Panama Papers

[heganboy]

how the rich get richer: the shadowy world of tax havens.

https://panamapapers.icij.org

The rich and famous, the 0.001percenters. All mentioned, all legally documented, signatures everywhere...

From Putin to Messi, from UK Conservative party donors to South American generals. Damning evidence.

They haven't even come close to trawling through most of it, and apparently the leaker says "there's more to come"

[dec]

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/retail-and-services/panama-papers-anglo-irish-bank-was-repeatedly-recommended-to-clients-1.2597669

"Anglo Irish Bank's branch in Austria was among the small number of banks that were repeatedly recommended by Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca (MF) to its clients, the leaked Panama Papers show."

[seafoid]

I can't see the rich getting much richer.  In the US the top 1% own 40% of everything and doubling that is not on. Most financial assets are seriously overvalued and political volatility is on the rise. Tax havens are a joke and mean the rich have given up on investment.
Accountancy should be replaced by a profession that is honest. The main role of accountants these days including the big 4 is tax avoidance.

[TabClear]

I can't see the rich getting much richer.  In the US the top 1% own 40% of everything and doubling that is not on. Most financial assets are seriously overvalued and political volatility is on the rise. Tax havens are a joke and mean the rich have given up on investment.
Accountancy should be replaced by a profession that is honest. The main role of accountants these days including the big 4 is tax avoidance.

How do you replace a profession ffs? Accountants are no different to lawyers, engineers, judges, doctors.  They provide a service and there are good and bad in them all.

[TabClear]

The sheer size of the leak is massive.  Multiple times bigger than any of the files wiki leaks ever got hold of for its big exposes.

[macdanger2]

The sheer size of the leak is massive.  Multiple times bigger than any of the files wiki leaks ever got hold of for its big exposes.

Who would have an interest in exposing this or what's their motivation? Is it some hacking group like Anonymous or what?

[ashman]

Tax evasion is everywhere ; tradesmen , politicians ,  service staff , etc.

The penalties are too soft . 

[Franko]

These boys are no different to anyone who, for instance, has taken/paid cash for a job to avoid paying VAT on it.  They're doing the exact same thing on a bigger scale.  Hands up anyone who can say they've never done something like that.

[seafoid]

I can't see the rich getting much richer.  In the US the top 1% own 40% of everything and doubling that is not on. Most financial assets are seriously overvalued and political volatility is on the rise. Tax havens are a joke and mean the rich have given up on investment.
Accountancy should be replaced by a profession that is honest. The main role of accountants these days including the big 4 is tax avoidance.

How do you replace a profession ffs? Accountants are no different to lawyers, engineers, judges, doctors.  They provide a service and there are good and bad in them all.

Take their licences off them until the profession is cleaned up . Engineers don't facilitate the wholesale pauperization of society to benefit the top 1%

[J70]

These boys are no different to anyone who, for instance, has taken/paid cash for a job to avoid paying VAT on it.  They're doing the exact same thing on a bigger scale.  Hands up anyone who can say they've never done something like that.

I sold xmas trees for a few days one xmas for cash. Think I got cash once for a day loading a freezer boat in Killybegs when I was 16 or 17 when they called in help to meet a deadline. And a neighbour once gave me 20 pounds for baling his hay for him.

Does that put me on the same moral plane as someone putting millions or even billions out of reach of the taxman?

[Franko]

These boys are no different to anyone who, for instance, has taken/paid cash for a job to avoid paying VAT on it.  They're doing the exact same thing on a bigger scale.  Hands up anyone who can say they've never done something like that.

I sold xmas trees for a few days one xmas for cash. Think I got cash once for a day loading a freezer boat in Killybegs when I was 16 or 17 when they called in help to meet a deadline. And a neighbour once gave me 20 pounds for baling his hay for him.

Does that put me on the same moral plane as someone putting millions or even billions out of reach of the taxman?

If your main reason for taking cash was so you could avoid paying whatever tax was due on the money, then yeah.  I don't see how you can argue otherwise.  Exact same thing - different scale.

*Actually, if you want to get really fussy, you were worse, as (if I've got it right) what these boyos were up to was strictly speaking legal.

[omaghjoe]

I can't see the rich getting much richer.  In the US the top 1% own 40% of everything and doubling that is not on. Most financial assets are seriously overvalued and political volatility is on the rise. Tax havens are a joke and mean the rich have given up on investment.
Accountancy should be replaced by a profession that is honest. The main role of accountants these days including the big 4 is tax avoidance.

How do you replace a profession ffs? Accountants are no different to lawyers, engineers, judges, doctors.  They provide a service and there are good and bad in them all.

Take their licences off them until the profession is cleaned up . Engineers don't facilitate the wholesale pauperization of society to benefit the top 1%

Actually they probably do it just as much if not more....most Engineers work for large corporations that maximise profit for their wealthy shareholders and executives.

[TabClear]

I can't see the rich getting much richer.  In the US the top 1% own 40% of everything and doubling that is not on. Most financial assets are seriously overvalued and political volatility is on the rise. Tax havens are a joke and mean the rich have given up on investment.
Accountancy should be replaced by a profession that is honest. The main role of accountants these days including the big 4 is tax avoidance.

How do you replace a profession ffs? Accountants are no different to lawyers, engineers, judges, doctors.  They provide a service and there are good and bad in them all.

Take their licences off them until the profession is cleaned up . Engineers don't facilitate the wholesale pauperization of society to benefit the top 1%

Lol.  Every accountant to hand in their calculators.  FTSE 100 companies telling their shareholders (that's pension funds, ordinary people, employees etc) that they aren't sure if they are making any money or can pay a dividend because every accountant has to prove their innocence. Wise up ffs

[Hound]

Interesting that the journalists would tell us how morally wrong it is for companies to reduce tax, even where everything done has been completely legal - but that it is fine to steal papers from a lawyer and to publish the contents of the stolen documents!

It seems that some of the stuff here is pure tax evasion - individuals putting money offshore to evade paying tax on the interest, and perhaps the capital earned wasn't taxed either. I'm sure Revenue will go hard after the Irish guys mentioned.

A family friend was caught having an offshore bank account a few years ago and (rightly) got done for interest and penalties. He said it was his bank who gave him the advice rather than an accountant or solicitior. I'd say that its the same in most cases. Certainly none of the big household name Irish accountant or lawyer firms would knowingly get involved in this type of tax evasion.

Using a haven to reduce multi-national corporate tax liabilities, by diverting profits to companies resident in such havens, is a completely different thing. Mostly completely legal (and plenty of involvement by the big Irish accountant and lawyer firms) and facilitated by US tax rules.

[TabClear]

I know that a lot of the high rollers around belfast got stung by the film schemes (a la Jimmy Carr )and IoM accounts back in the boom. Hmrc were all over that for years locally