Forget the 48%. What if 97% voted “Remain”? In Gibraltar they did.

Gibraltar, the 6.8 km² British Overseas Territory on Spain’s southern coast voted 97% to remain. Yet it faces the same uncertain future as the rest of the UK. Gibraltar Chief Minister, The Hon Fabian Picardo was on The Andrew Marr Show this weekend, talking about the impact of Brexit.

Edward Troup at the UK Public Accounts Committee Global Tax Transparency Summit.

Edward Troup, Executive Chair of HMRC spoke this morning at the UK Public Accounts Committee Global Tax Transparency Summit.

Much of what Edward talked about was a tour through the recent activities of UK government and/or HMRC to tackle tax evasion and avoidance. He also said that action on international avoidance and evasion requires international cooperation. He then went on to talk about HMRC’s thoughts on transparency and taxpayer confidentiality.

New UK criminal offence for companies failing to prevent tax evasion

Companies and partnerships face the prospect of being criminally liable if their employees or agents facilitate tax evasion by third parties.

The UK government has taken the next step towards the introduction of a new criminal offence for companies and partnerships who fail to prevent their staff from facilitating tax evasion by a third party. The key point here is that this is not about corporations evading tax themselves, but evasion by third parties with whom any associated person interacts.

Jack Lew, US Treasury Secretary on Tax Avoidance, Earnings Stripping and Inversions

Speaking to CNBC today, Jack Lew, US Treasury Secretary spoke about his view on tax avoidance, and what the US is doing to tackle “frustration in tax systems that don’t seem fair”. This comes on the back of rules to stop US businesses inverting into lower tax jurisdictions, but little likelihood of more widespread US tax reform. 

Finance Bill 2016 - Third match of the day. Worth the wait?

Like the third big name match on Centre Court at Wimbledon, the Finance Bill debate today had to wait its turn. And the preceding games were certainly four set, if not five set marathons, with David Davis on Brexit and Jeremy Hunt on the junior doctors.

So it was nearly 7:30pm before we started. Everyone settled down for some long rallies, including on public country-by-country reporting ("CBCR").

Here are some highlights of the debate as it related to direct taxes, and tax transparency.

Dodd-Frank 1504: Six years in the making

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has finally released the rules for the transparency provision, Section 1504, of the Dodd-Frank Act.

Section 1504 requires oil, gas and mining companies listed on US stock exchanges to publicly report, by project, the payments made to US and foreign governments for access to natural resources in all countries of operation. Sound familiar? Yes, that is pretty much the same as the EU rules for extractives companies.

The irony is that the Dodd-Frank Act actually pre-dates the EU rules, but a series of delays, including lawsuits and counter lawsuits, have taken six years to resolve.

Brexit – We DO want to hear from experts!!

Tonight, 11KBW hosted a Brexit event entitled “Where Next?” with a fabulous panel of experts.

Indeed, given the short notice planning of the event, and the large attendance, it is clear that we have NOT had enough of experts, particularly not now!

Here are some highlights of what was said.

OECD Updates on CBCR and Non-Cooperative Jurisdictions

The OECD has just provided an update on the CBCR and "non-cooperative jurisdictions" work via a webcast. Pascal Saint-Amans and Achim Pross set out the latest thoughts. Here are the highlights.

The BEPS Multilateral Instrument – symphony or cacophony?

Today was the latest Public Consultation as part of the OECD BEPS process. This particular consultation focused on the BEPS Action 15, the creation of a multilateral instrument to amend the numerous double tax treaties between countries, to reflect the key proposals of the BEPS project.

The draft text of this instrument has not been published yet, and so the discussion today was more about principles.

One key question came up, and is quite fundamental to how the MLI will operate. I have focused here on the discussion of that one point only.

Should the MLI directly amend perhaps 2,000 bilateral treaties, or sit as a multilateral overlay to adopting tax treaties in perpetuity?

Oxford Summer Tax Conference 2016 - Session 1 - Michael Graetz

Today marks the latest in the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation Summer Tax Conferences. The first session of the day started with Michael Graetz of Columbia University and Yale University.

He started the conference with his thoughts on the current landscape, and the place BEPS had had in the reform process. 

Le gouvernement français accroit ses efforts pour lutter contre l’évasion fiscale

English version

L’évasion et la fraude fiscales constituent l’un des principaux thèmes abordés ces dernières années lors des G7/G20 et au sein de l’UE. Ces thématiques sont inscrites au sein des programmes de François Hollande, de David Cameron mais aussi, quelque peu ironiquement, du Président de la Commission européenne et ancien Premier ministre du Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker. Dans l’actualité récente, des articles impliquant Google, McDonalds, de même que les LuxLeaks, SwissLeaks ou les Panama Papers, ont tous fait de la fiscalité un sujet à la une des journaux.

French government increases efforts to tackle tax avoidance

Version française

Tax avoidance and evasion has been one of key topics for the G7/G20 and EU for several years. It has featured on the agendas of François Hollande, David Cameron and, perhaps ironically, EU Commission President and former Prime Minister of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker. High profile stories including Google and McDonalds, as well as LuxLeaks, SwissLeaks and PanamaPapers, have made tax front-page news.

EU proposals for Country-by-Country Reporting….of sorts

EU Commissioner Jonathan Hill has just announced the latest EU proposals for Country-by-Country Reporting….of sorts

Here are the broad elements of what he said. More considered commentary to follow...

Edward Troup says the key challenge is reputation

Edward Troup of HMRC has just spoken at the Irish Tax Institute Global Tax Conference in Dublin.

Here are some of the key messages he gave from the perspective of tax administration.

Joseph Stead of Christian Aid at the Irish Tax Institute Global Tax Conference

Joseph Stead of Christian Aid has just spoken at the Irish Tax Institute Global Tax Conference in Dublin.

Having introduced Christian Aid, and the work they do on tax, Joseph focused mainly on corporate tax, even though Christian Aid addresses wider issues.

Here are some of the key messages he gave:

Valère Moutarlier at Irish Tax Institute Global Tax Conference

Valère Moutarlier, DG Taxation and Customs Union at the European Commission talking at the Irish Tax Institute Global Tax Conference in Dublin.

Here are some of the key messages he gave:

Anneliese Dodds MEP at the APPG for Responsible Tax

Anneliese Dodds MEP has just spoken at the APPG for Responsible Tax. Here is a summary of her comments.

EU Finance Ministers talk BEPS and CBCR

Today saw the latest ECOFIN meeting under the Netherlands presidency of the EU.

A key item on the agenda was the first real discussion by the Finance Ministers of 24 of the EU Member States, on the BEPS inspired tax proposals of the European Commission. Pierre Moscovici was in attendance to present the Commission proposals and hear views.

Of all the proposals, the one that got the most specific debate was country-by-country reporting (CBCR), with George Osborne being clear on his view of public CBCR.

Google: Still searching for an answer

Today saw the latest phase of the Google saga, with Google and HMRC appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) again.

It is clear that the PAC is asking more informed questions each time tax is on the agenda, and we learnt some things from this hearing.

However, there was more evidence about where PAC scrutiny is and isn't effective than real new information about Google. 

84% of Britons believe “Erm, yes, that sounds like a good idea”

Yesterday the Evening Standard published results of a survey carried out by BMG Research into British attitudes to tax transparency.

They found that over 80% answered “yes” to their two questions. The problem is their questions weren’t the best ones, and I suspect the results are therefore less them meaningful.

With rhetoric like “publicly shame corporate giants seen by many as cheating the country out of millions in tax”, the blunt instrument of “they are all at it you know” seems at work here.

So can we glean anything from this piece? I think so.