Activists outside the offices of Chevron in Houston, Texas called for oil companies to accept strong rules to implement the transparency provisions in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Bill in 2012. Oxfam members portrayed oil companies as monkeys in the “see no evil, speak no evil” proverb. Photo: Scott Dalton… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Swiss bank account holders who have been quietly celebrating the exit of P Chidambaram now have another reason to rejoice. Almost three-fourths of the 600 or so named in the list of clients of HSBC Geneva are beneficiaries of ” discretionary trusts”. These individuals are confident that a Supreme… – Continue reading
A new report from the advocacy group Citizens for Tax Justice finds that 301 Fortune 500 companies hold a combined $2 trillion offshore, collectively avoiding $550 billion in U.S. corporate income taxes, while a contrasting report from the Tax Foundation found that U.S. multinational corporations reported paying more than $128… – Continue reading
Our elected officials in Washington, D.C., talk a good game when it comes to supporting the needs of small-business owners like my husband and I. We run Blockwise Engineering, a manufacturing equipment business in Tempe. Like all good small-business owners, we do our civic duty and pay our fair share… – Continue reading
Macquarie Group has acknowledged that a revised tax bill following a full-scale audit by Tax Office investigators may be market sensitive and could move its share price. The information, which relates to three years of additional tax, has never been disclosed by the homegrown investment bank to the sharemarket. Macquarie’s… – Continue reading
Chancellor says “we will continue to pursue offshore tax evaders”. The government is set to consult on plans to make it a “strict liability criminal offence” for individuals to hide their money offshore, meaning it will make a much easier for HM Revenue & Customs to prosecute offshore tax evaders…. – Continue reading
A criminal case has been opened in Portugal against Brazil’s football coach Luiz Felipe Scolari weeks before Brazil hosts the World Cup. He has been named as a formal suspect in a tax fraud investigation but he has not been arrested or charged. Mr Scolari, 65, was Portugal’s head coach… – Continue reading
Here is what we do. Just follow these few easy steps, and I’ll have you on your way to the Land of the Tax Free. First, I’ll have you buy a life insurance policy. Not a common life insurance policy that any Joe Blow agent could sell you, but a… – Continue reading
Corporate Tax Avoidance: Last week the news that Apple is considering buying Beats Electronics, a maker of expensive headphones that was founded by record mogul Jimmy Iovine and rap artist Dr Dre, for $3.2bn, got a lot of media attention. Dr Dre must have pissed-off Apple when he bragged on… – Continue reading
If Washington closes offshore tax loopholes, we can fix many of our infrastructure problems and create new jobs. America has an infrastructure crisis. 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… – Continue reading
KARACHI: Pakistan’s large banks have completed the registration process with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) – the US government agency responsible for tax collection and law enforcement – to report the data (dollar-denominated transactions) of US persons to it, banking sources said on Wednesday. They have got the registration as… – Continue reading
The haters say it would be too difficult to shut down international tax havens. But the tax haven business has seen better days. T homas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century has been praised to the skies for its historical analysis of income inequality. But one aspect of Capital that many people have dismissed is his… – Continue reading
NEW YORK/ WASHINGTON New York state’s banking regulator is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from Credit Suisse in its probe of potential tax evasion involving the Swiss bank, according to sources close to the matter, which could push an eventual settlement with US authorities over $2 billion.The New York… – Continue reading
A £100m charity tax avoidance scheme similar to the Cup Trust has been defeated at a tax tribunal by HM Revenue & Customs.According to the judgment handed down this week by the first tier of the tax tribunal, the Bluebox scheme used a method where government bonds were given to… – Continue reading
A decision to drop tax and money laundering charges against three high-profile Sydney businessmen is ”another humiliating defeat for the Project Wickenby Keystone Cops”, according to a lawyer close to the trio. Charges attracting jail of up to 25 years, laid against former CVC Limited chairman Vanda Gould, former Sunland… – Continue reading
The UK’s 100 largest public companies have nearly 30,000 subsidiaries, according to new research by Christian Aid Christian Aid has accused many of the largest companies that claim to be driving corporate responsibility of operating behind a veil of secrecy by creating thousands of subsidiaries in tax havens. The UK’s… – Continue reading
You’ve seen a recurring headline at the top of the business section this year: “ABC Corp. buys XYZ Inc. in multibillion merger.” When one company buys another, it’s typically done because there’s a fundamental belief that the sum is greater than the parts (Apple for Dr. Dre’s Beats Music, for… – Continue reading
