MC Yacht Show, calling itself a FLOATING EXHIBITION, and this year we tend to agree that there is more modern art expressed in the shapes of boats this year than ever.

To our clients we have VIP tickets, email to enquire.

You will find members of the Praetorian guard hovering around the Riva deck, Wally, J-Craft and select other fine design items, and of course the Champagne tent.

Here is what is on display this year:    100 exceptional yachts from 25 to 90m long

The Monaco Yacht Show is the most prestigious gathering of large ships on the planet : A selection of 100 exceptional super and mega-yachts from 25 to over 90 m long are presented by the most renowned brokers and shipyards.

It is a unique, world-first occasion to visit fortyish of the most beautiful motor and sailing-yachts built in 2010 and whose average size is about 45 meters in length.

Contact riva for a vip ticket as seen on invite below:

IRS To Drop UBS Lawsuit

The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has said that it may drop a lawsuit against Swiss bank UBS after the Swiss government announced on August 26 that its examination of approximately 4,450 UBS clients accused of evading US taxes.

The IRS announced in a statement that based on information received from the Swiss federal government, it anticipates being able to “withdraw the John Doe summons this fall.”

Concluded in August last year, an administrative assistance agreement between the US and Switzerland provides that UBS is to disclose to US authorities the names and bank details of 4,450 of its American clients, suspected of evading taxes over a number of years with the help of the Swiss banking giant. In return, civil charges against the bank would be dropped. The US authorities had originally sought the names and details of 52,000 clients of the bank. UBS also agreed to a fine of USD780m.

“The Federal Tax Administration has concluded its administrative assistance examination relating to approximately 4,450 UBS client dossiers. It has done so by the deadline set in the administrative assistance treaty with the United States,” the Swiss federal government announced.

Despite a delay caused by the Swiss Federal Administrative Court’s examination of the agreement, the Swiss government explained that the data delivery “will be largely concluded by autumn 2010.”

“Talks are being held between the contracting parties regarding the final stage of the agreement’s implementation. Both parties are optimistic that the US authorities will receive most of the agreed account information within a reasonable period of time and that the US authorities will definitively withdraw the civil action (John Doe Summons) brought against UBS,” the Swiss government stated.

Super-Flexible Origami Yacht With Folding Walls

Published: 6/26/2010 3:27:00 PM

Keywords: Yachts and Boats

The Italian Revenue Agency has disclosed that it is investigating those yacht charter companies it considers to have been set up solely for tax avoidance reasons.

The leasing companies being checked are those established for the chartering of seagoing yachts or riverboats along the coasts of Liguria, Campania or the Adriatic, but which are allegedly set up to hide their actual objective – the personal use of the luxurious vessel concerned by their true owner.

More precisely, the Agency says, one is talking of boats of longer than 20m with a value of more than EUR1.5m (USD1.9m). More than 100 investigators from the Agency are, at present, touring Italy to uncover these sole-purpose companies which, as it says, “leak water”.

The companies being checked usually have only one shareholder, or very few taken from the same family, with the minimum of share capital (EUR10,000). They normally have only one vessel to be leased, which is not available on the general market but is actually exclusively reserved for use by its real owner. In fact, the boat is leased only to the shareholder(s), or even to another company with the same shareholder(s).

Full article here

The Ministry has made the appropriate changes to all three lists of countries considered to have tax systems which favour the avoidance of taxation - that concerning the residence of individual taxpayers; the list valid within the tax legislation concerning controlled foreign companies (CFCs); and that regarding the non-deductibility of corporate costs and expenses.

Cyprus and Latvia have also been eliminated from the blacklist of countries with which Italy does not have a sufficient level of tax information exchange, while South Korea has been taken off the CFC and corporate cost lists.

Malta and Cyprus, which are also full member states of the European Union, will now have fully ordinary fiscal status as far as the Italian tax system is concerned. In particular, with effect from this tax year, those Italian individuals who have attempted to transfer their residence to one of those countries will not have a continued presumed residence in Italy, while there will be no additional tax consequences for those Italian businesses with subsidiaries or associated companies in Malta or Cyprus.

The changes to the lists are also significant with regard to the new Italian value-added tax (VAT) reporting requirements that were announced in April, for all ‘risky’ import and export transactions above EUR50,000 (USD65,400), particularly those transacted with countries considered not to have a sufficient level of tax information exchange.

