Category: Bermuda

Europe May Not Be a Tax Haven for U.S. Multinationals Much Longer

FRANKFURT (The Street) — Europe’s allure as a tax haven for U.S. multinationals may be coming to an end. That’s because European Union regulators are closing up tax loopholes that U.S. companies have been enjoying for years. The first two to feel the heat are Starbucks (SBUX – Get Report)… – Continue reading

Microsoft, IRS spar over long-running probe of its taxes

The Redmond tech company and the Internal Revenue Service tangled in court Friday over the government’s audit of Microsoft’s software sales through offshore subsidiaries. Microsoft and the Internal Revenue Service sparred in court Friday over the agency’s power to investigate taxpayers. Microsoft, seeking a court order to overturn a portion… – Continue reading

Marco Rubio’s Billionaire Backer Likes to Sue Poor Countries and Put Profits in Tax Havens

Paul Singer has a good track record as a money manager. In 1995, he bought $20 million worth of Peruvian debt at a discounted price of $11.4 million, then forced Peru’s government, through lawsuits, to eventually pay nearly five times his initial investment — some $58 million. In 2002 and… – Continue reading

UK takes two-faced approach to tax, new report suggests

The UK government has a ‘Janus-faced’ approach to tax, a new report suggests: promising an increasingly intolerant approach to evasion and avoidance while being an aggressive participant in global tax competition and tolerating the UK tax havens which facilitate financial crime across the world. The report, Fifty Shades of Tax… – Continue reading

US overtakes Caymans and Singapore as haven for assets of super-rich

The US has overtaken Singapore, Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands as an attractive haven for super-rich individuals and businesses looking to shelter assets behind a veil of secrecy, according to a study by the Tax Justice Network (TJN), reports The Guardian. The US is ranked third, behind Switzerland and Hong… – Continue reading

UK ‘more of a tax haven’ than Channel Islands, says report

The UK has been rated “more of a tax haven” than the Channel Islands, in a financial transparency report. The biennial study by campaign group Tax Justice Network (TJN) ranked the UK above the islands. TJN director, John Christensen, said the islands had “made significant improvements” by signing up to… – Continue reading

Reports finds U.S. financial secrecy worsening

WASHINGTON—The United States is one of the world’s most secret financial jurisdictions, according to a watchdog group’s new global ranking. The Tax Justice Network, an international think tank based in the United Kingdom, on Monday unveiled the 2015 Tax Secrecy Index, which lists the countries that most allow financial secrecy… – Continue reading

Pfizer’s Allergan bid defies Obama’s tougher tax rules

Pfizer’s bid for $113bn Dublin-based drug maker Allergan is the biggest merger of the year, anywhere. It’s potentially good news for the Irish exchequer, which may gain a massive new taxpayer, and for businesses here like Arthur Cox, Allergan’s adviser on Irish corporate law. But a deal that may well… – Continue reading

Tianjin tragedy is very much our business

Blast waves: smoke billows from the site of an explosion that reduced a parking lot filled with new cars to charred remains at a warehouse in northeastern China’s Tianjin municipality. Most of Bermuda’s major insurers and reinsurers had significant exposures to this disaster. (Photograph by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo) Tianjin… – Continue reading

U.S. corporate income tax is self-defeating

For many years, policymakers have criticized the strategies that American corporations use to reduce their taxes by shifting income and capital offshore. The impetus behind these strategies is the U.S. corporate income-tax rate — at 35 percent, the highest of any industrialized nation, easily surpassing countries such as the U.K…. – Continue reading

Jay Fishman: The U.S. corporate income tax is self-defeating

For many years, policymakers have criticized the strategies that American corporations use to reduce their taxes by shifting income and capital offshore. The impetus behind these strategies is the U.S. corporate income-tax rate — at 35 percent, the highest of any industrialized nation, easily surpassing countries such as the U.K…. – Continue reading

EU Lawmakers Set to Vote on Tax Avoidance in Split Europe

Lawmakers at the European Parliament are set to vote on a controversial series of proposals to harmonize the corporate tax system in Europe in a move that will put them on a collision course with some member states which favor sovereignty over taxation. The EU lawmakers on the TAXE committee… – Continue reading

How a company worth billions pays pennies on a million for tax

The company that is not a taxi company, which has drivers that are not taxi drivers, who carry people around that are not clients, Uber, is not only killing the taxi business, it is also avoiding paying taxes. The company uses a trick known as “the double-Dutch.” It is perfectly… – Continue reading

Apple Inc. (AAPL), Alphabet Inc (GOOG) Agree on This Strategy

Data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows that at 39%, the U.S. has the highest corporate tax rate among the 20 most developed economies. Yet, the average rate of taxation imposed on the 100 biggest S&P corporations was 28.4% in 2014. Apple and Alphabet paid even lower… – Continue reading

Breaking News: The Gambia Is On The Verge Of Finalizing A Deal With Hong Kong Based Companies To Open An Offshore Bank In Banjul!

