ШВЕЙЦАРИЯ И БЕЛЬГИЯ ПРИСТУПАЮТ К ОБМЕНУ НАЛОГОВОЙ ИНФОРМАЦИЕЙ

Федеральный совет Швейцарской Конфедерации заявил о вступлении в силу изменений об обмене информацией, внесённых в Соглашение об избежании двойного налогообложения с Бельгией.

Дополнительное соглашение, принятое в целях изменения Соглашения об избежании двойного налогообложения, вступило в силу ещё 19 июля. В указанном документе закреплено положение о взаимном содействии в соответствии с действующими международными стандартами по обмену сведениями финансового и налогового характера в случае поступления соответствующего запроса.

НОВЫЙ ОФШОРНЫЙ СКАНДАЛ – BAHAMAS LEAKS

Спустя некоторое время после скандала с "панамскими документами" журналисты раскрыли и опубликовали новую информацию об офшорных компаниях и их владельцах, теперь уже на Багамских островах.

Новое расследование, получившее название Bahamas Leaks, рассказывает о 116 оффшорных компаниях, которые связаны с Бельгией. Все они принадлежали или управлялись 92 бельгийцами или иностранцами, связанными с этой страной.

В новом списке офшоров обнаружились следы известной банковской группы Dexia, которая уже фигурировала в связи с "панамскими документами", а также государственной компании BIO, которая инвестирует в развивающиеся страны.

Одна из каждых десяти офшорных компаний, зарегистрированных на Багамских островах с 1990 года, была создана при участии швейцарских банков UBS и Credit Suisse, что подтверждается документами, назваными как Bahamas Leaks, которые были обнародованы СМИ, в том числе несколькими швейцарскими газетами.

Secret Swiss accounts bring 540 million into Belgian treasury

There’s been a preliminary investigation into the amount of money that secret bank accounts Belgians have in Switzerland can yield for the Belgian treasury.

It turns out the answer is EUR 540 million. Finance Minister Johan Van Overtveldt (Flemish Nationalists) revealed the figures to financial newspaper De Tijd. “However, the question is how long it will take to actually get our hands on that money”, reacts Fiscal Law Professor Michel Maus.

In 2010, the Belgian tax man gained access to leaked files revealing the secret bank accounts of hundreds of Belgians with the Swiss bank HSBC. Swiss banking secrecy policy enabled these Belgians to hide their assets for the tax man for years.

But now, the preliminary research is finished, and the 1,000 files that were investigated by the Tax Inspectorate show that no less than EUR 540 million can be salvaged, tax raises included. A majority of the taxable account holders have already struck a deal with the tax man. They are mostly diamantaires, nobility, lawyers, CEOs, and athletes.

De Tijd reports that a second pile of French files will be investigated by the Tax Inspectorate soon. This second round of research will probably bring in another considerable sum of money for the Belgian treasury.

However, Free University of Brussels Fiscal Law Professor Michel Maus explains why he thinks it won’t be easy for the Inspectorate to get their hands on that money. “These files were acquired through the SwissLeaks affair. Whether this acquisition was legal is still to be decided upon. It’ll be interesting to see if the account holders will unite against the tax man in court, or if they’ll all strike a deal with him, with their personal fortune in mind.”

A Belgian judge has charged the Swiss private banking arm of HSBC Holdings Plc with tax fraud and money laundering

(Reuters) - A Belgian judge has charged the Swiss private banking arm of HSBC Holdings Plc with tax fraud and money laundering, accusing the British-based bank of offering diamond dealers and other wealthy clients ways of hiding cash and evading tax.

Prosecutors said on Monday the charges related to business carried out by a Swiss unit of HSBC for wealth management clients, many of them from the large diamond trade in the northern Belgian city of Antwerp.

It said the alleged activities could have cost Belgium hundreds of millions of euros in lost tax receipts.

The action follows the theft of personal details of HSBC private banking clients in Switzerland in 2010, information that has been passed on to Belgian and French authorities.

