US Virgin Islands Lures Businesses With Tax Breaks International Business Times "These generous tax breaks don’t render the Virgin Islands a corporate or offshore tax haven, like such well-known rivals as Bermuda or the Cayman Islands ... That’s because the Virgin Islands’ tax benefits are legally … [Read more...]
Archives for 2014
Guest blog: should Argentina sign a tax treaty with Switzerland?
Not long ago we published a Switzerland edition of our newsletter Tax Justice Focus, in which a contributor wrote: "Developing countries wanting OECD-type tax agreements with Switzerland risk being forced into tax concessions on Swiss foreign investments, in exchange for information sharing on tax … [Read more...]
UK government believes in country by country reporting. Or does it?
From an exchange in the UK parliament, via Tax Research, the UK Exchequer Secretary David Gauke: "A year or so ago I had a meeting at Euston tower with the HMRC [the UK tax authorities] officials who deal with transfer pricing matters. They said it would help them to have a relatively simple form … [Read more...]
New campaign: End Anonymous Companies
Top US senators urge extradition of Swiss bankers
From U.S. Senator Carl Levin: WASHINGTON – The bipartisan leadership of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations today urged the Department of Justice to seek extradition of Swiss residents whom the DOJ has charged with tax evasion offenses. … [Read more...]
Links Mar 18
'Yanukovych Leaks' documents abuse of office DeutscheWelle Presidential residence owned by an Austrian company, which in turn was owned by a British firm, that was controlled by a trust in Liechtenstein. ' "If Yanukovych had run his country's affairs like he did his private life in Mezhyhirya, we … [Read more...]
The tax justice app is now available – and it’s free
We are delighted to report that the tax justice network now has its own app, for the Android system. It is free, simple, and packed with all the latest news, views and analysis from around the world. You can find it by searching the Google Play store, or download it here. An Apple iOS version … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: A week in tax justice
Our Weekly Offshore Wrapper by George Turner … [Read more...]
One Direction get tax justice. Or do they?
A few days ago we were delighted to read an article about the enormously influential UK band One Direction, which began like this. "George Osborne [the UK Chancellor] can expect a bombardment from One Direction fans after the boyband urged its army of followers to lobby the Chancellor to maintain … [Read more...]
Scientific revolutions and the tax justice consensus
From a book review in The Economist: "(the author) cites Thomas Kuhn’s theory of scientific revolutions. First, the existing models are proved wrong by the facts. Second, the experts try to adjust the theory to account for the anomalies, leading to ever-greater complexity. Third, a new theory is … [Read more...]
Links Mar 14
Money laundering: Own up, owners The Economist Insight into the status and potential of beneficial ownership transparency, following this week's European Parliament vote "to back open registers for companies, trusts, foundations and practically any other corporate vehicle or legal arrangement that … [Read more...]
How advertising works: joined up thinking at The Economist
Quote of the day: inequality
From Shifting Grounds, our quote of the day: "New political eras begin when the ideas that define them are embraced by those most reluctant to accept their logic." The quote is about inequality - but it could just as well be about tax justice. … [Read more...]
New report: OECD’s new info exchange standard a watershed moment?
A month ago we published a short, quick reaction to a new report by the OECD, outlining the nuts and bolts of a major new international system for information exchange. We have now spent quite some time exploring the OECD's report, and have written a much more detailed response. Our new report … [Read more...]
“We are not a tax haven.” They all say that
This is slightly updated version of a blog we wrote a while ago: a useful reminder of the theatre of probity that tax havens employ to try and appear clean. This blogger used to live in South Africa, not long after the end of Apartheid, where one of the common refrains he heard was "I am not a … [Read more...]
