Tax Avoidance

Featured Tax Avoidance

S. Korea to crack down on cryptocurrency-related illegalities

South Korea said Monday it plans to crack down on any illegality involving cryptocurrencies, such as money laundering, until June amid skyrocketing prices of virtual money. The interagency crackdown comes as the latest frenzied buying of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies raises concerns about speculative investments and potential illegal activities, according… Read More

Denmark charges six from UK and US with cum-ex fraud

Prosecutors in Denmark have charged three Britons and three Americans with defrauding the Danish treasury of more than 1.1bn kroner ($175m; £130m; €150m) through a German bank. Two British citizens have already been charged as part of a “cum-ex” trading fraud that swindled the treasury of a total of 12.7bn… Read More

ICAP Memos Reveal Inner Workings of Now Notorious Cum-Ex Era

ICAP Plc’s rules for running trades that enabled what German lawmakers have called one of the costliest tax dodges in history were clear: don’t ask, don’t tell. “Do not enquire after the tax analysis of the German counterparty,” notes a 2008 memo signed off by a… Read More

7th April 2021

Record French Fine Slashed as Latvian Bank Wins Tax Appeal

Latvian lender Rietumu Banka won a 75% reduction in what was once France’s highest criminal fine for a company. Rietumu, which had allegedly helped clients of a company-registration and advisory firm dodge taxes, will still have to pay 20 million euros ($23.6 million), down from the… Read More

6th April 2021

U.S. Treasury’s Yellen calls for global minimum corporate tax

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Monday that she is working with G20 countries to agree on a global corporate minimum tax rate to end a “30-year race to the bottom on corporate tax rates.” In prepared remarks to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Yellen said she also… Read More

29th March 2021

The richest 1 percent dodge taxes on more than one-fifth of their income, U.S. study shows

The richest Americans are hiding more than 20 percent of their earnings from the Internal Revenue Service, according to a comprehensive new estimate of tax evasion, with the top 1 percent of earners accounting for more than a third of all unpaid federal taxes. That’s costing the federal government… Read More

18th March 2021

Spain to take Gibraltar off tax haven list after treaty enters into force

Spain will take Gibraltar off its list of tax havens after an agreement with the United Kingdom on tax cooperation entered into force earlier this month. While the British Overseas Territory was no longer on the European Union or the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)’s lists of… Read More

9th March 2021

United Arab Emirates attracts corporate billions to climb tax haven ranking

The United Arab Emirates, a magnet for the globe’s ultra-rich, has also emerged as one of the fastest-growing corporate tax havens, according to a study released on Tuesday that highlighted a $200 billion-plus money flow to the country. The index by the Tax Justice Network, which highlights countries that attract… Read More

26th February 2021

Tax transparency: MEPs mount renewed challenge over Openlux exposé

Luxembourg has dismissed accusations of rampant tax avoidance and insisted that the country respects “all the applicable European and international rules and standards in terms of tax transparency , the fight against tax abuses and the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism”. The duchy is reeling from relevations made public in an exercise dubbed as Openlux, a collaboration… Read More

26th February 2021

Raimbek Matraimov’s Mysterious Shopping Spree

At long last, Raimbek Matraimov was going to be giving instead of taking. The former Kyrgyz customs official, nicknamed Raim-Million for his immense wealth, agreed in October to repay 2 billion soms (US$24 million) to compensate his government for years of corruption. His admission of guilt and repayment of a… Read More

25th February 2021

Tax abuse and money laundering is trapping billions in poverty, says UN

Billions of people around the world are being trapped in poverty by systemic tax abuses, corruption and money laundering, according to a UN commission report calling for a global crackdown. The UN panel on financial integrity for sustainable development urged governments to overhaul tax rules and the banking system… Read More

24th February 2021

SEC Suspends Ex-KPMG Auditors for Improper Professional Conduct

Two former KPMG auditors were suspended from practicing before the Securities and Exchange Commission over alleged improper professional conduct during a 2015 audit of a now-defunct not-for-profit college that had overstated its assets, the agency said. The SEC said that Christopher Stanley, a former KPMG partner, and Jennifer Stewart, a… Read More

24th February 2021

Congo-Brazzaville Strongman Buys Secret Weapons Haul from Azerbaijan

By Khadija Sharife and Mark Anderson, OCCRP, 22 February 2021 OCCRP — In January 2020, at the Turkish port of Derince on the eastern shores of the Sea of Marmara, a huge cache of weapons was loaded onto the MV Storm. Registered in the tax haven of Vanuatu,… Read More

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