Links Jun 25

Companies abroad are required to report on tax Norway Finance Department (In Norwegian)
Jun 21 - Press release - Norway will implement country-by-country reporting, by 1 January 2014, even if implementation by the European Union occurs later. 

The secret world of oil and mining Zambia Daily Mail
Jun 25 - Comment on investigation by Publish What You Pay Norway - "It was, therefore, enlightening for me to read that 10 of the world’s most powerful oil, gas and mining companies own a staggering 6,038 subsidiaries with over a third located in ‘secrecy jurisdictions’. They do not want us to know what is happening." See also earlier report by Nick Mathiason for The Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

Newsletter from TJN-Latin America and Caribbean (In Spanish)
May/June 2012 edition - Includes editorial on tax reforms in Latin America, article on advances and challenges for a financial transaction tax, and news of the European parliament taking stronger measures to combat tax evasion and illicit financial flows.

French Ministry of Economy and Finance relaunches its fight against tax havens Le Figaro (In French)
Jun 22 - The draft supplementary budget this summer will include disincentives for companies to locate in tax havens.

French MPs examine Swiss banking secrecy WRS
Jun 22 - Members of the French Investigatory Committee for Capital Flight go to Switzerland, gathering information about Swiss banking secrecy. Reportedly, "not a friendly visit."

Nervous Investors Fill Swiss Safes With Cash, Gold Reuters
Jun 25 - "The interest in real assets and in safe-deposit boxes may also be linked to offshore clients of Swiss banks, looking to find a way to circumvent pending deals with Germany, Austria and Britain that would tax their secret accounts."

Equatorial Guinea President Obiang Meets With NGO’s Tax Force Blog
Jun 20 - On the filing by the U.S. Department of Justice of a lawsuit regarding the alleged corrupt practices of Teodoro Nguema Obiang, son of the President of Equatorial Guinea. 

Channel Islands Respond To UK Tax Avoidance Debate Tax-News
Jun 22 - Geoff Cook, the Chief Executive Officer of Jersey Finance, the promotional agency for the island's financial services industry, stated: "In our view, conflation between illegal tax evasion and legal tax avoidance, or tax planning, is unhelpful in moving any wider debate forward." Er, is he missing a point? ...

See also:

UK Treasury Minister describes aggressive tax avoidance as 'morally repugnant' Guardian

Jun 24 - Chief secretary to the Treasury points out: "These sorts of schemes which save wealthy people potentially many tens of millions of pounds in tax, they are paid for by everybody else." 

See also:

Public shaming is the way to tackle tax cheats Financial Times
Jun 22 - "The state can play a role ... the prime minister would do far better simply to make it clear that in future no individual with a serious question mark hanging over their tax affairs can expect access to government, or to receivehonours."

UK wants high standards Cayman News Service
Jun 25 - On a new white paper on the Overseas Territories published by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office - it says that people living in the territories have a right “to expect the same high standards of governance as in the UK". Restricting "good governance" to the public adminisrations of these territories is kind of missing the point: the governance impacts of the secrecy industry are felt elsewhere.