The recently enacted FATCA makes it mandatory for Indian tax authorities to share information about earnings of NRIs in US. However both India and US have a treaty signed to avoid double taxation. NRIs living in US can certainly benefit from this treaty The US government has recently enacted Foreign… – Continue reading
A secret list of account holders reveals how rich Britons are legally exploiting tax havens, despite a UK government crackdown. The identities of thousands of wealthy offshore clients of a major Channel Isles private bank have been leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The individuals include donors to… – Continue reading
Britain is likely to receive little more than half of the £3 billion-plus expected from an agreement reached with Switzerland to tackle offshore tax evasion, HM Revenue and Customs has told MPs. Chancellor George Osborne’s 2012 Autumn Statement forecast the taxman would collect an additional £3.12 billion as a result… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON — The IRS is about to get an unprecedented look at bank accounts and investments U.S. citizens hold abroad, through a law that is making it harder to hide assets from the tax collector. The government started imposing 30 percent taxes on many overseas payments to financial institutions that… – Continue reading
Rich Chinese, watch out. The growing arm of U.S. tax authorities appears poised to also help China obtain information about Chinese taxpayers in the U.S., a move that could make it harder for Chinese to move large sums of money out of the country. As the WSJ’s Wei Gu reports:… – Continue reading
Sweeping rules aimed at stopping tax evasion took effect on Tuesday, ushering in a new system that Obama administration officials say will leave tax cheats with fewer havens overseas. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, one of President Obama’s initiatives for fighting offshore tax evasion, is arriving after multiple delays,… – Continue reading
Guernsey’s Income Tax Department is cracking down on tax evasion. Islanders who haven’t declared interest they’ve received from the bank in past tax forms they’ve handed in, are being given more time to come forward with the details. If they don’t come forward and correct any discrepancies before the 31st… – Continue reading
When Canada’s banks reopen for business on July 2, they will begin formally operating as informants for the United States Internal Revenue Service — the IRS. Financial institutions in Canada will be required to ask all new and existing clients opening a new account questions such as where they were… – Continue reading
So much of what Switzerland has traditionally stood for is now anathema to its neighbours in Europe and other members of the club of developed nations: confidentiality underpinned by strong banking secrecy laws; and a liberal tax regime offering a tax sanctuary to the wealthy and multinational companies. To a… – Continue reading
Liechtenstein is betting its offer to automatically share tax data on banking clients will end the principality’s decades-long reputation as a tax haven, a top bank official said. Simon Tribelhorn, director of the Liechtenstein Bankers Association, said the announcement in November to lock in automatic-exchange agreements with five European nations… – Continue reading
MOSCOW, June 30 (RAPSI) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law to allow Russian financial institutions to provide information about US taxpayers and to oblige foreign financial institutions to report Russian taxpayers to Russia’s Federal Tax Service. The document has been posted on the government website of legal information…. – Continue reading
The Australian Tax Office is stepping up its surveillance of Australians funnelling money into secret offshore bank accounts. The extra scrutiny is part of an amnesty program that will allow some tax dodgers to avoid severe punishment by declaring income and agreeing to come back into the tax system before… – Continue reading
Washington – US tax evaders will find it harder to hide money abroad from Tuesday, when a law comes into effect requiring foreign banks to report their offshore accounts. Banking centers like Switzerland and Luxembourg that agreed to the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) will have to begin… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — UBS AG, BNP Paribas SA, Credit Suisse Group AG and other banks providing wealthy French people a home for their money in Switzerland are being told: No more tax evasion. Ahead of French Finance Minister Michel Sapin’s visit today to the Swiss capital Bern, he briefed bankers on… – Continue reading
The Thai Bankers’ Association (TBA) will soon submit five proposals to the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) for its financial sector development plan, says TBA chairman Boontuck Wungcharoen. The proposals include implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca), an upgrade of Thailand to a financial hub… – Continue reading
MOSCOW, June 25 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, on Wednesday authorized the direct exchange of information between Russian banks and US tax authorities on US taxpayers. The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) requires foreign banks to supply the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)… – Continue reading
The Thai Bankers’ Association (TBA) will soon submit five proposals to the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) for its financial sector development plan, says TBA chairman Boontuck Wungcharoen. The proposals include implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca), an upgrade of Thailand to a financial hub… – Continue reading
The U.S. taxman is about to extend his reach, and not even those infamous offshore accounts may be able to escape the long arm of the law. A milestone is coming July 1 in the federal government’s long-term effort to root out tax evasion by people who keep money offshore…. – Continue reading
Local banks have little choice but to comply with a controversial law that requires financial institutions around the world to hand over information about American citizens that will be passed on to the US tax department, the New Zealand Bankers’ Association says. The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA),… – Continue reading
The Russian authorities are ready to provide the U.S. internal revenue service with information on American depositors, but have drafted a bill for similar measures in the United States. All foreign banks that work with Russian clients will be obligated to disclose information about such clients to Moscow. Primarily, the… – Continue reading