The rogue regime in Banjul is on the verge of finalizing an Offshore Banking deal with some Hong Kong multi-million dollar companies, the Freedom Newspaper can reveal. Under the new deal, the Jammeh government is going to open an Offshore Bank in The Gambia, with the primary objective of helping… – Continue reading

The Self-Defeating Corporate Income Tax

For many years, policy makers have criticized the strategies that American corporations use to reduce their taxes by shifting income and capital offshore. The impetus behind these strategies is the U.S. corporate income-tax rate — at 35 percent, the highest of any industrialized nation, easily surpassing countries such as the… – Continue reading

EY: Four out of 10 Czech businessmen asked for bribe; Czech police reveal corruption in driving licenses for Germans; No. of Czech firms with owners in tax havens up in Q3

EY: Four out of 10 Czech businessmen asked for bribe Four out of 10 Czech entrepreneurs have been explicitly asked for a bribe and up to six out of 10 have encountered the possibility of gaining an advantage in their business in exchange for a bribe, according to a survey… – Continue reading

As tax havens disappear, global revenue wars begin

We are entering a new world of tax revenue wars, and no one can say who will emerge as the victor. All we know is that there will be tension over the next five years as governments seek to implement the global plan to end to tax havens from Luxembourg… – Continue reading

Is a Canada Revenue Agency landlord avoiding taxes via offshore havens?

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) rents office space from a Vancouver-based property developer – a company that exploits offshore tax havens in Liechtenstein, the British Virgin Islands and Channel Islands. Larco Investments Ltd. owns three buildings in Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton where they rent office space to the CRA. Larco… – Continue reading

Ireland plans 6.25 per cent patent-box tax as `Double Irish’ ends

Ireland will introduce a new lower tax on intellectual property to keep and win more overseas investment as the government phases out a controversial loophole known as the “Double Irish.”, reports Bloomberg. The new knowledge development box will tax profits from patented innovations such as technological and pharmaceutical developments at… – Continue reading

The U.S. Companies With The Most Offshore Cash

The use of tax havens is ubiquitous across America’s 500 largest companies. Collectively, they hold $2.1 trillion in offshore cash, according to a recent study by Citizens for Tax Justice and the U.S. PIRG Education Fund. Establishing foreign subsidiaries in places with little or no tax such as Bermuda or… – Continue reading

Richards: Island’s critics have double standards

A blistering attack on major countries who brand offshore financial centres as tax havens has been launched by Bob Richards. The Minister of Finance warned that pressure on the offshore sector from abroad will continue into the foreseeable future. Mr Richards, speaking at the launch of a British Virgin Islands… – Continue reading

G20 economies to tackle corporate tax avoidance

G20 finance ministers have endorsed a package of measures to tackle corporate tax avoidance, but questions remain about whether certain countries will follow through on the plans or leave loopholes multinationals can exploit. The ministers agreed to back proposals drawn up by the OECD, which aim to shake up rules… – Continue reading

Ramaphosa and MTN’s offshore stash

Emmanuel Mayah, Jeff Mbanga, Francis Kokutse and Nick Mathiason contributed to this joint investigation by the M&G Centre for Investigative Journalism (amaBhungane) and Finance Uncovered, a global reporting project involving journalists in 54 countries. Shortly after Cyril Ramaphosa left MTN to become South Africa’s deputy president last year, he lashed… – Continue reading

Colorado corporations dodge U.S. taxes through offshore accounts, according to new report

It’s no conspiracy theory that mega-corporations benefit from dodging taxes and that there are a bevy of legal loopholes accountants use to ensure businesses lose as little money as possible to the government. Few of these loopholes sound as nefarious as shuffling money into offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands… – Continue reading

US companies holding $2.1 trillion offshore profits

There’s enough cash sitting in offshore bank accounts to wipe out the federal deficit — if only it was subject to U.S. taxes. That’s because U.S. companies are saving some $620 billion by parking profits outside the country, according to the latest accounting from Citizens for Tax Justice and U.S…. – Continue reading

72% of Fortune 500 Used Foreign Tax Havens

Nearly three-quarters of Fortune 500 companies booked their profits to tax havens last year, with just 30 companies accounting for 62 percent of earnings stashed offshore, according to a new report. The report, “Offshore Shell Games,” released Tuesday by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Citizens for Tax Justice, found… – Continue reading

Top Wall Street Banks Stash Billions Of Dollars In Nearly 400 Offshore Tax Havens

Six of the nation’s largest banks — Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs — utilize a combined 395 known tax havens to avoid potential tax bills in the billions, according to a new analysis. In total, the big six banks kept $126 billion… – Continue reading

These eight Massachusetts companies have used offshore tax havens

BOSTON – Tax havens are legal, but proponents of tax reform say eight companies headquartered in Massachusetts are using them and costing the state millions of dollars in revenue. The MassPIRG Education Fund and Citizens for Tax Justice released a report on Tuesday saying 72 percent of Fortune 500 companies… – Continue reading

Big U.S. firms hold $2.1 trillion overseas to avoid taxes: study

The 500 largest American companies hold more than $2.1 trillion in accumulated profits offshore to avoid U.S. taxes and would collectively owe an estimated $620 billion in U.S. taxes if they repatriated the funds, according to a study released on Tuesday. The study, by two left-leaning non-profit groups, found that… – Continue reading

