By choosing to compete on taxes, we’ve neglected to compete on the skill of our workers and the strength of our infrastructure. It’s a self-defeating competition, and neither President Biden nor I are interested in participating in it anymore.
A Better Corporate Tax for America Janet Yellen, WSJ. Yellen comments
US offers new plan in global corporate tax talksFT
1 big thing: Dimon calls on companies to be policymakers Axios. Oh.
Corporate America tears down Biden’s infrastructure plan Politico
Professors Leandra Lederman (Indiana-Maurer) and Allison Christians (McGill) released 2 new videos today on their Break Into Tax YouTube channel.
The first of today’s videos, One Weird Tip To Save a Bundle in Taxes, shares a breakthrough of universal interest. That video will likely be widely shared, so be among the first to see it!
The second Break Into Tax video, Why Take Tax? The Top Ten Reasons, counts down reasons why students should consider taking a tax class. It includes cameo appearances by many tax professors and other experts, sharing insights gained over many decades. Don’t miss the debut of the “Christians & Lederman Top 10 List”!
ICIJ on secrecy and the harm of global tax abuse:
Half a decade later, Panama Papers’ revelations continue to roil political and
economic systems worldwide, and governments are still collecting on tax
liabilities exposed by our findings. Our latest tally shows that countries have
recouped a whopping $1.36 billion in unpaid taxes, fines and penalties
due to official inquiries that the investigation sparked.
The figure is definitely an undercount of
how much money has gone back into public coffers thanks to the
Panama Papers, and it’s just the tip of the iceberg in measuring the material
impact the investigation has had on the world.
Will Fitzgibbon and Michael Hudson recount the wide-ranging
effects Panama Papers has on everything from politics to pop culture to
lawmaking to journalism itself. A number of wealthy and powerful
people have also been prosecuted as a result of the project. In an exclusive
interview, a former U.S. prosecutor from the team tasked with America’s legal
response to the Panama Papers takes you behind-the-scenes of the
complex criminal cases that resulted from the investigation.
But despite all the fallout, subsequent ICIJ investigations have shown that the
offshore system is so big and so entrenched that dismantling it — or even
reforming it — isn’t something that can be done in a span of just a few years.
We talk to experts about what’s next in
the global fight against financial crime and secrecy.
WHAT BIDEN CAN
DO
The new U.S. president from Delaware has repeatedly pledged to tackle tax
havens and illicit finance. Here’s five key reforms
experts say he should put at the top of his list.
$1 TRILLION IN
PROFIT SHIFTING
An analysis by the International Centre for Tax and Development on newly
available OECD data finds that multinational
corporations’ use of tax havens cost governments more than $200 billion in tax
revenues in 2016 alone — “a phenomenon where the majority of
countries lose.”
TOM RENNER AWARD
FinCEN Files, our investigation with BuzzFeed News on global financial
corruption and dirty money, won a special award
for covering organized crime or other criminal acts from
Investigative Reporters and Editors. Luanda Leaks, our exposé on how Africa’s
wealthiest woman made her fortune from one of the world’s poorest countries,
was named a finalist for the same prize.
