Archive for the ‘Payday Loans’ Category
EU withholding tax
The European Union has recently made a large number of offshore financial centres (Barbados and Bermuda being the notable exceptions) sign up to the European Union withholding tax and exchange of information directive. Under those regulations, brought into force by local law, banks in those jurisdictions which hold accounts for EU resident nationals must either deduct a 15% withholding tax (which is split between the offshore jurisdiction and the country of the account holder’s residence), or permit full exchange of information with the country of the national’s residence.
A number of larger jurisdictions, notably Hong Kong and Singapore refused to sign up to the directive. On implementation, the directive recouped far less money than anticipated, although it is disputed whether this is because the regulations lacked effectiveness, or because the predicted amount of funds in offshore bank accounts transpired to have been greatly exaggerated. Similarly, the widely predicted capital flight to Hong Kong and Singapore appears not to have materialised
A ruling by the Special Commissioners in the United Kingdom in May 2006 permitted Revenue authorities to compel UK based banks to release information on offshore bank deposits where illegality is suspected, even where the customer had elected to pay a withholding tax rather than to exchange information