India: List of Black Money holders in Swiss Bank accounts leaked by WikiLeaks? India.com India: Black money disclosures may prove costly for banks Business Standard 'Differences with India on making public Swiss bank account information' The Economic Times 73 Of 100 Swiss Banks In Bed … [Read more...]
Secrecy
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...]
Links Oct 24
Australia: Tax office blitz chases billions The West Australian See also: Australians confess to stashing $1b in assets offshore The Sydney Morning Herald The transfer pricing conflict is about profit shifting Daily Maverick Swiss banks trying to distance themselves from Indian clients … [Read more...]
Links Oct 23
UNECA Ninth African Development Forum - “Innovative financing for Africa’s transformation” - ADF-IX Consensus Statement Marrakech, October 2014 Facebook’s £3,169 UK corporate tax bill in 2013 was less than a zone 1-9 yearly London travelcard City AM ... or almost half that of the average … [Read more...]
Links Oct 22
Will new suit spoil party for blue chip companies registered in Mauritius Standard Media See also recent blog: TJN Africa takes Kenya government to court over Mauritius treaty Swiss Banks on Own in Navigating U.S. Offshore-Account Requirements The Wall Street Journal "Swiss Government Provides … [Read more...]
Panama voices call it “Badge of Honor” to be called a tax haven
We recently blogged about Colombia's decision to blacklist Panama because of its hostile role as tax haven for all sorts of dirty, criminal and corrupt Colombian drugs money. We also noted that Panama had the temerity to be outraged. Now, from PanAm Post, something that really should stick in … [Read more...]
Links Oct 21
Tax Avoidance report: The case of the Peru gold mine Yanacocha LatinDADD The Reckoning For Swiss Banks Is Far From Over Business Insider / The Economist … [Read more...]
Links Oct 20
South Africa: Lonmin’s failed gag bid puts spotlight on transfer pricing Business Day Live See the report The Bermuda connection: Profit shifting and unaffordability at Lonmin1999-?2012 by the Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC). See also: The Last Word: Avoid Lonmin like the … [Read more...]
Links Oct 17
Ten drivers of inequality in Africa Oxfam How tax inspectors could prevent the next Ebola outbreak The Conversation See also recent blog Tax Inspectors Without Borders – an update Argentina: Courts could dismiss Swiss bank data Buenos Aires Herald Swiss-Indian tax negotiations yield … [Read more...]
Links Oct 16
Financing for development: What actions are needed on debt and illicit capital flows? Bretton Woods Project Debt and Development Coalition Ireland says government playing musical chairs on corporate tax and government failed to tackle bank debt See also: Ireland ends one era of abuse – and … [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...]
Links Oct 10
Kenya: Lobby sues Treasury CS over 'illegal' tax deal with Mauritius Business Standard Lawsuit filed by Tax Justice Network - Africa ActionAid Asks European Investment Bank to Publish Report on Mopani Tax Evasion Zambia Reports Joint press release circulated by organisations ActionAid Zambia, … [Read more...]
Anonymous company ownership, in a picture
This is from a new Global Witness report entitled "The shell starts to crack? Real owners of Myanmar’s oil and gas blocks come forward." We like this picture because it shows, simply, how issues that are at the heart of TJN's work are so multi-faceted. Illegal logging in Asia connects with the … [Read more...]
Links 9 Oct
Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey says tax cheats are 'thieves' The Sydney Morning Herald See also: ATO alleges complex Chevron scheme slashed tax bill by $258m The Sydney Morning Herald Khodorkovsky’s Contradictions The Komisar Scoop Some searching questions on offshore shell games. 56 … [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...]
