Chancellor warns British tax havens to comply with international tax laws or lose Crown dependency status
British Crown dependencies, such as the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands, are in line for a tax clampdown.
Finance ministers from the Group of 20 advanced and emerging market countries have urged the territories to bring an end to their tax free status that is undermining the ability of advanced nations to capture revenue vitally needed to reduce fiscal deficits.
Chancellor George Osborne is encouraging them to come into line as soon as is practical. If these countries want to retain their status as British Crown territories, and the benefits that brings, they will have to conform.
The Government has already been successful in persuading territories closer to home – including Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man – to comply with international regulations put in place by the OECD.
In its communique the G20 urged ‘all jurisdictions to quickly implement recommendations made where the legal framework fails to comply with the standard.’
The Caymans and BVI have become regarded as notorious territories where the super-rich and corporations can hide their affairs from the tax authorities.
‘We’re delighted that George Osborne is committed to bringing tax havens to heel – now he needs to do the hard work to get British overseas territories and Crown Dependencies signed up without delay,’ Emma Seery, Oxfam’s head of development finance said.
‘If the G20’s words are turned into action it would be a massive step towards eliminating a major source of tax-dodging that costs the UK and poor countries countless billions.
‘This is money that should be creating jobs and opportunities in the UK, and providing life-saving medicines for children in Africa, rather than sitting offshore idle and hidden,’ Oxfam said.
The HMRC estimates that tax avoidance could be costing the Exchequer up to £30bn a year.
But Osborne’s clampdown on tax avoidance by the super-wealthy in Britain is starting to make an impact
The HMRC’s ‘high net worth unit’ brought in £220m last year, a rise of 10pc. Previously this money went uncollected, meaning it adds to the taxes already paid by the same individuals.
The search for missing revenues – together with anger in Britain about tax avoidance by big multinationals such as Starbucks and Google – is galvanising finance ministers from the richest nations to stamp out bad behaviour.
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13 Responses to “Chancellor warns British tax havens to comply with international tax laws or lose Crown dependency status ”
Are we just so greedy we happy to live in denial that this is what we're doing?
Is it ALL about us? You really think these people going to spend time and political capital trying to mess up the BVI? There's no conspiracy here except the one that we the people, our govt., the UK govt and above the City of London have set up to help rich people avoid tax and shift money away from authorities eyes.
And don't give us the "you don't know the financial industry line", please. You financial people are verrry happy to live in denial or make up all kinds of loophole hogwash to make it sound legit when in real life, you KNOW it's not all legit.
Think BVI - is this where we want to be in the world? Hated by the same populations we rely on for tourism industry?
governments do terrible things and this particular matter is really about making sure that there is nowhere
left on Earth for anyone to go, and be left alone. Your entire life is open for scrutiny. At one time the USA
was really a model for freedom and justice - but that time has passed. BVI is not the US but part of the UK
and they have not always been such an example of goodness through the centuries either. So sad.