Category: Tax Evasion

United States: Senators Introduce Bill To Require Reporting Of Beneficial Ownership Information

A bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill which would impose federal beneficial ownership reporting requirements for legal entities established under state law, intended to assist law enforcement in fighting money laundering and terrorist financing ("AML/CFT"). ... - Continue reading

Accidental Americans’ sue France over FATCA disclosure rules

A group representing French-American taxpayers  has filed a complaint against France with the European Commission over its compliance with the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), in a bid to avoid being blacklisted by French banks starting in January. France is a signatory to an agreement to give the… – Continue reading

Fiji Institute of Accountants concerned about cybercrime, money laundering

SUVA, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) — The Fiji Institute of Accountants (FIA) said Monday they are concerned about the increase in money laundering and cyber-crime activities in the island nation. According to Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC), while presenting before the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, the Fiji Institute of Accountants President… – Continue reading

Worldwide: Financial Institutions And Personal Data

Combating Tax EvasionIn recent years, there have been several high-profile prosecutions for the crime of tax evasion (for example the actor, Wesley Snipes, and the footballer, Lionel Messi). Governments around the world have been making a concerted effort in an attempt to tackle this problem. Their objective is for their respective tax administrations to work together so that taxpayers pay the correct amount of tax in the correct jurisdiction. ... - Continue reading

East Africa bloc mulls regional tax treaty framework to boost integration

NAIROBI, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) — The East Africa Community (EAC) bloc plans to develop a regional tax treaty framework to boost regional integration, an official said on Tuesday. Doris Akol, commissioner general, Uganda Revenue Authority told Xinhua in Nairobi that once the treaty is in place the trading bloc will… – Continue reading

Uganda: Don’t Make Up Losses To Avoid Tax

Conflicting interests arise for many businesses where decisions have to be made to determine how they consistently achieve profitability, while on the other hand minimise payment of tax. The temptation to minimise profits or even make a loss then becomes a tax risk management strategy. ... - Continue reading

Armenia, Malta sign double tax treaty

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan on September 24 met with Malta’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Promotion Carmelo Abela on the sidelines of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, the Armenian ministry told Armenpress. The officials praised the current dynamic… – Continue reading

Wealth managers not ready for rise in HNWI demand for offshore investments: GlobalData

Wealth managers will have to review their offshore service propositions in lieu of an expected rise in high net worth (HNW) demand, according to GlobalData, a data and analytics company. GlobalData’s 2019 Global Wealth Managers Survey noted that 50.2% of industry participants expect HNW demand for offshore investments to rise… – Continue reading

Switzerland: Italian Tax Authorities Request Information From Switzerland On UBS Bank Customers

In the past ten years, Switzerland has undertaken significant efforts to combat international tax fraud and tax evasion and to fight for the strict observance of foreign tax laws. In order to do so, a number of tax laws were enacted, allowing Switzerland to comply with international standards issued by the OECD (acting on behalf of the G20). In this respect, Switzerland ratified the Multilateral Convention on Administrative Assistance originally issued by the CoE and the OECD in 1988 and amended in 2011 ("OECD MC"), and it renegotiated numerous Double Taxation Conventions ("DTC"), amongst them also the DTC with Italy, in order to comply with the international standard introduced by the OECD MC in the version of July 2010. ... - Continue reading

FBR demands Rs992m from TV channel in alleged tax evasion case

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has served a notice on ARY Communications Limited (ARY) and raised a tax demand of Rs992 million – alleging that the entity had evaded tens of millions in taxes through misrepresentation, concealment and misuse of exemptions, thereby causing a substantial loss to the… – Continue reading

CRS reveals Australians holding $100bn in offshore accounts: reports

Australians are holding more than $100bn in undisclosed offshore accounts, according to new taxation office data collected under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), British newspaper the Guardian has reported. ... - Continue reading

What happened to the proposed amendments to Bank Secrecy Act?

The news is replete with discussions on the refiling of the proposed bills for the other TRAIN Packages with the 18th Congress. However, there seems to be no discussion yet on any proposed amendment to the Bank Secrecy Act, Republic Act (RA) 1405, as amended, particularly the proposed amendments to… – Continue reading

Tanzanian freelance journalist in court over money laundering, tax evasion

DAR ES SALAAM, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) — Tanzanian freelance journalist Eric Kabendera on Monday appeared in court charged with money laundering, tax evasion and leading organized crime. The state prosecution told the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam that on diverse dates between January 2015… – Continue reading

Cyprus: Country Update-Cyprus: AML

The financial services and international business sector in Cyprus is one of the vital pillars of the Cyprus economy. That said, Cyprus aims to be in full compliance with the AML European framework, and in this respect constantly implements changes in its local laws to align with EU Directives and Regulations. ... - Continue reading

Taiwan to join anti-tax evasion program CRS

Taiwan expected to share financial information with Japan and Australia in 2020 TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan is expected to exchange financial information with a number of countries in September of next year as part of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) program designed to combat tax evasion. Developed by the… – Continue reading

Taiwan to join anti-tax evasion program CRS

Taiwan expected to share financial information with Japan and Australia in 2020 TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan is expected to exchange financial information with a number of countries in September of next year as part of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) program designed to combat tax evasion. Developed by the… – Continue reading

OECD Finds Tax Automatic Exchange has Increased Transparency, Agrees on Digital Economy Taxation Roadmap

6 July 2019: In the lead up to the Group of 20 (G20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released data that show that automatic exchange of information on financial accounts is improving tax compliance and delivering concrete results for governments… – Continue reading

Experts convene in the City of London to call out ‘pin stripe mafia enablers of tax abuse’

Researchers and campaigners from around the world have been presenting radical solutions on tackling tax abuse and financial crime at the Tax Justice Network’s annual conference held in the heart of London’s finance centre, on 2 – 3 July 2019. With over 200 attendees including prominent politicians, whistleblowers and economists,… – Continue reading

BIR files tax evasion charges against 15 Metro Manila business taxpayers

The Bureau of Internal Revenue filed Thursday separate criminal cases against 15 business taxpayers in Metro Manila for alleged refusal to pay tax debts totaling to more than P493 million. This brought to 482 the number of tax evasion charges lodged by the bureau under its Run-After-Tax-Evaders (RATE) program under… – Continue reading

Foreign Exchange Management Accounts: FBR for replicating Indian model

ISLAMABAD: Terming Indian model as good to replicate Foreign Exchange Management Accounts (FEMA) in case of Pakistan, Chairman FBR Shabbar Zaidi said that $40 billion was remitted out from Pakistan, so there was need to bring changes in existing Pakistani laws related to management of foreign exchange. He pointed out… – Continue reading

Dominica removed from EU tax haven blacklist

The European Union has removed the Caribbean island of Dominica from its list of uncooperative jurisdictions in tax matters. Dominica changed its tax rules to comply with EU requirements meant to reduce the risks of tax evasion, the EU said in a statement. Dominica implemented its commitments and addressed EU… – Continue reading

Govt tightens noose around offshore tax evaders

The federal government has decided to go after offshore tax evaders, laying out a number of propositions that would effectively criminalise the process and introduce heavy punishments for tax evasion. The proposed tightening of income tax laws would mean that anyone found guilty of evading taxation through foreign banks accounts… – Continue reading

Australia: OECD releases beneficial ownership implementation toolkit to facilitate transparency

In brief – Beneficial ownership toolkit aims to help governments implement legal and supervisory frameworks to identify and collect beneficial ownership information Beneficial ownership is a critical issue in many areas of law, in particular tax and anti-money laundering. National authorities often struggle to keep up with private ingenuity in… – Continue reading