Italians gripped by leaks naming Liechtenstein account holders
Italians are calling it the “trickle-down effect” as names of holders of Liechtenstein bank accounts are leaked to the press, including politicians, entertainers, industrialists and even a dog called Gunther.
Denials and clarifications are hitting the headlines as the leaks keep pouring out, with the Italian media not in the least shy about releasing names before checking with the alleged holders at Liechtenstein’s Bank LGT.
Tax investigators note that holding an account itself is not illegal, but are still poring over some 400 Italian names obtained from the UK government to see if they were tax compliant.
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European tax scandal is widening
The list of countries involved in the European tax scandal is growing.
Austria is being asked by the EU commissioner to end banking secrecy (read article here) and ATO (the Australia Taxation Office) is investigating tax evasion and avoidance by Australian residents via legal structures in Liechtenstein (read article here).
Secrets Out
The tax haven scandal currently involving more than 1,000 Europeans, Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the BND, and billions of dollars in foregone tax revenue should be of more than passing interest to the governments of Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore.
Just last week, Germany’s finance minister, invariably described as the no- nonsense Peer Steinbrueck, stated at a EU finance ministers meeting that once the EU had dealt with the non- cooperative tax havens in Europe, it would invariably need to turn its attention to tax havens further afield including Macau, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Apart from disagreeing strongly with being designated as tax havens as opposed to low tax jurisdictions with strong banking secrecy laws, these Asian banking centers need to be concerned with the techniques the BND recently used to address German government concerns regarding what it considers Liechtenstein’s tax haven status and the impact it was having on Germany’s treasury.
Click here for complete article by Sam Porteous, TheStandard.com.hk
Tax Haven Crackdown
Last week, European finance ministers rallied behind Peer Steinbrück, their German colleague, and backed a crackdown on tax havens, claiming that some £77 billion in revenues was being lost by national governments each year.
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European Tax Scandal Reaches U.S.
Dozens of Germans have confessed to massive tax fraud via Lichtenstein as the affair widens to other countries, including the
Besides Washington, the governments of
“Combating off-shore tax avoidance and evasion are high priorities for the IRS,” Linda Stiff, the Internal Revenue Service’s acting commissioner, said in a statement on Tuesday. “It should be clear from recent events that there is no safe hiding place for the proceeds of tax avoidance and evasion.”
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