Offshore finance

European Union diplomats have reached a preliminary agreement to give Turkey more time to meet tax transparency requirements, two diplomatic sources said, in a move that could weaken the bloc's blacklist but at the same time avoid a new clash with Ankara.

A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck in the Caribbean Sea between Jamaica and eastern Cuba on Jan. 28, shaking a vast area from Mexico to Florida and beyond, but there were no reports of casualties or heavy damage.

European Union taxpayers held assets worth at least $1.6 trillion offshore in 2016, equal to nearly 10 percent of the bloc's output, the European Commission said on Friday, estimating tax revenue losses at around $50 billion a year.

By the end of next week, the Finance Ministry will have its tax bill ready, which besides tax-easing measures will also include incentives for individuals and corporations active abroad to transfer their tax residency to Greece.

The European Union should set up a police force to investigate tax evasion and financial crime and create a watchdog to counter money-laundering, EU lawmakers said in a report on Wednesday, which accuses seven member states of acting as tax havens.

Journalist Pelin Ünker, who was sentenced to over a year in jail over a series of "Paradise Papers" reports published on Cumhuriyet newspaper about offshore companies that allegedly belonged to former Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım's sons on the tax-haven island of Malta, was not sentenced over her journalistic activities, Yıldırım, now speaker of parliament, said on Jan. 10.

An Istanbul court has sentenced journalist Pelin Ünker to one year, one month and 15 days in jail over a series of articles named "Paradise Papers" published on Cumhuriyet newspaper about offshore companies that allegedly belonged to former Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım's sons on the tax-haven island of Malta.

British ferry and shipping freight operator P&O is reviewing its UK-registered fleet and is already reflagging two vessels to keep European Union tax arrangements ahead of Britain's departure from the bloc, the company said.

A P&O spokesman said two of its UK ships operating on the English Channel route to France would be reflagged to Cyprus.

[Reuters]

The era of mystery-cloaked numbered Swiss bank accounts has officially come to a close as Switzerland, the world's biggest center for managing offshore wealth, has begun automatically sharing client data with tax authorities in dozens of other countries.

New Democracy's shadow finance minister Apostolis Vesyropoulos said the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) 2018 report on tax policy reforms that shows Greece leading among its members in the increase of tax burdens in 2015-2016 is a "slap in the face" for the government.