Gaming the System: Underlying Problems of the U.S. Tax Code Must be Addressed

Last year at this time, news about “tax inversions” was grabbing headlines – cases where large U.S. multinationals would buy a foreign company in a tax-friendly jurisdiction, and then relocate its headquarters to reap the tax arbitrage benefits. The Obama administration responded to the rash of high-profile inversions with new… – Continue reading

Plans to overhaul global tax system to be published

A plan for overhauling the global system for the taxation of multinationals, to be published on Monday in Paris, will contain major challenges and opportunities for Ireland’s vital foreign direct investment (FDI) sector, according to tax experts, reports the Irish Times. The culmination of two years’ work, the report by… – Continue reading

Caribbean countries under attack

Once again, Commonwealth Caribbean countries are under attack as “tax havens”, even though they are nothing of the sort. This time it is not only the usual countries which have been listed. Trinidad and Tobago has been included, and we can bet that Jamaica and Guyana will be added unless… – Continue reading

Jersey: The Offshore Dragon: The Increasing Popularity Of IFCs In The PRC

Using companies incorporated in international financial centres (IFCs) in structuring financial transactions, capital raisings and corporate structures has long been popular in Asia, particularly Hong Kong (itself an IFC). Following the energetic expansion of the PRC economy and assisted in part by the relaxation of PRC regulations in relation to… – Continue reading

Bermuda: Impact Of The Organisation For Economic Co-Operation And Development’s Common Reporting Standards On Cayman Islands Entities

On 16 June 2015, the Department of International Tax Cooperation of the Cayman Islands (the “DITC”) announced that it would be implementing the CRS into domestic law. The draft Tax Information Authority (International Tax Compliance) (Common Reporting Standard) Regulations, 2015 are currently under review and it is expected that these… – Continue reading

Sunlight is the best way to disinfect corporate tax havens

Tax havens are by design secretive and opaque. The entire point of their existence is to conceal the wealth hidden within them. And a new book by Gabriel Zucman, The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens, reveals, as never before, the extent of their role in the… – Continue reading

US$7.6tn hidden in tax havens – almost half annual US GDP

Gabriel Zucman, one of 3 French economists who in recent times have published extensive research on wealth and equality, in a book, ‘The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens,’ published this month, estimates that 8% of the world’s financial wealth — some US$7.6tn — is hidden in… – Continue reading

Tax Havens Are Turning The U.S. Into An Unequal Aristocracy

French economist Gabriel Zucman, a protégé of Thomas Piketty, has a new book outlining how to avoid this. To Gabriel Zucman, protégé of rock star French economist Thomas Piketty, the United States is starting to look a lot like Europe in the late 1800s. “There’s been this great reversal where,… – Continue reading

Uber has revolutionised transport in Australia. But will taxpayers get anything in return?

ATO to force Uber drivers to pay GST Uber is to mount a legal challenge against the Australian Tax Office after a decision to force drivers to register and pay GST. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has praised ride-sharing company Uber as part of the “agile” economy he envisages for Australia…. – Continue reading

Mauritius appoints minister for financial services

When Delta, a South Africa-based property investment fund, decided to switch the offshore domicile of its international operations from Bermuda to Mauritius a year ago, it gained unexpected benefits, reports the Financial Times. “We’ve been very pleased,” says Bronwyn Corbett, head of Delta, as she reflects on the success of… – Continue reading

Chief Minister rejects Washington DC’s tax haven slur

Chief Minister Allan Bell has written to the District of Columbia Council to outline his concerns at the island’s inclusion in a blacklist of tax havens. Washington DC released the list of 39 ‘tax havens’ as part of its Budget Support Act, which was signed by the Mayor in August…. – Continue reading

Australians grill Chevron over Bermuda links

Oil and gas multinational Chevron has come under fire in Australia for using Bermuda for tax avoidance. US-based Chevron, along with Anglo-Dutch firm Shell and the American ExxonMobil, is set to begin production at the massive Gorgon gasfield off the coast of Western Australia. But Chevron has been grilled by… – Continue reading

CORRECTED-UPDATE 1-Dutch trust firm Intertrust seeks 475 million euros in IPO

(Corrects first and sixth paragraphs to make clear Intertrust does not provide tax advice) (Reuters) – Intertrust, which provides tax and regulatory compliance services to 17,000 companies, said on Monday it will seek an initial public offering (IPO) of shares on the Euronext stock exchange. The Amsterdam-based company did not… – Continue reading

New global tax crackdown could impact asset owners

A new wave of global tax compliance regulation is a game changer in the way asset owners and investment management companies report activities. Globalization of financial markets has made it increasingly simple to make, hold and manage investments outside an asset owner’s own tax domicile. A standard on automatic exchange… – Continue reading

U.S. tax-evasion probe expands to Belize

U.S. authorities have targeted Belize-based banks in a new expansion of their hunt for Americans suspected of evading taxes by hiding income and assets in offshore accounts. A federal court in Miami on Wednesday approved special “John Doe” legal summonses seeking information about U.S. taxpayers who may hold undeclared accounts… – Continue reading