Links - 13-16th July 2012

McDonalds – 11 July 2012

The fast food retailer has quietly released this snippet.  While the Olympics tax haven story has by and large been ignored by the mainstream media, following an effective online campaign by Ethical Consumer and 38 Degrees McDonalds are now claiming they will not utilise the Olympic ‘Tax Bubble’.

Bloomberg Business Week – 13 July 2012

The IRS has announced it will no longer tolerate companies entering deals that circled round the ‘repatriation’ laws on foreign-earned profits by big corporations.  New rules will prevent companies from using their offshore wealth to enter transactions therefore bypassing US tax regulation.
 

The Financial Times – 15 July 2012

Michael Izza, CEO of the Institute of Chartered Accountants In England and Wales, has spoken out against aggressive tax avoidance measures employed by his profession, saying that practitioners must reconcile themselves with prudent, acceptable tax planning, and with their public interests duty.

Suddeutsche – 15 July 2012

Germany and Switzerland’s planned deal to take effect as of the January 2013 may be damaged after a CD containing approximately one thousand client files of the Zurich branch of Coutts’ Bank was sold to a state authority.  The controversial deal would prevent German authorities from using leaked data to investigate offshore accounts in Switzerland. 

Economic Times of India – 25 April 2012

From island-jungle to concrete Jungle, Mauritius has been superseded by the city-state of Singapore since announcing that the small African state will implement a ‘General Anti-Avoidance Rule’ that counters the old binary avoidance agreement with India.

The Guardian – 17 July 2012

Rippling out from Nick Shaxson’s Vanity Fair article, US Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has faced unending and remorseless questioning on his tax affairs, which continues to ‘rain on his parade’ (pun intended).

The Guardian – 17 July 2012

Amid allegations that at least one person was bullied into a contract involving deliberate tax dodging, the British Broadcasting Corporation will now review how its TV and radio presenters are paid and how the BBC deals with avoidance and evasion. 

The Telegraph – 17 July 2012

Tax rate increases proposed by the new French government have sparked the beginnings of a “wealth-exodus” to neighbouring countries such as Switzerland and the UK.   Estate agents are recording marked increases in french super-rich buying property in London.