Category: Afghanistan

Bahamas Will ‘Do All It Can’ To Avoid Eu Blacklisting

The Bahamian financial services industry “will do all we can” to ensure this nation does not appear on a threatened European Union (EU) ‘blacklist’, Tribune Business was told yesterday. Tanya McCartney, the Bahamas Financial Services Board’s (BFSB) chief executive, said this nation’s implementation of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for… – Continue reading

Tax havens accuse US of ‘hypocrisy’ over tax avoidance

A group of tax havens have accused larger countries like the United States of “hypocrisy” when it comes to cracking down on tax avoidance. With the issue of offshore finance high on the agenda in light of the fall out from the so-called Panama Papers scandal, world leaders convened in… – Continue reading

Avoidance of double taxation: Pakistan, Afghanistan complete first round of talk

Pakistan and Afghanistan on Wednesday completed first round of talks on the convention of avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion and mutually agreed on the initial draft of the convention. Sources told the Business Recorder on Wednesday that the negotiations between Afghan and Pakistani tax authorities were… – Continue reading

IT companies relocating as Pakistan gets tax-hungry

LAHORE: Nearly 40% of Pakistan’s companies that provided IT services have moved their business to the United Arab Emirates, largely due to the 8% additional tax on revenues levied by the government in 2015-16, said Sajjad Syed, chief executive officer of Excellence Delivered (ExD) Private Limited . ExD outsources non-core… – Continue reading

Taxmen mishandled Swiss treaty talks in 2014

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s hopes to seek information from Switzerland about the presumed $200 billion stashed in Swiss banks have apparently been ruined by tax authorities who mishandled delicate negotiations for amending a convention on avoidance of double taxation. A Pakistani delegation that visited Switzerland in August 2014 to renegotiate the 2005 treaty… – Continue reading

Illicit money flow from developing world surged to $1.1 tn in 2013, says GFI

WASHINGTON Illicit financial flows or black money from developing and emerging economies surged to US$1.1 trillion or a staggering 4 percent of the developing world’s GDP in 2013, according to a study released Wednesday by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington, DC-based research and advisory organization. The cumulative illicit outflows… – Continue reading

Uncovering the Mysteries of Tax Optimization

Gabriele Galimberti and Paolo Woods make a complex and impenetrable subject palatable To do justice to the work undertaken by Paolo Woods and Gabriele Galimberti, requires thinking of them not as photographers, but as investigators. Their search for truth begins with a mystery, one embodied in Ian Fleming’s Dr. No…. – Continue reading

Oxfam urges G20 leaders to take action on climate change, refugees and tax reform

G20 countries spend over 15 times subsidizing the coal and oil industry than developed countries provide in adaptation finance to poor and vulnerable countries, said Oxfam today, ahead of the G20 Summit in Antalya, Turkey. Oxfam also urged the G20 leaders to tackle fundamental reforms to ensure the benefits of… – Continue reading

Luxembourg performs poorly in anti-money laundering index

In an assessment of money laundering and terrorism financing risks, Luxembourg scored in the bottom half of a ranking of 152 countries carried out by the Basel Institute on Governance, reports the Luxemburger Wort. The institute says that its AML (Anti-Money Laundering) Index is the only such review carried out… – Continue reading

Letter – Immigration reform needs a restart button

Advertisement A false image depicts undocumented immigrants as criminals because they entered the United States illegally and received many government benefits. Wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq created labor shortages. Some industrial complexes and corporate agriculture used growing numbers of undocumented laborers to whom they paid less than minimum… – Continue reading

ANCA calls for increased Artsakh aid during Congressional testimony

Armenian National Committee of America Government Affairs Director Kate Nahapetian testified yesterday before a key Congressional panel in support of increased U.S. assistance to Nagorno Karabakh, Armenia, at-risk Middle Eastern Armenian communities, and the Javakhk region of Georgia. In her opening remarks, Nahapetian thanked House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations… – Continue reading

London: ‘a global haven for criminal financial activity’

London is a global haven for criminal financial activity – with billions of pounds laundered through British banks each day, according to the head of the UK’s National Crime Agency. “Many hundreds of billions of pounds of criminal money is almost certainly laundered through UK banks and their subsidiaries each… – Continue reading

Cayman included on FCA high-risk list

The Cayman Islands, an important international business competitor for Bermuda, is expressing “consternation” that they have been included on a new list of high risk jurisdictions for financial crime. There are a total of 95 countries listed including Brazil, Afghanistan, Cuba, Russia, China, Iraq, the Republic of Congo and Jamaica…. – Continue reading

Dual taxation treaty modalities to be finalised: Pak-Afghan JEC meets on February 23

Pakistan and Afghanistan would finalise modalities for signing Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion Convention in the next meeting of the 9th session of the Pak-Afghan Joint Economic Commission (JEC) to be held on February 23-24 in Kabul. A senior FBR official told Business Recorder here on Tuesday… – Continue reading