“It’s been a year like no other, and we aren’t talking about the pandemic. There were rapid-fire public offerings, surging cryptocurrencies and skyrocketing stock prices. The number of billionaires on Forbes’ 35th annual list of the world’s wealthiestexploded to an unprecedented 2,755–660 more than a year ago. Of those, a record high 493 were new to the list–roughly one every 17 hours, including 210 from China and Hong Kong. Another 250 who’d fallen off in the past came roaring back. A staggering 86% are richer than a year ago. Jeff Bezos is the world’s richest for the fourth year running, worth $177 billion, while Elon Musk rocketed into the number two spot with $151 billion, as Tesla and Amazon shares surged. Altogether these billionaires are worth $13.1 trillion, up from $8 trillion in 2020. The U.S. still has the most, with 724, followed by China (including Hong Kong and Macao) with 698. We used stock prices and exchange rates from March 5 to calculate net worths. See below for the full list of the world’s billionaires and our methodology.”
- For daily updated net worths of all 2,755 billionaires, check out our real-time billionaires rankings.
This week the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5) brought together investigators, cryptocurrency experts and data scientists in a coordinated push to track down individuals and organizations perpetrating tax crimes around the world. The J5 (which is comprised of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD), Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) from the United Kingdom and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI)) has been working together since 2018 to gather information, share intelligence and conduct coordinated operations in each country's fight against transnational tax crime.
The annual meeting (referred to by the J5 as "The Challenge") was focused this year on Financial Technology (FINtech) companies. In its press release issued March 25 (IR-2021-64), the IRS acknowledged that many FINtech companies have adopted compliance regulations and are partnering with governments and law enforcement in prohibiting financial crime. However, the IRS cautioned that due to the online nature of the products, the novelty and the lack of regulation and compliance in some areas, the FINtech industry can be used by tax avoiders and money launderers to commit crimes.
ATO slammed over ‘soul-destroying’ fraud allegations
A former senior ATO officer has warned the Tax Office that scrutiny over its approach to fraud and evasion cases will not cease until it accepts changes that provide taxpayers with procedural fairness.
The ATO continues to adopt an approach that leaves taxpayers facing an “expensive, exhausting, and often soul-destroying” process to clear their names of tax evasion in the courts, former ATO senior assistant commissioner Ashley King has told a House of Representatives committee.
Mr King, a former tax partner at PwC and Deloitte, and now a principal of his firm TaxResolve, told the committee that tax evasion findings continue to be made by ATO officers who are below the senior executive level, and are determined before a taxpayer has a chance to explain their case.
