federal Tax Authorities (FTA) which raised questions about the previous investigation. The… – Continue reading
The DTA between Cyprus and United Arab Emirates took effect on 1 January 2014 The double taxation agreement between Cyprus and the United Arab Emirates took effect on 1 January 2014. For a detailed analysis of the new agreement, the first between the two countries, please follow this link. The… – Continue reading
UBS AG (UBSN) asked a Paris appeals court to overturn a $1.4 billion bail looming over the Swiss bank as France steps up a two-year-old tax evasion probe. The hearing dragged on for nearly three hours as the parties argued the case. The court said it would decide on the… – Continue reading
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Savers and investors who have kept assets offshore should make use of disclosure facilities to settle with the… – Continue reading
Alex Lemond is among a new wave of New Yorkers trading in their Manhattan condominiums for beachside villas in Puerto Rico. The former hedge fund honcho moved to San Juan from New York last year, and his company, the Encanto Group, is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in developing… – Continue reading
(India and Switzerland are…) NEW DELHI: India and Switzerland are finding it difficult to break a deadlock over sharing information on secret bank accounts held in the European nation but both sides are close to finalising the first accord on a bilateral advance pricing agreement that will allow taxpayers to… – Continue reading
Seven Dutch financial institutions may be involved in evading taxes and are ‘extremely vague’ about what they do to ensure this does not happen, the Dutch Fair Bank Guide said on Wednesday. ABN Amro, Aegon, Delta Lloyd, ING, NIBC, Rabobank and Van Lanschot emerge as potential tax avoiders in research… – Continue reading
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has held the first round of negotiations with the Swiss tax authorities to revise the Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation vis-a-vis Taxes on Income and clauses pertaining to exchange of information. On the conclusion of the visit of senior tax officials to… – Continue reading
On August 26, Burger King announced that it entered into an agreement to acquire Tim Hortons, Inc., the Canadian coffee-and-doughnut chain, in a transaction that will be structured as an “inversion” (i.e., Burger King will become a subsidiary of a Canadian parent corporation). The deal is expected to close in 2014… – Continue reading
More Swiss banks are dropping out of the U.S. banking program that the IRS supposedly uses to prevent American citizens from stashing cash overseas to avoid taxes. Known for 100 years as the original tax haven, free from the prying eyes of governments around the world, Swiss banks have provided… – Continue reading
Another example of the “Too Big to Jail” doctrine: International tax evasion and fraud organised by UBS, Switzerland’s biggest bank. UBS, which had to be saved from failure in October 2008 by massive injections of Swiss public money, was involved in the LIBOR manipulation scandal, the currency markets manipulation scandal… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – At least 10 Swiss banks have withdrawn from a U.S. program aimed at settling a tax dispute between them and the United States, Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag said on Sunday, quoting unnamed sources. Around 100 Swiss banks came forward at the end of last year to work with U.S. authorities in… – Continue reading
The Obama administration is employing an ObamaCare contractor that was once based in the tax haven of Bermuda, even as it assails corporations for lacking the “economic patriotism” to pay taxes. Accenture was awarded a contract in January that’s now grown to well over $100 million to make improvements to… – Continue reading
[ZURICH] SWISS banks have suffered from a massive outflow of funds since 2008, a survey said on Friday, squeezed by an international crackdown on tax evasion. The survey by auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers attributed much of the outflow – totalling almost 350 billion Swiss francs (S$474 billion) – to customers paying fines… – Continue reading
PRWEB.COM NewswireWashington, D.C. (PRWEB) August 28, 2014 A new trend in the offshore banking regime has emerged. Many banks located around the world are sending letters to their accountholders seeking personal information to confirm whether the account holder is a U.S. citizen or a U.S. resident. In the letters,… – Continue reading
Banks in Switzerland lost 350 billion Swiss francs ($383 billion) from foreign clients over the past six years amid an international crackdown on offshore tax evasion, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers AG. Foreign clients withdrew as much as 100 billion francs to pay fines to governments in their countries of residence, PwC… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has not requested for negotiations on exchange of information for restitution of any ill-gotten money presumably stashed in Swiss banks, said Swiss Ambassador to Pakistan and Afghanistan Marc George on Monday. The statement from the Swiss ambassador follows claims by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar that talks would be held with… – Continue reading
This article was first published in the 2nd quarter 2014 edition of Personal Finance magazine. Most people accept that they have to pay taxes in their country of residence. But citizens of the United States and green card holders who live outside that country – even if they have never… – Continue reading
I n July, the American pharmaceutical giant AbbVie, maker of the world’s top-selling drug – the arthritis treatment Humira – reached a blockbuster deal to acquire European rival Shire, best known for the attention-deficit medication Adderall. The merger was cheered by Wall Street, not for what the deal will do… – Continue reading
An effort to control tax havens for those hiding their assets overseas has resulted in broad brush impacts on hard-working expatriate Americans living and working out of country. The previously delayed Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is now in full swing effective July 1, 2014. In an attempt to close a… – Continue reading
Pictet & Cie. Group SCA, Switzerland’s biggest closely held bank, increased assets under management six percent in the first half, as narrowing margins and a U.S. tax program led some competitors to sell or downsize. Managed assets grew to 319 billion Swiss francs ($348 billion) from 301 billion francs, Pictet said… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Switzerland will begin technical level negotiations in Bern on Tuesday for revision of ‘Swiss-Pakistan Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation’ to enable the treaty to create an environment for better trade and investment between the two countries. The three-day meeting is being held on the request… – Continue reading
VP Bank said it had now concluded that it no longer needed to take part in the programme. “Thorough internal investigations and external expert opinions showed that the conditions for continued participation did not exist,” the Liechtenstein-based bank said in a statement accompanying its half-year results. “VP Bank therefore withdrew… – Continue reading
With all the talk about inversions and America’s Burger King Going Canadian, it’s easy to ignore even more prevalent tax savings by numerous American companies. Take Microsoft, which admits in its 2014 SEC filing that it avoids $30 billion in U.S. taxes. The trick? Keep about triple that amount, $93… – Continue reading
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) has been in force for a month and still more countries are joining the tax network. So far, 101 countries and financial jurisdictions have either signed or agreed to join FATCA. FATCA is aimed at identifying US taxpayers with offshore bank accounts and investments. Overseas… – Continue reading
Potential inversion deal highlights dropping corporate taxes in Canada, now the lowest among 10 countries, with the U.S. in 5th place. Fast-food giant Burger King faced anger from both Washington and average Americans Monday, a day after it announced that it was in talks to buy Tim Hortons and relocate… – Continue reading
LONDON: Monaco, the tax haven on the French Riviera, is experiencing a luxury-housing boom that includes the world’s most expensive penthouse as developers prepare for an influx of millionaires and billionaires escaping higher taxes or a loss of banking privacy.A “flow” of new residents is emigrating from Switzerland, where financial-secrecy… – Continue reading
CFOs of multinationals need to prepare by assessing how much their companies engage in profit shifting to cut their taxes. Do you have responsibility, whether direct or dotted line, for the tax function in your company? Does your company have, or plan to have, operations outside the United States? If… – Continue reading
Tax investigators pursuing instances of blackmoney stashed abroad by Indians have finally been able to circumvent the Swiss secrecy code by asking over 100 such account holders to submit on their own details of personal balances in these banks, brought under the tax net recently, for lesser penal action for… – Continue reading
More private Swiss banks are suffering slumping profits, with a crackdown by the US authorities on tax cheats having a big effect. A study by consultancy firm KPMG and Switzerland’s University of Saint Gallen found that of the 94 they examined more than a third did not make any profit… – Continue reading
