Thousands of investors worldwide are finding out that controversial new US tax avoidance laws have a much wider reach than just American taxpayers with offshore accounts. This is because an unforeseen consequence of the new Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is international customers of US financial institutions must reveal… – Continue reading
All financial institutions in the UAE must comply with the agreement signed with the US Financial institutions in the UAE will start sharing extensive data of account holders with a US nationality from July 1st with the Internal Revenue Services (IRS), or the American tax collecting authority. On May 23rd… – Continue reading
As they pile up in cash accounts, undistributed foreign profits are inflating U.S. multinationals’ valuations and making companies appear less leveraged. Undistributed foreign earnings (UFE) — foreign profits earned by overseas subsidiaries that have not, at least not yet, been remitted back to the U.S. parent — are a good… – Continue reading
In the latest attempt elevating the long-standing issue, a United Nations report has called for a fight against cross-border tax evasion — as in the kind of “smart” accounting that has let high-profile multinationals such as Apple, Google and Starbucks save billions in taxes for years. A US Senate… – Continue reading
Madison, June 5 – Tax loopholes encouraged more than 70 percent of Fortune 500 companies – includingJohnson Controls, Rockwell Automation and Manpower here in Wisconsin – to maintain subsidiaries in offshore tax havens as of 2013, according to “Offshore Shell Games,” released today by WISPIRG Foundation and Citizens for Tax Justice. Collectively, the companies reported booking… – Continue reading
Most Fortune 500 corporations have units in offshore tax havens that they use to avoid paying U.S. taxes through “accounting tricks,” two left-leaning tax activist groups said on Thursday. In a report that comes amid increased attention to corporate tax avoidance worldwide, the groups said U.S. multinationals each year avoid… – Continue reading
With all the U.S. corporate cash piling up on tiny Caribbean islands, it’s a wonder the beaches can still accommodate sunbathers. Apple, Nike, Citigroup and a few hundred other Fortune 500 companies have created a whopping 7,827 offshore shell companies to stash nearly $2 trillion in places like Bermuda and… – Continue reading
The European Union may open a formal probe as soon as next week into tax breaks that Ireland and the Netherlands use to attract international companies, according to people familiar with the case. The European Commission is scheduled to discuss the issue at a meeting June 11, said two people,… – Continue reading
Seventy two percent of Fortune 500 companies avoid approximately $90 billion in taxes by booking profits to subsidiaries registered in offshore tax havens, according to a report from the ConnPIRG Education Fund and Citizens for Tax Justice. Each year, offshore tax loopholes used by U.S. multinational corporations cost Connecticut $600 million in… – Continue reading
As many as 13 Swiss banks are facing an increasing stake related to criminal tax avoidance probes after another Swiss bank, Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE: CS), put new standards for punishment in US crackdown on evasion of offshore taxes. Punishment to fit crime Zuercher Kantonalbank, Julius Baer Group Ltd. and… – Continue reading
What is transfer pricing? Transfer pricing refers to the terms and conditions surrounding transactions taking place within a multi-national company. It concerns the prices charged between associated enterprises established in different countries for their inter-company transactions, i.e. transfer of goods and services. Since the prices are set by associates within… – Continue reading
The world is close to the point where hiding money offshore is foolhardy, no matter how little or large the amount is. As the loopholes continue to close, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) has announced a voluntarily scheme for people to declare unreported foreign income and assets. The ATO wants taxpayers with… – Continue reading
At present, it is unclear how the rules surrounding Private Residence relief (PPR) will exempt individuals from these new CGT rules. In his 2013 Autumn Statement, Chancellor George Osborne announced an important change to the UK tax system – namely, the extension of capital gains tax (CGT) to non-residents selling their… – Continue reading
NEW YORK — A Russian businessman who emigrated to the U.S. and then became a citizen of his adopted homeland Tuesday became the latest suspect to plead guilty to charges he failed to disclose a secret offshore bank account to the IRS. Viktor Kordash, 64, potentially faces a maximum five-year… – Continue reading
Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse is set to plead guilty to helping thousands of Americans cheat Uncle Sam. At the same time, the federal government is chasing taxpayers who hid their money overseas. It seems a good time to ask what’s fair and just in tax-evasion cases. You can’t throw… – Continue reading
Chief Executive Officer Martin Scholl said in an interview in Zurich today that he is waiting to hear from U.S. authorities after the Justice Department last month extracted a guilty plea and an agreement to pay $2.6 billion from Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN), the first global bank in a… – Continue reading
We are living in the golden age of global tax reform. At no point in history have there been so many initiatives coordinated by such a dizzying array of tax authorities, all focused on one thing: replenishing municipal budgets that have been depleted over the last five years of global… – Continue reading
