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G20 Leaders To Focus On Tax Havens And Bank Secrecy
2009年3月14日
Leaders of the Group of 20 nations will focus at their coming summit on piercing bank secrecy, stepping up international pressure on nations considered tax havens to relax their practices of client confidentiality and disclose more information on possible tax evaders.
The spotlight on tax havens at the London summit, which starts April 2, reflects increasing pressure on European and U.S. officials to crack down on evaders, amid the world-wide financial crisis.
The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development currently lists Liechtenstein as an uncooperative tax haven. The OECD has also found deficits in banking transparency in Switzerland, Luxembourg, Austria, Singapore, Hong Kong, Andorra and Monaco, according to a review of OECD documents. The OECD has no regulatory or policing powers but carries political weight in Western capitals.
On Thursday, Liechtenstein and Andorra both indicated a wish to cooperate with international probes. In a telephone interview, Andorra Prime Minister Albert Pintat said he signed a commitment agreement with France earlier this week outlining a schedule for compliance with OECD recommendations on bank transparency.
A spokesman for the OECD said the agency plans to monitor Andorra's commitment to compliance with its recommendations on international tax cooperation. The OECD recommends nations ensure legitimate transparency of their banking systems and legal assistance for tax-evasion investigations.
Liechtenstein's government said it will take steps to relax its tradition of bank secrecy and promised closer cooperation with international tax-evasion probes according to OECD-recommended standards.
Liechtenstein's move is likely to add to pressure for nations such as Switzerland to alter its bank-secrecy practices. Last month, Switzerland's UBS agreed to pay a fine of $780 million and disclose the identity of some clients after U.S. authorities accused it of helping hundreds of wealthy Americans dodge taxes.
In a joint announcement by Liechtenstein's Prime Minister Otmar Hasler and Prince Alois von und zu Liechtenstein, the tiny Alpine principality offered to conclude bilateral treaty agreements with partner countries that would allow mutual legal assistance for investigations of both tax fraud and tax evasion. Until now, Liechtenstein has cooperated only in the investigation of alleged tax fraud, which is a criminal offense domestically. Tax evasion isn't listed as a criminal offense in Liechtenstein's legal code.
Liechtenstein's announcement is the first step in a legal and diplomatic process of change for the Alpine nation, said Max Hohenberg, spokesman for the Liechtenstein government in a telephone interview. Before effective change can occur, Liechtenstein must sign and ratify new legal-assistance treaties. The goal of these negotiations will be to ensure an orderly transition that provide legal certainty for bank clients, Mr. Hohenberg said.
In Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore, two major financial hubs, could come under greater scrutiny. Both have had simmering tensions with major trading partners on the issue of personal financial disclosure, particularly in the realm of private banking. Singapore, a city-state of 4.5 million people, has emerged as a major private banking center in recent years with about $300 billion under management.
Hong Kong -- a special administrative region of China, with a population of seven million -- has been mulling its own response. A spokeswoman for Hong Kong's government declined to comment; Singapore's monetary authority couldn't be reached late Thursday.
European Union authorities have long worried that European citizens might park their money in places like Singapore as their own tax havens come under more scrutiny.
European Union negotiators have turned up the heat on Singapore to give up names of European citizens who open accounts in the country or withhold a tax payable to the EU. In the past year, the EU has made continuing talks for a free trade agreement between Singapore and the EU contingent on progress toward some kind of private banking agreement, said a person familiar with the matter.
Some private bankers say the EU focus on Singapore is misplaced because little European money is parked there.
In Hong Kong, the issue of taxes and cooperation with wealthy Western nations has long been contentious. In a recent interview, Franz Jessen, who oversees China and Hong Kong issues for the European Commission, said talks on taxes were continuing with Hong Kong and Macau, another special administrative region of China. 'It's an issue that will not go away,' he said.
At root for Hong Kong is its policy on exchanging information with a number of other nations. Its tax authorities are empowered to investigate an issue only where domestic taxes are concerned. That puts it out of step with OECD standards, which were overhauled in 2004 to allow greater sharing of information between nations. The issue has held up efforts by the city to hammer out tax treaties with a number of trading partners, and only a handful have been signed since the government vowed to reach them a decade ago.
City officials last year began canvassing business groups on adopting greater sharing measures, after previously consulting with business groups in the beginning of the decade and again in 2005.
In a September report, accounting firm KPMG said the benefits of adopting the OECD's greater disclosure rules outweigh the disadvantages, including drawing businesses leery of tax issues and avoiding punitive steps by other governments.
