Financial Transparency Coalition

The FT reports:

Britons with billions of pounds hidden in Switzerland will pay tax at 50 per cent under a groundbreaking deal that will legitimise their undeclared assets, according to a source familiar with negotiations between the Swiss and British governments. The agreement, which is expected to be announced this month, marks a shift in emphasis in the international crackdown on tax havens. Over the past two years, the focus has been on lifting bank secrecy and exposing evaders. Under the deal, £3bn is expected to be raised over the course of this parliament and investors will also pay a one-off...

I’ve read the government’s new anti-avoidance strategy for tax. It’s not a good read. For that reason I think a  translation is needed. First of all, as I’ve already noted, the  government has a massive problem in agreeing how big this issue is. That does not help them politically, and undermines much of the forward. Whatever the issue then is, the strategy is laid out in four parts, each being allocated a chapter in their paper. Chapter one says there is a strategy. It’s a little hard to work out what it is due to use of a weird graphic, but...

I have the following comment on the Guardian site this afternoon: George Osborne said this was a budget to tackle avoidance. How wrong he was. Lawyers and accountants all over the country must be jumping for joy this afternoon – unless they’re in the Channel Islands. Employee benefit trusts – often based in Jersey – are going to be hit hard by this budget, and rightly so. These are last remnants of the age-old pursuit of avoiding PAYE. If they’re consigned to history Osborne’s done at least one thing right. And Osborne gets full marks* for tackling another abuse long overdue to...

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...