December 2004 Archives

Bob Leins, CPA -

Several important new tax laws that have passed Congress during this fall's pre-election period. Two major tax laws have been approved: the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004 and the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 . Both new acts have important effects on your personal tax return.

This article outlines the changes that impact your personal tax situation and recommends some initial steps that you might take to maximize your tax benefits.

There's still time to catch the second -- and most frenzied -- instalment of Junkaroo, an annual Bahamian festival featuring wild parades, brightly costumed dancers and hordes of revellers.

The event is actually split into two parades: one on Boxing Day, and the other on New Year's Day (starting at 2 a.m. and ending at dawn). Participants, arranged in groups of up to 1,000, are typically organized around a theme, reminiscent of New Orleans' Mardi Gras and Rio de Janeiro's Carnival.

By Christine Clarridge -

Six leaders of Anderson's Ark and Associates, a company that made millions purportedly teaching people how to duck taxes by setting up offshore accounts, were convicted of tax fraud and conspiracy in federal court in Seattle yesterday.

The jury in the seven-week trial, however, was unable to reach a verdict on charges against four accountants who had been accused of preparing and filing false tax returns.

By Sam Cage -

GENEVA - The U.N.-ordered probe into oil-for-food corruption is being seriously hampered by an elaborate system of ghost firms set up around the world to cover the tracks of bribes to Saddam Hussein as he cheated the $60 billion program, a top investigator said.

Some front companies in this global oil trading center and elsewhere that dealt with Saddam have been liquidated or have hidden ownership, complicating the search for evidence of financial improprieties, said Swiss criminal lawyer Mark Pieth. He's one of three commission members leading the probe headed by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker.

By Tim Boreham and Stewart Tendler -

It took thieves 2 1/2 hours to haul the sackloads of banknotes from the vault to a semi-trailer parked behind the Northern Bank's Belfast headquarters.

In one of the biggest bank robberies ever, more than $50million was stolen in a meticulously planned operation that police believe was the work of sophisticated gangsters linked to either Republican or Loyalist paramilitaries.

Business should get used to paying taxes, obeying the law and not finding ways to avoid taxation -- this was the key message President Vladimir Putin delivered to CEOs of Russia's corporations in November at the annual meeting of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. It is a statement few will object to and a piece of advice all taxpayers would do well to follow. But given today's business environment in Russia, it also implies that companies seeking legitimate means to reduce their taxes are in some way breaking the law. If that were the case, business executives would fill the world's jails.

By Jackie Cohen -

SAN FRANCISCO - Whether politically motivated or profit-driven, investors have been paying more attention to overseas opportunities since the Nov. 2 re-election of President Bush.

Regardless of feelings about the direction of the country in the next four years, the direction of the dollar is causing many to examine foreign strategies. And the lifting of the federal debt ceiling in early November by $800 billion has only sharpened the focus.

Jersey DVD distributor avoids U.K. sales tax

Amazon.com, the world's biggest Internet retailer, is using a unit based on a British island financial haven to avoid Britain's sales tax on DVDs.

Amazon.com in October set up the wholly owned subsidiary on Jersey, an island in the channel between England and France with a population of 90,000, to exploit the British territory's tax status. Imports from the island that cost less than £18, or $35, are not subject to the British sales tax of 17.5 percent.

By Anna Smolchenko -

The word "offshore" has a certain mystique to those who have never been part of it. People often suppose that investing offshore is not only a bit naughty, but must necessarily be expensive. It can be both, but doesn't have to be.

For most expats, offshore banking and investment offers opportunities for greater tax efficiency, confidentiality and the ability to take advantage of international investing, free of the restrictions that often apply in high-tax countries.

Planned tax break could boost economy, create more jobs

MOST big US multinational companies don't bring their offshore earnings home, where taxes are steep.

Instead they hoard them in, among other places, Singapore and the Irish Republic, where corporate tax rates are lower.

Quite a lot of those funds are expected to be brought back to the US soon, though, thanks to a one-off tax break, enacted just before the presidential election.

By Timothy L. O'Brien and Larry Rohter -

Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator, received multimillion-dollar payments from the governments of several countries, including the United States, during his 25-year tenure as Chile's ruler and military chief, according to documents recently uncovered during a Senate committee investigation into suspected money laundering at Riggs Bank.

The documents, including General Pinochet's sworn financial statements, show that he received $3 million from the United States government in 1976 and, in other years, $1.5 million from Paraguay, $1 million from Spain, $2.5 million from China, a combined payment of $2.5 million from Britain and China, and a combined payment of $3 million from Britain, Malaysia and Brazil. From 1974 to 1997, the payments totaled at least $12.3 million.

That Monaco is crowded with celebrities is no piece of news. Since 1869, when the personal income tax policy became favorable, Monaco attracted very many individuals with high net income, such as movie stars, sporting stars etc. who became residents of the Principality in order to benefit from personal income tax exemption.

Take, for instance, Roger Moore, Shirley Bassey, Ringo Starr, Karen Mulder, Eva Herzigova, the race drivers Jacques Villeneuve, David Coulthard, Jenson Button.

BASSETERRE, ST. KITT'S, Dec. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Jonathan Curshen is a consultant in the area of international asset protection. He is a member of ITPA (International Tax Planners Association) and APOI (Asia Pacific Offshore Institute). He specializes in offshore asset management, global investing, worldwide banking, and investment strategy and counseling. It is his business to know what you need in order to utilize the valuable tools of offshore asset management and protection.

By Kathy M. Kristof -

When confessed tax fraud promoter Jerome Schneider handed the Internal Revenue Service a list of his clients, there was one well-known name on the roster: Sandra Bullock.

Bullock, the vivacious star of Miss Congeniality and other films, paid Schneider for advice on how to buy an offshore bank, said her attorney, E. Howell Crosby. But, he said, she never cheated on her taxes by moving money overseas.

By David Kravets -

SAN FRANCISCO -- A self-professed guru of offshore tax havens was sentenced to six months in prison Monday for conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service after prosecutors urged a light term in exchange for his cooperation in the case.

Jerome Schneider, whose book titles include "Hiding your Money" and "How to Own Your Own Private International Bank," made millions helping the wealthy set up offshore banks to conceal money from being taxed.

BEIJING (AFX) - Fifty Chinese private firms, headed by Tianfa Petroleum Co Ltd (SZA 000670), are setting up a one bln yuan fund that will invest in overseas oil and gas fields, an official with the parent of the listed firm said.

'We have already launched a petroleum association, and are now planning a one bln yuan fund to be registered in Hong Kong or a third country,' an official with Tianfa Group told XFN-Asia.

The fund, the first of its kind in the country, will initially focus on investing in oil and gas properties in the Middle East, and expand into other countries later, he said.

By Paul Betts -

Like old King Farouk, Egyptian tycoon Mohamed Al-Fayed has finally decided to set up residence in Monaco - joining the likes of Formula One racing driver David Coulthard and actor Roger Moore in the Riviera tax haven.

After 35 years in the UK, the owner of Harrods and the Ritz Hotel in Paris left Britain 18 months ago for the shores of Lake Geneva, angry over the "grossly unfair treatment" dealt to him by the British establishment and tax authorities.

Mark Romero, of Birmingham-based Aptus Partners LP, has been named portfolio manager of a just-launched hedge fund sponsored by Magnum Global Investment Ltd., domiciled in Nassau, Bahamas.

The fund centers on little-known U.S. small- and mid-cap growth companies for offshore investors. Magnum Global, based in Florida, is providing administrative and client services. Aptus Capital Offshore Fund focuses - on the long side - on companies with market caps of less than $2 million.