G20峰会将重点讨论避税和银行保密问题
在即将召开的二十国集团峰会上，各国领导人将集中精力于突破银行保密体系，向被视为避税天堂的国家施加更大的国际压力，要求它们放宽客户保密传统，披露更多有关可能的逃税者信息。
在全球经济危机的背景下，4月2日召开的此次伦敦峰会将聚光灯对准了避税天堂，反映了欧洲和美国官员面临越来越大的压力来打击逃税者。
总部位于巴黎的经济合作与发展组织目前将列支敦士登列为了不合作的避税天堂。据经合组织评估文件显示，该组织还发现瑞士、卢森堡、奥地利、新加坡、香港、安道尔和摩纳哥等地存在银行透明度方面的问题。经合组织并没有监管或管辖权，但在西方国家拥有重要政治影响力。
列支敦士登和安道尔周四双双表示了愿意配合国际调查的意愿。安道尔首相平塔特在电话采访中表示，本周早些时候他和法国签署了一份承诺协议，概述了遵守经合组织在银行透明度方面建议的进度表。
经合组织一位发言人称，该组织计划监督安道尔遵守他们在国际税务合作方面建议的情况。经合组织建议各国确保银行体系的合理的透明度，并为逃税调查提供法律协助。
列支敦士登政府表示，将根据经合组织建议的标准，采取措施放宽其银行保密传统，承诺进一步配合国际逃税调查。
列支敦士登的态度可能会加大瑞士等国承受的压力，迫使它们改变银行保密惯例。在美国政府指控该行帮助数百名美国富人逃避税务之后，瑞士银行上个月同意支付7.8亿美元的罚金，并披露部分客户资料。
列支敦士登首相哈斯勒和王储亚洛伊发表联合声明称，该国愿意和伙伴国家达成双边协议，就税务欺诈和逃税调查相互提供法律协助。目前为止，列支敦士登只对涉嫌税务欺诈的调查予以配合，税务欺诈在该国属于刑事犯罪。在列支敦士登法律中，逃税并没有被列为刑事犯罪。
列支敦士登政府发言人霍恩伯格在接受电话采访时表示，政府此次声明是列支敦士登踏上法律和外交转变过程的第一步。要出现实质性变化，列支敦士登必须签署和批准新的法律协助合约。霍恩伯格说，协商的目的是为了确保有序过渡，为银行客户提供法律确定性。
在亚洲地区，香港和新加坡这两个主要金融中心可能会面临更严格的审查。在个人财务披露的问题上，两个地区与主要贸易伙伴的紧张关系已经慢慢升温，尤其是在私人银行领域。拥有450万人口的新加坡近年来已经发展成为了一个重要私人银行中心，管理资产达到了3,000亿美元左右。
中华人民共和国香港特别行政区拥有7百万人口，该地区也在研究应对措施。香港政府一位发言人拒绝对此置评。周四晚间记者未能联系到新加坡金管局。
欧盟有关部门一直担心，由于欧洲自身的避税天堂面临着更严格的审查，欧洲公民可能会将资金转移至新加坡等地。
欧盟谈判人员已经向新加坡施加更大压力，要求披露在新加坡开设帐户或其向欧盟应付税款被新加坡代扣的欧洲公民信息。一位知情人士透露，过去一年，欧盟已经将其与新加坡间自由贸易谈判的进度与双方在签署某种私人银行协议方面的进展挂起了钩。
一些私人银行家说，欧盟将焦点对准新加坡是瞄错了目标，因为新加坡并没有多少欧洲资金。
在香港，与西方富有国家的税务和合作问题一直以来都存在争议。欧盟委员会负责中国和香港问题的延森近期在采访中表示，欧盟仍在就税务问题与香港和澳门进行谈判。他说，这个问题不会不了了之。
香港的问题根源是其与诸多其他国家信息交流的政策。香港税务部门只有权调查涉及本地税务的问题。这使得香港和经合组织的标准存在冲突，经合组织已于2004年进行了改变，允许国家和地区之间进一步共享信息。这个问题妨碍了香港与大量贸易伙伴达成税务协议，自香港政府十年前承诺达成协议以来，该地区迄今只与少数几个国家签署了税务协议。
香港官员去年开始就采用劝说商业组织采取更广泛的信息共享措施，此前政府曾在本世纪初和2005年两度就这个问题咨询商业组织。
会计师事务所毕马威去年9月发布报告称，采用经合组织加强信息披露的规定利大于弊，其中包括能吸引对税务问题敏感的企业，以及避免其他国家政府的惩罚性措施。
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发表于 2016-8-12 16:30:43