As the International Herald Tribune has reported:
Under pressure from Germany, the European Union on Wednesday agreed to consider a new clampdown on tax havens, despite the opposition of one country, Luxembourg, which said it saw no reason to change the existing law.
It noted:
Luxembourg, which has a developed an important financial center and which defends banking […]
The EU issued the following press release tonight:
TAXATION OF SAVINGS - Council conclusions
The Council took note of an informal interim assessment by the Commission of the functioning of directive 2003/48/EC on the taxation of savings income. It held an exchange of views. It adopted the following conclusions:
“The Council calls on the Commission to submit the […]
Today is a big day for the EU Savings Tax Directive. I discussion paper on its reform is being discussed.
The paper is welcome. But it does not go far enough to tackle the weaknesses in the current arrangements. The key issues it raises are:
1. Whether the scope of the EU STD should be extended from […]
Switzerland has announced that:
there has been a substantial increase in the amount of tax retained on behalf of the European Union for 2007. The withholding tax on savings accounts of EU citizens added up to SFr653 million ($618 million) last year, SFr116 million more than in 2006.
A little analysis shows this to be bluster, and […]
The FT has reported that:
The world’s leading private banks could be facing an international government crackdown on tax evasion.
Matters could escalate this month. Pressure, led by Germany, to tighten the EU’s savings tax directive could remove the loophole enabling income to remain untaxed if held by a company, rather than an individual. The loophole has […]
The EU Savings Tax Directive is in the news in a big way because of the attack on Liechtenstein.
The Tax Justice Network has produced a new briefing paper to what the EU Savings Tax Directive is and how it needs to be reformed. I strongly recommend a read to anyone with an interest in tax.
The […]
There is a very obvious mood for reform of the EU Savings Tax Directive right now. The FT summarised it this morning, saying:
Germany’s call for a clampdown on European tax havens won support on Tuesday from a majority of the European Union’s 27 member states, determined to tighten rules on bank secrecy, which they see […]
