HM Revenue & Customs has made 640 requests for information on individual’s tax affairs to overseas governments in the 2011 2012 tax year so far, according to research from international law firm Pinsent Masons.
The oldest Swiss bank is to close, having been fined $74m by the US authorities, after pleading guilty to charges of assisting US citizens avoid paying tax.
Thirty two of the UK’s top tax cheats received a total of more than 150 years in jail last year, as HM Revenue & Customs continued its crackdown on tax evasion.
Two hundred wealthy investors accused of sheltering millions of pounds in an Isle of Man based tax avoidance scheme have been sent letters by HM Revenue & Customs warning them they are to be investigated, according to a recent article in the Financial Times.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron has called on the leaders of the G8 group of the world’s wealthiest nations to take “bold steps” this year to drive growth in a time of “grave economic uncertainty”.
The UK’s Financial Services Authority has produced a consumer guide to explain its far reaching Retail Distribution Review, which banned commission payments from providers to financial advisers from the end of 2012.
Advisers with expatriate clients who are tax-resident in Spain say they are urgently reaching out to their clients to warn them that they must begin reporting to the Spanish tax authorities about any overseas assets they hold worth more than 50,000, following a recent change in the country’s tax regime.
Irish and American officials today signed an agreement whereby Ireland has pledged to collect data on accounts in Irish financial institutions held by Americans, and provide it to the US tax authorities.
The UK’s new Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards (PCBS) today called for the Government’s draft banking reforms to include a hard hitting ‘separation power’ that would force a ring-fenced bank to split itself apart completely.
HM Revenue & Customs is giving a settlement opportunity to those who invested in certain tax avoidance schemes, many of which are registered in Jersey, with the aim of contacting eligible investors by the end of January 2013.
The Isle of Man has signed a tax information exchange agreement (TIEA) with Argentina, which is its first such arrangement with a country in South America.
The UK’s business secretary Vince Cable has said government are “behind the curve” on corporate tax avoidance and has called for more international co-operation to tackle multinational companies moving profits to low-tax countries, according to The Guardian.
