Romanian Prime Minister Vctor Ponta exits the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, June 5, 2015. Ponta told media that he was suspected of making false statements, money laundering and being an accomplice to tax evasion while working as a lawyer from 2007 to 2008 when he was also… – Continue reading
A businessman caught in a money-laundering sting helped the U.S. prosecute a foreign business — and now he’s seeking $22.2 million from the government as a reward. The U.S. Tax Court ruled Tuesday in favor of the informant, allowing his claim to proceed after the Internal Revenue Service earlier denied… – Continue reading
Afip has blamed Julio Grondona for authorising a $10-million payment that prosecutors have characterised as a bribe to vote for SA for World Cup 2010. Julio Grondona, a former Fifa vice-president and head of finance who ran Argentina’s soccer federation from 1979 until his death last year at 82, will… – Continue reading
Solicitors have a week to pay the tax they owe on undeclared income or face hefty penalties, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) warned today (4 June). Solicitors have until 9 June 2015 to tell HMRC about any undeclared income and pay the tax they owe. By taking this chance to… – Continue reading
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is reviewing the selling activity of thousands of online sellers who use websites such as Amazon, Etsy and eBay to earn a living, as part of a fresh crack down on tax evasion. According to The Telegraph, these websites are being forced to hand over… – Continue reading
McClay visits European capitals to talk Trade and sign tax agreement Minister of Revenue and Associate Trade Minister, Todd McClay has concluded a European lobbying mission by signing a tax agreement in Paris to focus on tax avoidance by multinationals. Tax Agreement The OECD’s Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement brings New… – Continue reading
New Zealand has signed up to an agreement of developed nations that will enable the sharing of financial information to help fight tax avoidance by multinational companies, Revenue Minister Todd McClay said Thursday, reports the Shanghai Daily. The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement brought… – Continue reading
Chief prosecutor for canton’s decision to investigate despite inaction by other Swiss regulators shows power struggle within establishment The £28m HSBC will pay in “compensation” to the Swiss authorities following a money laundering investigation may be no more than a drop in the lake for Europe’s biggest bank, but it… – Continue reading
International Christian groups are hailing a report demanding fresh solutions to tax dodging by multinational companies. The World Council of Churches and the UK’s Christian Aid cite researchers from the International Monetary Fund who say tax rules could be costing developing countries $212 billion a year. The report, from the… – Continue reading
A COMMON REPORTING STANDARD ACROSS THE WORLD The goalposts in international tax reporting are moving rapidly. In conjunction with the G20, the OECD developed the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) as a global standard for the automatic exchange of information. This was approved by the OECD Council on 15 July 2014… – Continue reading
SEOUL, June 4 (Yonhap) — South Korea and the World Bank kicked off an international tax conference in Seoul on Thursday to highlight the need for closer international cooperation to effectively deal with corporate tax evaders, organizers said. The two-day gathering is designed to stress the growing importance of tax… – Continue reading
India joined the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information on 3rd June, 2015, in Paris, France, alongwith Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Indonesia and New Zealand. On our behalf, the Declaration to comply with the provisions of the MCAA was signed by H.E. Mr. Mohan Kumar,… – Continue reading
The special committee leading the European Parliament’s inquiry into tax rulings has upped the pressure on businesses and European governments. The inquiry will be extended until October. EurActiv France reports. Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg and Switzerland have one thing in common. These five countries have all received an investigative… – Continue reading
Two Switzerland-based banks have agreed to disclose secret accounts belonging to US taxpayers as part of a new US program to fight offshore tax evasion, the US Department of Justice announced in a statement on Wednesday. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — “The days of safely hiding behind shell corporations and numbered bank… – Continue reading
Canada’s Revenue Minister, Kerry-Lynne D Findlay, has signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) on the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information. The adoption of the MCAA is a commitment from Canada to implement new international standards on the automatic exchange of information in tax matters. The MCAA specifies the… – Continue reading
Former Public Accounts Committee Chair Margaret Hodge writes ahead of next week’s CPA UK Workshop in partnership on Parliamentary Action on Tax Transparency, Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance A new global development agenda will be put in place by the UN this year, consisting of 17 high-level and ambitious goals… – Continue reading
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has told a Senate estimates hearing the government hasn’t costed its measure to tackle multinational tax evasion. The Abbott government didn’t include revenue estimates for its measure to tackle multinational tax evasion in the budget because it didn’t cost them. Announcing measures to tighten the tax… – Continue reading
