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Andorra has decided to introduce a tax on personal income for the first time as the country faces pressure from its European neighbors to tackle tax evasion.
Antoni Marti, the head of the Andorran government, told French President Francois Hollande that he will introduce a bill before June 30, 2013.
The principality will “gradually meet international tax standards”, according to the office of the French president.
There is currently no income tax applied to individuals or corporations.
Antoni Marti, the head of the Andorran government, told French President Francois Hollande that he will introduce a bill for income tax before June 30, 2013
EU finance ministers have agreed to start talks with Andorra – along with Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and San Marino – on swapping bank account information.
Recently, the European Commission told the European Parliament it wants EU-wide exchange of all types of income data as part of the fight against tax evasion.
EU tax authorities already automatically exchanged information for income such as employment, pensions and insurance but not for income such as dividends and capital gains.
Tax evasion costs EU states 1 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) a year, more than was spent on healthcare in 2008, the Commission has said, and some MEPs are calling for a Europe-wide blacklist of tax havens.
President Francois Hollande was meeting with Antoni Marti in Paris in his role as one of the two co-monarchs of Andorra, which is situated in the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain.
More recently, France’s Socialist government was hit by a scandal, as former minister Jerome Cahuzac was forced to resign over tax fraud allegations. He later admitted that he had hidden about 600,000 euros in a Swiss bank account.
EU leaders at Brussels summit say they are committed to tackling tax evasion and will push for global action to curb banking secrecy.
The president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, said there was a “strong political will” in Europe to make tax systems fairer.
He said the EU would draft tougher rules this year on banking transparency. Herman Van Rompuy was speaking after summit talks in Brussels.
A key goal is to prevent multinational firms exploiting legal loopholes.
There is widespread public anger that some big corporations have minimized their tax payments at a time of economic hardship.
Tax evasion and avoidance cost EU states 1 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) a year – more than was spent on healthcare in 2008.
The EU is now promising action against “aggressive tax planning” – that is, the complex yet legal accounting tricks used by some companies to minimize their tax payments.
EU leaders also want global standards on exchanging bank account data. The issue will be high on the agenda of a summit of the G8 industrialized nations in Northern Ireland next month.
Herman Van Rompuy said the economic crisis had injected new momentum into the debate on fair taxation. But he insisted that the EU was not seeking tax harmonization across Europe.
“It’s a real breakthrough… I am really convinced there is a strong political will by leaders not just on the European level, but on the global level, to tackle tax fraud,” he told a news conference.
Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel said that EU members Austria and Luxembourg – famous for their banking secrecy – agreed on the need for tax authorities to exchange information on private income. But “they attach great importance to also holding negotiations with third countries”, she added.
EU leaders at Brussels summit say they are committed to tackling tax evasion and will push for global action to curb banking secrecy
Switzerland, outside the EU, is a major competitor in the market for rich bank clients. Austria and Luxembourg want to ensure that Switzerland and other low-tax jurisdictions in Europe, such as Monaco and Liechtenstein, do not have an unfair advantage.
Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann on Wednesday joined the call for a crackdown on tax evasion.
A European Parliament resolution on tax evasion on Tuesday urged the EU to halve the 1tn-euro annual losses by 2020, by curbing tax loopholes and havens.
The MEPs also called for a joint EU blacklist of tax havens.
The European Commission is pressing for automatic exchanges of people’s earnings data between tax authorities.
Some experts argue that business tax planning also reduces the revenue that developing country governments can collect, for example by shifting declared profits to countries where they are lightly taxed.
Politicians are keen to show voters that tax systems are fair, after a wave of unpopular budget cuts aimed at reducing deficits.
Starbucks and Amazon are among the companies that have faced tough questioning over their tax affairs recently.
And this week Apple came under fire in the US Congress over its low tax payments.
The other main theme at the Brussels talks was energy policy – especially the need to improve Europe’s energy infrastructure, develop renewables such as solar and wind power and remove barriers to competition. Much of Eastern Europe relies on Russia for gas – and in the past pricing disputes have led to supply shortages in mid-winter.
The Commission is urging EU governments to enact energy legislation that was agreed in 2011, warning that on current trends imports of gas will rise to 80% of the gas consumed in the EU by 2035.
The EU already imports 406 billion euros’ worth of oil, gas and coal annually – 3.2% of total EU economic output (GDP).
