Four pharmaceutical giants have been named and shamed for depriving Australia of $215 million a year in tax avoidance. Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD Australia), and Abbott – which make household name brands like Band Aid, Baby Oil, Centrum and ChapStick –were found to have unfairly… – Continue reading
THE Deputy Prime Minister believes the Bahamas has “done everything we could possibly do” to escape the European Union (EU) ‘tax haven’ blacklist that will be issued tomorrow. K P Turnquest told Tribune Business that the Minnis administration “has no reason to think” this nation will be deemed a ‘non-cooperative… – Continue reading
A major new global transparency measure aimed at curbing cross-border tax evasion by requiring countries to share information on the wealth of each other’s nationals could be undermined by the abuse of residency- and citizenship-for-sale schemes. Tax justice campaigners say that some of these schemes are already being marketed as… – Continue reading
An estimated $3.5 billion in revenue from large corporates and multinationals is at risk to the economy, but through audit activity this will reduce to $2.5 billion, according to the Australian Taxation Office. On Wednesday the agency is releasing the first tranche of its long-awaited highly anticipated “tax gap” figures,… – Continue reading
A study released May 28 by University of California Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman and two Scandinavian colleagues, “Tax Evasion and Inequality,” demonstrates that global wealth inequality is drastically underestimated in official statistics because of how successful the super-rich are at evading taxes. According to the paper, the super-rich, that is… – Continue reading
New Oxfam report indicates Government measures to tackle tax avoidance are failing Multinationals are continuing to route billions of euro in profit to and through Ireland to avoid tax, according to a new report by Oxfam Ireland. The study, which suggests that Government measures aimed at tackling tax avoidance are… – Continue reading
Bermuda – the world’s former “top tax haven” – has joined the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s fight against multinational profit shifting. Bermuda disputes it is a tax haven despite companies such as Apple and Google in the past being accused of using the British overseas territory to minimise… – Continue reading
World Economic Forum debate hears how fight to make companies ‘pay their fair share’ is being undermined by race to cut corporation tax rates Efforts to tackle global tax avoidance are being undermined by a “race to the bottom” on corporate tax rates led by Britain and the US, the… – Continue reading
Coalition’s proposed diverted profits tax could capture billions in revenue from multinationals using profit-shifting practices, says Tax Justice Network One of the biggest critics of multinational tax avoidance has welcomed the Coalition’s proposed “Google tax”, saying a similar tax in the UK looks likely to increase corporate tax payments by… – Continue reading
The creation of a new United Nations tax body to clamp down on tax dodging, which experts say could cost developing countries more than $200 billion a year in missed revenues, will be a key priority of the Group of 77 and China under Ecuadorian leadership, according to the country’s… – Continue reading
A parliamentary drive to force greater transparency on the UK’s offshore tax havens is being led by former Commons spending watchdog chairwoman Dame Margaret Hodge and ex-international development secretary Andrew Mitchell. The pair, backed by scores of MPs from across the Commons and supported by an alliance of charities, are… – Continue reading
The Mauritius IFC: Driving Growth in Africa As a jurisdiction of substance, the Mauritius International Financial Centre (Mauritius IFC) has been instrumental in driving quality investments in Africa, leading to sustained growth and prosperity across the continent. It is therefore with deep regret that we take note of the misperceptions… – Continue reading
Two reports on company taxation show that more than a third of the largest companies operating in Australia paid no tax in 2014–15 and that multinational tax evasion cost an estimated $4.8 billion that year. These reports show the fraud of the claims being made by the Australian government and… – Continue reading
A recent report has revived claims Singapore is a tax haven but the Singapore Government and experts here reject the label emphatically. They say the report contains inaccurate assertions and fails to recognise recent steps here to crack down on tax evasion. The Republic ranked fifth on a list of… – Continue reading
Ireland’s Ministry of Finance, the EU and several other governments have emphatically rejected claims by Oxfam International that the countries are tax havens, with Ireland insisting its corporate tax laws are “fully compliant” with international best practices when it comes to transparency and information exchange. The Irish government said the… – Continue reading
Finance minister Bob Richards has expressed dismay at Oxfam’s claim that Bermuda is the world’s worst corporate tax haven. And the Progressive Labour Party joined him to condemn the report as “extremely disappointing”. Mr Richards pointed to “serial errors” in the global charity’s report on offshore centres, which found that… – Continue reading