A powerful business lobby is sounding the warning to lawmakers about a global effort to crack down on offshore tax evasion. The National Association of Manufacturers warned the top congressional tax writers that the so-called Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project “could have a negative impact on the global competitiveness… – Continue reading
The Honourable Kerry-Lynne D. Findlay, P.C., Q.C., M.P, Minister of National Revenue, today signed the international Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA), an important step towards implementing the Common Reporting Standard for the automatic exchange of financial account information with other tax jurisdictions. Economic Action Plan (EAP) 2015 reiterated the Government… – Continue reading
The CEO of a Maine poker chip manufacturer was found guilty of tax evasion for paying employees under the table and evading payroll taxes. John M. Kendall was convicted on three felony counts of theft by misapplication of withholding taxes, one felony count of conspiracy to commit tax evasion, three… – Continue reading
El Salvador has become the latest country joining international efforts to fight offshore tax evasion. The Central American nation yesterday signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. In doing so, El Salvador has become the 86th member worldwide, the eighth Latin American country and the third… – Continue reading
In December 2014, the Swiss parliament—giving in to international pressure—passed new laws to tighten its anti-money-laundering regulations, most prominently the freezing of assets in Swiss bank accounts. It also increases watch over politicians and officials such as those arrested in the FIFA scandal, by defining them as PEP—Politically Exposed Persons… – Continue reading
Developments in Asia over the last year have been continuous with the biggest generic development relating to the exchange of information. Asian countries have put their FATCA reporting systems in place (even though not all have yet signed an inter-governmental agreement with the US IRS), and most have now committed… – Continue reading
A full and fascinating roundtable discussion based around the island’s place as an international finance centre was held at KPMG’s headquarters in Athol Street, Douglas. Around the table were David Karran, managing director, IQE, Simon Scott, managing director, Barclays Isle of Man, Andrew Thomas, chief executive, Isle of Man Enterprises… – Continue reading
Sinn Féin TD calls on Taoiseach to defend constitutional protection Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald has again defended her use Dáil privilege to name former politicians who were accused of having offshore bank accounts to evade tax In an Irish Times piece on Tuesday, businessman Denis O’Brien was critical of… – Continue reading
SAN DIEGO – A former J.P. Morgan Chase banker was ordered today to serve six months in prison for her role in a commercial bribery and tax-evasion scheme. While handing down the sentence to 51-year-old Lynda Sanabria in a San Diego courtroom, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez also ordered her… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS, June 1 (KUNA) ¬¬ The European Parliament’s Development Committee Monday called on companies in all countries to adopt country¬by¬country reporting and make all information public in order to fight tax evasion and illicit money flows in developing countries. The committee in a resolution also called on the EU’s financial… – Continue reading
A sharp fall in the average length of custodial sentences given to criminal tax evaders is a clear signal that HM Revenue & Customs is increasingly targeting smaller cases, according to research by Pinsent Masons. Over the last four years, the average sentence length for these criminal tax evaders has… – Continue reading
New Delhi: The government on Sunday introduced simplified income tax return forms, abandoning a previous attempt to seek detailed disclosures of foreign trips and bank accounts from taxpayers, even as it retained clauses to check evasion. While taxpayers will not have to disclose details of all foreign travel undertaken by… – Continue reading
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina tax officials say they’re seeking U.S. information about alleged corruption involving FIFA. Tax chief Ricardo Echegaray tells La Once Diez radio that his agency has asked the U.S. for “all the documentation that permits us to quantify” Argentina’s tax losses. And he’s not ruling out… – Continue reading
British Virgin Islands, Caymans and Turks & Caicos feature heavily in justice department indictment of senior football officials British overseas tax havens play a key role in what US authorities have called “rampant, systemic and deep-rooted” corruption in the world of football, analysis by the Observer reveals. The 164-page US… – Continue reading
Even 30 years would not suffice for the existing mechanisms to complete their investigation of all seven lists of suspected tax dodgers and money launderers that financial prosecutors have in their hands, accounting for billions of euros. The sum of the tax ID numbers (AFM) included on the lists –… – Continue reading
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has in an exclusive interview with ANI said that his government is ‘fully committed’ on the black money issue, adding that they want to make it more difficult to evade taxes and siphon money abroad. “My Government is fully committed on the issue of Black Money…. – Continue reading
