Financial Transparency Coalition

I hope people have noted I’m not a great fan of Tax Information Exchange Agreements. The basic reason is that they are virtually impossible to use. As the standard TIEA makes clear, a TIEA request must provide or state: (a) the identity of the person under examination or investigation; (b) what information is sought; (c) the tax purpose for which it is sought; (d) the grounds for believing that the information requested is held within the jurisdiction of which request is made; (e) to the extent known, the name and address of any person believed to be in possession of the requested information. The reason...

UNFAIR criticism continues to be levelled at Guernsey as a finance centre, according to KPMG tax partner Tony Mancini (pictured).

NZPA: New Zealand has signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement with Guernsey -- one of the Channel Islands off Britain, known as a tax haven.

British life insurance company Friends Provident is doing something unusual in today's business environment - not only has it shunned moving offshore to a low tax jurisdiction, it's insisting that another company move onshore too before it'll consider a merger. From the Guardian:

Insurer Friends Provident today set out terms for a merger with Clive Cowdery's buyout vehicle Resolution. The deal would scupper Resolution's plans to pay a select band of executives 10% of annual profits and base the new company in a tax haven.

Friends Provident said it was...