U.S. corporations have reported to the Internal Revenue Service that 54 percent of their offshore profits are earned in 12 tax haven countries that, combined, only account for 4 percent of economic output among all countries where U.S. corporations do business. A new report by the advocacy group, Citizens for… – Continue reading
Hardcore tax avoiders are facing their last stand as one of the last tax safe havens sends HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) a list of countries where they have stashed their secret cash. Swiss banks must supply the list by May 31 under a tax agreement between Britain and the… – Continue reading
How come different attempts to measure wealth inequality come up with different answers? + That’s a question raised by the Financial Times’ analysis of Thomas Piketty’s work on inequality, which compared his data set to others and identified discrepancies, particularly when using one experimental survey in the United Kingdom. +… – Continue reading
We see signs of it every day: We hit bone-jarring potholes as we drive. We face long detours as bridges are closed for emergency repairs. When water mains break, businesses must temporarily close and homeowners have to boil their water. Too many of our kids attend schools that have leaky… – Continue reading
It is a figure which Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ), the US group which authored the report, says highlights Ireland’s popular use as a tax haven among US companies. Matt Gardner, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Policy in Washington DC, tells IBTimes UK: “It’s a clear indicator… – Continue reading
Geneva’s private banks may have to wait years before they can prospect for business in the European Union from Switzerland and service clients across borders, according to a managing partner at the city’s oldest bank. The EU won’t allow the banks to market wealth-management services into the 28-member bloc, especially after the… – Continue reading
OTTAWA — The federal revenue agency won’t say if Canadians were lured by Swiss bankers to hide money from the taxman, but it’s very likely they were, said Dennis Howlett of Canadians for Tax Fairness. He said Canadians have previously been caught stashing millions offshore, and it shouldn’t be a… – Continue reading
I run Craftsman House Gallery & Café in St. Petersburg. As a small-business owner, I’m proud to support my community and my country by paying my fair share in taxes. It’s distressing to me, however, that many of our country’s multinational corporate giants don’t feel the same way. Some don’t… – Continue reading
Supreme Court reiterates the principle that income of a discretionary trust cannot be taxed in the hands of a beneficiary unless distributed to the beneficiary. Where trustees have clearly retained the income of the trust and brought it forward year to year without disbursing it to the beneficiaries, the trust… – Continue reading
Sir Owen Glenn’s $400million court battle has spread to the Caribbean tax haven of Nevis, where his daughter has been drawn into the bitter fight for control of his fortune. Last week, the Herald on Sunday revealed that Sir Owen was suing business associates David Miller and Peter Dickson in… – Continue reading
I am not a financial advisor or consultant and this column is presented only to help explain to many senior citizens what appears to be a warning currently making the rounds on the Internet. In my research of the notice the online truth digging site of “TruthorFiction.com” has provided their… – Continue reading
Suisse Group AG (CSGN) set a new standard for punishment in the U.S. crackdown on offshore tax evasion. Julius Baer Group Ltd., Zuercher Kantonalbank and the Swiss unit of HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) are among those seeking to avoid pleading guilty to helping Americans cheat the Internal Revenue Service —… – Continue reading
CALGARY – A Calgary-based United States tax expert has recommended to the federal government that Canada follow the lead of other countries and include certain Canadian trusts within the definition of organizations subject to reporting under the recent Intergovernmental Agreement between the Canada and the U.S. “This would eliminate the… – Continue reading
A Cyprus court has frozen the assets of three offshore entities through which Mechel’s main shareholder and chairman Igor Zyuzin owns a 67.4 percent stake in the indebted steelmaker and coalminer, Interfax news agency reported Monday. Zyuzin is a controlling shareholder in Mechel, which has been hit by weak prices for its products, forcing it to sell loss-making assets and to negotiate delayed… – Continue reading
NEW YORK – According to a report from Bloomberg, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is keeping an ever growing share of its cash reserves outside of the U.S. to use for acquisitions. In a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Google revealed that it currently has more than $ 30 billion… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON: It will soon get a lot harder to use overseas accounts to hide income and assets from the US tax collectors. More than 77,000 foreign banks, investment funds and other financial institutions have agreed to share information about US account holders with the Internal Revenue Service as part of… – Continue reading
