The Swiss bank is on trial in France for its role in a tax evasion scandal Swiss bank UBS Group could be forced to pay up to €5.3bn in fines over allegations that it helped wealthy French clients conceal money from tax authorities. The double-pronged lawsuit has been brought against… – Continue reading
Bahamas-based developers have blasted the OECD’s “cynical” attempt to “”de-legitimise” this nation’s key investment product by suggesting it threatens the global fight against tax evasion. The newly-formed Bahamas Developers Association (BDA), in a recent statement, argued that the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) was wrong to list this… – Continue reading
A range of measures designed to crackdown on tax avoidance and evasion with a view to raise £2bn over the next five years have been announced by the government. HMRC will be made a preferred creditor in insolvencies, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced today. The government will end the practice of… – Continue reading
LONDON — Britain’s Treasury chief unveiled Monday a new tax on big internet companies’ revenues, insisting it is time that the global tech giants with profitable business in the United Kingdom pay their fair share for public services. Philip Hammond made the announcement as he outlined his budget, explaining that… – Continue reading
Jersey has tabled new laws to address the EU’s concerns over ‘economic substance’, the degree of real business activity carried out by companies registered in the Island. The new proposed requirements for an economic substance test for Jersey tax-resident entities have been published and are set to come into force… – Continue reading
Caerphilly-based credit referencing company Creditsafe has paid Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs almost £1 million after it was served with a ‘Diverted Profits Tax’ charge. Registered as Creditsafe Business Solutions, the company, based at Caerphilly Business Park, sells business data for credit check purposes and other uses. According to full… – Continue reading
Having established a groundbreaking regulatory framework for companies using distributed ledger technology, Gibraltar is now poised to publish draft legislation for initial token offerings and is setting its sights too on the market for crypto funds. These were among the key messages signalled at a breakfast briefing for fund managers… – Continue reading
The head of one of Denmark’s biggest pension funds has spoken out to condemn a wide-scale tax fraud uncovered by a media investigation. Danish national broadcaster DR, newspaper Politiken and other European media outlets in the last three months have published articles detailing a withholding tax scam – dubbed ‘Cum-Ex’… – Continue reading
FRANKFURT AM MAIN: German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz in an interview said he backed a global minimum fiscal regime for multinationals as Europe looks to levy tax notably on US tech giants. “We need a minumum tax rate valid globally which no state can get out of (applying),” Scholz, a… – Continue reading
Ireland’s 2018 Finance Bill legislates for a new exit tax regime compliant with the EU’s Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive. The exit tax charge was introduced via financial resolution on Budget night, October 9, 2018, and applies to certain events occurring on or after October 10. Finance Bill 2018 formally legislates for… – Continue reading
The Organisation for Economic and Social Development named and shamed 22 countries out of over 100 it studied that have either residency or citizenship programmes, for having lax rules that potentially pose high-risk to the integrity of Common Reporting Standard’. Malta, which has long cited the OECD’s endorsement of its… – Continue reading
In Greece, an individual who has moved abroad must file an application to the local authorities in order to demonstrate a new address should they wish to change their status from resident to non-tax resident. Such an application is typically filed by March 10th of the year following the year… – Continue reading
The Chinese government has decided to tight policies that target investors in the country and that hold their wealth overseas with the intention to avoid paying taxes. However, these investors that are now threatened by the government might move to cryptocurrencies and avoid being investigated by Chinese authorities. Most of… – Continue reading
After Switzerland, Liechtenstein has also signed an agreement with India for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information, official sources here said. The agreement was signed in Vaduz on October 11. India sees Liechtenstein as an important partner in fighting overseas black money and is hoping the agreement will help it… – Continue reading
The Bahamas has drafted new legislation to ensure the jurisdiction achieves the right balance of business, economic sustainability, and compliance with international standards. Uppermost among the Bahamas’ priorities include compliance with the OECD and EU criteria on tax governance which has led to the Bahamas implementing sweeping changes to the… – Continue reading
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday in Abuja signed executive order eight, tagged Voluntary Offshore Assets Regularization Scheme (VOARS) to make money laundering and tax evasion difficult. Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in a statement last night, said Executive Order 008, which was… – Continue reading
The UK and the Cayman Islands have reached an agreement that will allow the continued cooperation in the fight against money laundering and other crime after complaints from London that information was not being shared. The minister of state for the Overseas Territories Tariq Ahmad and premier Alden McLaughlin released… – Continue reading
