Financial Transparency Coalition

WASHINGTON, DC – Proponents of tax fairness and financial accountability applauded the news yesterday of the Senate’s passage of patent-reform legislation containing a provision to eliminate tax strategy patents.

George Osborne says that 'those who evade taxes, like benefit cheats, are leeches on society'. However, he has agreed a deal that rewards those who avoid paying taxes in the UK by hiding their money in Switzerland. George Osborne says: 'my message to those who try to hide their incomes from the Revenue in offshore bank accounts and false declarations is simple: we will find you and your money.' A senior official at the Indian Central Board of Direct Taxes says: 'money laundering or illegal commission are a criminal offence. So, our effort will be to not...

Eurodad's Alex Marriage Details How a Robust Country-by-Country Reporting Standard Should Look The European Commission will make a proposal for introducing country-by-country reporting (CBC) for extractives industries and possibly forestry companies at some point this autumn. This comes following an EU Council request earlier in 2011 that called upon

“the Commission to come forward with initiatives 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.”

This will then be submitted to...

The UK has initialed an agreement with Switzerland which we recently wrote up on the Task Force blog. In short, UK tax evaders using banks in Switzerland will have to start paying some tax - but the UK will allow those (criminal) tax evaders to avoid penalties and retain their anonymity. The UK will have to trust that Switzerland will keep its part of the bargain, even though it will be impossible to conduct any comprehensive checks. There are reasonable fears that this model may spread widely to other countries. We at TJN think this is a thoroughly rotten and...