LONDON - New research shows that nearly one quarter of the UK’s largest companies make use of subsidiaries registered in tax haven jurisdictions. On October 11th the international development charity ActionAid released a new report, entitled Addicted to tax havens, which aimed to provide the first comprehensive analysis on the use of subsidiary companies by UK businesses listed on the FTSE 100. The report found that 98 of the 100 biggest companies on the FTSE make use of subsidiaries registered in jurisdictions that ... Read More

The UK is set to impose harsher penalties on tax offenses committed by UK taxpayers through the use of entities incorporated offshore jurisdictions, in some cases even doubling the fines. However, questions have arisen regarding the potential effectiveness and ultimate motivation behind the revised rules. On January 31st the the UK HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) released a statement stating that from the April 6th 2011 is scheduled to impose a steep hike in the penalties imposed on taxpayers for non-compliance with tax ... Read More

Tax evasion, trade mispricing, bribes, and other forms of illicit financial activity caused nearly USD 1.26 trillion to flow from developing nations into wealthier countries in 2008, with the rate growing by an average of 18 percent since the year 2000. Last week Global Financial Integrity (GFI), an independent international body aimed at eliminating the occurrence of illicit cross-border flow of capital, released the latest annual report on the severity of illicit outflows across the developing world. The report stated that the magnitude of ... Read More

As countless international investors and individuals strive to establish a non-resident bank account in the USA, the Internal Revenue Service and the US Government are proposing a series of legislative changes which could make the US based deposits significantly less appealing. On January 7th the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published a new set of proposed rules regarding the treatment of bank accounts in the US held by non-residents. Under the potential changes, all US-based commercial and private banks, credit unions, brokerage institutions, ... Read More

Belgian tax authorities have clarified their standing on a one-year old tax law on fund transfers to tax havens, after tax professionals claimed that the new rules were unclear and in need of more specifics. Recently the tax authorities of Belgium released a long-awaited circular intended to clarify a tax law that was introduced into the Belgian tax code on December 23rd 2009. The law concerned the reporting requirements for Belgian resident and non-resident business entities operating in the country which transfer ... Read More