Bernard Kerik, the former New York Police Commissioner, has been given a four year jail sentence after pleading guilty to eight separate felonies, including tax fraud and deceiving White House officials. The US Prosecutor’s Office revealed on February 18th that Bernard Kerik has been given jail time after hiding USD255 000 he was gifted by a construction firm. It was alleged that in exchange for the gift Bernard Kerik contacted several government regulators to recommend the firm to receive government contracts; though he ... Read More

Recently released documents have revealed that the French Government has drawn up a list of 18 nations which it deems to not have adequately complied with international taxation and fiscal standards. French organizations carrying out financial transactions with any of the listed jurisdictions will be faced with significant punitive tax measures. In a document signed by Christine Lagarde, Economy Minister of France, and Eric Woerth, Budget Minister of France, and made public on February 16th, the Government announced that dividends, service fees, ... Read More

According to a report released by the Northern Ireland Economic Reform Group (NIERG), reducing Northern Ireland’s corporate tax rate to 12.5 percent could create 90 000 new jobs within two decades. The NIERG has claimed that the Northern Ireland Government’s current tax rate of 28 percent , and scheme of awarding grants to businesses, is not sustainable, and needs to be changed soon in order to spurn the nation’s economic development. Projections within the report show that reducing the corporate tax ... Read More

The Latvian State Revenue Service (SRS) has admitted that a possible 7.4 million documents have been leaked from its computer system. The information is reputed to have contained tax codes, rates of pay and income levels for individuals, corporate entities, and known public figures. Spurned by a television report, the SRS released a statement on February 15th confirming that the service had experienced a data leak, but declined to provide any further detail on the extent of the security breach. Speculation has surfaced ... Read More

To curb falls in investor confidence and possible national credit ratings downgrades, the Japanese Government will begin discussion on the feasibility of increasing several tax rates, including income, corporate and consumption taxes. Speaking at a press conference on February 13th, Naoto Kan, Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Japan, stated that he will be initiating a “full-fledged debate” on taxes in March, and hopes to have a concise tax reform plan completed by June. During the conference indications were given that income ... Read More