People who have filed late tax returns have been let off paying a £100 fine for missing the deadline, HM Revenue and Customs has confirmed. But the penalty has only been waived for individuals who provide a “reasonable” excuse for being late. The development was disclosed to the Daily Telegraph,… – Continue reading
Irish citizens holding bank accounts in Switzerland will no longer be able to avail of the traditional secrecy pertaining to Swiss bank accounts, MEP Marian Harkin has said. The European Commission and Switzerland this week signed an agreement that is intended to clamp down on tax evasion. Both sides will… – Continue reading
A unit of Societe Generale SA based in Switzerland and three other banks agreed to pay a total of $2.2 million in penalties for helping American clients avoid taxes. The settlement comes under a U.S. program that lets Swiss banks avoid prosecution if they agree to cooperate with prosecutors and… – Continue reading
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced that four Swiss banks have reached a resolution with the Government under the DoJ Tax Division’s regularization program. The DoJ’s Swiss Bank Program was signed by the two countries on August 29, 2013. It provides a framework for Swiss banks that were… – Continue reading
John Kendall paid some employees off the books to divert the money intended for income tax to business and personal expenses. A Falmouth man who paid the employees of his now-closed poker chip manufacturing company off the books and misused the money intended for income tax was sentenced on Friday… – Continue reading
The State government has initiated the process of attending to the long-standing issue related to taxing e-commerce companies in the State. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday held a meeting with representatives of global online retailer, Amazon, and senior officials of the Commercial Taxes and Finance Departments. The department, in last… – Continue reading
The Swiss government and hundreds of Swiss banks have been roiled by the U.S. crackdown on American tax evaders. With six years of almost non-stop hits to the country and its bankers, it may be no surprise that now Switzerland is publishing the names of foreign tax evaders. Some observers… – Continue reading
A report from the Foreign Investors Council of Romania has proposed additional tax policy reforms to build on recent progress made towards a more equitable and transparent tax system. The FIC wants to see closer consultation between the tax authority (ANAF) and business representatives, with more time allowed for stakeholders… – Continue reading
CHARGES laid out by the United States Department of Justice on 14 high-ranking FIFA officials may never have come to a head had it not been for the behind the scenes workings of former FIFA executive Chuck Blazer. In 2011, after being confronted by the Internal Revenue Service in regards… – Continue reading
After Switzerland initiated measures to regulate its banks, most of the unaccounted money stashed in Swiss banks is suspected to have been diverted to countries like Mauritius and Singapore. The Special Investigation Team on black money has taken cognisance of the issue raised by the enforcement agencies. “Although the Swiss… – Continue reading
The European Parliament endorsed the anti-laundering directive under which the ultimate owners of the companies will have to be listed in central registers in EU countries. The registries will be open to authorities, financial intelligence units, and individuals having a “legitimate interest” (for example investigative journalists). The “legitimate interest” in… – Continue reading
Bern, Switzerland: As India tries to uncover who has stashed untaxed money abroad, Switzerland is, in an unusual deviation from its super-secretive banking rules, releasing the names of people who are being investigated for alleged tax evasion in their countries of origin. Among the seven Indians named so far by… – Continue reading
Tax affairs of billionaire Bulgari heirs Nicola and Paolo in the spotlight as authorities target luxury brands When Bulgari, the luxury Italian jeweller, set out to celebrate its 130-year anniversary last year at its flagship store on Rome’s Via Condotti – where Richard Burton once bought Elizabeth Taylor a suite… – Continue reading
An appeals court ruled Wednesday that Lone Star Funds should pay some 64.8 billion won ($58 million) in a corporate tax refund suit filed by the U.S. buyout fund against a regional tax office. The Yeoksam Tax Office levied some 104 billion won in corporate tax on Lone Star over… – Continue reading
There has recently been a wave of global regulatory reforms which affect fundraising. These changes are far-reaching and can impact how fund managers structure funds, their proposed investor base, how and where funds are marketed, the remuneration that may be received, registrations that may be required and dealings with investors…. – Continue reading
In a bid to fight tax avoidance by international business behemoths like Amazon and Apple, the European Commission is proposing mandatory rules to make companies pay taxes to all the countries in which they generate profit. The Commission on Wednesday unveiled plans to overhaul the European Union’s outdated tax system,… – Continue reading
The Foreign Investors Council (FIC), an association of the leading investors in Romania, has asked the Government to increase penalties against companies that do not pay their taxes and to work on bringing down the subterranean economy, rather than aggressively targeting honest taxpayers. “Penalties for tax evasion should be increased… – Continue reading