Under the new rules, the details of transactions in goods and services from companies or individuals having an establishment, residence or domicile in those countries will have to be forwarded electronically to the Italian Revenue Agency. As it stands, therefore, transactions with Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Switzerland in Europe will still have to be reported when the system comes into effect.

Although those VAT arrangements have now probably been delayed from August 31 until October 31, it should also be noted that San Marino remains on the blacklist, despite all of its efforts to negotiate with the Italian government on what remains to be done before it can regularize its standing with Italy.{{desc}}

Malta, Cyprus Off Italian Blacklist. source: tax-news.com

source: by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

According to figures released by the UK tax authority, HM Revenue and Customs, as of March 31, 2010, just 419 taxpayers had registered for the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility.

Commenting on the findings, Phil Berwick, Director of Tax Investigations at UK-based law firm McGrigors, said: “It is surprising how few taxpayers have [so far] registered for the LDF. Many more probably would have done so, but many are unaware that they qualify, or even that the LDF exists. There has been a poor response to recent HMRC disclosure initiatives, and this is no exception.”

HMRC launched two tax disclosure facilities for UK taxpayers with undeclared income and capital gains in offshore bank accounts last year, the New Disclosure Opportunity (NDO) and the LDF.

While the NDO has now closed, the LDF remains open until March 31, 2015, and offers more favourable disclosure terms. Under the LDF taxpayers will be required to pay tax, interest and, in most cases, a fixed 10% penalty but only need to come clean just for the period from April 1999. In addition, the LDF offers immunity from prosecution, but for tax fraud only.

Taxpayers with undeclared income or gains in an offshore bank account, or offshore investment vehicle, qualify for the LDF providing that offshore account, etc was not opened through a UK branch or agency. To participate in the LDF, the taxpayer needs to open a bank account in Liechtenstein.

Commenting on the failings of the initiative thus far, Berwick added: “HMRC are to be congratulated on releasing these figures, but they have not done enough to publicise the LDF. To release the information only twice a year, as they intend to do, will not encourage those who may be wavering to come forward.”

“The lack of advertising or promotion of the LDF by HMRC has left the responsibility to do so with professional advisers. HMRC’s stance has created an atmosphere of rumour and misunderstanding about the LDF, and meant that some advisers are reluctant to involve their clients in that process.”

UK Offshore Tax Amnesty Flops.

The Head of Switzerland’s State Secretariat for International Financial Matters, Michael Ambühl, has recently received the European Union (EU) Director General for Taxation, Walter Deeffaa, with the talks focusing on the current status of tax and financial policy.

During the course of the meeting, discussions also centred on further developments in the EU taxation of savings income directive, on the state of implementation of Switzerland’s new administrative assistance policy, on the EU code of conduct on company taxation (for which the EU has made a request for a dialogue to be opened), and on cooperation within multilateral financial bodies (including the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Financial Stability Board and the International Monetary Fund).

In addition, the financial and currency situation in Europe was also discussed, where Ambühl expressed Switzerland’s concerns regarding currency developments within the euro area.

Source: Switzerland, EU Hold Tax Talks.

Dutch Finance Minister De Jager has instructed the country’s tax department to trace payments made using anonymous ‘black’ credit cards (special credit and pin debit cards), linked to bank accounts in former tax havens.

According to the finance ministry, these accounts are not reported to the tax department and probably account for hundreds of millions of euros of undeclared funds. The tax department is currently in discussion with organisations processing such credit card payments in the Netherlands in a bid to track down the individuals concerned.

In a statement, De Jager explained: “It is inconceivable that people buy expensive things anonymously through foreign bank accounts and at the same time try to dodge tax. The tax department ruthlessly tackles this type of fraud. When caught the fine can be as much as at most 300%.”

The Dutch tax department and the Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service and Economic Investigation Service (FIOD) believe that these credit and pin debit cards are regularly used to buy expensive goods, and that they are used regularly in attempts to commit investment and value-added tax carousel fraud.

The finance ministry states that: “The tax department now has the possibility to filter payments by Dutch citizens by for instance analysing the frequency and location of the payments. On the basis of the account number the tax department can subsequently request information about the owner of the account. To this purpose De Jager concluded in the past year dozens of information exchange treaties with former tax havens.”

It is estimated that in the region of EUR30bn of undeclared funds is located in foreign accounts.

Netherlands Targets ‘Black’ Credit Card Payments.