We're sharing here the opening panel discussion of the June 2017 European Financial Congress, Eastern Europe's largest finance congress in Gdansk, Poland. The theme of the panel was "Tax solidarity in the world and in the EU" and it features visiting Professor at Oxford University Philip Baker QC … [Read more...]
Beneficial Ownership
Trusts and the UK: half a step forward, three steps backwards
Remember our paper calling for the registration of trusts? Back then the British government opposed this. During discussions related to the EU 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive, Treasury spokesperson Lord Newby even said: “We consider registration of trusts to be a disproportionate approach and, … [Read more...]
“Trusts: Weapons of Mass Injustice?” A response to the critics
On February 13th, 2017 TJN published a paper titled "Trusts: Weapons of Mass Injustice?", which has attracted critical attention from practitioners and tax havens. This is our response. Our paper, “Trusts: Weapons of Mass Injustice?”[1] asks some deep and searching questions about the role trusts … [Read more...]
Post-Panama Papers sunlight on New Zealand Trusts
UPDATE BELOW, 24/07/2017 If you ever wondered what kind of response to a financial transparency law might indicate a corrupted financial secrecy industry, look no further. We reported recently on what’s been happening to trusts in New Zealand in our Offshore Wrapper (our weekly take on tax justice … [Read more...]
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...]
The 3rd International Conference on Beneficial Ownership Registries in Buenos Aires
As we mentioned recently on our blog the 3rd International Conference on Beneficial Ownership Registries took place in Buenos Aires on June 21st-22nd at Argentina’s Central Bank. This was another successful event attended by the Tax Justice Network's Andres Knobel, who reports back to us here on … [Read more...]
Britain’s first tax justice election? Our June 2017 Podcast
In our June 2017 Taxcast we ask - has the UK just had its first tax justice general election? Why was economic debate around the election so ill-informed? Are we seeing a popular shift towards tax justice in the UK and in the USA? Is this the beginning of the end of our long austerity winter? How … [Read more...]
The 3rd International Conference on Beneficial Ownership Registries, Argentina
The 3rd International Conference on Beneficial Ownership Registries will take place in Buenos Aires on June 21st-22nd at Argentina's Central Bank. It is co-hosted by TJN with Fundacion SES, Argentina's AML Prosecutor (PROCELAC), the Anti-Corruption Agency and Security Ministry. We blogged about … [Read more...]
Double-Layer Secrecy: add Lawyer Confidentiality to Banking Secrecy
Global automatic exchange of banking information is set to start among countries that have committed to implement the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (CRS). Similar automatic exchanges have already started between the U.S. and some countries that have managed to sign a FATCA-related … [Read more...]
Technology and online beneficial ownership registries: 21st century transparency
At the Global Tax Transparency Summit meeting held in London in December 2016, a senior official from the tax haven of Jersey claimed that one of the reasons for not making their registry of company ownership available to public scrutiny was the lack of a global standard for public company … [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...]
UK Parliament fails to tackle financial secrecy in its overseas territories
So near and yet so far… Hopes were riding high yesterday that UK parliamentarians might seize the opportunity to take historic action to end decades of financial secrecy in the UK’s Overseas Territories. We blogged about this yesterday highlighting the fact that a lot of ongoing Parliamentary … [Read more...]
Two days left to end financial secrecy in the UK’s Overseas Territories?
UK parliamentarians have the opportunity to take historic action over the next two days, ending decades of financial secrecy in the UK's Overseas Territories. As Parliament closes down before the General Election which will take place on the 8th June, a lot of ongoing business is now at risk. A … [Read more...]
Beneficial Ownership: a Tax Justice Network checklist
We're pleased to say that the world is moving towards the registration of beneficial owners (BOs) who are the natural persons who ultimately own, control or benefit from legal persons (e.g. companies) and legal arrangements (e.g. trusts). If made public, these registries would increase financial … [Read more...]
Germany moves forward on corporate transparency
The Bundesrat has today voted to recommend implementing a public register of the beneficial ownership of companies and trusts. Great news from Germany, as the country takes an important step forward towards corporate transparency. … [Read more...]
