The Vatican Bank has once again been embroiled in scandal with arising allegations of money laundering and connections to criminal activity. On December 12th court documents came to light detailing new money-laundering allegations against the Institute for Religious Works (IRW), otherwise known as the Vatican Bank. Italian prosecutors are claiming that the bank has repeatedly and deliberately ignored EU rules against money laundering, and even aided the Italian Mafia. The IRW was mired by money-laundering allegations as recently as September when a series of ... Read More

Indian tax authorities are beginning a series of new investigations to uncover evidence of tax evasion committed by over 100 different Indian companies suspected of dodging their tax obligations through intricate offshore company structures. On December 12th the Finance Ministry of India announced that it would launching investigations to uncover evidence of tax evasion committed by over 100 high net-worth Indian businesses with operations in offshore tax havens. The investigation, which has been dubbed “Lifting the Corporate Veil”, will be run by ... Read More

Estonia has become the 34th member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the first Baltic nation and the first former Soviet Republic state accepted into the Organization. On December 9th Estonia counted another success in its continued efforts for economic integration with the Western world, after it was officially declared a full member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD). The membership application process was completed when the Estonian Ambassador to France Sven Jürgenson presented a signed copy of ... Read More

The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development is urging governments to carry out tax reforms in order to improve economic performance and raise tax revenues without sacrificing future growth potential. On December 8th the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released its latest Tax Policy Brief, which outlines a series of potential steps that could be taken by governments around the world to improve their respective economic performances and address the historically high levels of debt and ever increasing budget deficits. According ... Read More

The Finance Ministers of European Union countries have agreed to a set of new rules regarding the exchange of tax information, banning the use of bank secrecy as a reason to refuse cooperation. On December 7th European Union (EU) member nations made another step in the fight against tax evasion, when EU Finance Ministers signed a new directive which will greatly raise a countries' powers to conduct international tax evasion investigations. The new agreement prohibits tax authorities in all EU states from using ... Read More