Whilst the eyes of the world focused on the isolation of the US from the ‘G19’ position on climate change, something remarkable played out elsewhere in the process. Following closely the common EU position that we highlighted a few days ago, the G20 communique devotes important space to tax … [Read more...]
Policy
Worst fears realised? Jersey shares ‘old’ records of trusts and foundations
Life's full of surprises, some pleasant, some not so much. Imagine you had undeclared offshore assets when the global financial crisis struck, and you've nervously watched the world move towards TJN 's proposal for multilateral, automatic information exchange. Until now you've probably felt ok, and … [Read more...]
Faking residency: OECD’s Common Reporting Standard leaves the door wide open for fraud
The OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for automatic exchange of banking information leaves the door wide open for fraud. The OECD has recently made available a form to report potential avoidance schemes of the CRS. While this form is a first useful step - we've been sharing with them the … [Read more...]
The Achilles heel of effective beneficial ownership registration: Why is everyone fixed on 25%?
Civil society and allies are pushing for real (and useful) transparency when it comes to disclosing the beneficial owners (BOs) of companies, meaning the individuals who ultimately own and control the companies that operate in our economies, and that could be involved in illegal activities (e.g. tax … [Read more...]
Developing countries’ access to CbCR: Guess who’s (not) coming to OECD dinner
It's said that if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. Well, the OECD has just made available the list of activated relationships to automatically exchange country-by-country reports between countries. They use big figures like 700 relationships, but don’t get fooled by those numbers - … [Read more...]
The problems with measuring tax systems
The following blog by TJN's Nicholas Shaxson (currently on a book writing sabbatical) was originally posted on the SPERI blog and is re-posted here with permission. In debates about tax policy we need to de-emphasise the role of economics and measurement and rekindle the politics … [Read more...]
Banking Secrecy in China, its related territories and Taiwan
Foreword. The Tax Justice Network is a non partisan network of experts working towards transparency, so we do not take any position about countries’ territorial and political claims. However, we do expect countries with a de jure (legal) or de facto (in practice) influence over other territories, … [Read more...]
Links Mar 13
Corporate taxation key to protecting human rights in the global economy CESR UN urges US to not exploit American Samoa The Guam Daily Post 'The United Nations has "strongly urged" the United States to refrain from using American Samoa as, among other things, a tax haven'. A significant shift? … [Read more...]
New Report – Delivering a level playing field for offshore bank accounts
The Automatic Exchange of Banking Information, which is due to start this year requires nation states to implement domestic legislation to participate in the scheme. The OECD’s Global Forum conducted a (confidential) first-stage evaluation of the laws of countries that want to participate in the … [Read more...]
Links Jan 30
EU Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs - Committee of Inquiry to investigate alleged contraventions and maladministration in the application of Union law in relation to money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion Live stream 31 Jan at 9.30am (Brussels time) Africa: Accelerated Agenda on … [Read more...]
Links Jan 23
European Parliament's new hearing on Panama Papers: lawyers, accountants and bankers Global Alliance for Tax Justice Ecuador and NGOs' plea for a Global Tax Body Global Alliance for Tax Justice Aid in reverse: how poor countries develop rich countries The Guardian … [Read more...]
Information exchange needs to go beyond tax
The Tax Justice Network is today publishing a report on how governments might improve on proposals to implement automatic exchange of information for tax purposes. The report is based on a survey which was sent to more than 100 tax authorities. One of the most conclusive responses came in how … [Read more...]