HSBC Private Bank said it had been notified that it had been placed under formal investigation by a Belgian judge who, along with French authorities, was examining whether the Swiss unit acted appropriately on tax reporting requirements.

"Both the Belgian and French investigations have been notified in our filings previously and we will continue to cooperate to the fullest extent possible," the bank said in a statement.

The charges come more than a year after homes of some 20 clients of HSBC Private Bank (Switzerland) were searched in October 2013 in connection with the investigation.

A spokeswoman for the prosecutors said charges were currently only against the bank and certain employees and not its clients. The judge will ask several employees of HSBC Private Bank to appear for questioning.

"The Swiss bank is suspected of having knowingly eased and promoted fiscal fraud by making offshore companies available to certain privileged clients," prosecutors said in a statement.

The statement said the offshore companies were based in Panama and the Virgin Islands, with no economic activity and their only aim was to hide the wealth of the bank's clients.

UBS Probed in Belgium Over Money Laundering, Organized Crime

May 31 (Bloomberg) -- UBS AG, Switzerland’s biggest bank, is being probed by Belgian authorities over allegations of money laundering and organized crime.

Judge Michel Claise is leading the investigation, Anja Bijnens, a spokeswoman for the Brussels prosecutor, said by telephone yesterday.

UBS employees approached wealthy Belgian taxpayers including chief executive officers and sportsmen over a 10-year period, encouraging them to open undeclared accounts in Switzerland, M... Belgique magazine reported, without saying where it got the information. UBS Belgium, the bank’s local arm, helped to organize the transfer of large amounts of money to Switzerland, the magazine said.

“UBS conducts its business in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations,” the bank said in a statement to Bloomberg News. “UBS does not tolerate any activities intended to help its clients circumvent their tax obligations.” It said it was unaware of “any preliminary investigation” of its Belgian operation.

Prosecutors began the probe at the end of last year and it is based on “very detailed” testimony, the magazine said.

European banks are reeling from a series of probes into allegations they rigged benchmark interest rates, manipulated benchmarks in the currency market, helped clients avoid taxes, laundered money and violated U.S. sanctions.

Other Probes

Switzerland’s Credit Suisse Group AG paid $2.6 billion in fines after its bank unit pleaded guilty to helping Americans cheat on their taxes. U.S. authorities are seeking more than $10 billion from France’s BNP Paribas SA for alleged breaches of sanctions on countries including Iran and Sudan.

UBS was fined about $1.5 billion by U.S., U.K. and Swiss regulators in 2012 after a probe into the manipulation of the London interbank offered rate. The Zurich-based lender is still being probed over allegations traders in the world’s largest financial market colluded with counterparts at other firms to manipulate foreign-exchange benchmarks including the WM/Reuters rates.

Chairman Axel Weber said in a May 7 speech that resolving “these issues from the past is a top priority” and the bank is taking a “proactive” approach toward resolving them.

Бельгийцы скрывают в Швейцарии около 60 млрд евро

Согласно подсчетам профессора London School of Economics Габриэля Зюкмана, который воспользовался данными Швейцарского национального банка, не заявленные авуары бельгийских клиентов швейцарских банков составляют 60 миллиардов евро.
Авуары бельгийских клиентов швейцарских банков составляют 60 миллиардов евро.

В 2012 году сами швейцарцы оценивали авуары бельгийцев в 30 миллиардов евро, но лондонский профессор утверждает, что в реальности эта цифра вдвое больше.

Швейцарская методика подсчета не идентифицирует бенефициаров хранящихся в стране активов, поэтому они часто приписываются швейцарцам, а на самом деле принадлежат иностранцам.

Для консультаций по вопросам связанным с управлением активами в Швейцарии, открытием и функционированием банковских счетов в швейцарских банках, регистрацией швейцарских компаний, а также другим вопросам, которые связаны со Швейцарией, вы можете обращаться по электронной почте: vvolkov@alpha-capita.ch