HMRC Clamping Down on Tax Avoidance

HM Revenue & Customs looks set to clamp down on tax avoiders with its new powers under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 to reclaim unpaid taxes, says Grant Thornton. The new legislation, which the adviser says came quietly into effect last year, means HMRC will have new powers of search, seizure and arrest in relation to unpaid tax.

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U.S. arrests 8 in online sports betting operation

U.S. authorities arrested eight people on Monday in connection with a Costa Rica-based online sports gambling operation they said made millions of dollars in profits annually.

Twelve men face charges including conspiracy and illegal gambling in an indictment unsealed on Monday in Manhattan federal court for their role in operating a gambling Web site and call center that serviced U.S.-based sports bookies.

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Billionaire used Bahamas to avoid taxes

The Bahamas has once again been cited as a domicile used for “improper” financial transactions, this time by a US billionaire who pleaded guilty to hiding millions in Bahamian bank accounts.

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Cyprus Placed On Russian Tax ‘Blacklist’

The Finance Ministry in Moscow has placed Cyprus on a black list of jurisdictions deterring Russian companies from registering here and then repatriating their dividends tax-free back home. Despite this negative development, experts told the Financial Mirror that the impact is not that great, since foreign companies investing in Russia through Cyprus subsidiaries are exempt from the rule, leaving many loopholes to be utilised.

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Offshore financial services put millions into NIA’s coffers

he Offshore Financial Services sector in Nevis continued to do well and Premier of Nevis and Minister with responsibility for Finance Joseph Parry, said the industry had raked in $11million into the coffers of the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) for 2007, as of 28 Nov. It represented a nine per cent increase for the corresponding period in 2006. Premier Parry brought the matter to light during his 2008 Budget presentation, under the theme “Moving to a higher level of progress – People Empowerment”, at a sitting of the Nevis Island Assembly in Charlestown on Monday.

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Switzerland gives e1.8m to Malta following Swiss access to EU market

Switzerland has given Malta e1.8 million in a bilateral agreement which implements Switzerland’s undertaking to provide cohesion funds to the new member states of the EU following its access to the EU internal market. The individual bilateral agreements by Switzerland with the 10 EU member states which joined in 2004 follows the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Switzerland and the Council of the European Union in February 2006. This MoU contained the overall conditions and modalities agreed between Switzerland and the EU for a financial contribution by Switzerland as a compensatory measure to the latter’s participation in the economic and social dimensions of the EU internal market.

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Antigua fails to impose $3-billion gambling fine on US: WTO

WTO The tiny Caribbean island of Antigua failed Friday in its bid to impose $3.44 billion (€2.4 billion) in fines on the United States in an Internet gambling dispute. The World Trade Organisation, to which the country took its complaint, instead ruled that Antigua could fine the US just $21 million because Washington had not complied with a ruling to open its borders to online gambling.

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High Interest In Monaco Banks

Outside of the EU and free of its restraints, Europe’s top two tax havens – Monaco and Andorra – are seeing an influx of funds to their banks, despite governments worldwide actively trying to stop their citizens using tax havens to bank their money. The financial industry in Monaco is attracting money from wealthy individuals seeking a degree of privacy, and keeping their assets away from the clutches of their governments at record levels with most of the money coming from the Middle East and Europe. While the banks will not disclose the volume of money they have attracted recently, some industry analysts estimate it could be as much as 20 billion Euros over the last eighteen months, with 70 billion in total managed assets overall.

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Stay Out Of Jail For $52 Million?

Forbes 400 member Igor M. Olenicoff pleaded guilty today to a federal tax felony and has paid $52 million in back federal taxes, interest and civil fraud penalties to settle charges that he lied for years about his ownership of accounts in the Bahamas, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Britain. He has also agreed to move all his offshore money back to the U.S.

During a half-hour hearing in a windowless federal courtroom in Santa Ana, Calif., the 65-year-old, Russian-born Olenicoff looked composed and dapper in a gray, pinstriped suit. The single felony he pleaded to–filing a false 2002 tax return–is punishable by up to three years in prison. But Olenicoff’s deal with the government makes it highly unlikely he will get more than six months, and he could get off with home detention or probation.

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EU Approves Free Market Access for Products from 15 ACP Countries

The EU foreign ministers today adopted a ruling which will allow virtually free access to their markets with effect from Jan 1, 2008 to products from 15 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) member countries which reached an interim trade agreement with the EU. However, twenty-seven ACP member nations, including 14 in the Caribbean, risk having an increase imposed on their customs tariffs from Jan 1.