The prime minister of Samoa, Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi, has defended his country’s role as an offshore tax haven, claiming the ravages of climate change have left the Pacific island nation increasingly reliant on the revenue it brings.
International efforts to end the secrecy of offshore tax havens – seen by governments as the solution to tackling tax evasion – may lead to some undesired side-effects, according to experts in the industry.
The 50 biggest US corporations have more than a trillion dollars hidden offshore, according to a new report published by Oxfam on Thursday.
Bulgaria has removed Gibraltar from its ‘tax haven’ list following intensive lobbying from Gibraltar Finance and the state’s minister for finance and gaming, Albert Isola.
There will be no end to the inequality crisis until world leaders end the era of tax havens, once and for all, according to a report from charity Oxfam.
The Isle of Man is set to be removed from a tax haven blacklist of jurisdictions established by Spain in 2006, after the crown dependency revived its ‘redundant’ bilateral tax agreement strategy.
The UK Government appears to have relaxed its demands on the Cayman Islands to create a public register that reveals the owners of companies, despite Prime Minister David Cameron calling on overseas jurisdictions to increase transparency.
Guernsey, Hong Kong, and the British Virgin Islands have been named among the 30 most un-cooperative tax jurisdictions in a blacklist published by the European Commission.
The Russian Duma has introduced a voluntary disclosure program for all Russian citizens as it looks to stem the “offshorisation” of Russian money.
As the deadline for public comment passed last week on a proposal to implement a public registry of beneficial owners in the Cayman Islands, companies and organisations with a presence there weighed in on the matter with most expressing criticism of the plan.
Leaders of the UK’s overseas territories have formally stated that they will continue to “play a full part” in tackling tax evasion and fraud, at a summit in London.
Switzerland has once again been named the world’s most secretive jurisdiction by the Tax Justice Network, a UK-based campaign group.
