Legislation Enjoys Support of Law Enforcement, Obama Administration; Would Clean-Up American Financial System

May 16, 2012
Clark Gascoigne, +1 202 293 0740 x222

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, 41 business and civil society groups sent a letter to every member of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate urging them to co-sponsor the Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act (S. 1483/ H.R. 3416). This bipartisan bill, which is endorsed by the Obama Administration, would require companies to disclose their ultimate owners at the time of incorporation, making it much harder for corrupt politicians, tax dodgers, terrorists and other criminals to form and hide behind anonymous U.S. shell companies.

The signatories¹, who include, among others, American Sustainable Business Council, Calvert Investments, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Citizens for Tax Justice, Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition, CtW Investment Group, Domini Social Investments LLC, Friends of the Earth – US, Global Financial Integrity, Global Witness, Human Rights Watch, Jubilee USA Network, Main Street Alliance, Oxfam America, Project On Government Oversight, Revenue Watch Institute, Sunlight Foundation and U.S. Public Interest Research Group, are concerned that it is legal to form companies in the United States with hidden ownership.

The letter states:

GFI Spokespeople Available for Comment on Apple, Tax Avoidance, Transfer Mispricing, Tax Haven Abuse

April 30, 2012
Clark Gascoigne, +1 202 293 0740 x222

WASHIGNTON, DC – A front-page article in Sunday’s edition of The New York Times drew attention to shady accounting techniques utilized by Apple Inc, the technology giant, to avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes each year.  However, Global Financial Integrity (GFI) notes that Apple’s tax dodging is only one example of a larger problem: most multinational enterprises abuse tax haven secrecy.  Tax haven abuses are estimated to cost the Internal Revenue Service US$100 billion per year and developing economies roughly US$1 trillion annually.

Global Financial Integrity spokespeople are available to comment on:

New Rule Still Exempts Many Jurisdictions; GFI Urges IRS to Expand Requirement to Accounts Held by All Non-Resident Aliens

April 18, 2012
Clark Gascoigne, +1 202 293 0740 x222

WASHINGTON, DC – Global Financial Integrity (GFI) applauded the U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for last night adopting a regulation (TD 9584) requiring banks to report information about interest earned on U.S. deposit accounts held by non-resident aliens, as banks have been required to do for accounts held by American citizens and Canadians. GFI and others have long advocated for implementation of this rule as an important tool in the fight against international tax evasion, money laundering, drug trafficking, corruption, and terrorist financing.

However, while the GFI acknowledges the new regulation is a significant step in the right direction, the implementing rules exempt banks from reporting information on accounts held by residents of jurisdictions with which the United States does not have a bilateral exchange of information agreement.

“We are thrilled to see that the U.S. government is going to know a lot more about who has money in U.S. banks,” said Heather A. Lowe, Legal Counsel and Director of Government Affairs at GFI. “Yet, residents from many jurisdictions will still be able to hide money anonymously in deposit accounts in the United States.”