The fragmentation of Europe’s energy market makes it difficult to woo long-term investors willing to commit to multi-billion-euro infrastructure projects. The energy mix varies greatly across Europe, from nuclear-dominated France to coal-dependent Poland.
But a key goal is to connect Europe’s isolated “energy islands” – former Soviet bloc countries like Estonia and Bulgaria – to European grids and storage facilities.
The distortions in Europe’s energy market mean that Bulgarians – the EU’s poorest citizens – pay more for their electricity than consumers in the UK or Germany.
In the global economy the energy blockages threaten to put Europe at a serious disadvantage. The gas price index for EU households rose by 45% in 2005-12, compared with 3% in the US, while the figures for electricity were 22% and 8% respectively, the Commission says.
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The head of the European Commission has told the European Parliament he wants EU-wide exchange of income data as part of the fight against tax evasion.
Jose Manuel Barroso said he would urge Wednesday’s summit of EU leaders to support automatic exchange of people’s earnings data between tax authorities.
Tax evasion costs EU states 1 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) a year, more than was spent on healthcare in 2008.
MEPs are expected to call for a Europe-wide blacklist of tax havens.
Pressure is likely to be put on Switzerland to relax banking secrecy amid anger over revelations about Greek and French politicians holding secret Swiss bank accounts.
The debate comes a day after UK Prime Minister David Cameron urged British overseas territories which operate low-tax regimes to “get their house in order” and sign up to international treaties on tax.
Jose Manuel Barroso said he wanted to see the principle of automatic exchange “become the standard at international level as well”.
The US Senate is currently scrutinizing the low global tax payments of Apple Inc and its subsidiaries in the Republic of Ireland in particular.
The main subsidiary, a holding company that includes Apple’s retail stores throughout Europe, has not paid any corporate income tax in the last five years, a Senate memorandum says.
In his speech to the parliament, Jose Manuel Barroso asked: “How can we explain to honest households and businesses who are feeling the squeeze yet still paying their fair share of taxes, that there are other parts of society and enterprise who are deliberately avoiding paying up?”
Jose Manuel Barroso said he would urge Wednesday’s summit of EU leaders to support automatic exchange of people’s earnings data between tax authorities
A trillion euros was, he said, “a huge amount of money to simply let through the net”.
He said he would make a call at Wednesday’s summit of EU leaders for the EU to adopt automatic exchange of income information on 1 January 2015.
EU tax authorities, he pointed out, already automatically exchanged information for income such as employment, pensions and insurance but he was proposing to include “all relevant types of income, such as dividends and capital gains”.
Austria, which has a strong tradition of banking secrecy, would support EU efforts to exchange information on foreign depositors, Chancellor Werner Faymann was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency on Tuesday.
“We won’t be the ones who put on the brakes and block things, and not the ones whose concerns put up blockades,” he said.
He noted that 1 trillion euros was “pretty much exactly the EU budget for the next seven years”.
Europe’s cash-strapped governments cannot afford to lose a single cent in tax revenue, let alone 1 trillion euros a year.
At Tuesday’s debate, non-EU member Switzerland is expected to come under pressure to put in place new rules.
Even top Swiss bankers now admit time is running out for its trademark banking secrecy.
Last week EU finance ministers agreed to start talks with Switzerland, along with Liechtenstein, Monaco, Andorra and San Marino, on swapping bank account information.
Attempts to tighten up on tax evasion follow a furor in Greece over the so-called Lagarde list, containing the names of more than 2,000 Greeks including senior politicians with Swiss bank accounts.
More recently, France’s Socialist government was hit by a scandal, as former Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac was forced to resign over tax fraud allegations.
He later admitted that he had hidden about 600,000 euros in a Swiss bank account.
Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi’s conviction for tax fraud has been upheld by an appeals court in Milan.
The court also reinstated a four-year prison sentence and five-year ban from public office Silvio Berlusconi was handed in October.
Silvio Berlusconi was convicted of artificially inflating prices of film distribution rights bought by his company, Mediaset, to avoid taxes.
He is now expected to appeal against Wednesday’s ruling at Italy’s highest court, the Court of Cassation.
Silvio Berlusconi, 76, has denied the charges and said they are politically motivated.
