Coalition plan for stripping ‘cloak of secrecy’ from shell firms that leaves housing loophole slated by politicians and other critics Business minister Matthew Hancock unveiled ‘the first UK anti-corruption plan bringing action across the government’. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Barcroft Media Government plans to rip “the cloak of secrecy” from corrupt officials… – Continue reading
[BRUSSELS] Owners of secretive companies in Europe will have a harder time keeping out of the public eye, EU negotiators agreed Wednesday, in another blow against opaque business practices after the LuxLeaks scandal. The agreement reached by the European Commission, European parliament and member states approves the creation of a… – Continue reading
Companies will be forced to disclose their ultimate owners on national registers in European Union nations as the bloc seeks to clamp down on tax dodging, money laundering and terrorism financing. European Parliament legislators and representatives of 28 EU national governments struck a deal late yesterday to upgrade the bloc’s… – Continue reading
The ultimate owners of companies would have to be listed in central registers in EU countries, accessible to people with a “legitimate interest”, such as investigative journalists and other concerned citizens, under a deal struck by Parliament and Council negotiators on a draft EU anti-money laundering directive on Tuesday. The… – Continue reading
Last March MEPs voted overwhelmingly to introduce a new transparency disclosure rule that would compel all 28 European states to make publicly accessible the real owners of companies and trusts. The decision was hailed as a major breakthrough by anti-corruption campaigners fighting financial crime and tax abuse. Lawyers working for… – Continue reading
Do trustees need to register with the US Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) before 1 January 2015? Does registration need to be made in respect of a trust? These questions need to be given due consideration by Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands (“BVI”) trustees and the trusts in respect… – Continue reading
Maples and Calder Michael Gagie, Richard Grasby, Tim Clipstone, Christopher Capewell, Jon Fowler and Tim Frawley Do trustees need to register with the US Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) before 1 January 2015? Does registration need to be made in respect of a trust? These questions need to be given… – Continue reading
In recent times there has been a welcome return to activity in the Irish real estate market. Overseas investors have been circling and private equity groups have started investing heavily in Irish real estate amid confidence that the Irish economy has stabilised and is returning to growth. In this briefing… – Continue reading
Late yesterday afternoon the Government published its response to the consultation on extending Capital Gains Tax (CGT) to non-UK resident owners of UK residential property. This is the latest step in a series of significant changes in the last couple of years to the tax treatment of UK residential property…. – Continue reading
BVI Business Companies A1. What is the law on keeping and retaining records? Section 98 of the BVI Business Companies Act 2004 (BCA) has always provided that a BVI business company must keep records that: are sufficient to show and explain the company’s transactions; and will, at any time, enable… – Continue reading
Samuel Wyly and the estate of his brother Charles will soon find out if they have to pay the U.S. regulators as much as $700 million after a jury found them liable for a 13-year scheme to use a web of offshore trusts to hide stock holdings and make illegal… – Continue reading
On 21 November, the States of Guernsey Income Tax (ITO) published bulletin 2014/1 to update the most recent iteration of the draft guidance notes issued jointly by the crown dependencies on 28 July 2014 regarding the implementation under domestic law of FATCA-based reporting. The bulletin provides clarification in response to… – Continue reading
UK resident non-domiciliaries (RNDs), who have offshore bank accounts and interests in non-UK structures, are currently not required to provide any information about those accounts/structures to HMRC, provided that they claim the remittance basis of taxation in the UK, those accounts do not hold assets which produce UK source income… – Continue reading
DOUBLE taxation for companies and individual investors at the securities market could be scrapped in 2016, if a plan by the Capital Markets Authority is adopted. In a move to attract and grow investments, the Capital Markets Authority has initiated talks on a transparent tax regime, to eliminate multiple taxes… – Continue reading
Mumbai: While the Central Government has expressed its commitment to bring back black money stashed abroad, the Mumbai bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) took a first concrete step towards this direction. It recently passed a crucial order in a case where unaccounted money was stashed in LGT… – Continue reading
A high-profile businesswoman accused of using Cayman Islands bank accounts to dodge more than $7 million in taxes is seeking to challenge the use of information obtained by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service through a tax information exchange request. Cheryl Womack, a Kansas City businesswoman who has a home and… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: In the first ever ruling relating to taxation of black money stashed in overseas tax havens, the Mumbai bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has given the taxman a lot to cheer. Funds aggregating $2.4 million (Rs 11.73 crore approximately) as of December 31, 2001, held in… – Continue reading
