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Thursday, June 28, 2018

Tax Matters

Overall, data from the shows that the majority of financial penalties imposed on deliberate tax evaders are never paid. In our Working Paper 6/2018, Chris Leech proposes two new tax penalties.

Jail for lawyer who 'did not know' tax fraud was illegal
A barrister who claimed he did not know non-payment of tax was against the law has been jailed for 18 months, following an HMRC investigation
https://www.accountancydaily.co/jail-lawyer-who-did-not-know-tax-fraud-was-illegal
 


U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and Netherlands form international tax enforcement group J5

Late, lax and little sympathy, ASIC's belated ban on shoddy planner

It is an outcome that prompted Nationals Senator John Williams, who has long raised concerns about ...




The Sydney Morning Herald


'I knew things were pretty crook': Senator John 'Wacka'Williams ...

Senator John 'Wacka' Williams insisted on a royal commission into the banking sector, despite ... We have to have people in the corporate world fearful of ASIC, APRA and the ACCC.


2GB
IR-2018-143 (June 27, 2018), National Taxpayer Advocate Identifies Priority Areas in Mid-Year Report to Congress:

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson today released her statutorily mandated mid-year report to Congress that presents a review of the 2018 filing season, identifies the priority issues the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) will address during the upcoming fiscal year and contains the IRS’s responses to each of the 100 administrative recommendations the Advocate made in her 2017 Annual Report to Congress.

The most significant challenge the IRS faces in the upcoming year is implementing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA), which among other things requires programming an estimated 140 systems, writing or revising some 450 forms and publications and issuing guidance on dozens of TCJA provisions. Ms. Olson expresses confidence that the IRS will implement the law successfully. “Make no mistake about it. I have no doubt the IRS will deliver what it has been asked to do,” she writes in the preface to the report.


Taiwan’s secret offshore billions lure wealth managers Euromoney

Cites TJN’s Financial Secrecy Index.

Panama Papers: Ukrainian President Poroshenko’s Lawyers Go on the Defensive OCCRP

Steppe to Soho: How Millions Linked to Kazakhstan Mega-Fraud Case Ended up in Trump Property OCCRP

New Panama Papers leak shows U.S. oddly inactive McClatchy DC

‘We Resign’: That’s what Mossack Fonseca told these Indian clients after Panama Papers leak Indian Express

New Panama Papers leak reveals fresh financial secrets of Lionel Messi, politicians, criminals McClatchy DC

Fraudsters ‘turning Dubai into the new Costa del Crime’ The Guardian
‘Emirate being used to hide millions in tax, say UK investigators’

U.K. Companies Face Pre-Brexit Tax Bombshell From EU Bloomberg

EU Member States agree cross-border freezing regulation STEP

U.S.: Demonizing the IRS to Protect Tax Evaders American Prospect
‘Weakening tax enforcement combined with new complexity invites evasion and massive illicit tax savings for the rich.’

Cyprus to crackdown on shell companies ekathimerini
‘A few months ago, the Cyprus government picked a public relations firm in the US to work towards improving the image aboard through lobbying and other public relations campaigns.’

Shell companies and the who of corruption Compliance Week
‘A shell company is, by design, created to hide the true or ultimate beneficial ownership … The bottom line is that many criminals, fraudsters, and those soliciting bribes set up shell companies to help them carry out their illegal activities.’

Dutch government under fire over tax deal with Shell NLTimes

ShapeShift aims to reinvent Swiss banking privacy swissinfo
‘ShapeShift offers services to anyone with a hankering to convert their bitcoin into ether, litecoin or a host of other cryptotokens. No annoying ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) paperwork. No awkward questions asked. In that respect ShapeShift resembles an old-school Swiss private bank.’

An Alpine Bitcoin Bunker Wants to Be Your Next Swiss Bank Account Bloomberg