But instead of overturning October’s verdict, the Milan appeals court on Wednesday upheld his conviction for tax evasion and re-instated the original jail sentence. The four-year term had been cut to one year by a lower court because of his age.
Silvio Berlusconi’s conviction for tax fraud has been upheld by an appeals court in Milan
“We knew it would go like this,” Silvio Berlusconi’s defense lawyer Niccolo Ghedini told reporters.
There is however no real prospect of Silvio Berlusconi being jailed, as he will exercise his right to appeal and the case will actually soon expire under a time limit.
Nevertheless, this is another major legal blow for Silvio Berlusconi, whose People of Freedom (PdL) party is part of Italy’s new coalition government.
In the eyes of the law Silvio Berlusconi is a convicted fraudster, but he will argue as he always does that all his legal troubles are the simply the work of his political enemies – left-wing elements in the judiciary.
In March, silvio Berlusconi was sentenced to a year in jail after being convicted of arranging for a police wiretap concerning a political rival to be leaked and published in a newspaper run by his brother. He denied the charges and is expected to appeal.
Silvio Berlusconi is also currently on trial for allegedly paying for sex with an underage prostitute, and later abusing his powers by putting pressure on the police to release her from custody. He has admitted sending her money, but insists the funds were meant as a gift.
In other trials over the years, Silvio Berlusconi has been accused of charges including accounting fraud, perjury, bribery and corruption. He has denied all the accusations against him and has either been acquitted or let off under statutes of limitations.
Silvio Berlusconi’s trials:
- Accused of paying for sex with an underage prostitute: Verdict due
- Convicted and sentenced to a year in jail for arranging leak of police wiretap
- Accused of tax fraud over deals his firm Mediaset made to purchase TV rights to US films: Convicted in October 2012; Sentence upheld by appeals court in May
- Two other corruption cases involving tax evasion and bribery of a British lawyer: Expired under statute of limitations
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Lauryn Hill has been sentenced in New Jersey to three months in jail for tax evasion.
Lauryn Hill, 37, also faces three months of home confinement, after pleading guilty last year.
Lauryn Hill has been sentenced in New Jersey to three months in jail for tax evasion
The Grammy-winning singer failed to pay taxes on about $1.8 million of earnings between 2005 and 2007.
In a statement to the judge, Lauryn Hill said she intended to pay the taxes but could not after ending her music career. It is not clear when Lauryn Hill will report to prison.
“I needed to be able to earn so I could pay my taxes, without compromising the health and welfare of my children, and I was being denied that,” she told the judge in court on Monday.
Lauryn Hill has six children, five of whom she had with Rohan Marley, the son of Bob Marley.
She has largely withdrawn from public life while raising her children.
She started her career with Grammy-award winning hip-hop group Fugees alongside Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel.
Lauryn Hill released her acclaimed solo debut album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, in 1998, which won five Grammy awards and sold more than 19 million copies worldwide.
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) report has revealed today that debt-laden Greece has made progress in improving its finances, but the country must do more to fight tax evasion.
In a report, the IMF said Greece had made “exceptional” progress on reducing its budget deficit since 2010.
But the IMF, one of the lenders that backed a bailout of Greece, said the “notorious” problem of tax evasion was still a major issue.
Also, Athens was still too slow to cut public sector jobs, the IMF said.
IMF report revealed Greece has made progress in improving its finances, but the country must do more to fight tax evasion
Cutting the budget deficit and making its economy more competitive were key conditions of the 240 billion-euro bailout from the European Union and the IMF.
“Progress on fiscal adjustment has been exceptional by any international comparison,” the IMF said in its report, which followed a visit by officials to the country.
“Greece has also made a significant dent in its competitiveness gap,” the report said.
But the IMF added that “insufficient” structural reforms have meant that deficit cutting has been achieved primarily through cutting jobs and salaries bringing “unequal distribution of the burden of adjustment”.
The IMF also said that “very little” had been done to tackle Greece’s “notorious tax evasion,” with the rich and self-employed “simply not paying their fair share” as austerity unfairly hits mostly public sector workers earning a salary or a pension.
It also called on the government to strengthen the independence of the tax administration to make it easier to reform the system.
On public sector jobs, the IMF said Greece is too reliant on voluntary departures.
“The taboo against mandatory dismissals must be overcome,” the report said.
Last month, the Greek parliament adopted a law that will allow the dismissal of 15,000 civil servants.