- A Policy Paper prepared for the UK Labour Party - Regulatory Architecture To Enhance Democracy And Business Accountability
- An Accidental Disclosure Exposes a $1 Billion Tax Fight With Bristol Myers (1 Apr 2021)
- IMF and Taxation: Giving Everyone a Fair Shot (1 Apr 2021)
- IMF calls for tax hikes on wealthy to reduce income gap (1 Apr 2021)
- Biden administration threatens tariffs on UK goods in 'tech tax' row (29 Mar 2021)
- Isle of Man hunts for new residents – offering tax cuts and no Covid restrictions (29 Mar 2021)
- Political institutions must be freed from the clutches of private money (28 Mar 2021)
- TAXES: YOUR SUBSCRIPTION TO DEMOCRACY (28 Mar 2021)
- 1,000 people a day fall into 90pc pension tax trap (28 Mar 2021)
- As England faces £2bn council tax rise, Nottingham pays highest bill (28 Mar 2021)
- Mid-Level Accounting and Finance Managers’ Perceptions of Their Familiarity with Sox Whistleblower Protection Laws, Vincent Owhoso and Peter M. Theuri, (27 Mar 2021)
- Tax avoidance ‘can never be the strategy’ of a country, MEP says (26 Mar 2021)
- TAX EVASION AT THE TOP OF THE INCOME DISTRIBUTION: THEORY AND EVIDENCE (26 Mar 2021)
- HMRC seeks to support taxpayers with overseas assets (26 Mar 2021)
- HMRC plans to provide a personalised service to offshore tax cheats to avoid having to name them as the criminals that they are (26 Mar 2021)
- UK Pension tax relief issues need to be fixed 'urgently' (25 Mar 2021)
- Canada's Supreme Court rules in favour of national carbon tax (25 Mar 2021)
- Here Are Some Truths About Corporate Tax Avoidance (25 Mar 2021)
- National Insurance: Rishi Sunak eyes up another tax hit on self-employed by levelling up NI payments (25 Mar 2021)
- Capital flight from Africa: Resource Plunder and the Poisoned Paradises in Tax Havens (24 Mar 2021)
- Who are the biggest tax cheats? The 1% — and here’s how they get away with it (24 Mar 2021)
- HMRC Consultation Paper: Clamping down on promoters of tax avoidance Consultation (23 Mar 2021)
- HM Treasury Consultation Paper: UK Tax policies and consultations (23 Mar 2021)
- Online sales tax should move beyond retailers to include sellers of services, Treasury told (23 Mar 2021)
- Blow for second home owners after tax crackdown on holiday lets (23 Mar 2021)
- Millions face paying UK tax much earlier under government proposals (23 Mar 2021)
- Clampdown on tax loophole for thousands of second homes registered as holiday lets (23 Mar 2021)
- HMRC Conslutation Paper: Helping taxpayers get offshore tax right (23 Mar 2021)
- Global online tax on tech giants 'in our grasp', says Rishi Sunak (23 Mar 2021)
- Auditing and Corporate Governance: Government reforms will achieve little (22 Mar 2021)
- Football Index: Gambling Commission was warned about firm in January 2020 (22 Mar 2021)
- Odey Asset Management loses executive pay tax battle (22 Mar 2021)
- Read Court Judgement: Odey Asset Management Llp v Revenue and Customs (INCOME TAX - tax effects of a partnership incentive plan) [2021] UKFTT 31 (TC) (4 February 2021) (22 Mar 2021)
- It’s not just the rich that avoid tax: it’s teachers and nurses too (21 Mar 2021)
- Zoom increased profits by 4000 per cent during pandemic but paid no income tax (21 Mar 2021)
- Zoom paying no taxes while getting rich is proof 'the system is rigged (20 Mar 2021)
- UK Treasury mulls slashing higher-rate tax relief on pensions contributions (20 Mar 2021)
- EU Sues U.K. Over Tax Breaks as Post-Brexit Skirmishes Mount (19 Mar 2021)
- State aid: EU Commission refers United Kingdom to European Court for failure to fully recover illegal tax exemption aid of up to around €100 million in Gibraltar (19 Mar 2021)
- Covid: The foreign royals and billionaire tax exiles collecting UK's furlough millions (19 Mar 2021)
- Tax avoidance promoters shift focus to middle-income earners (18 Mar 2021)
- English Freeports selection decision-making note (17 Mar 2021)
- The £365m money laundering den behind Natwest scandal: It's a century old jewellers... in Bradford (17 Mar 2021)
- Virginia State to Study Impact of Corporate Tax Avoidance (14 Mar 2021)
- Reform urged for outdated council tax that hits poor hardest (14 Mar 2021)
- Money Laundering: Newly Obtained Audit Report Details How Shady Clients from Around the World Moved Billions Through Estonia (14 Mar 2021)
- Corporate-tax avoidance after the ‘double Irish (11 Mar 2021)
- UK overseas territories top list of world’s leading tax havens (10 Mar 2021)
Justice Department releases efforts to fight pandemic fraud to date