According to David Cameron, “aggressive” tax avoidance is “morally wrong”. His Chancellor agrees. George Osborne describes “aggressive” tax avoidance as “morally repugnant”. They were speaking in 2012 after Jimmy Carr, the comedian, was exposed for having channelled £3.3m a year into a tax avoidance scheme. This week, the Government was… – Continue reading
Tax avoidance and money laundering charges against former CVC Limited chairman Vanda Gould, former Sunland chairman John Leaver and Swiss resident Peter Borgas have been dropped. The trio were arrested by Federal Police in October on allegations they used a complex network of companies in tax havens to avoid millions… – Continue reading
Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of the Thorn Law Group discusses the recent negotiations between the U.S. Department of Justice and Swiss bank Credit Suisse and the effect that any potential settlement may have on the rest of the banking community and the U.S. Taxpayers who still may have undisclosed… – Continue reading
Samuel and Charles Wyly used a web of offshore trusts to illegally hide their stock holdings and evade trading limits, a jury found, leaving Samuel Wyly and his brother’s estate potentially liable for as much as $550 million. The panel of eight women and four men today delivered the verdict… – Continue reading
Swisspartners Group, a Zurich-based money-manager, resolved a U.S. criminal tax probe by paying $4.4 million for helping American clients use secret accounts to evade taxes. In return, the government agreed not to prosecute the firm, citing its “extraordinary cooperation.” The agreement resulted from Swisspartners’ voluntary production of the files for… – Continue reading
A few points about Macquarie’s bizarre tax predicament. The tax bill is up over $500 million in two years, but it is the rate that is worthy of note rather than the quantum. Last year was a very good one for the bank, net income was $1 billion higher so… – Continue reading
Calls for crackdown as investigation finds huge Indonesian corporations evading tax through network of secret shell companies in British Virgin Islands and other tax havens Giant Asian logging companies that make billions from destroying rainforests use a labyrinth of secret shell companies based in a UK overseas territory, the British Virgin… – Continue reading
Beanie Baby creator Ty Warner might be headed to prison after all. The billionaire was originally sentenced to probation after hiding $25 million in Swiss banksto avoid US taxes, but federal prosecutors are now asking for re-sentencing. Their appeal argued that Warner appears to be getting a different standard of justice than the… – Continue reading
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – NEWS reaching this publication states that a businessman from Wyoming, United States of America was on Wednesday (May 7) sentenced to serve 36 months in jail for tax evasion. According to a US Department of Justice press release, the businessman, Robert C. Sathre, appeared before US District… – Continue reading
The agreement of Switzerland to disclose information on banking accounts in its territory, at the risk of its time-honored status as the world’s foremost tax haven, may prompt the wealthy worldwide, including Chinese nationals, to search for new shelters for their fortunes. Switzerland, the world’s largest offshore financial center, announced… – Continue reading
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — (SBWIRE) — 05/08/2014 — ICO Services, the international company specialized in the formation of offshore companies and offshore banking, has recently expanded their services to the American business world by launching their service of setting up a company in Belize, the only fiscal paradise in Central… – Continue reading
New Delhi – The government Tuesday disclosed to the Supreme Court the names of 26 people who had accounts in banks in Liechtenstein, revealed to India by German authorities. A bench of Justice H.L.Dattu, Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai and Justice Madan B. Lokur were given these names by Solicitor General… – Continue reading
In tax evasion sentencing, a question of character SARASOTA – Before sentencing a Sarasota psychiatrist in a $15 million tax fraud case today, a federal judge will consider attorneys’ contrasting depictions of her character. Facts Court documents Click here to read court documents in the Hough case. Patricia Lynn Hough’s… – Continue reading
The world’s wealthiest people have long relied on Swiss bank accounts and international shell corporations headquartered in tax haven countries, but the total amount of money they’re hiding from the world’s tax officials has always been hard to pin down. One economist thinks he’s figured it out: Rich families are hiding at… – Continue reading
Money Week editor-in-chief Merryn Somerset Webb has sparked a new debate on the question of whether the Isle of Man is a tax haven or not. Last week Business News reported how the FT columnist believes the island is a tax haven even though it was pointed out to… – Continue reading