But under Greece’s current bailout plan agreed in November, Athens has to cut 150,000 public sector jobs overall from 2010 to 2015, about a fifth of the total.
Compulsory redundancies are a sensitive issue in Greece where unemployment has hit a record high of 27.2% and the economy is now in its sixth year of recession.
Last week, an EU report forecast that Greece would end years of recession in 2014 with growth of 0.6%, in line with an earlier forecast by the IMF.
Following what the IMF forecast will be a 4.6% contraction of the economy this year, the Fund warned that attempts to “artificially” stimulate growth should be resisted.
Luxembourg has announced it would ease the secrecy surrounding its banks by implementing rules on the automatic exchange of bank account information with its European Union partners from 2015.
PM Jean-Claude Juncker said Luxembourg would introduce the reforms in two years, in line with the EU Savings Directive.
The rules of the Directive are aimed at creating greater transparency and minimizing tax evasion.
Luxembourg would ease bank secrecy by implementing EU rules on the automatic exchange of bank account information from 2015
Calls for a crackdown on bank secrecy have been increasing, as governments seek to raise more taxes to support their finances.
“We can introduce [the rules] without any danger from January 2015,” Jean-Claude Juncker said.
Luxembourg is a country of only 500,000 people, but its banks and other financial institutions have assets worth more than 20 times the country’s economic output.
Luxembourg’s foreign minister, Luc Frieden, said at the weekend that he wanted to “strengthen co-operation with foreign tax authorities”.
Last week, Germany signed a tax evasion treaty with Switzerland – another European banking centre known for its secrecy.
The treaty is designed to give the German tax authorities the ability to claw back taxes from their citizens who may be hiding money in Swiss banks.
Luxembourg’s announcement leaves Austria as the only European Union country not signed up to the EU Savings Directive.
Austria’s finance minister, Maria Fekter, said recently that she would “fight like a lion” to defend the country’s banking secrecy regime.
However, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann indicated on Tuesday that change may have to come.
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Known for its highly secretive banking sector, Luxembourg would now consider a greater transparency in banks activity to help curb tax evasion, Finance Minister Luc Frieden has told a German newspaper.
In an interview published on Sunday, Luc Frieden said he wanted to “strengthen co-operation with foreign tax authorities”.
Germany is among the countries who say it is being used by foreign customers as a tax haven.
Speaking to Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper, Luc Frieden acknowledged that other countries were increasingly demanding more information on what their citizens were doing with their money in foreign banks.
Finance Minister Luc Frieden said Luxembourg would consider a greater transparency in its banking sector
“The international trend is going toward an automatic exchange of bank deposit information. We no longer strictly oppose that,” he said.
On Friday Germany signed a tax evasion treaty with Switzerland – another European banking centre known for its secrecy.
The treaty is designed to allow Germany to claw back taxes from German depositors hiding money in Swiss banks.
Luxembourg is a country of only 500,000 people, but its banks and other financial institutions have assets worth more than 20 times the country’s economic output.
Despite its heavy reliance on financial services, Luc Frieden insisted Luxembourg “does not rely on clients who want to save on their taxes”.
The finance minister has previously said he wants banking customers to be attracted to Luxembourg by the quality of its banking services, rather than it secrecy.
Calls for more transparent banking sectors have grown louder in Europe in recent years, as governments seek to raise more taxes to support their finances amid a global recession.
The recent bailout of Cyprus has also raised particular concerns about the risks posed by small European states with over-sized financial sectors.
Wesley Snipes was released this week from a Pennsylvania prison after nearly three years and transferred to house arrest.
The star was admitted in 2010 on charges of federal tax evasion.
According to TMZ, Wesley Snipes, 50, left the McKean Federal Corrections on Tuesday, several months shy of his 3 year sentence.
Wesley Snipes is no longer listed as an inmate at the rural facility, and is now listed on the website of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBP) as being under the watchful eye of the New York Communty Corrections Office.
Officers will keep a watchful eye on the actor as he finishes out his sentence under home confinement, which the FBP lists as July 19.
Wesley Snipes was released this week from a Pennsylvania prison after nearly three years and transferred to house arrest
Wesley Snipes’ release is – ironically – just two weeks before tax day.
The actor was found guilty of not paying as much as $15 million in dividends to the government for his earnings from 1999 to 2001.