Facebook Ireland yesterday declared “we do not avoid tax” as revenues and pre-tax profits soared to record levels. New accounts show that Facebook Ireland Ltd’s corporate tax bill of €16.53m for 2015 represented only a tiny fraction of its record revenues of €7.89bn. The 63pc – €3bn – increase in… – Continue reading
A showdown between the Australian Taxation Office and the nation’s largest companies including Chevron, Crown and BHP Billiton is looming as the tax man hits seven large companies with tax bills amounting to $2 billion. On Friday, the ATO released its corporate tax transparency report for 2014-15, which includes limited… – Continue reading
Four UK territories in list ‘undermine Britain’s efforts to be responsible member of the international community’ Bermuda is the world’s worst corporate tax haven, according to a list by Oxfam, which includes three other UK territories among those it names and shames. The charity’s list of the “world’s worst” 15… – Continue reading
European Union finance ministers agreed on Tuesday how to screen countries for a blacklist of tax havens across the world, officials said, and said applying zero-rate taxes was not necessarily a factor, prompting an outcry. The bloc committed in May to agree on a common list of tax offenders by… – Continue reading
The European Commission has unveiled its latest plan to harmonise corporate tax. After two past failures, the executive hopes the recent flurry of tax scandals will give the project a new lease of life. The EU has revived its tax crusade with a new attempt to establish a Common Consolidated… – Continue reading
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa wants the country to consider a novel approach to limit the use of tax havens: preventing politicians from using them. Accompanied by leaders from social movements and political allies, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa made the case before the constitutional court for a plebiscite to give lawmakers… – Continue reading
A United Nations human rights expert has urged the next UN secretary-general to make the elimination of tax havens a priority to ensure that corporations, billionaires and ‘kleptocrats’ pay their fair share of taxes. Speaking on Friday, American law professor Alfred de Zayas also urged Antonio Guterres, who will succeed… – Continue reading
Ireland, accused of being a tax haven for multinationals such as Apple to pay nearly zero tax on the bulk of its profits earned outside the United States, finds itself with a new adversary in the global fight against unfair tax practices — Brazil. As of October 1, Brazil will… – Continue reading
A report by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) has criticised the Department for International Development’s (DfiD) approach to tackling tax avoidance and its alleged failure to achieve value for money on HMRC collaboration DfiD has failed in its efforts to fully include developing countries so that they benefit… – Continue reading
Ecuador’s foreign minister, leading economists and campaigners call for a new U.N. body to root out tax evaders and crack down on offshore havens. Ecuador ramped up its fight against tax dodging Wednesday as the South American country proposed a plan on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in… – Continue reading
Apple Inc. may face double taxation on some of its profits if the European Commission’s Aug. 30 ruling inspires France to slap its own tax adjustment on the company, practitioners said. Apple could even face “triple taxation” if it repatriates profits from the European Union to the U.S., Laurent Leclercq,… – Continue reading
According to a new report, secretive offshore tax avoidance practices are on the rise among multinational businesses. The report, released from the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition (FACT), finds that these practices put investors at risk because they are caught off guard when governments act to collect the lost… – Continue reading
Today, we see more enthusiasm for tax reform in Indonesia. Although opposed by some civil society groups, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration continues to push its fiscal framework reform — which includes a tax amnesty and more incentives for taxpayers. Last year, the Finance Ministry issued a new tax holiday… – Continue reading
OXFAM has called for action to close a legal loophole that has seen a booming number of Scottish shell firms used for tax dodging and money laundering. The global charity warned that the country was becoming one of the world’s “secret tax havens where the privileged minority hide billions from… – Continue reading
European Union member states have struck a deal on new rules designed to eliminate the most common corporate tax avoidance practices. The measures in the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive target the main forms of tax avoidance practiced by large multinationals and builds on global standards developed by the Organisation for Economic… – Continue reading
Multinationals suspected of routing Australian profits via Singapore will be outed to tax authorities, with the low-tax nation this week signing up to the global plan to fight tax evasion. Companies including big miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto as well as technology giants Apple and Google, have admitted using… – Continue reading
Sydney-A new report by Oxfam said Australia’s federal government lost an estimated 5 billion US dollars in revenue in 2014 as a consequence of tax avoidance by multinational corporations with Australian operations. The non-governmental organization said in its report that investments from Australian-based big companies in tax havens globally grew… – Continue reading
