Money laundering: Own up, owners The Economist Insight into the status and potential of beneficial ownership transparency, following this week's European Parliament vote "to back open registers for companies, trusts, foundations and practically any other corporate vehicle or legal arrangement that … [Read more...]
Secrecy
New report: OECD’s new info exchange standard a watershed moment?
A month ago we published a short, quick reaction to a new report by the OECD, outlining the nuts and bolts of a major new international system for information exchange. We have now spent quite some time exploring the OECD's report, and have written a much more detailed response. Our new report … [Read more...]
“We are not a tax haven.” They all say that
This is slightly updated version of a blog we wrote a while ago: a useful reminder of the theatre of probity that tax havens employ to try and appear clean. This blogger used to live in South Africa, not long after the end of Apartheid, where one of the common refrains he heard was "I am not a … [Read more...]
Exclusive interview with OECD on TJN’s report on AIE proposals
International Tax Review has just published an exclusive interview with the OECD's Pascal Saint Amans concerning our new report on the proposals for a new international standard for automatic information exchange. … [Read more...]
Links Mar 11
European Parliament gives overwhelming ‘yes’ vote to end secret corporate ownership Eurodad See also: MEPs vote for public registers on company ownership European Voice - But, UK Prime Minister does not want the rules applied to trusts … [Read more...]
Bitcoin scandal: the role of Delaware secrecy
We have for many years been describing Delaware as an offshore secrecy jurisdiction (or tax haven) inside the United States. It is not so much tax, as secrecy and laissez-faire corporate governance (and ugly related matters) that are the tiny state's core offerings, along with all that judicial … [Read more...]
Links Mar 7
Swiss parliament relaxes terms for tax data exchange swissinfo "Parliament has approved a legal amendment that tax evaders will not always have to be told if Switzerland sends information about them to other countries." But to what extent is this just lip-service? How do trusts, foundations and … [Read more...]
Links Mar 6
IMF Launches International Public Consultation Taxation International News& Information "The IMF is looking into how the tax policies of different countries can potentially interact to unintentionally facilitate tax evasion, aggressive tax planning, and excessive profit shifting." … [Read more...]
European Union Savings Tax Directive Amendments – coming very soon?
We have written at length about the European Union Savings Tax Directive (EUSD), a scheme involving 43 European countries and other participating jurisdictions to tackle tax evasion by exchanging appropriate information automatically with each other. … [Read more...]
Renting Judges for Secret Rulings in Delaware
Back in 1974 William Cary wrote a widely cited article about Delaware in the Yale Law Review, where he stated: "a pygmy among the 50 states prescribes, interprets, and indeed denigrates national corporate policy as an incentive to encourage incorporation within its borders, thereby increasing its … [Read more...]
Links Mar 4
Black money: Switzerland refuses to share information on bank account holders, Delhi mulls strong response The Economic Times India, US to intensify cooperation in tax evasion cases The Economic Times … [Read more...]
Ukraine: how to put pressure on Russia
Following our blog yesterday looking at the national security implications of Europe's tax haven mentality, we have been drawn to this post from 2008, looking at the West's options in dealing with Russian aggression in Georgia at the time. It lists several interesting possibilities, but we found … [Read more...]
Why Russia no longer fears the West. It’s the offshore, stupid
If there's one story you read today make it this one, from Politico Magazine. It's triggered by the crisis in Ukraine, but it's been a long time coming. The point of this short story is clear: Western leaders are waking up to the fact that Russia no longer fears or even respects them. Why? … [Read more...]
Anonymous UK company owned Viktor Yanukovych’s presidential palace compound
From Global Witness - see also Daily Mail and The Independent. Update: see also this important blog, looking at the national security implications of all this corruption. Anonymous UK company owned Viktor Yanukovych’s presidential palace compound 1 March 2014 The private residence of the … [Read more...]
Links Feb 28
Kenya: Tax Holidays Abused, Says NGO allAfrica Why Isn’t Africa’s Economic Growth Benefiting The Poor? Atlanta BlackStar … [Read more...]