His lawyers argued that his tax advisers, Douglas P. Rosile and Eddie Ray Kahn, who were also jailed, had duped their client with a claim that there were no laws requiring him to pay tax.
Wesley Snipes also expressed to CNN’s Larry King that he was “nervous” of his impending stay at the minimum security white-collar facility, which works its inmates from dawn until dusk doing chores such as landscaping and food service.
The actor was also given limited contact with his family – he is the father of five children – as inmates only have 300 minutes of call time per month and conjugal visits were not allowed.
“I think any man would be nervous,” Wesley Snipes said.
“Given the length of time that they are suggesting that I be away from my family, away from my profession, away from my ability to provide for my family and for those who have depended upon me to contribute to society… I think anyone would be nervous about that.”
While in prison Wesley Snipes had tried to appeal his sentence to the Supreme Court, but was turned down and ordered to finish out his term.
No word yet on how soon before Wesley Snipes jumps back into acting.
Wesley Snipes is best known for his roles in Jungle Fever, Blade and White Men Can’t Jump.
HSBC, which was hit with a $1.9 billion US fine for money laundering last year, is facing fresh accusations of illegal activity in Argentina.
Argentina has alleged that HSBC used “fake receipts” to facilitate money laundering and tax evasion, and launder 392 million pesos ($77 million).
The country’s tax authority said it had filed criminal charges against HSBC.
HSBC said that it would cooperate with the investigation, adding that the allegations were “of great concern”.
“We are committed to working cooperatively with authorities to ensure a thorough review and appropriate resolution of the matter,” said Lyssette Bravo, a spokeswoman for HSBC.
Last year, HSBC agreed to pay US authorities $1.9 billion in a settlement over money laundering, the largest paid in such a case.
Argentina laid out its case against HSBC late on Monday.
“On the basis of what’s been investigated so far, in six months we’ve recorded 392 million pesos in fraudulent transactions, generated by evasion and money laundering,” said Ricardo Echegaray, head of Argentina’s tax agency.
Ricardo Echegaray added that HSBC also helped clients evade taxes on an additional 224 million pesos.
“We hope to recover what is due and see the courts apply an appropriate penalty,” he said.
HSBC is facing fresh accusations of illegal activity in Argentina
Money laundering is the process of disguising the proceeds of crime so that the money cannot be linked to the wrongdoing.HSBC, which has previously admitted to having poor money laundering controls, has been taking steps to tighten its operations.
Last year, the banking giant said that it had spent $290 million on improving its systems to prevent money laundering.
At the same time, HSBC also appointed a former US official, Bob Werner, to work as its head of financial crime compliance, a new position the bank has created.
The bank said that he will be responsible for beefing up its anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance systems.
Bob Werner was previously the head of the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the agency responsible for enforcing the US sanctions on countries, including Iran.
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Greek journalist Costas Vaxevanis has been acquitted of breaching privacy for publishing the names of 2,000 suspected tax evaders.
Costas Vaxevanis published a list of Greeks with Swiss bank accounts, including a government minister and other prominent figures in public life.
Lawyers for Costas Vaxevanis, 46, argued that the charges were outrageous and said no-one on the list had actually complained of a breach of privacy.
After a one-day trial, a court in Athens found Costas Vaxevanis innocent.
He published the list in Hot Doc, the weekly magazine that he edits.
Greece is being urged by international lenders to crack down on tax evasion as part of far-reaching reforms demanded in exchange for billions of euros of bailout money.
Greek journalist Costas Vaxevanis has been acquitted of breaching privacy for publishing the names of 2,000 suspected tax evaders
The list of suspected evaders was reportedly leaked by an employee at the HSBC bank and passed to IMF chief Christine Lagarde when she was French finance minister in 2010.
Christine Lagarde apparently handed the list to the Greek authorities, but they took no action.
Two of Greece’s former finance ministers have acknowledged seeing copies of the list.
However, Yannis Stournaras, who took office in June, has told parliament he has not seen it.
Costas Vaxevanis said he had published the list because it was his job as a journalist to reveal the truth.
“The three last governments have lied and have made a mockery of the Greek people with this list,” he said.
“They were obliged to pass it to parliament or to the justice system. They didn’t do it, and they should be in prison for it.”
