The Commonwealth of the Bahamas has signed 7 more Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEA), bringing its total to 18, enough to be raised from the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation’s (OECD) Grey List of nations. On March 10th the OECD announced that the Bahamas, a small Caribbean island nation previously regarded as a tax haven and offshore banking center, has entered into TIEAs with Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the Faroe Islands. Having passed the OECD threshold of 12 implemented ... Read More

Lim Hwee Hua, Second Finance Minister of Singapore, delivered a speech reassuring national MPs that the Government is taking adequate measures to maintain a competitive and fair tax system. The speech delivered to the Singapore Ministry of Finance’s Committee of Supply Debate 2010 on March 9th, was intended to address the issues raised by members of the Committee on situations faced by Singapore and its Government. Among other topics, the speech sought to quell the concerns of several Members of Parliament (MPs) regarding ... Read More

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released the Economic Survey of Norway 2010, which assesses the current economic position of the nation and potential courses of action to follow through the remnants of the global recession. According to newly published report released March 8th, Norway had experienced a relatively mild contraction during the economic crisis. National unemployment is expected to peak at no more than 4 percent. The OECD projections claim that economic growth will remain strong in 2010 ... Read More

Algirdas Semeta, Taxation Commissioner of the EU, has stated that he wishes to see a carbon tax instated across the entirety of the European Union, and will lead a review to make it happen. The widely debated topic of Carbon Taxation has once again been brought up with the revelation that the European Commission (EC) will soon lead an inquiry about a possible EU-wide implementation of such a measure. In a statement made by Emer Traynor, spokeswoman for Algirdas Semeta, revision of the ... Read More

The new National Account report, released by the Australian Government on March 3rd, shows that the country has continued its economic growth throughout the whole of the 2009 year, despite the contractions faced by advanced economies worldwide. According to the December quarter figures, Australia’s GDP grew by 0.9 percent, bringing the yearly growth total to 2.7 percent. Comparatively, the Australian Treasury estimates claim that the world’s advanced economies as a group contracted by approximately 3.2 percent. In a statement accompanying the release ... Read More

The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has announced that from March 2010 it will begin to monitor its member states’ implementation of the newly established Good Practice Guidance on Internal Controls, Ethics and Compliance, the most comprehensive international business anti-bribery guidelines ever released by the organization. On March 3rd the OECD announced that the 38 member-nations of the OECD's Anti-Bribery Convention will begin to monitor the progress of participating jurisdictions in encouraging international businesses to adapt the anti-bribery measures. The newly ... Read More

In a statement released on March 2nd, the US Internal Revenues Services (IRS) is reminding US taxpayers that it holds USD 1.3 billion in unclaimed tax refunds for nearly 1.4 million individuals who did not file 2006 tax returns. At the same time, the IRS has stated that in order to receive any refunds, the taxpayer is required to submit a paper return (as electronic returns are not available for previous years) by April 15th 2010. The US Government grants a three year ... Read More