For more than a century, Geneva has provided wealthy French families a convenient and safe place to stash their money. Switzerland’s political neutrality, stability, and tradition of bank secrecy have kept their fortunes beyond the reach of warring powers and the most determined tax collectors, even though Geneva is less… – Continue reading
It’s a very small world when it comes to money and banking, as we all learned in 2007. Now the Internal Revenue Service is extending its reach to financial activities of U.S. citizens who have money in foreign financial institutions. On July 1, 2014 FATCA — the Foreign Account Tax… – Continue reading
KATHMANDU: US taxpayers, including US citizens, firms and green card holders, living in or operating from Nepal will come under close scrutiny of the US taxman from now onwards. Issuing a circular today, Nepal Rastra Bank directed all Nepali banks and financial institutions to provide bank account information of US taxpayers living… – Continue reading
In 2010, Congress passed House Resolution (H.R.) 2847, the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act, or HIRE Act. This legislation included a number of tax breaks meant to encourage businesses to put people on the payroll. This law also called for greater scrutiny of foreign accounts that U.S. citizens hold… – Continue reading
For more than a century, the Swiss city of Geneva has provided wealthy French families with a convenient and safe place to stash their money. Switzerland’s political neutrality and stability and its tradition of bank secrecy kept their fortunes beyond the reach of warring powers and the most determined tax… – Continue reading
With the end of banking confidentiality, many Israelis are fleeing the long arm of the Israel Tax Authorityto the tax haven of Dubai, which has no bank reporting. Tightening tax regulations in many countries, beginning with the US, requiring banks to provide information about their customers, or face sanctions, has caused people… – Continue reading
Azerbaijan and the U.S. Internal Revenue Office (IRS) will sign an additional agreement on confidentiality under the intergovernmental agreement on implementing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) by Azerbaijani banks by September 30, 2015. The news was announced by Azerbaijani Taxes Ministry last week. “It is known that the… – Continue reading
The IRS had made a worldwide push to get information about offshore accounts over $50,000 of American taxpayers, using the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA. Commentator Rob Wood discusses the new effort in his Forbes article, “IRS Nets Offshore Data Wood underscores the point that U.S. citizens abroad… – Continue reading
GENEVA, June 4 (Reuters) – Switzerland is working hard to prevent ill-gotten assets of corrupt leaders from reaching Swiss bank coffers and an international clampdown on tax evasion could help the campaign, a senior Swiss foreign ministry official said on Wednesday. Swiss authorities are already working closely with Egyptian counterparts… – Continue reading
BEIRUT, June 9 (KUNA) — Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon (BDL) Riad Salameh said Monday the recently-imposed US sanctions do not target the Lebanese banks, but rather the banks that helped finance the Lebanese group Hezbollah.The BDL has repeatedly cautioned the local banks against violating the banking laws… – Continue reading
With the impending FATCA compliance rollout and the U.S. Justice Department deal for Swiss banks, there are lots of letters and phone calls being made to account holders with American indicia. American citizens, residents—even people with a U.S. address or phone number—should be prepared. Possible American status means proving you’re… – Continue reading
The U.S. has given Swiss banks more time to show some Americans’ accounts were not used to evade taxes in a program that has banks deliver account data to avoid criminal prosecution. The Department of Justice has given as many as 106 banks until July 31 to demonstrate that an… – Continue reading
Bank Leumi, Israel’s second largest bank, said on Sunday it was close to a deal to pay nearly 1 billion shekels ($289 million) to the U.S. Justice Department in relation to its investigation into possible tax evasion by the bank’s American clients. The settlement, likely to take weeks or months… – Continue reading
The U.S. has given Swiss banks more time to show some Americans’ accounts were not used to evade taxes in a program that has banks deliver account data to avoid criminal prosecution. The Department of Justice has given as many as 106 banks until July 31 to demonstrate that an… – Continue reading
Bank Leumi, one of Israel’s largest financial institutions, will pay a billion-shekel fine to US authorities for suspected tax evasion, Channel 2 reported on Sunday. Related: Israel agrees to turn American’s bank accounts over to IRS According to a US-led investigation, the bank’s American branches made illegal transactions to clients’… – Continue reading
VTB, Russian’s second-largest banking group, will cease service to Russia-based U.S. clients to avoid falling foul of FATCA, a U.S. tax avoidance law that comes into force on July 1. Even at this late stage, Russian law and FATCA are incompatible — Russian banks will be able to comply with U.S. law or Russian law, but not both, the head of the… – 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
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
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
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
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
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 over evidence, according to officials. Kathryn Keneally, head of the Justice… – Continue reading
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Most developing countries do not have tax systems sophisticated enough for them to join a new OECD-led transnational project for countries to automatically exchange tax information in an effort to tackle evasion and offshore financial havens, said an official from the OECD. The Paris-based Organisation… – 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
Banks prepare to open their books to the long arms of Uncle Sam The countdown is on, with just a month to go before the United States’ Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) goes live on July 1. Aimed at curbing tax evasion by American citizens, an estimated 26,000 foreign… – 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
WASHINGTON – About 77,000 foreign and U.S. banks and financial institutions, including some in Russia, have registered with the United States to comply with a new law meant to fight tax dodging by Americans, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Monday. Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Tax Affairs Robert Stack… – 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