Prosecutors had accused him of publicly ridiculing people and delivering them “to a society that is thirsty for blood”.
“The solution to the problems that the country is facing is not cannibalism,” the prosecutor said.
But the court took little time in acquitting the journalist, and observers in the courtroom broke out in applause, according to the AFP news agency.
Greek journalist Costas Vaxevanis is due to go on trial in Athens for breach of privacy after publishing the names of 2,000 Greeks with Swiss bank accounts.
French authorities gave the names to their Greek counterparts two years ago, but documents were never investigated.
Costas Vaxevanis said that politicians should be prosecuted for keeping the names secret.
But Greek officials have said there is no proof that those on the list have broken the law.
Some of those named, said to include many prominent Greeks, are suspected of using the HSBC accounts in Switzerland for tax evasion.
Costas Vaxevanis says the list he published is the same one that was given by the then French finance minister Christine Lagarde to her Greek counterpart two years ago.
Greek officials say the list originally came from a former HSBC employee.
The names on the list are said to include politicians, businessmen and others, sparking fury among ordinary Greeks as they are hit by deep austerity measures.
The issue has revived claims that tax evasion remains rife in Greece, and that the authorities still are not serious about tackling it.
Greek journalist Costas Vaxevanis is due to go on trial in Athens for breach of privacy after publishing the names of 2,000 Greeks with Swiss bank accounts
Costas Vaxevanis, 46, said he published the list in his magazine Hot Doc “because I’m a journalist and it’s our job to tell the truth to the people”.
“The three last governments have lied and have made a mockery of the Greek people with this list,” he said.
“They were obliged to pass it to parliament or to the justice system. They didn’t do it and they should be in prison for it.”
Costas Vaxevanis said he thought the government had not acted on the list because it included friends of ministers, businessmen and powerful publishers.
He also accused much of the Greek media of ignoring the story.
“The Greek press is muzzled,” he said.
“There is a closed system of power in Greece, wielded by the political elite, businessmen and journalists.”
“If I need to go to prison I will do,” he said.
“Not because I’m a hero, but to show the injustice of what is happening in Greece.”
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Artist and dissident Ai Weiwei’s appeal against a tax evasion fine has been rejected by a Chinese court, his lawyer says.
Police barred Ai Weiwei from attending court in Beijing’s Chaoyang district to hear the verdict delivered.
Tax authorities imposed a 15 million yuan ($2.4 million) fine on Ai Weiwei’s firm for tax evasion in 2011.
Supporters say the fine is politically motivated and Ai Weiwei wanted the court to overrule the penalty.
”We will keep appealing, until the day comes when we have nothing to lose,” Ai Weiwei said via Twitter.
His lawyer Pu Zhiqiang, who was in court for the verdict, told reporters that the ruling was ”totally without reason”.
Ai Weiwei’s appeal against a tax evasion fine has been rejected by a Chinese court
The artist, a outspoken critic of the government, was detained for almost three months without charge last year.
After he was released, he was accused of tax evasion and the fine imposed.
The Chinese authorities maintain that the firm, called Fake Cultural Development, owes them money and it must be paid back.
While Ai weiwei is a designer for Fake Cultural Development, his wife is the legal representative of his company.
The artist said earlier that police, stationed outside his home, had barred him from attending the court hearing.
”If I can’t even appear in court, what more does this country have to do with me?” he said over Twitter.
Security was tight at the court with reports of both uniformed and plainclothes police in the area and people, including journalists and diplomats, being turned away.
Ai Weiwei, 55, has said that the tax bill is pay-back for his activism and challenged it on the grounds that proper procedure had not been followed.
The Beijing court agreed to hear the case, in a surprise move.
“The entire judiciary is shrouded in darkness,” he said from his home in northeast Beijing after the verdict.
Born in 1957 in Beijing, Ai Weiwei, the son of one of China’s most famous poets, Ai Qing, has played a key role in contemporary Chinese art over the last two decades.
His involvement in the design of Beijing’s “Bird’s Nest” Olympic stadium brought him international prominence.
But he fell out of favor with authorities with his outspoken criticism over the Olympics and the devastating May 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
In December 2010, he was among a group of activists and critics banned from travelling. A month later, his studio in Shanghai was demolished after officials said he had failed to obtain planning permission for the building.
He was then detained in April 2011 at Beijing airport.
