The fight against tax havens, where shelter over 7 trillion dollars of free liquidity, became an international scale.
However, attempts to leaders of the Great Twenty "to regulate the activities of offshore zones, which, unlike the leading economies in the world, felt the impact of weak global financial crisis, caused as much admiration, and many new questions.
What are the true motives of the control G-20 over the offshore areas? What are the promised sanctions in case of disregard for international tax standards? How big twenty policy may affect Ukraine's economy, most large enterprises owned by offshore companies to domestic and foreign oligarchs?
September meeting of finance ministers of G-20 in London was marked by a number of sensational statements on further ways of overcoming the global crisis. Among the news was talking about an agreement imposing sanctions against "tax havens" in March 2010.
Surprisingly, this message has had such an impression on the world media as the previous communique April G-20 summit, which proclaimed the end of an era of bank secrecy and the determination of action to protect the financial system.
Perhaps the explanation for such skepticism should find that the great powers struggle with dwarf Offshore was obscenely long. When the external simplicity hides network hytrospletin many geopolitical interests.
History of struggle
Even in the distant 2000, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in the fight against "harmful tax practices" has released the famous blacklist of tax havens ", which comprises 35 offshore areas.
Some offshore jurisdictions are also included in the list of the Working Group on Financial Operations of the International Commission on money laundering (FATF).
Governments and central banks of all countries regularly publish their own lists of suspicious areas in the tax sense. The most interesting is that the composition of lists of data varies widely depending on the criteria and purposes of classification of countries into offshore discharge.
The main coordinator of the international fight against tax evasion, money laundering and terrorist financing through offshore companies remain OECD and G-20.
The main criterion for classification of "tax havens" for their version, was the implementation of Article 26 states of the model tax code OECD, which provides virtually unlimited obligation to exchange information on the administration or enforcement of national legislation.
That is, if the country agreed to provide confidential information about the company and its owners at the request of a foreign state, it moves in the white list of tax havens, "the OECD, and therefore has not considered offshore.
Thus, in the latest list of OECD Cyprus, Cayman Islands and Barbados are in the same group in the U.S., Japan and Germany as being mainly implemented only tax standards. Of these, the OECD removed the stamp "tax havens".
In the "gray list" of countries that have agreed to implement international tax standards, but not completely fulfilled the requirements, are Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Singapore, the Bahamas and 33 other jurisdictions. That these countries to threaten sanctions G-20 since March 2010.
Requirements of the leading countries take the path of information transparency accept all offshore centers of the world, although at different stages of implementation. That is why the "black list" of the OECD is currently empty.
Motives G-20
Thus, the term "offshore country" is relative and blurred.
If you reject the political and legal hair-splitting, but look at the problem through the eyes of an economist, to the offshore zones is de facto owned by countries that have simplified company registration, low taxes, weak foreign exchange control and the high possibility of capital allocation in most countries.
As a result, residents of offshore territory in terms of GDP per person compete with the powerful people of the Petroleum Exporting Countries - Qatar, Kuwait or Norway.
Offshore areas are in demand in big business all over the world because of the possibility of confidential accumulation and capital management.
Under the cloak of bank secrecy and protection of confidential information about the owners of capitals find themselves in the zone of inaccessibility to national governments. It should be noted that these financial resources are usually not zalezhuyutsya to "paradise islands", and if necessary can be quickly involved.
For example, to minimize customs duties offshore company, owned by the owner of the country and can buy the products of mechanical engineering in the country B, and immediately transfer this product to balance a subsidiary in country A in the form of investments in fixed assets.
Usually making investments not subject to customs charges. Thus, by transforming an offshore company imported fixed assets of foreign direct investment businesses minimize customs payments and government budgets do not get the desired financial resources.
The popularity of such schemes presents international statistics. The top ten biggest importers in the world per capita is only with offshore jurisdictions.
Most offshore companies are used to optimize the income tax. The company declared at home low profits or even losses spysavshy gross expenditures payments through a chain of foreign companies to go offshore companies are exempt from taxation.
Some financial-industrial groups often register their highly paid employees in the state of subsidiaries with tax havens. This allowed to save huge money on taxes on personal income, and hide behind the curtain Privacy truth dimensions bonuses of top managers.
While the world's leading offshore loophole is shut, they can not effectively deal with excessive amounts of bonuses paid to directors is supported by government corporations at the expense of taxpayers.
Vprovadyvshy uniform tax standards for financial disclosure of all "tax havens", the leading country in the world have access to data about the actual owners of offshore companies.
This will Screening of income data of companies in the consolidated income of the corporation, taxable under the provisions of national law.
Since most of the proceeds to declare, the owner of an offshore company can prosecute for tax evasion.
It is logical that the leading countries of the world went to war with all such schemes. However paradoxical is that they have not done this before.
Only now, in a global crisis, G-20 seriously stepped up his anti-offshore front. Detailed analysis reveals a number of serious reasons such policies of great powers.
Firstly, patching budget holes. According to the U.S. Congress, 83 of the 100 largest corporations of the country put its subsidiaries in offshore areas. Consequently, the state economy loses annually to 100 billion dollars.
Refund of offshore structures, hidden from tax authorities, may become an important source of replenishment of state budgets. Loss of revenue due to the financial crisis provoked a significant deficit that can be cut barriers to the transfer of capital to offshore jurisdictions.
Secondly, the restoration of confidence of voters and the world. Combating the "tax havens" is one of the few effective tools of image that remained in the hands of governments of developed countries.
Creating the image of an external enemy will transferring responsibility for the crisis on offshore financial and banking elite of astronomical amounts of bonuses.
According to experts, the war on money laundering "dirty" money, the withdrawal of funds, tax evasion and promoting terrorism - a good way to G-20 leaders to distract the world from the lack of effective anti-crisis policy.
Thirdly, control of excess liquidity in global currencies. U.S. and EU, which packs a stimulating anti-crisis measures an unprecedented increase the money supply, very interested in the control of movement in liquid funds.
Excess flow of dollars and euros will not only settle in central bank reserves in China, which can be centrally negotiate.
Many offshore centers that during the global crisis vsmoktuvaly billion unit can just as easily get them back from oblivion as soon begins a steady recovery. This could destroy the world's currencies, especially the dollar.
According to the Declaration adopted at the G-20 summit in London to stop the actions of tax jurisdictions, not introduced a single standard financial disclosure, governments will develop a series of sanctions to protect their tax bases. They include investment restrictions for institutional investors with offshore zones and higher penalties for tax offenses.
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