Sears Holdings and Pinnacle Entertainment have become the latest US companies to announce that they are considering establishing real estate investment trusts (REITs), to unlock tax advantages that have been considered by some companies as an alternative to a corporate inversion. REITS do not pay corporate tax as long as… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Five years after Germany gave New Delhi a list of Indians with secret bank accounts in the Alpine tax haven Liechtenstein, the first tribunal ruling has gone in favour of the government. The case pertains to three Kolkata-based individuals – Mohan Manoj Dhupelia, Ambrish Manoj Dhupelia and Ms Bhavya… – Continue reading
Kansas City businesswoman Cheryl Womack, who was indicted last December on tax-related charges, has filed a request to delay her change-of-plea hearing originally scheduled for Wednesday. At issue is the Tax Information Exchange Agreement application, which acts almost like a search warrant and enables the government to obtain foreign-based documents… – Continue reading
Onetime Texas billionaire Sam Wyly and the estate of his late brother Charles just can’t seem to outsmart the Securities and Exchange Commission. Their latest attempt to evade the consequences of their allegedly fraudulent offshore trust scheme failed Monday, when U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin of Manhattan, in a ruling… – Continue reading
High Court refuses special leave application in capital gains tax dispute The High Court has refused the special leave application by the taxpayer in a case involving the liability to capital gains tax (CGT) of a ‘limited partnership’ formed in the Cayman Islands. The application for special leave followed the… – Continue reading
NEW YORK — Shifting the address of his Liberty Global Inc. from Colorado to London last year didn’t just put billionaire John C. Malone in a position to reduce his company’s tax bill. He also took precautions to avoid the capital-gains hit that the so-called inversion would trigger for him… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI/BERNE: Accounts inherited from family members as also from previously-constituted trusts or companies have come to the fore in a big way, as India seeks further details from Switzerland about those suspected to have ‘unaccounted’ wealth parked in the Swiss banks. Hundreds of individuals and entities, including 627 names… – Continue reading
London is an increasingly important hub for offshore law firms, which are winning business from City-based financial institutions, and clients in Russia, western Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. Offshore law firms are constantly evolving, it seems. Traditionally, they operated in one offshore territory: whether the British Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey… – Continue reading
Property purchases in Ireland help Liberty Global chairman John Malone avoid tax Billionaire Irish American businessman John Malone, who owns a number of prestigous properties in Ireland, didn’t just reduce his company’s tax bill when he shifted the address of UPC parent Liberty Global from Colarado to London last year…. – Continue reading
New York • Shifting the address of his Liberty Global Inc. from Colorado to London last year didn’t just put billionaire John C. Malone in a position to reduce his company’s tax bill. He also took precautions to avoid the capital-gains hit that the so-called inversion would trigger for him… – Continue reading
Financial institutions based in certain British Overseas Territories (BOTs) and Crown Dependencies (CDs) will be subject to stricter reporting requirements covering accounts held with them by UK resident non-UK domiciled taxpayers from 2016 if specific “carve outs” are not negotiated, an expert has said.31 Oct 2014 Private wealth tax Tax… – Continue reading
Taxes are the price of a civilised society and without them no state can provide social infrastructure, alleviate poverty, subsidise corporations or rescue distressed banks. But tax revenues are under relentless attack and corporate ingenuity in avoiding taxes shows no limits. Companies have become very adept at shifting profits to… – Continue reading
In its first report submitted to the Supreme Court, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money has sought an investigation unit, with the Enforcement Directorate as the nodal co-ordinating agency. The court-appointed SIT, headed by retired Supreme Court judges M B Shah and Arijit Pasayat, has made several recommendations… – Continue reading
There is nothing illegal about tax planning. Yet some things are legal while others are not, and the lines can sometimes get fuzzy. Add to that the fact that some people go to extraordinary lengths to avoid paying taxes, and it can be a recipe for disaster. Increasingly, if you… – Continue reading
This year’s Bill makes it easier for Revenue to refuse tax reliefs The Finance Bill represents a significant upping of the pressure from the Revenue Commissioners in closing off what it sees as the improper use of tax avoidance schemes. In most Bills there are measures to close off some… – Continue reading