Denise Rich, the wealthy socialite and former wife of billionaire trader Marc Rich, has renounced her U.S. citizenship to avoid U.S. tax bill.
Denise Rich, 68, a Grammy-nominated songwriter, top Democratic donor and glamorous figure in European royalty circles, renounced her American passport in November, according to her lawyer.
Her maiden name, Denise Eisenberg, appeared in the Federal Register on April 30 in a quarterly list of Americans who renounced their U.S. citizenship and permanent residents who handed in their green cards.
By dumping her U.S. passport, Denise Rich, who was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, likely will save tens of millions of dollars or more in U.S. taxes over the long haul, tax lawyers say.
She also has Austrian citizenship through her deceased father, said Michael Heidt, a lawyer in Hollywood, Florida, who represented her in a recent lawsuit. She plans to live in London.
Denise Rich, who wrote songs recorded by Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige and Jessica Simpson, is the latest bold-faced name to join a wave of wealthy people renouncing their American citizenship.
Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin gave up his U.S. passport to become a citizen of Singapore, an offshore tax haven, before the company’s initial public offering in May.
Nearly 1,800 citizens and permanent residents, a record since data was first compiled in 1998, expatriated last year, according to government figures.
Denise Rich, the wealthy socialite and former wife of billionaire trader Marc Rich, has renounced her U.S. citizenship to avoid U.S. tax bill
Michael Heidt said Denise Rich had dumped her U.S. passport “so that she can be closer to her family and to Peter Cervinka, her long-time partner”.
Denise Rich’s two daughters live in London; Peter Cervinka, a wealthy property developer, is an Austrian national.
Denise Rich plans to make London her main residence and does not intend to acquire other passports, Michael Heidt said.
Her ex-husband, commodities trader Marc Rich, fled the United States in 1983 when indicted on charges of tax evasion, fraud, racketeering and illegal trading of oil with Iran. They divorced in 1996.
Marc Rich received a presidential pardon in 2001 on President Bill Clinton’s last day in office.
Federal prosecutors and Congress investigated the pardon, and in 2002 a House of Representatives committee concluded Denise Rich had swayed the action through donations to the Clinton library and campaign.
Dubbed “Lady Gatsby” by Yachting magazine, Denise Rich owns multiple properties, including a mansion in Aspen, Colorado.
She is a frequent habitué of Cannes, Monte Carlo and St. Tropez with celebrities and singers aboard her 157-foot yacht, Lady Joy.
Denise Rich will escape future U.S. taxes but possibly not all current ones. In 2008, Congress imposed an expatriation tax on persons with a net worth of more than $2 million who dump their U.S. citizenship or permanent residency.
Under the law, those people owe an “exit tax” on their worldwide property, computed at a fair market value the day before they leave.
But tax lawyers say the tax can be reduced or avoided by structuring asset holdings through foreign annuities.
While Austria, like the United States, generally taxes its citizens on their worldwide income, it has generous tax breaks for citizens who spend half the year abroad.
In January, Rich put her 5th Avenue penthouse in New York on the market for $65 million, according to the listing agent, The Corcoran Group.
New York property records show Denise Rich acquired a 100% stake in the apartment, described by Corcoran as “the epitome of luxury and grandeur,” for $200,000 in 2006.
Bonnie Evans, the Corcoran broker for the property, declined to discuss details.
The recent lawsuit against Denise Rich was filed on behalf of Lee Goldberg, the former protector of a Cook Islands trust of which Rich is a beneficiary, in February. The case was dismissed in April, court records show.
The Cook Islands, a South Pacific tax haven, offers Swiss-style secrecy for wealthy investors.
The lawsuit accused Denise Rich and Richard Kilstock, a British real estate entrepreneur who is married to Rich’s daughter Daniella, of “transferring, moving or secreting trust assets, in violation of the trust’s guidelines and without the knowledge or permission of Goldberg.”
Denise Rich and Richard Kilstock denied the charges and accused Lee Goldberg of altering trust documents, court filings show.
Both Lee Goldberg and his attorney, Donald Thomas, declined to discuss the case. Denise Rich recently dismissed Lee Goldberg, one of her long-time lawyers, as protector of the trust.
Michael Heidt, who also represents Richard Kilstock in the case, declined to discuss the lawsuit.
Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham manager, said his “nightmare” was over after being cleared of tax evasion.
Harry Redknapp had denied accepting secret untaxed bonus payments from former Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric, while he was club manager.
Milan Mandaric was also cleared of two charges of cheating the public revenue over the £189,000 ($295,000) payments.
Harry Redknapp, who was close to tears, said the case “should never have come to court”.
Speaking on the steps of Southwark Crown Court, the Tottenham boss thanked his family, the fans at Tottenham and his legal team after coming through the five-year investigation, which is believed to have cost about £8 million ($12.5 million).
Harry Redknapp said: “The Wigan game [on 31 January] was the most moving I’ve ever felt, for me personally to have them singing my name throughout the game while all this was going on, that will always be special to me.
“It’s been a nightmare, it’s been five years, it’s a case that should never have come to court.
“I’m looking forward to going home and getting on with my life.”
Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham manager, said his "nightmare" was over after being cleared of tax evasion
Former England boss Graham Taylor said the verdict now opens the way for Redknapp to take charge of the national team in the future.
Bookmakers have now stopped taking bets on Harry Redknapp becoming the next England manager.
Harry Redknapp and Milan Mandaric embraced in the dock as the verdicts were read after five hours of deliberations.
Milan Mandaric, who is currently chairman of Sheffield Wednesday, walked up to Det Insp Dave Manley to shake his hand and said: “Thank you”.
Afterwards, Milan Mandaric said: “I have to try and pinch myself and wake up from the horrible dream.
“I always believed in the truth and also believed in the British justice system.”
Following the verdicts, former Spurs chairman Lord Sugar told BBC Radio 5 Live: “If this was Harry Smith or Harry Brown, it would never have gone to court. This is an attempt by the authorities to make an example of a high profile personality which has backfired.
“It dates back a long time to when pressure was put on the authorities to do something about alleged, so-called wrongdoing in football.
“They were hoping to prove something and now they have egg on their face.”
TV presenter Fred Dineage, who was on the board at Portsmouth during Milan Mandaric’s ownership of the club from 1998 to 2006, branded the trial “a waste of time and money”.
It can also now be reported that Milan Mandaric and Peter Storrie, Portsmouth’s former chief executive, were cleared of tax evasion charges at a separate trial last October.
They were both accused of evading tax over player Eyal Berkovics’s termination fee.
Eyal Storrie was also accused of dodging tax on a signing-on fee to midfielder Amdy Faye when he moved from Auxerre to Portsmouth.
Eyal Storrie, who is now allowed to speak about his trial, said: “We said from day one that it [the case] was farcical.
“I am delighted we’ve been proved completely innocent and I can get my reputation back.”
During Harry Redknapp’s and Milan Mandaric’s trial, jurors heard the Spurs boss received two payments totaling £189,000, into his “Rosie 47” account in Monaco – named after his pet dog.
The defence said the money was an investment made by Milan Mandaric while Harry Redknapp said he forgot about the account and had very little to do with it.
The prosecution claimed the first payment of £93,100 ($145,250) was a bonus for selling striker Crouch for £3.25 million ($5 million) profit in 2002.
The court heard Harry Redknapp’s cut of transfer profits was reduced from 10% to 5% when he moved from being Portsmouth’s director of football to manager in March 2002 but Harry Redknapp told jurors he felt he was “morally” due the full 10%.
Milan Mandaric said he “wanted to do something special for Harry” but he denied it was compensation for his Crouch bonus and said it was an investment for a “friend”.
During the trial, Harry Redknapp admitted lying to News of the World reporter Rob Beasley about the alleged Crouch payment because he did not want negative stories ahead of a cup final.
Harry Redknapp said: “I have to tell police the truth, not Mr. Beasley – he’s a News of the World reporter.”
It was claimed the second payment of £96,300 ($150,200) was a bonus for Portsmouth beating Manchester United.
But Milan Mandaric’s barrister, Lord MacDonald, described the accusation as “really desperate stuff”.
He said there was “nothing even slightly sinister” about the actions.
Chris Martins, from HM Revenue and Customs, said outside court: “Tax evasion is not a victim-less crime.
“We have no regrets about pursuing this case, it was vitally important the facts were put in front of a jury. We accept the verdicts.”
A statement from Tottenham Hotspur said: “Everyone at the club is delighted for Harry and his family.”
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