Irish economists among 300 to sign letter co-ordinated by Oxfam ahead of summit Thirteen Irish economists have signed a letter to world leaders warning there is no economic justification for allowing tax havens to continue, and urging them to end offshore financial secrecy. They are among 300 economists from 30… – Continue reading
Less than two weeks after publication of the Panama Papers, a year-long investigation by hundreds of news organizations around the world, including the Star, cast a bright light on the world of offshore tax havens, a new report from Oxfam reveals how much money the 50 largest U.S. corporations have… – Continue reading
The release of the so-called Panama Papers has shone a light on the secretive world of offshore tax havens and shown the exhaustive lengths that companies and wealthy individuals will go to in an effort to avoid paying tax. The trove of documents leaked from the Panama-based law firm Mossack… – Continue reading
Businesses will be forced to declare how much they make in each European country and in certain tax havens as part of an attempt to curb schemes that shift profits out of the reach of tax collectors. The plan to introduce country-by-country reporting in Europe is the latest global curb… – Continue reading
The UK has been slammed over its failure to crackdown on British-controlled tax havens, with a new report claiming that the wealthiest one percent of the UK’s population have captured more than US$1.4 trillion of the country’s national growth since 2000. The report from Oxfam called on UK officials to… – Continue reading
Journalist Steve Topple investigates Bermuda-based big business tax avoidance and its links with UK political parties – and even some charities LAST WEEK saw the news emerge that everyone’s favourite search engine, Google, only had to pay £97m in back-tax (not the “major success” of £130m as was first reported)… – Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG – A data sharing agreement signed by 31 countries – including South Africa – in a bid to enhance transparency by multinational enterprises, is unlikely to have an immediate impact on mining companies. Through the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the Exchange of Country-by-Country Reporting, signed by members of… – Continue reading
Despite EU intentions to crack down on tax avoidance, the European Commission’s Anti-Tax Avoidance Package does not do what it says on the tin, warns Oxfam, and developing countries will feel the EU’s failure most. The package comes a week after the international NGO revealed that just 62 people own… – Continue reading
Coinciding with the World Economic Forum in Davos this week Oxfam has issued a report – entitled An Economy for the 1% – outlining how wealth inequality has grown to the stage where 62 of the world’s richest people own as much as the poorest half of the world’s people… – Continue reading
Tax dodging by the super-rich is one of the main drivers of global income inequality and must be sharply curtailed, according to a new report from the global nonprofit Oxfam. Citing research by Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman — a protégé of Thomas Piketty, author of the global bestseller on inequality,… – Continue reading
The proceeds from illegal tax breaks brokered between an EU state and a multinational company, known as clawbacks, should be returned either to the EU budget or to the coffer of other states unfairly deprived of the money, according to MEPs. The idea was endorsed by the European parliament in… – Continue reading
There will be no end to the inequality crisis until world leaders end the era of tax havens, once and for all, according to a report from charity Oxfam. In its report, “An Economy for the 1%”, published ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Oxfam has challenged world… – Continue reading
Kampala — At least $470m (about Shs1.5 trillion) is lost in tax exemptions every year, a study commissioned by Oxfam and Southern and Eastern African Trade, Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) Uganda, indicates. According to the study, titled “Fairness Tax Monitor: Country Study for Uganda” whose intention was to assess… – Continue reading
£300 penalties would be dwarfed by millions in potential profits for firms that take advantage of tax-avoidance schemes Huge multinational companies that dodge millions of pounds in tax in the UK and around the world face “laughable” fines of £300 under new rules proposed by HM Revenue and Customs. The… – Continue reading
Charities remind Cameron of pledge to ‘continue to lead world on tax and transparency’ before meetings with leaders of overseas territories Campaigners are urging David Cameron to use a meeting with leaders of Britain’s overseas territories this week to demand a crackdown on tax dodging, corruption and money laundering. Leading… – Continue reading
East African countries expect to collect more revenue under a new code drawn, by the world’s richest economies to stop foreign multinationals from dodging taxes in host countries. The new code — Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) — adopted by G20 at its meeting in Turkey two weeks ago,… – Continue reading
Eight out of ten Europeans think there should be a legal clampdown on tax havens, a pan-European poll commissioned by 24 NGOs has found. The results of the YouGov poll of more than 18,000 EU citizens, released ahead of a vote in the European parliament tomorrow to approve recommendations to… – Continue reading
