Tax-news.com reported late last week that:
Niue Premier Sani Lakatana revealed this week that the OECD has expressed concerns over the Government’s decision to retain its International Business Company (IBC) licensing regime, despite his recent announcement that the jurisdiction’s offshore banking legislation is set to be repealed.
At a meeting with Niue Financial Secretary Leonard Tukuitonga in [...]
The London Review of Books has a review by Neal Ascherson of McMafia: Crime without Frontiers by Misha Glenny. He ends the review by noting that
Glenny ends with a call for action. The task, which no government wants to confront, is to regulate the global markets and above all the financial markets. National governments (including [...]
The Economic Times of India has reported that:
The government is planning to scrutinise investments flowing in from tax havens such as Andorra, Aruba, Bahamas, Costa Rica and Dominica where investor details remain confidential due to banking policies.
According to sources in the department of industrial policy and promotion (Dipp), the government is concerned about Indian residents [...]
Walesonline has reported that:
Nia Griffith, the Labour MP for Llanelli, is seeking to change the law to force firms that build schools, roads and hospitals to pay tax in the UK. She said it was “outrageous” that some companies given contracts under the Private Finance Initiative were registered abroad in order to reduce their tax [...]
The US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations issued the following press release this morning:
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations to Hold Hearing June 17:
Tax Haven Banks and U.S. Tax Compliance
The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has scheduled a hearing, Tax Haven Banks and U. S. Tax Compliance, on Thursday, July 17, 2008, at 9:30 a.m., in Room 106 [...]
Jersey has published its figures for tax retained under the EU Savings Tax Directive in 2007. The press release they put out is misleading. I thought it would be useful to compare the 2007 data with that for 2006 as an indication of how things are really going.
The data is as follows:
It’s important to note [...]
A new commission appointed by Norway will investigate ways of putting a stop to the huge flows of money into tax havens. Tax evasion and corruption are believed to cost poor countries at least 50 billion dollars a year.
The commission, launched last week, includes Eva Joly, a special advisor on corruption for the Norwegian development [...]
On Thursday (when I was at a conference and out of blogging action) the FT reported that:
The US Internal Revenue Service is to solicit the help of the world’s top accounting firms in its widening effort to clamp down on offshore tax evasion.
The IRS is planning to speak on Tuesday to six accounting firms about [...]
The Irish have a Tax Commission in progress at present. It’s latest mad idea in a country that already seems to believe that tax abuse is source of social benefit is to declare the Gaelic speaking Western Isles as tax havens. As the Irish Independent puts it:
All the Irish islands could become tax havens - [...]
I’ve already written about Tax Havens: Creating Turmoil and the recommendations for change we make in it. There is a reason for all the effort expended in its creation: the recommendation made would have real, positive impact on the world. For example, if they had been adopted they would have reduced the impact of the [...]