- 474 charged so far; attempts to obtain $569 million
- 120 charged with PPP fraud
- Have seized $580 million in EIDL loan fraud
- Arrested 140 people for unemployment fraud; use stolen identities; much of this by international organized crime groups
- Also done dozens of cases against bogus treatments or cures, PPE issues, and has taken down hundreds of fraudulent websites
Joint US/Canadian Crackdown on Grandparent Scams
- Major police effort in Quebec to target grandparent scams; at least 19 arrested so far
- Indianapolis: Five charged over grandparent scam; laundered money for Canadian callers
- Baltimore: Three charged for grandparent fraud; handled money from victims; had money in mail sent to vacant homes; took in at least $1.5 million; calls to victims from Canada
Virus Benefit Theft
- How scammers got virus benefits; 10% of all money paid out went to fraud
- Texas: Man pleads guilty to $24 million PPP fraud; used funds to buy houses and luxury cars
- Boston: three Nigerians arrested for laundering money from romance scam victims and from theft of unemployment benefits; handled more than $4 million
- Rochester, New York: Man charged with PPP fraud; got $277,000
- Florida man charged with PPP scam; used identities of elderly at senior living facilities; sought $1.5 million
- California man pleads guilty to EIDL and PPP fraud; took in $1.8 million
- Over $100 million in virus benefits from fraud laundered through online investing platforms
- Pittsburgh: Pennsylvania arrests three for unemployment fraud
- San Diego DA charges three with unemployment benefit fraud; took in $1.3 million
Why do we have
April Fools Day? No one seems to really know, though it goes back
centuries at least, and is celebrated around the world. Here is an interesting discussion of it.
Studies I’ve done for BBB can all be found here. Here are links to some of the
study topics: puppy fraud, tech support fraud, romance fraud money mules, apartment rental, crooked movers, government imposters, online vehicle sale scams, rental fraud and gift cards.
Coronavirus
- FBI warns that people are selling fake vaccination cards
- DOJ warns of fake emails asking vaccinated people to take a survey; offer free iPad if pay shipping and handling; steal money and deliver nothing; ID theft risk too
Fraud News From Around the world
- Australia gets $300,000 fine against phone provider Superphone for making unsolicited calls and engaging in deceptive practices
- Victims have lost at least $365 million to App Store scams; many sold through free trial offers and vastly overpriced
- Texas: Two from Ukraine get prison for selling counterfeit cancer and hepatitis drugs; to be deported after sentences
- Australia court spells out when conduct is legally “unconscionable”
- Arkansas AG sues two over puppy scam; tracked them picking up victim money
- Criminal gangs are using cloned copies of legitimate investment firm web sites to further their fraud
- Pennsylvania: Israeli man who was living in Brazil pleads guilty to money laundering; provided direct links to dark web sites where crooks could buy illegal drugs and guns and stolen financial information
- Consumer protection activities by the State AG’s last month
Humor
- Indiana police stop motorized couch
- BBC: 13 of the world’s dumbest criminals
- Beaver wanders onto Toronto subway platform
FTC and CFPB
- FTC sending $6.5 million in refunds to victims of Fashion Nova over delays in delivery; also going to victims in 169 countries
- FTC settles with mobile banking app; company to end the app and give full refunds
- FTC and CFPB issue joint statement saying that they are looking at illegal evictions
Business Email compromise fraud (read BBB study)
- Texas: Nigerian man gets 34 years prison for laundering BEC money; handled at least $6.7 million
- Australia lost $14 million to BEC last year, and losses are rising
Ransomware
- Hits University of Miami and University of Colorado; demand $10 million; begin publishing student social security numbers
- UK retailer Fat Face pays $2 million ransom
- Compromises patient data at University of Miami
- Attack on Town of Didsbury, British Columbia
Data Breaches
ATM skimming
Jamaica and Lottery Fraud (read BBB lottery fraud study)
Romance Fraud and Sextortion (read BBB romance fraud study)
- Indonesia arrests seven from Nigeria and Ghana for online fraud impersonating US military; appears to be romance fraud
- Nigeria arrests man and his mother for romance fraud, bitcoin investments; impersonated Keanu Reeves