When it comes to tax, things are not always what they seem to be, as the recent news of Starbucks and Amazon shows. In a world where multinational corporations shift taxable profits to favourable jurisdictions, and sovereign nations use tax rates to improve their global competitiveness, things are not always… – Continue reading
Some investors avoid paying taxes in a move called round-tripping — sending money offshore, then investing it in U.S. stocks or bonds. A study estimates it costs the U.S. billions in lost revenues. Recently, MIT professor Michelle Hanlon and two colleagues set out to find out all they could about… – Continue reading
Texas businessman Sam Wyly told jurors on Wednesday he relied on the advice of his former lawyer in determining whether he needed to disclose stock holdings in offshore trusts at the center of a fraud case brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Wyly, who took the stand for… – Continue reading
You pay your fair share of taxes. Small businesses do too. It’s the price we pay to educate our kids, protect our communities and have some security in retirement. Why shouldn’t some of America’s largest corporations pay their fair share too? Corporations are making record profits. But 111 profitable Fortune 500… – Continue reading
It may be tax day for most Americans, but it’s still a tax holiday for those who use offshore accounts to avoid paying levies on as much as $109 billion annually back to Uncle Sam, according to Quartz. Many of the monied types keep their dollars in offshore accounts specifically to… – Continue reading
Here come the tax acronyms; FATCA, AEOI, specified US persons & the potential for a tax residence licence in your wallet alongside your driver’s licence Posted in Personal Finance April 15, 2014 – 07:22am, By Gareth Vaughan First we get FATCA then we’ll get AEOI. Apologies for the acronyms. FATCA… – Continue reading
To put it mildly, I’m not a fan of the so-called Tax Justice Network. In a moment of typical understatement, I referred to the U.K.-based group as “…a bunch of crazy Euro-socialists.” And to give you an idea of why I don’t like them, here’s some of what I wrote… – Continue reading
Since the global financial crisis in 2008, a handful of life companies in Luxembourg have seen their businesses flourish, as high- and ultra-high-net worth individuals in certain European markets have turned to a type of single premium bond marketed by these insurers as a safe and tax-efficient place to park… – Continue reading
As much as six per cent of all world wealth is hidden in tax shelters, according to a new study ‘One per centers’ earned an average of $1.2million in 2012, the most recent year data is available for, but the top 0.01 per cent earned over $30million One per centers’… – Continue reading
BANK of Ireland is set to shutter its offshore banking operations in the Isle of Man following a strategic review. Bank of Ireland had used the Isle of Man as a deposit gathering operation in offshore savings. The bank’s Isle of Man operations had featured prominently in tribunals, with the… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS, April 12 (KUNA) — Belgium and the US will sign an agreement on 23 April that will allow the automatic exchange of bank data from accounts held in both countries. Belgian Finance Minister Koen Geens was quoted by Belgian media Saturday saying that the new deal “will lead to… – Continue reading
I had lunch with Gabriel Zucman today, co-author of the startling new paper (pdf) showing that the concentration of wealth at the very top — the 0.1% — is fully back to Gilded Age levels.And he pointed me to another paper that flew under my, and I suspect other peoples’,… – Continue reading
Britons hiding income in tax havens overseas to be made criminal offence Tough new measure was announced by George Osbourne at U.S. meeting It could help recoup some of £15billion in tax that goes missing each year HMRC estimates that outright tax evasion costs the Exchequer £5billion Britain is… – Continue reading
Prague, April 10 (CTK) – The number of Czech companies with owners based in destinations regarded as tax havens grew to 13,168 at the end of March, up by 68 from the end of last year, according to information from consulting company Bisnode. According to Bisnode, interest in tax havens… – Continue reading
MOSCOW, April 11 (Reuters) – Polyus Gold, Russia’s biggest gold miner, is considering state proposals to encourage the rebasing of Russian firms currently owned by offshore entities and intends to explore these issues with the government, the company said on Friday. The comments of the Jersey-registered company, whose share listing is… – Continue reading
Joe Oliver says Canada brings labour market, tax reforms to international forum Finance ministers from the G20 nations say they will press ahead on tax reform to prevent profit-shifting by companies and new governance measures for banks to prevent future bank failures. At the conclusion of a morning meeting in Washington, Finance Minister… – Continue reading
Wout Moelands, Hamir Khatau and Richard Collier, PwC UK Until the work of the OECD is completed, we can expect more frequent and assertive PE challenges, including the international origination arrangements conducted by travelling bankers or representative offices of banks. l. Introduction The PE rules provide tax authorities with a… – Continue reading
