Germany has lost hundreds of millions of Euros in tax revenues to frauds involving carbon emissions trading. On March 7th Alexander Badle senior prosecutor for the Office of the Attorney General of Germany issued a statement, saying that tax fraud on carbon dioxide emission trading has cost the government an estimated total of EUR 850 million in lost revenues. The figure emerged throughout the course of the ongoing investigations into frauds allegedly committed by 120 companies operating in Germany and registered across Europe ... Read More

The European Commission has raised concerns with two elements of UK legislation regarding tax treatments of investments in EU-member states, deciding that the rules are against EU Single Market principles. On February 16th the European Commission (EC) formally requested that the UK address two items of tax legislation, as they are considered to be discriminatory and against the principles of the EU Single Market. According to the EC, the UK’s rules regarding the transfer of assets abroad and the attribution of gains to ... Read More

The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development is urging its member nations to take greater action against aggressive tax planning schemes, stating that traditional tax audits may not be enough to curb lost revenues and that greater amounts of information are needed to stop overall tax collection loses. On February 1st the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released Tackling Aggressive Tax Planning Through Improved Transparency and Disclosure, a new report that urges countries to instate higher levels of taxpayer disclosure initiatives, ... Read More

The European Commission has taken another step forward in the process of refining and potentially implementing ideas for an international financial transaction tax, as the issue was recently discussed in a meeting of EU-finance ministry representatives. On January 19th the European Commission's Tax Policy Group (TPG) , a committee within the European Commission (EC) tasked with addressing fundamental issues in taxation across the EU, held a meeting between the representatives of Finance Ministers of EU-member states, which was chaired by the Commissioner for ... 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