June 9, 2016 - US hedge fund sues 'Panama Papers' law firm
The documents "reveal that MF Nevada and Mossack Fonseca knowingly, willfully, and wrongfully obstructed NML's discovery efforts and attempted to impede the court's proper exercise of its jurisdiction," the lawsuit said.
June 9, 2016 - Panama Papers: we want to end secrecy surrounding who owns companies
The EPP Group in the European Parliament has called for registers of company owners. “We want to systematically end secrecy on who owns letter box companies”, said Burkhard Balz MEP today, the EPP Group MEP who led the negotiations on the mandate for the Panama Papers Inquiry Committee which will be formally set up by Parliament today.
June 9, 2016 - European inquiry into Panama Papers receives go-ahead
AN INVESTIGATION into the Panama Papers has been given the green light by European officials as authorities look to discover how wealthy individuals, politicians and multinational corporations were able to stash billions away in the Central American tax haven.
June 9, 2016 - FATCA and CRS – how ready are you?
As we enter a new era in global tax reporting with increasing regulations around tax transparency, Banking Technology and Thomson Reuters have gathered industry views from across the globe to piece together a full picture on the financial market’s readiness for the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and continued approach to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).
May 23, 2016 - Tax Filing Deadlines for Expats, FBAR Coming Up
Most expatriate U.S. citizens need to file by June 15, 2016. Taxpayers who need to file an FBAR (Foreign Bank and Financial Account Report) must file by June 30.
May 18, 2016 - STICKING OUT LIKE A SORE THUMB—THE U.S., FATCA AND THE CRS (PART 2)
To that end, in a letter to Congress on May 5, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew urged legislators to enact longstanding proposals by the administration to provide “full reciprocity under FATCA”, so as to “ensure that the United States can live up to its end of the bargain on foreign tax reporting”.
May 13, 2016 - FATCA Leads to Stricter Reporting and More Taxation for Non-U.S. Mutual Funds
Non-U.S. mutual funds, hedge funds, and many insurance products fall under the gambit of “Passive Foreign Investment Companies” (PFICs). PFICs came into being in the Tax Reform Act of 1986 as a way to discourage U.S. taxpayers from using offshore tax shelters, and the tax treatment was designed to be particularly burdensome. Under the PFIC tax regime, all income is ordinary income automatically taxed at the top individual tax rate (39.6 percent for 2016). In fact, the total tax on a PFIC investment could be 50 percent or more, and losses cannot be used to offset capital gains.
May 9, 2016 - Panama Papers: Tax havens serve 'no economic purpose', say world's leading economists
Leading experts from 30 countries have written to world leaders warning that there is no economic justification for allowing tax havens to exist.
May 9, 2016 - Panama Papers law firm apologizes to Chinese bank over leak
"If the unauthorized illegal leaks from Mossack Fonseca company servers have created any inconvenience for (the bank) and your clients, we wish to once again apologize," it added.
May 9, 2016 - Are the Panama Papers a problem for you?
Searching your data resources to see if you're dealing with any of the entities named in the Panama Papers isn't a Big Data problem.
May 9, 2016 - Panama Papers source writes: ‘The revolution will be digitized’
Income inequality is one of the defining issues of our time. It affects all of us, the world over. The debate over its sudden acceleration has raged for years, with politicians, academics and activists alike helpless to stop its steady growth despite countless speeches, statistical analyses, a few meagre protests, and the occasional documentary. Still, questions remain: why? And why now?
May 9, 2016 - Anti-Money Laundering Experts Deeply Concerned by Administration’s Flawed ‘Panama Papers’ Response
“While we appreciate the Administration’s recognition of the importance of collecting ownership information, the measure includes a loophole that could well perpetuate the problem of anonymous shell companies. The loophole is dangerous if exploited by terrorists, human traffickers, and corrupt foreign dictators to launder their money through the U.S. financial system,” noted Gary Kalman, the executive director of the FACT Coalition.
April 28, 2016 - ATCA remediation: are you buried in an avalanche?
financial institutions do not have the luxury of waiting for winter to pass in order to climb this mountain of paperwork. June 30th is the deadline for USFIs FFIs to remediate all preexisting entity account holders with FATCA compliant Form W-8s.
April 27, 2016 - Sen. Rand Paul’s FATCA Lawsuit Tossed For Lack Of Standing
An Ohio federal judge tossed a lawsuit filed by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and several current and former U.S. citizens living abroad that challenged key elements of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, saying the plaintiffs hadn’t shown that the
April 25, 2016 - Singapore: FATCA guidance for financial institutions
The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) on 11 February 2016, announced that reporting Singapore financial institutions need not provide their contact information to the IRAS, as this information can be obtained from the FATCA report.