While preparations for a Brexit deal slowly gain pace in the UK, the German government hasn’t been wasting any time. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel is not a fan of Brexit and having predicted that the future UK-EU relationship is likely to be based on a “very, very intensive free… – Continue reading
By the order, Nigerian taxpayers who hold offshore assets and incomes are expected to, within a period of 12 months, declare voluntary those assets and pay taxes on them. When they do this, they should expect to derive certain specified benefits. The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has stepped up… – Continue reading
The Swiss Data Protection Commissioner has issued a legal complaint against the Finance Ministry for sending the names of bank employees, lawyers, accountants and other third parties to the United States to assist with tax evasion investigations. The Swiss Supreme Court has already issued a ruling that bans the indiscriminate… – Continue reading
Pakistan has been unable to get much cooperation from 11 countries known as tax havens around the world to share information on offshore wealth amid a global clampdown on tax evasion. Under the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) new automatic exchange of information programme, effective since September 1,… – Continue reading
Switzerland has begun sharing financial record data with tax authorities in many countries as a method for battling tax evasion, however, Africa, which loses about $60 billion in unlawful flows every year, generally into European banks, is prominent by its nonappearance from the arrangement. Swiss bank accounts have for quite… – Continue reading
The deputy prime minister has reiterated that The Bahamas “must address” access to beneficial ownership information for all corporate entities domiciled in this jurisdiction. KP Turnquest said the Government was looking to the Register of Beneficial Owners Bill 2018 as the solution, although beneficial ownership will not be publicly available…. – Continue reading
The ministry of finance last night said The Bahamas had met the September 30 deadline to begin automatic tax information exchange (AEOI) with some 35 partner jurisdictions. Revealing that the first such exchange with another country had already occurred, the ministry said this further demonstrated The Bahamas’ commitment to meet… – Continue reading
The automatic exchange of information between Switzerland and the European Union came into effect on Monday. Owning property abroad without declaring it will no longer be possible. The deadline of September 30 ended the possibility of coming forward voluntarily, reported Swiss public television, RTS, on Sunday. For latecomers who have… – Continue reading
Magistrates’ Court ruled that Ilya Yurov persecution was politically motivated because of his connections with Khodorkovsky. Westminster Magistrates’ Court refused to extradite Ilya Yurov, the former part owner of Trust Bank, who is on the international wanted list, RBC reported. The court believes that the extradition would violate human rights…. – Continue reading
Our previous article about the taxable basis for the taxation of companies in the Macau territory made reference to the fact that the courts in Macau, notably the Court of Second Instance (TSI) and the Tax Administration, do not seem to share the same view regarding income considered as the… – Continue reading
BERLIN, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) — German companies are highly sceptical that the British government can deliver on a promise to attract more business to Britain by lowering taxes after Brexit, a study published on Thursday by the Foundation for Family Business in Germany and Europe found. According to the study,… – Continue reading
In Ukraine in some areas taxes are too high, and entrepreneurs simply can’t pay, so toughen system of tracking defaulters only after tax cuts. Comments about this correspondent of ГолосUA said political analyst Nikolai Spiridonov. “In Ukraine, a number of taxes too high. Businesses simply can’t pay. And is double… – Continue reading
Tax havens are typically assumed to be islands in warm climates offering low tax rates for organizations looking for a lucrative loophole. But these “havens” are also sought after for opaque financial laws that can allow organizations to get away with illegal activity, like money laundering. Now, a new report… – Continue reading
The Government’s changes to the web shop industry’s “sliding scale” tax structure will not prevent the sector moving forward with its legal challenge, a well-known QC says. Wayne Munroe, pictured, who is representing several web shops in their fight against the budget’s tax measures, said he expects to file a… – Continue reading
A large-scale police operation into money laundering appears to have targeted the Airiston Helmi real estate firm, led by a Russian man with Maltese citizenship. An exceptionally large police operation took place in southwest Finland this weekend, in what the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said was an extensive search… – Continue reading
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – McDonald’s tax deal with Luxembourg did not breach EU state aid rules, EU antitrust regulators ruled on Wednesday, saying the reason the US fast food chain did not pay some taxes was due to the mismatch between US and Luxembourg laws. The decision by the European Commission… – Continue reading
