From the UK's HM Revenue & Customs, via Tax Research, a UK-focused article that is relevant for all companies listening to the siren songs of the promoters of tax schemes: 10 things a tax avoidance scheme promoter won’t always tell you … [Read more...]
Enablers and intermediaries
Financing for whose development? DFIs and their support for companies that use tax havens
This blog first appeared on From Poverty to Power. By Mathieu Vervynckt, Policy & Research Analyst with the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) The Third UN Conference on Financing for Development (FfD), set to take place in Addis Ababa next year, will be a crucial … [Read more...]
Tax haven Panama: it’s time for blacklists and sanctions now
Ten years ago Jeffrey Robinson published a book about tax havens called The Sink, where he quotes a U.S. Customs official as saying of Panama: "The country is filled with dishonest lawyers, dishonest bankers, dishonest company formation agents and dishonest companies registered there by those … [Read more...]
Switzerland wants to cherry-pick “partner” countries on transparency
Updated, Oct 10, with additional analysis from the Swiss "Q and A": Switzerland has grudgingly made some important concessions on secrecy in recent years - although we've always been at pains to stess that it has happened an inch at a time, and usually bilaterally. Typically, this means making … [Read more...]
PWC report endorses country by country reporting for banks
From Euractiv, a statement that would have been unthinkable even just a couple of years ago: "Publishing turnover, staff numbers, taxes paid and subsidies received in every country banks operate in, could boost competitiveness, increase lending and bolster financial stability, the independent … [Read more...]
Argentina tax bureau gets Swiss data, while others skulk in shadows
This is a sight for sore eyes. Argentina, a country that has suffered more than most under the scourge of predatory Swiss banking practices (not to mention the banking practices of the UK, United States and others), is making a very public stand. The head of Argentina's tax bureau, Ricardo … [Read more...]
Global Witness: anonymous companies and the threat to the U.S.
From Global Witness, a major new report entitled The Great Rip Off: Anonymous company owners and the threat to American interests. We encourage you to share this one widely, and to read the report, which outlines a litany of evils that are perpetrated through anonymous U.S. companies. … [Read more...]
Quote of the day – on tax laws and corporate partners
From Marty Sullivan (pictured), a top U.S. tax expert, speaking last year: “What politicians keep forgetting is that you can’t ‘partner’ with the corporate community when it comes to writing the tax laws,” Sullivan explains. “They’re not partners — they are adversaries.” Someone ought to send a … [Read more...]
KPMG offers generous advice that will help tax cheats
One of the most important live initiatives currently in the field of tax justice and international financial transparency is the OECD's Common Reporting Standards (CRS,) a system of automatic information exchange which we have broadly welcomed - though with some gripes - here. Now it turns out … [Read more...]
UK-Swiss tax receipts slow to a trickle
Way back then, when Britain and Switzerland had just signed a new so-called "Rubik" tax deal promising to "regularise untaxed assets", the UK government was promising that the deal would reap £4-7 billion. OK, many people in Britain thought: it was rather corrupt and offensive, but that was a lot … [Read more...]
Video: how London fuels corruption
Anthea Lawson of Global Witness, speaking at TEDx in the British Houses of Parliament. Enjoy. For more on the British role, see here or here or here. … [Read more...]
Risk mining: what tax avoidance is, and exactly why it’s anti-social
Recently we wrote about a remarkable blog by Jolyon Maugham, a tax barrister, a view from the front lines, which we'll repeat again today, because it's so startling: "I have on my desk an Opinion – a piece of formal tax advice – from a prominent QC at the Tax Bar. In it, he expresses a view on the … [Read more...]
The Boys Who Won’t Say No
Are tax barristers enriching themselves by signing-off on dodgy legal opinions relating to tax avoidance? Surely not. The legal profession is a bastion of probity and wouldn't tolerate such shenanigans. Or maybe they would. … [Read more...]
On the City of London’s love-fest with Moscow
From TheCityUK, a powerful lobbying body that supports the City of London and generally supports financial deregulation (see here for more on that): "We are working with the Russian Government on a major project to help Moscow develop as an international financial centre, creating new business … [Read more...]
Delaware corporate secrecy and crime: a long-awaited debate begins
A fascinating blog from Global Witness: "Last November, a former special agent for the Treasury Department, John Cassara, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times with the headline “Delaware, Den of Thieves?” Cassara described how the state of Delaware (along with Wyoming and Nevada) has become … [Read more...]
