Tax experts have hit back at the Public Accounts Committee’s suggestion that tax avoiders should be “named and shamed”, arguing that such a policy could easily become disproportionate and counterproductive.
Tax dodgers and those who promote tax avoidance schemes should be named and shamed by HM Revenue & Customs, according to MP Margaret Hodge, who urged the Government to do more to stop the UK haemorrhaging money in lost taxes.
Updated EU plans to levy a financial transactions tax have been agreed by 11 member states, including France and Germany, but rejected by the other 16 member states, including the UK.
The Swiss government has signed a deal with the US that will reveal to Washington those American tax payers who hold accounts in Switzerland. The move, designed to unveil potential tax evaders, calls into question Switzerland’s tradition of banking secrecy.
Tax experts say that a recent change in the rules governing a special form of debt known as “debts under a deed” will bring such debts which in fact are a form of asset within the inheritance tax net.
The UK government decision to freeze the ‘nil-rate’ band of inheritance tax (IHT) over the next six years will lead to new strategies around the use of trusts, experts are predicting.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published final guidelines on the remuneration of alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs), which will align them with other financial sectors, it announced today.
Almost half of hedge fund investors believe that increased regulation and greater scrutiny of the alternative investment sector will bring about positive change in the industry, compared with only 23% of hedge fund managers.
Overseas trusts with beneficiaries based in the UK will be forced to pay tax in assets which had previously fallen outside the British tax net after HM Revenue & Customs amended a long-standing piece of legislation.
Jersey has signed two tax agreements this week, one with G20 nation Brazil and the other with EU member state Latvia.
Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man have got around to signing double taxation agreements with each other, having each already made such arrangements with many other countries.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has reiterated his plans to make tackling tax abuse a top priority during the UK’s year long presidency of the G8 group of wealthy nations.
