Financial Transparency Coalition

Tax Research UK published a new report this weekend on the administration of the UK’s Register of Companies by Companies House, the agency responsible for it on behalf of the UK government’s Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. The report extended the review to look at the administration of corporation tax returns by H M Revenue & Customs, the UK’s tax agency. In combination these are the two main agencies with responsibility for registering and regulating companies in the UK. The Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development funded the study. The UK is an important location...

The European Council of Ministers held its 3074th Competitiveness (Internal Market, Industry, Research and Space) Council meeting in Brussels on 10 March 2011. As a result it:

Invited the Commission to come forward with initiatives, in consultation with Member States and relevant stakeholders, on the disclosure of financial information by companies working in the extractive industry, including the possible adoption of a country-by-country reporting requirement, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for the extractive industry, and the monitoring of third-country legislation;

It’s a shame the move is not as yet towards full country-by-country reporting.

There are many kinds of political legitimacy. In a democracy, legitimacy is earned through democratic process. In a theocracy, legitimacy it is ordained by a spiritual authority. It can even be won by the might of a revolution that installs a totalitarian leader. Legitimacy is often defined in terms of John Locke’s notion of implicit and explicit consent of the governed. Political philosopher Dolf Sternberger explained it this way: “Legitimacy is the foundation of such governmental power as is exercised, both with a consciousness on the government’s part that it has a right to govern,...

Back in 2009, when Task Force members began lobbying the UK government on what the G20’s crackdown on tax havens might look like, the response was that automatic exchange of information was cumbersome, difficult, that there was far too much information to be useful – and, to paraphrase, that it would end up being shipped around the world in boxes which would cause a fire hazard. But last week the UK parliament accepted the Draft Penalties, Offshore Income etc. (Designation of territories) Order 2011. This measure, designed to crack down on UK taxpayers holding assets offshore,...