Four pharmaceutical giants have been named and shamed for depriving Australia of $215 million a year in tax avoidance. Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD Australia), and Abbott – which make household name brands like Band Aid, Baby Oil, Centrum and ChapStick –were found to have unfairly… – Continue reading
Luxembourg’s fund chiefs are calling on the next government to reorganise the subscription tax on funds to help lower their operating costs. Less than a month before the legislative elections, on Monday Alfi outlined a list of recommendations for the next leaders of the country. The subscription tax review is… – Continue reading
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is scheduled to meet with the European Union’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier to push for an annex addressing smuggling in the British territory, as well as cross-border workers and tax evasion. Gibraltar is also on the agenda. As for Gibraltar, however, Spain will reportedly not… – Continue reading
PARIS – France is watering down its punitive tax on the assets of wealthy individuals who leave the country. The government of France is altering the conditions of its infamous “exit tax” and limiting the conditions under which ex-taxpayers of France are liable to pay a tax on the capital… – Continue reading
Angola and Portugal are due this week to sign a convention to end double taxation between the two countries, as part of a two-day visit to Angola that the Portuguese prime minister is due to start on Monday, financial newspaper Jornal de Negócios reported last Friday. The newspaper reported that… – Continue reading
The Swiss parliament has approved an ambitious government bill aiming to combine the contentious issue of corporate tax reform with changes to the pension system. The package could yet come to a nationwide vote in 2019. The repackaged bill was drawn up after Swiss voters threw out an initial plan… – Continue reading
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is challenging Cayman’s claims of co-operation with the UK National Crime Agency. This, in response to a Premier’s Office statement issued Saturday (15 September) refuting claims from UK National Crime Agency Director Donald Toon that Cayman authorities are uncooperative and his agency “struggles” to get… – Continue reading
The British High Commission has advised British citizens to report and pay their tax on foreign income and assets. In a media release, the Commission said as part of the British Government’s “Requirement to Correct” legislation UK taxpayers must make sure that all their foreign income and assets, where there… – Continue reading
A HCMC taxman has confirmed that ride hailing firm Uber has paid all its outstanding dues. Nguyen Nam Binh, deputy director of the HCMC Tax Department, told VnExpress that the Netherlands-based ride hailing firm has paid VND53 billion ($2.3 million) in back taxes and fines. In September 2017, the department… – Continue reading
Blockchain startup Smart Valor has announced that it received approval to operate in the Swiss financial market. Based in Switzerland’s Crypto Valley, Smart Valor is a company building a decentralized marketplace for tokenized alternative investments. Its network is coordinated by a smart-contract-based governance model, which incentivizes each participant to contribute… – Continue reading
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a regulation in European Law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union (EU). The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) superseded the UK Data Protection Act 1998 on May 25, 2018. Significant and wide-reaching in scope, the new… – Continue reading
STOCKHOLM, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) — The Swedish government has proposed three new measurements to tackle aggressive tax planning, evasion and financial crimes, the Government Offices of Sweden said Tuesday. The proposals include increased international automatic information exchange, new possibilities for the Swedish Tax Agency to prevent financial crimes and tighter… – Continue reading
A European Union board member gave a speech criticizing the weak presence of European fintech businesses in the continent’s own market. The leader’s comments come in response to several major clashes with American multinationals over their unscrupulous practices. Yves Mersch, European Central Bank (ECB) member of the Executive Board, addressed… – Continue reading
When it comes to taxation, in most cases there is a cloud of uncertainty surrounding cryptocurrency. Certainly, legislation is swiftly evolving to make sure crypto traders don’t sneak off without paying their taxes. Now over to Poland, lawmakers are finally unveiling long anticipated clarifications to the existent tax policy. Such… – Continue reading
French President Emmanuel Macron said he wanted “precise answers” before deciding whether to introduce pay-as-you-earn income tax withholding as planned next January. Speaking at a press conference in Helsinki, Macron said he wanted to be “demanding about the proper implementation” of what would be a major change for employers and… – Continue reading
Several multi-national corporations have moved their European headquarters outside of the UK ahead of Brexit, and many others are expected to follow suit, especially as the likelihood of a no-deal Brexit rises further. Japanese tech giant Panasonic will be transferring its European HQ away from London to Amsterdam in October… – Continue reading
Basel Cantonal Bank has become the latest Swiss financial institution to accept a fine for helping United States citizens to evade taxes. The bank was forced to pay a total of $60.4 million (CHF58.9 million) in penalties to settle the case without having to face a criminal trial. Announcing the… – Continue reading
