Fugitive Tax-Slaves

Israeli PM aims to deport tens of thousands of Africans

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday he aims to repatriate tens of thousands of African illegal migrants and that the inflow into Israel from the Sinai peninsula has been brought to a halt. 'We have reached this result over the past several months, and next month we will have completed the construction of the fence on the border with the Sinai,' facing Egypt, he said. Interior Minister Eli Yishai had warned in August that Sudanese illegals who did not leave the country by October 15 would be detained, held in camps and deported." Continue reading →

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France Taxes America: The Robin Hood Tax

"As predicted, France has passed the world’s first Robin Hood Tax — a levy of two-tenths of one percent on all French share transactions, purchases or sales — even when they are bought or sold by Americans. The new tax is expected to raise E500 million annually, a portion of which French President Francois Hollande has committed to give to fight global poverty and HIV-AIDS. The French tax is a precursor for more ambitious Financial Transactions Tax that nine European countries plan on implementing as early as December of this year. The broader tax would apply 'not just to shares, but to bond and derivative transactions' and is supposed to raise E34 billion." Continue reading →

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France’s Jean-Marc Ayrault slams flight of the ‘greedy rich’

"These individuals are leaving 'because they want to get even richer,' he said. 'We cannot fight poverty if those with the most, and sometimes with a lot, do not show solidarity and a bit of generosity,' he added. Announcing plans to spend up to 2.5 billion euros by 2017 to help the poor, Mr Ayrault said that poverty affected 12.9 percent of the population in 2002 and rose to 14.1 percent in 2010. Mr Hollande has since introduced other hefty new charges on capital gains and inheritance, while increasing France's wealth tax and an exit tax for entrepreneurs selling their companies." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrance’s Jean-Marc Ayrault slams flight of the ‘greedy rich’

Facebook paid small tax bill on big profits made outside US, figures show

"Facebook is structured so that companies buying advertisements on the website in the UK, or anywhere outside of the US, have to pay Facebook Ireland. This allowed Facebook Ireland to make gross 2011 profits of £840m – or £3.1m per each of its 287 staff. Despite the high gross profit, Facebook Ireland was able to cut its tax bill to just €3.2m by using an accounting technique called the 'Double Irish'. The manoeuvre allows multinationals to move large amounts of money to other subsidiaries in the form of royalty payments. Facebook moved nearly £750m to the Cayman Islands and its Californian parent in licensing and royalty payments." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFacebook paid small tax bill on big profits made outside US, figures show

Ireland is cool for Google as its data servers like the weather

"Since Google’s arrival, south-east central Dublin has been rapidly transformed into a technological hub similar to Berlin’s Silicon Allee or London’s Silicon Roundabout. Other companies such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Zynga, HP and Dropbox have all set up in Dublin. Ireland has been able to attract these world-famous corporations despite the depth of its financial and economic crisis, due to the lobbying work of the country’s Industrial Development Authority; a highly educated, young, English-speaking workforce; and, crucially, the Republic’s rock-bottom 12.5% corporation tax. And now the weather can be added to those factors." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIreland is cool for Google as its data servers like the weather

U.S. Treasury to miss deadline on FATCA tax crackdown

"The Treasury Department will miss a year-end deadline to publish final rules for a new global tax enforcement regime targeting the offshore assets of U.S. taxpayers. FATCA was enacted in 2010 after an outcry over a Swiss banking scandal that revealed U.S. taxpayers had hidden millions of dollars in assets overseas from the Internal Revenue Service. The law requires foreign financial institutions to tell the tax-collecting IRS about Americans' offshore accounts worth more than $50,000. International businesses ranging from Western Union Co to BlackRock Inc are waiting anxiously to see the rules so they can figure out how to comply with the law." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Treasury to miss deadline on FATCA tax crackdown

Putin offers French actor Gerard Depardieu Russian passport following tax controversy

"Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he was ready to offer French movie star Gerard Depardieu a Russian passport to resolve his tax row, calling him a friend. 'If Gerard really wants to have a residency permit in Russia or a Russian passport, we can consider this issue resolved positively,' Putin said at his first major news conference after his return to the Kremlin in a March election. Depardieu on Sunday threatened to give up his French passport and take up Belgian citizenship to protest at the Socialist government’s new tax hike on the rich." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPutin offers French actor Gerard Depardieu Russian passport following tax controversy

20 Ways FATCA Will Catch Americans

"It may seem obvious, but Americans who have lived abroad for many years and not filed tax returns still sometimes do not realise that they will bring the IRS down on them like a ton of old tax records when they: 1. Register the birth of their child at a US embassy in the country where they now live, or 2. Renew a long-dormant US passport. 3. Appearing at a US airport with a non-US passport that reveals the bearer was born in the US is almost certain to set alarm bells clanging back at IRS headquarters in Washington. 4. [..]" Continue reading →

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An Afghan Mystery: Why Are Large Shipments of Gold Leaving the Country?

"Without knowledge of how much gold is leaving, it is impossible to calculate the value of the trade. But airport security forms that cover the last two weeks of October indicate about 560 pounds, worth about $14 million, were carried by hand out of Afghanistan during that period. That is a princely sum in one of the world’s 10 poorest countries. But it is perhaps a measure of the current state of affairs in Afghanistan that seemingly no one — not Afghan bank regulators, not American investigators of illicit financing, not European economic experts — found it particularly surprising that gold appears to have joined bank notes in the skies over Afghanistan." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAn Afghan Mystery: Why Are Large Shipments of Gold Leaving the Country?

Belgium rejects France’s push to tax French citizens living in Belgium

"Today the Belgian foreign minister gave an interview to the centre-right newspaper Le Figaro, where critics of the socialist president François Hollande are made to feel comfortable. On the French government’s desire to renegotiate tax collection between the two governments, the gentlest possible No Way: 'We’re ready to examine many things, as long as the superior principle of free circulation of people, goods and services within the EU is respected. But if this is about recognizing some French power to tax people who live in Belgium, that’s a whole other matter. Every European country must accept that its citizens decide to live elsewhere.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBelgium rejects France’s push to tax French citizens living in Belgium