With the announced end of banking secrecy for non-residents, the time has come to make use of favourable repatriation schemes, such as the voluntary disclosure regime in Italy. Despite increasing pressure for fiscal transparency and exchange of information, beneficial owners still have a choice: move the capital out (of Luxembourg),… – Continue reading
MUMBAI: Leading Swiss banks are trying to distance themselves from some of the dodgy Indian clients who have twisted rules and could be a cause of embarrassment in future. At least four individuals — three based in Mumbai and one in Delhi — holding the famously anonymous Swiss numbered accounts,… – Continue reading
Samuel Wyly, the U.S. businessman who may have to forfeit as much as $400 million after being found liable for using offshore trusts to hide stock holdings and make illegal trades, filed for bankruptcy. Wyly, 80, listed assets and debt of $100 million to $500 million each in a Chapter… – Continue reading
DALLAS (CN) – Former Texas billionaire Sam Wyly filed for bankruptcy protection after a federal jury ordered him to pay as much as $400 million for using offshore trusts to hide stock trades. A noted philanthropist and contributor to Republican causes, Wyly, 77, of Dallas, made his fortune… – Continue reading
Representation of foreign individuals who wish to purchase US residential property should include careful attention to the manner in which the income and gain from the property will be taxed in addition to the other aspects of ownership. In addition, it is important to be aware of the manner in… – Continue reading
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Emailftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. Trustees of private family trusts are being urged to register with the US tax… – Continue reading
The reservation or grant of certain powers by settlors has always been possible under Bermuda’s trust law but, historically, there was some uncertainty about exactly how far settlors could go without calling the validity of the trust structure into question. The recently passed Trusts (Special Provisions) Amendment Act 2014 (TAA… – Continue reading
Wealth inequality is growing worldwide, according to a new report by Credit Suisse. A greater share of wealth is being held by a smaller number of ultra-rich families worldwide as larger inheritances, family trusts, and similar arrangements to avoid taxes help the ultra-wealthy gain a greater portion of total capital… – Continue reading
Inter vivos and testamentary trusts are used frequently in Canada to implement a variety of estate and tax planning strategies. Over the past few years, however, amendments to Canada’s Income Tax Act (the ITA), and case law have altered the effectiveness of the use of trusts in certain circumstances. In… – Continue reading
The non-legislative measures put forward by the Treasury Department on September 22, to deter multinationals from using corporate inversions to move their tax residence abroad and move away from the high United States tax rate, have so far produced a mixed bag of results. The measures are aimed at preventing… – Continue reading
Double taxation of trust income is a very real problem. The issue arises because trusts are subject to state income taxes on their entire income when they are classified as resident trusts under a taxing state’s law. Each state has its own definition of “resident trust,” which leads to the… – Continue reading
Sept. 29 — Samuel Wyly and the estate of Charles Wyly must pay a total of $188 million plus prejudgment interest based on taxes they would have paid on profits from offshore trusts (SEC v. Wyly, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:10-cv-05760, 2014 BL 267268, 9/25/14). Judge Shira A. Scheindlin issued an order… – Continue reading
There is nothing illegal about tax planning. Yet some things are legal while others are not, and the lines can sometimes get fuzzy. Add to that the fact that some people go to extraordinary lengths to avoid paying taxes, and it can be a recipe for disaster. Increasingly, if you… – Continue reading
Back in the eighties and nineties, the Wyly brothers ran, and owned huge stakes in, a weird bunch of public companies, including some craft stores, some software companies, and a reinsurer. These companies were good and made the Wyly brothers a lot of money. An odd biological fact is that… – Continue reading
Labor has accused the government of procrastinating on a key measure to stop multinational companies shifting profits offshore. It comes as the government prepares to chair the G20 finance ministers meeting in Cairns next week. The information-sharing deal, part of the global push to tackle tax avoidance, has been signed… – Continue reading
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A 43-year-old Vadnais Heights investment advisor pleaded guilty to accusations that he spent clients’ money on personal items instead of investing their funds, the United States Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday. Joel William Carlson, who was charged on Aug. 4, pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of tax evasion… – Continue reading
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Savers and investors who have kept assets offshore should make use of disclosure facilities to settle with the… – Continue reading
The constant battle raging between clever lawyers and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has led to the goal posts moving on a tax amnesty offer. After alleged abuses of the Employee Benefit Trust settlement arrangement (EBT) the scheme will be closed early, denying taxpayers the chance to settle their affair… – Continue reading