Chinatrust Commercial Bank employees gather on the steps of their Xinyi headquarters to say goodbye to the building, as they are being relocated to Nangang, May 15. (File photo/Deng Bo-jen) Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission said on May 25 that the total revenue for Taiwanese banks’ offshore banking units has exceeded… – Continue reading
Increasing numbers of the wealthy global elite are saying goodbye to their home country and taking up residence elsewhere in an effort to preserve their riches. Popular destination countries like Cyprus, Spain and Australia have programs that offer a path to citizenship or permanent residency — for those who can… – Continue reading
Prosecutors Trace Accounts Across the Globe as Authorities Pressure Swiss Banks The hunt for money hidden in Swiss bank accounts by U.S. citizens has become a global chase, with prosecutors tracing records to Singapore, the Cook Islands and elsewhere as U.S. authorities increase the pressure on Swiss lenders to turn… – Continue reading
Cases like alleged involvement of 500 Indians in parking money in HSBC‘s Geneva Branch, 26 Indian account holders of LGT Bank may all be probed by SITThe special investigation team (SIT), announced on Tuesday by the Cabinet, will probe all cases of black money – be it related to the money allegedly stashed away by Indians abroad… – Continue reading
Prosecutors investigating a list of 2,602 Greeks with 1.5 billion euros ($1.95 billion) in secret Swiss bank accounts have reportedly found that 90 percent of them are tax cheats. – See more at: The ongoing probe by financial prosecutors, Panagiotis Athanasiou and Galinos Mpris in cooperation with the Deputy Prosecutor… – Continue reading
Azerbaijan and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agreed to conclude an intergovernmental agreement on implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) by Azerbaijani banks, the Ministry of Taxes of Azerbaijan said on May 21. Starting from July 1, 2014 the banks in all countries should join the… – Continue reading
AsiaOne Business News released an article on the expectation of Singapore to dislodge Switzerland as the world’s wealth management capital (Business AsiaOne, 5/12/14) last week. AsiaBiz Services, Singapore’s leading company formation consultancy, affirmed that the main reasons for the country’s acquisition of its enormous share of global offshore wealth are attributed to… – Continue reading
In recent years, the US Congress and the US Department of Treasury have come to believe that many US taxpayers (including US citizens and green card holders in India) have not been complying with the tax law that requires reporting of worldwide income, including income held in non-US financial institutions…. – Continue reading
Is every item buried in Table S-9 of the President’s budget a big can of worms? The only one I understand is big like a roadside attraction. By my count it’s item 237 out of 373: “Provide for reciprocal reporting of information in connection with the implementation of FATCA.” FATCA… – Continue reading
About two dozen U.S. companies ranging from Liberty Media to Sara Lee have quietly moved their headquarters out of the United States to places like Ireland and Canada and England since 2008 in search of lower corporate income taxes. Few people other than tax techies noticed. But now, thanks to… – Continue reading
US corporations are making record profits in tax havens like Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and the British Virgin Islands (BVI). Some of the profits exceed the GDP of the host country, with Bermuda’s offshore profits 1643% of total economic output. As a share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), profits from… – Continue reading
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the government to “bring back black money” is likely to help India plug its wealth draining to offshore tax havens with Swiss global tax activists saying that the government can put pressure on Switzerland by blacklisting it as a non-cooperative jurisdiction and complaining… – Continue reading
Bank of America tops the list of Charlotte-based companies avoiding big tax bills by keeping profits offshore, according to a new report by a nonprofit tax research and advocacy group. Citizens for Tax Justice found that 301 U.S. Fortune 500 companies disclosed holding nearly $2 trillion in profits offshore. By… – Continue reading
The Supreme Court of India in a recent ruling (Commissioner of Wealth Tax, Rajkot v. Estate of Late HMM Vikramsinhji of Gondal (Civil Appeal No. 2312 of 2007) has held that the Indian resident beneficiaries of an offshore discretionary trust shall not be subject to tax on the trust’s income… – Continue reading
Switzerland isn’t the only tax haven feeling the heat from countries that are trying to scrape more revenue by raking in taxes from citizens with undeclared offshore assets. According to the U.K.-based Ethical Consumer, mini-states, like Andorra and the Cayman Islands, and financial centers, like Hong Kong and Singapore, all offer banking… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON — European bank Credit Suisse AG pleaded guilty Monday to helping wealthy Americans avoid paying taxes through secret offshore accounts and agreed to pay about $2.6 billion. The Justice Department said it was the largest penalty imposed in any criminal tax case. It is also the largest bank to… – Continue reading
Swiss bank helped wealthy Americans avoid taxes using off-shore accounts for decades, authorities say Credit Suisse AG’s guilty plea and $2.6 billion payment in a high-profile case brought by the Justice Department are being held out as a warning to foreign banks believed to be helping U.S. taxpayers conceal assets…. – Continue reading
