LUXEMBOURG BLOCKS EU SALES TAX SHAKE-UP
Luxembourg blocked on Tuesday EU plans to shake up sales tax on electronic commerce over fears the package would undermine the Grand Duchy’s role as a hub for e-trade, officials said.
The failure of EU finance ministers, who were meeting in Brussels, to reach an agreement on the reform could scupper their efforts to reach a deal on the package as intended by the end of the year.
http://www.eubusiness.com/Finance/1194967922.13

JAGDEO ACCUSES US OF BANKING HYPOCRISY
Guayana’s president accused the U.S. and other large nations of unfairly forcing Caribbean countries to combat money laundering, while failing to enforce similar rules at home.
President Bharrat Jagdeo, speaking before the Caribbean Association of Indigenous Banks late Monday, urged regional officials to decry the “tremendous double-standards” imposed against Caribbean countries whose offshore banking industries have long been considered money-laundering hotspots because of their banking secrecy laws.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5298916.html

RUSSIAN REGULATOR UNDER FIRE
The government of the British Virgin Islands told the U.S. Justice Department there is “overwhelming evidence” Russian Telecommunications Minister Leonid Reiman secretly owns a large chunk of Russia’s telecom industry through an offshore fund.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119501330429492503.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

BRING NORTHERN CYPRUS BACK INTO THE FOLD
The division of Cyprus between Greek and Turkish residents represents a festering sore for the European Union and for the wider international community. Resolutions have been painfully pursued since 1974, when the island was divided, but none has yet satisfied both sides. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continues to face embargoes from the EU and most large states.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21774034/

GHANA: COUNTRY URGED TO SUSTAIN BUSINESS REFORMS
The President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) Mr. Tony Oteng-Gyasi has said that Ghana needs a mechanism to sustain reforms achieved in the ‘Doing Business’ report for 2008. The report states that Ghana is among the top 10 reformers for the second year running for continues to increase the efficiency of its public services and cut bottlenecks in property registration, (reducing delays from six months to one), recorded greater efficiency at the company registry and the environment agency cut the time for business start-up to 42 days.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200711121444.html

EU CAPITALS SET FOR CLASH OVER TAXES
The European Commission has indirectly backed a Franco-British proposal to make environment-friendly products cheaper with value added tax cuts, saying it will make it part of its wider overhaul of reduced VAT rates to be tabled next year.
http://euobserver.com/19/25135

SLOVAKIA ON TRACK FOR ’09 EURO ENTRY
Slovakia is on track to adopt the euro in 2009 despite a jump in inflation and will seek to dispel any doubts that it can keep a lid on price growth, a deputy finance minister said on Tuesday. Frantisek Palko, secretary of state at the Slovak Finance Ministry, said Prime Minister Robert Fico would visit Brussels in December to convince top European Union officials his country would continue to converge quickly with the euro zone.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7073684

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UK COUNT DOWN TO THE NEW MONEY LAUNDERING REGULATIONS
The new Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs) come into effect on 15 December 2007.
The new Regulations will affect:
* Money Service Businesses (MSBs);
* Trust or Company Service Providers (TCSPs);
* High Value Dealers (HVDs);
* Accountancy Service Providers (ASPs).
New UK Money Landering Regulations

SENATORS WANT JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO SUE P2P PIRATES
American peer-to-peer users worried about being sued into oblivion by the recording industry may soon have a much bigger concern: facing off against the U.S. Department of Justice.
Two senators, a Democrat and a Republican, introduced a bill on Wednesday that would unleash the world’s largest law firm on Internet pirates. It would authorize the Justice Department to file civil lawsuits against people engaged in peer-to-peer copyright infringement–with the proceeds going to the company or person who owns the copyright.
http://www.news.com/the-iconoclast/8301-13578_3-9813358-38.html

MINNESOTA GOES AFTER LOW-BUCK TAX EVADERS
Minnesota authorities are cracking down on taxpayers who dodge income taxes, even when the amounts of money at stake are small. Case in point: Michael J. Segal, who failed to pay taxes on income of less than $20,000 a year. Segal faces a gross misdemeanor charge — punishable with up to a year in prison and up to a $3,000 fine — for not filing personal income tax returns from 2002 to 2005. The Minnesota Department of Revenue said he earned $66,051 during that four-year period.
http://wcco.com/local/tax.evaders.minnesota.2.566476.html

N.Y. BANKS ARE ABUSING THE POWER TO SEIZE MONEY
New York banks have a very bad habit – one that they’ve been getting away with for years – of instantly freezing customers’ accounts when collection agencies come looking for assets to grab. Seizing that money amounts to a financial death sentence for thousands of working people, who instantly lose access to their paycheck, their retirement income and their savings – cash that may be needed for transportation, medicine, rent and other necessities.
NY Banks Abusing Money Seizure Power

DFSA AND FINANCIAL SERVICES AGENCY OF JAPAN AGREE TERMS OF CO-OPERATION
The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA)Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) Dubai Financial Services Authority
today finalised an Exchange of Letters with the Financial Services Agency (FSA) setting out terms for information sharing and co-operation.
Dubai Financial Services and Japan Agree to Co-operate

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 15th, 2007 at 7:52 am and is filed under asset protection, non-resident account, offshore asset protection, offshore bank, offshore bank account, Offshore Banking, offshore companies, tax havens. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.