Links Sep 12

80 of the world's biggest 100 firms use Dutch trust offices Dutch News
Sep 12 - "In particular, special holding and finance companies are a popular option ... By last year, there were 13,000 of these companies registered in the Netherlands, handling financial transactions to the value of over €10,000bn. This is 17 times Dutch gross domestic product." Original story, in Dutch, here.

Slideshow: World Corporate Tax Rates From Lowest To Highest Forbes
Sep 11 - "While U.S. corporations (and many supporting politicians) argue that American tax rates are too high, the average U.S. corporate income tax is just one percentage point below the median effective rate of their peers in the OECD. Click on the slideshow image to see where corporations are paying nothing, and where over a third of their profits go to the government."

Swiss banks are already helping their clients evade the new UK disclosure scheme Tax Research UK
Sep 9 - Such moving of assets, we had predicted. Since amongst the elements of the shabby UK-Swiss deal is the issue that it only kicks in from May 2013, this gives plenty of time for the banks to restructure clients' affairs (and possibly rake themselves in some hefty fees for this too).

Tax deal 'could yield Italy a lot of money' The Local Switzerland
Sep 12 - The head of the Association of Foreign Banks in Switzerland is saying that an Italy-Swiss tax deal would yield “a lot of money quickly“ - "However, Swiss officials believe that a tax agreement with Italy will be more difficult to reach than those with Germany and the UK, largely due to Giulio Tremonti, Italy’s finance minister who has been fiercely critical of Switzerland’s 'tax haven'. " Precisely.

Film stars, cricketers have accounts in Swiss banks, says Rudy Elmer India Today
Sep 12 - "In an explosive revelation, Swiss banking whistleblower Rudolf Elmer has said even cricketers and filmstars hold secret accounts. While refusing to give out names of tax evaders, Elmer accused the Indian government of not doing enough on the black money front. 'There is a need for global commitment and action'. "

'We provided customer data to US': Credit Suisse The Local Switzerland
Sep 12- "Swiss Minister of Finance Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said the bank had provided "statistical data" to US authorities. 'But there was no personal data ... that would be a violation of banking secrecy," she said on national television."

U.S. probes Liechtenstein bank on tax dodge work Reuters
Sep 12 - "Federal prosecutors in New York are building a criminal-fraud case against Liechtenstein's oldest bank, Liechtensteinische Landesbank, that could result in charges it helped wealthy Americans evade taxes."

Antwerp rocked by $1 billion diamond tax scandal Mining.com
Sep 8 - On a case that may turn out to be Belgium's largest ever fraud. 170 of Antwerp diamond traders are accused of spiriting almost $1 billion (€700 million) in unpaid taxes into secret Geneva bank accounts. The traders are among at least 24,000 HSBC Private Bank clients from Canada, India and Germany under investigation by French authorities since 2009.