Corrected: the earlier version referring to a Banque de France Report said "$8bn revenue loss" when it should have referred to an $8bn loss in tax base. The Tax Justice Research Bulletin By Alex Cobham. TJN (April 2015) - The Tax Justice Research Bulletin is a monthly series dedicated to … [Read more...]
Information Exchange
If a person or entity resident in one jurisdiction owns income-generating assets in another jurisdiction, the resident’s tax authorities generally need to know about that asset or income, to assess their tax liabities. So jurisdictions exchange information with each other for tax (and other) purposes under a range of international schemes, agreements and protocols. Many, of course, don’t exchange or even collect that information locally – or they put up obstacles in the way of information exchange.
Historically, the OECD, a club of rich countries that has been mandated by G20 leaders to promote the agenda, has claimed that its very weak “on request” standards for information exchange constitute the “internationally agreed standard” for information exchange. “On request” means that information is only passed over after a clear request is made, specifying the taxpayer concerned and various other bits of information about him or her. In essence, you have to already know what you are looking for before you ask for it.
However, from around 2012 a new consensus started to emerge, strongly supported by the Tax Justice Network and its allies, that the world needs far stronger standards, notably “automatic” information exchange between jurisdiction, on a multilateral basis. Various working examples of automatic information exchange are already up and running: perhaps most notably the EU’s Savings Tax Directive and the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA.)
This page provides links and news about information exchange. See also our information exchange archive for older stories.
Image credit: Christian Aid, with thanks.
Jersey’s foundations law is fit for money launderers: scrap it
Foundations, like trusts and anonymous shell companies, are often used as secrecy vehicles for the purposes of money laundering, tax cheating, and much more. A while ago we pointed to an offshore promoter who had this to say about foundations: "Trusts are . . . tools of the rich used to stay rich … [Read more...]
New Report: Ten Reasons to Defend the Corporate Income Tax.
UPDATES 2018 - Tax incentives in mining: minimising risks to revenue, OECD/Intergovernmental forum on mining, minerals, metals, and sustainable development. "Tax incentives are costly, leading many countries to forgo vital revenues in exchange for often illusive benefits. . . there is little … [Read more...]
Settling accounts: what happens after SwissLeaks?
From Koen Roovers, re-posted from Open Democracy: Settling accounts: what happens after SwissLeaks? By Koen Roovers, Financial Transparency Coalition A major leak of incriminating HSBC records last week resulted in print and television news coverage around the globe, trended on Twitter for … [Read more...]
Quote of the day – Swiss whitewash
From John Gapper in the Financial Times: “In the past, the Swiss private banking industry operated very differently to the way it does today,” HSBC said this week in its mea culpa. Perhaps so, but I recall Swiss banks claiming in the mid-1990s — a decade before this happened — that tax evasion was … [Read more...]
Drug cartels, terrorist financing risk and sanctioned regimes also on HSBC’s books under Lord Green
Press release from Global Witness Systemic failure to stop money laundering or comply with US laws shows need for sanctions for senior executives at big banks The HSBC tax scandal shows that UK law needs to be changed so that senior bankers are held criminally responsible when they oversee … [Read more...]
#SwissLeaks – Tax transparency for accountability
Cross-posted from Uncounted: Alex Cobham Much of the #SwissLeaks data has been in the hands of tax authorities for 5 years. Many of the questions raised relate to individuals and to particular regulators and governments – but there’s also a broader question that goes to the type of solutions … [Read more...]
British tax havens fight back against transparency moves
Just over a year ago the British Prime Minister David Cameron, whose family has had tax haven interests for many years, tried to whitewash Britain’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies with a statement saying: “I do not think it is fair any longer to refer to any of the Overseas Territories … [Read more...]
Jean-Claude Juncker must push through EU directive on money-laundering
Via The Guardian, a letter co-signed by some TJNers. Update: a slightly longer list of signatories in the EU Observer, here. An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism is here, containing an underwhelming response from Juncker. Jean-Claude Juncker must push through EU … [Read more...]
Update: report on the OECD’s information exchange standard
A month ago we published a preliminary report entitled ‘The end of bank secrecy?’Bridging the gap to effective automatic information exchange, looking at the OECD's new system of automatic information exchange. We have now completed our final technical analysis of the report. It is not very … [Read more...]
Switzerland signs up for automatic info exchange. But there’s a catch
So we have this announcement from the OECD. "Switzerland has today become the 52nd jurisdiction to sign the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement [MCAA], which will allow it to go forward with plans to activate automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters with other … [Read more...]
Reports of the Death of Banking Secrecy Are Greatly Exaggerated
From Andres Knobel in the Huffington Post, a reminder that while the OECD is very good at declaring the end of banking secrecy, it does like to gloss over the small matter that this is very far from the truth: "Leading finance ministers met in Berlin last week to begin the process of adopting a … [Read more...]
The End of Bank Secrecy? A new TJN report
A new (preliminary) report from the Tax Justice Network ‘The end of bank secrecy?’ Bridging the gap to effective automatic information exchange Leading finance ministers are meeting in Berlin this week to initiate a new global standard for the automatic information exchange of tax data. In … [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...]
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...]
