Pressured by OECD, S'pore vows to change tax laws to remove havens

[SNAblog]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gvwF1GWaIRpK8ATpnlZF5tUhmcfQ

Singapore vows to change tax laws to remove havens

4 hours ago

SINGAPORE (AFP) — Singapore has vowed to amend its tax laws within the year after being named in a list of countries that have not yet fully implemented global standards aimed at eliminating tax havens.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) last week said Singapore was one of the countries that had not yet carried out their commitments to respecting global standards on exchanging tax information.

Singapore "intends to implement the standard by effecting legislative amendments later this year," a finance ministry spokesperson said in reply to a query from AFP at the weekend.

The OECD, which groups the world's leading developed nations, listed 38 countries and territories that "have committed to the internationally agreed tax standard, but have not yet substantially implemented" the measures.

As well as Singapore the list also includes Belgium, Brunei, Chile, the Dutch Antilles, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Switzerland and Caribbean island nations including the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.

The OECD released the list after the Group of 20 summit in London agreed to crack down on tax havens.

"As expected, Singapore has not been classified by the OECD as a tax haven but as a financial centre that has committed to the internationally recognised tax standard," the Singapore finance ministry said.

"This recognises that Singapore has endorsed the OECD standard for the exchange of information through Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreements (DTAs), and intends to implement the standard by effecting legislative amendments later this year and negotiating and concluding relevant DTAs."

It added that "Singapore's position in this regard is no different from that of other major financial centres such as Hong Kong, Switzerland and Luxembourg, which the OECD has similarly recognised as jurisdictions that have committed to implementing the OECD standard."


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[Cestbon]

Actually tax structure is OK. But just need to take away the GST. Automatically all price will reduce by 7%. From food/property/transport/medical/education/bilis/..........................

 

[The_Latest_H]

This isn't about the domestic tax structure, cestbon. Its about the tax structure- or the lack of it- for foreign companies and individuals who put their money here and in other countries to avoid punitive taxes back home- such as income, corporate, payroll, estate et al.

For example, the rock band U2, from Ireland, had put their money in other European countries that have little to no taxes, instead of Ireland, to protect their income and assets from the punitive taxes back home. In that way they literally saved hundreds of millions because their brand is worth almost a billion- being in the business for almost 30 years now.

The OCED intends to force all tax havens and almost-there unofficial tax havens like Singapore, and HK, to be more transparent and honest, in order to haul some of these folks back and ensure that they pay their taxes which were deprived to their respective governments for so long.