Great piece by Joe Kristan at Roth & Company PC about FBAR reporting…
Tax Update Blog: ‘Cheat’? I don’t think the word means what they think it means.: “”
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From the category archives:
international
It was a question posed to US taxpayers by the IRS in the wake of the UBS scandal: do you feel lucky?
The US offered US taxpayers the opportunity to voluntarily disclose offshore bank accounts as part of an amnesty program earlier this year. The choice? Come forward now and escape criminal prosecution or take your chances later.
It turns out that a number of US taxpayers didn’t feel quite so lucky. IRS Commish Doug Shulman has announced that more than 14,700 taxpayers came forward under the voluntary disclosure program. The disclosures were in the billions and covered accounts in 70 countries.
The number is higher than originally projected due to the numbers of taxpayers who made disclosures in the run up to the deadline. The deadline for disclosures had initially been September 23 but was extended to October 15 after input from tax professionals who were still fielding questions about the program from taxpayers.
UBS and the feds separately reached a settlement where UBS, in addition to a significant fine, agreed to release the names of over 4,500 US account holders at the bank. So far, only a handful of names has actually been released: at least two of those account holders have been sentenced to prison for their activities.
The remaining names will be disclosed over the next 10 months. Under the agreement, UBS will release the names of those account holders where there is a reasonable suspicion of “tax fraud or the like.” Generally, that includes high dollar accounts and accounts where there is a lot of movement of assets or complicated schemes. There will be procedure for appeals available in Switzerland.
ABC News is reporting that lawyers are already whining that their clients were misled by UBS about the extent of the banking secrecy. I suspect that means that lawsuits will be filed. That is, of course, how we like to solve problems in the US. It is *always* someone else’s fault, right? If the lawyers are smart, any such suits would do well to land in Switzerland and not in the US. Beyond the whole “juries likely don’t have sympathy for rich people who hide their money” issue, lawsuits based on the misdeeds of plaintiffs are not usually successful. Of course, that hasn’t stopped people from trying before…
For now, it’s a waiting game for UBS clients. The question is: do you feel lucky… now?
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The Dutch are well known for Delft pottery, wooden shoes, legalized prostitution and windmills. Perhaps not surprisingly, many of those things haven’t caught on in all areas of the world (oh c’mon, tell me that you have a pair of wooden shoes in your closet).
I have a feeling that list of things that aren’t spreading like wild fire is about to grow…
Effective in 2012, Dutch drivers will be monitored by GPS and will pay taxes on a per-kilometers-driven basis. For the average passenger car, the rate will be about € 0.03 per kilometer (or roughly $.07 US per mile). Drivers of trucks, commercial vehicles and less fuel efficient cars will pay more. Public transit and cabs will be exempt from the tax.
Additionally, the cost will increase for drivers at peak times.
How will it work? GPS will track the time, hour and place each car moves and send the information to a billing agency. The billing agency will deduct the taxes directly from drivers’ accounts.
If it works as anticipated, the Dutch government estimates that traffic will drop by 15% – and rush hour traffic will drop by 50%. Minister of Transportation Camiel Eurlings believes that carbon emissions will be cut in half.
Interestingly, the law will abolish current road taxes and sales taxes for cars. The final numbers should work out so that 6 out of 10 drivers are better off under the new scheme and reportedly, tax revenue will remain the same.
According to the German newspaper, Deutsche Welle, the tax will increase every year until 2018.
The news has stirred interest in nearby Germany with top German automotive expert Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer saying that Germany should “take the progressive (Dutch) model as an example.” Interesting for sure. But there’s one or two (or three or four or five) obstacles: namely Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche and Volkswagen. Long considered an automaker’s paradise, Germany tends to be known for heavier, more luxurious, power cars – not so much the cheaper, smaller more efficient cars encouraged under the Dutch scheme. With that in mind, in a tough economy, Germany is highly unlikely to adopt a policy which might negatively affect the car industry any time soon.
But that doesn’t mean that it’s not on the radar of other countries. Singapore already utilizes Electronic Road Pricing, a pay-per-use principle, and in the UK, there is a congestion charge for some drivers in the designated Congestion Charge Zone (CCZ). Which makes you wonder… Which country, if any, will be next?
Technorati Tags:
Netherlands, Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, Germany, auto industry, price per kilometer, auto tax
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Who says that a little pressure doesn’t work these day? Singapore and Liechtenstein have both apparently decided that they wanted to be one of the cool kids after all. This week, both countries received word that they are slated to be removed from the dreaded gray list of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The gray list is a list of countries – more than 30 currently – who have made noise about increasing financial transparency but have not taken the necessary steps.
In the case of Singapore, it had publicly endorsed the transparency standard for tax purposes earlier in the year but had not signed the requisite number of financial agreements with other countries. It will hit the magic number *12* when it signs an Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement or DTA with France this week. Singapore has also renegotiated agreements or signed new agreements with Mexico, Qatar, Norway, Austria, Australia, the Netherlands, UK, Denmark, New Zealand, Belgium and Bahrain.
Similarly, Liechtenstein has agreed two new treaties with Belgium and the Netherlands, respectively. Liechtenstein has also signed agreements with Germany, France, UK and the US. It is negotiating with Italy, Sweden and Norway.
The countries follow on the heels of Switzerland and Austria, which were removed from the grey list in September. This brings to 15 the number of countries which have been moved to the “substantially implemented” category since April 2009. The fallout from UBS is widely viewed to have contributed to the rush to be considered “mainstream.” The OECD is laughing all the way to the, er, transparent banks…
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