Safe Swiss Passage
Swiss reporter Myret Zaki, who sacrificed three months’ salary to probe the UBS financial scandal, was both prophetic and cryptic. “India will never get to know the names of those having accounts in banks across Switzerland. New Delhi has neither the will, nor the clout,” Zaki told TEHELKA. “You have to be very rich to investigate,” she said in her presentation. On the German Swiss side, Lukas Haessig also investigated UBS as a freelance reporter. But after several months of looking for a book deal, he ended up writing for a publisher on the global financial crisis — not the actual UBS mess. “Banks love secrecy,” says Haessig.
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main44.asp?filename=Bu080510Safe_Swiss.asp
Americans Seeking Reward Money Inform IRS on Others
Americans seeking reward money are turning in neighbors, clients and employers they suspect of cheating on taxes to the IRS at a rate of nearly eight per day, the director of the agency’s whistleblower program said. “Right after we got the new law” containing the minimum award, “the fax machine was running the next day,” Whitlock told the Offshore Alert Financial Due Diligence Conference. The rate of submissions is on pace to eclipse the 476 applications filed in 2008, a number that was four times the previous year. Whitlock said the submissions have “stabilized.”
I-T asks IPL franchisees to reveal details of offshore stakeholders
The I-T authorities, probing the ownership details of the Indian Premier League (IPL) teams, have asked the owners of the teams to disclose details of offshore companies who have a stake in these teams. Though the team owners claim these offshore companies are legitimate, the I-T authorities suspect that atleast some of them had been set up just a year ago or less. “Some of them may be table companies, with just a table and a chair duplicating as offices,” said a senior I-T officer.
The Fight to Be the Next Caymans
With alternative hedge fund managers taking flight from such offshore bases as the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg is looking to be the domicile of choice, The Financial Times
reported. Figures from Hedge Fund Research show that the percentage of global hedge funds domiciled in the Cayman Islands dropped from 39.6 percent in the first quarter of 2009 to 37.3 percent in the first quarter of 2010. Dublin is currently the go-to spot for alternative investment managers, but Luxembourg is confident it can take its place. Luxembourg has seen 540 funds, totalling $186 billion in assets under management, relocating to the territory over the past five years.
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/luxembourg-and-dublin-vie-to-be-new-caymans/?src=busln
McDermott’s New Tax Bill is Wrought With Problems
It wasn’t that long ago that many British gambling firms left the country to start an online business because they felt they couldn’t compete with other Internet offshore gambling companies that were operating in tax havens. Last week Jim McDermott announced the details of his online gambling tax bill that was announced in March. But there are several questions that arise regarding the bill’s fairness and viability that must be addressed. The first question is why there is a different onus placed on internet bets versus land based ones. No land based casino is expected to pay a tax on deposits made at the casino and infact I can’t find any cases in the U.S. where a business is expected to pay a tax on anything other than its net income.
http://majorwager.com/index.cfm?page=27&show_column=801
US to probe thousands more offshore tax evaders
The U.S. government expects to probe thousands more cases of wealthy individuals dodging taxes through offshore bank accounts, on top of the high profile case against UBS AG, a U.S. tax attorney said on Monday. Since the start of the U.S. crackdown on tax evasion, money has moved from the Caribbean to Switzerland and Asia. UBS agreed last year to pay $780 million and hand over 4,450 client names to settle charges after it admitted helping U.S. clients evade U.S. tax law.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSGE64207X20100503
IoM Is ‘A Force For Good’
The Isle of Man’s Treasury Minister, Anne Craine highlighted the Isle of Man’s position as an innovative and successful business centre during an international finance conference in Dublin on May 5. Delivering a keynote speech on the ‘Re-invention of Offshore Centres,’ she said the island should be viewed as a positive contributor to the global economy, rather than a threat. The Minister rounded on critics who linked smaller jurisdictions ‘with all of the world’s woes,’ and focused on the many benefits derived from the Isle of Man’s continued growth. The Minister said: “I am not saying that we don’t still have work to do, that is to be expected, but the essence of the reports is quite clear; the Isle of Man is an expert international financial services centre with high grade regulation, the rule of law and a seriously-embraced policy of international co-operation.”
http://www.tax-news.com/news/IoM_Is_A_Force_For_Good____43111.html
Julius Baer whistleblower cites Swiss tax edge
A former private banker at Julius Baer, who alleges the Swiss bank knowingly helped rich clients dodge taxes, said on Monday that U.S. clients have long paid a premium for Swiss firms’ tax advantages. As a former chief operating officer for Julius Baer in the Cayman Islands, Elmer says he has files that show the bank helped clients skirt taxes. Julius Baer denies Elmer’s allegations. They fired him after he flunked a polygraph test and has been trying to retrieve client data in his possession.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6424RU20100503
Madoff’s Sons May Be Hit With International Tax Evasion Charges
While their father serves a 140-year sentence in federal prison, Mark Madoff and Andrew Madoff have been claiming that they, too, are victims of their father’s massive Ponzi scheme. But now it appears that the feds may be ready to charge them: A source told the AP that the pair, who were executives at Bernard Madoff Investment Securities, “are likely to face tax fraud charges later this year, but may escape more serious securities fraud charges if authorities fail to come up with solid evidence they knowingly participated in the massive fraud.”
http://gothamist.com/2010/05/01/madoffs_sons_may_be_hit_with_tax_ev.php
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