Sometimes it’s worth mentioning what I’ve been reading. I always intend to do this more than I do. It’s not I don’t read – I just run out of time to mention it. A recent read has been Londongrad: From Russia With Cash by Mark Hollingsworth and Stewart Lansley, published by Fourth Estate, 2009 The
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High Court gives green light for offshore tax clawback – Times Online . This is an important case for HM Revenue & Customs to win. The core of the argument was that 2008 legislation that allowed the Revenue to backdate claims against an abusive form of offshore trust were illegal as an infringement of the
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Demystifying Accounting Dirty Tricks – Forbes.com. My latest Forbes column explores the idea of the plimsoll line of accounting in more depth.

Seems like the long quoted estimate of 60% of world trade being between related parties is now out of date. 70% of world trade is now apparently between related parties according to discussion here this afternoon. And not one penny, cent or yen of this appears in the accounts of multinational corporations – which is
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I think it worth reproducing what Stephen Timms has said on country-by-country reporting. I do, of course, have a special interest in this – having written the first paper on the subject (even if it’s moved on a bit from then). He said yesterday: The interest and controversy that Country-by-Country reporting has stirred up is
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The OECD statement on tax and development I referred to this morning is here. Stephen Timms’ speech is here. For those who want to check what I reported.

30 years of ‚ÄòMarket knows best’ have damaged fairness | ToUChstone blog: A public policy blog from the TUC. Brendan Barber says on the TUC blog: The final report of the National Equalities Panel (NEP), “An Anatomy of Economic Inequality in the UK” is out today – you can download the full thing or exec
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From the Financial Task Force blog: "A new GFI report due out later this week, The Implied Tax Revenue Loss of Trade Mispricing, finds that developing countries are losing as much as $100 billion a year to just one form of tax evasion: trade mispricing. ‘Furthermore, the report’s $100 billion figure is likely understated, as
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Will Morris of GE Capital is on the platform challenging the call for country-by-country reporting at the OECD. I know Will – and he’s a decent guy – but he’s loyal to his employer and seeks to offer smooth arguments that undermine the delivery of real reform to reporting systems that will deliver tax to
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