The distinction between legitimate public interest and sheer curiosity is an issue with a lot of pressure points. But all the legal protection in the world cannot put the genie back in the bottle once it gets out, Guernsey Finance’s Dominic Wheatley has warned.
Offshore finance centres are home to thousands of companies that own nearly 100,000 properties in England and Wales, with the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and the crown dependencies leading the pack.
Jersey Finance has launched a new communications strategy to counter the negative impact of cross-border financial centres’ malpractice on the general public, and to improve the image of its financial services industry in the local community and abroad.
Australia, Qatar and Canada are among six jurisdictions rated largely compliant but still needing to make improvements in the latest wave of peer reviews by the OECD focusing on availability of beneficial ownership information.
Recent high-profile wins against tax evaders prove that when it comes to cracking down on tax dodgers, HMRC is serious about stepping up not only its surveillance but also about finding innovative ways of catching out tax cheats. Here are some the methods the UK tax office employs.
HM Revenue & Customs has kickstarted a new beneficial ownership register targeting those who set up trusts to “generate tax consequences” in guidelines published on Tuesday.
Germany’s finance ministry has set out a 10-point plan to combat tax evasion in response to the Panama Papers leak last year.
A first-of-its-kind public beneficial ownership register of overseas companies that own UK property is being pushed forward by the UK government despite concerns that the information should not be made freely available.
In a bid to crackdown on tax evasion, European citizens could have their private financial affairs exposed to the public after members of the European parliament (MEPs) voted to include trusts and allow EU citizens access to beneficial ownership registers.
The Isle of Man government has said it will not be forced to create a public register on the beneficial ownership of offshore companies until it becomes the “international norm” amid mounting pressure from UK politicians.
The Australian government is consulting on setting up and maintaining a register that would reveal the identities of the companies’ beneficial owners.
EU officials have raised concerns over the Isle of Man’s beneficial ownership rules, revealing that limited data on the ultimate owners of companies registered to the island could make the crown dependency “vulnerable” to money laundering.
