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Tax haven: The principality is to relax its strict bank secrecy laws

Monaco lifts the veil on tax secrecy

Simon English
16 Mar 2009


Monaco is moving to open up its books in the latest victory in the battle against tax havens.

The principality is to follow Switzerland, Austria and Luxembourg by relaxing its strict bank secrecy rules after pressure from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ahead of the G20 finance ministers' summit, held this weekend.

Monaco is one of three jurisdictions - the others being Andorra and Liechtenstein - listed as "unco-operative tax havens" by the OECD.

Its banks are regarded as the least likely to give out information about their clients, even if they are involved in financial crime or terrorism.

The issue is expected to be a major one at the G20 summit of world leaders next month, with calls growing for a clampdown.

Pressure group Tax Justice Network says the world's leading economies lose £180 billion a year to tax havens.

It estimates the UK alone loses more than £4 billion annually - mostly to British crown dependencies such as Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. OECD general secretary Angel Gurria said: "We're now working with Monaco."

With governments finding revenues squeezed by the recession, the pressure to restrict tax havens is intense.

Financial centres such as Singapore and Hong Kong are also looking to adhere to disclosure standards established by the Paris-based OECD.

America is looking to close off tax havens used by its citizens. In particular, it is targeting Caribbean locations such as the Cayman Islands.

Monaco has more millionaires per head than any other nation. Well-known residents include retailer Sir Philip Green and easyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

It has been trying to improve its image, claiming its reputation as a sunny place for shady people is out of date.

A team of its business leaders and state officials recently met the London Chamber of Commerce as part of an attempt to lure more UK businesses to the principality.

Monaco's main source of income remains tourism.

Swiss cash in on overpayment earner

Intentionally paying more tax than you owe may sound like madness, but some have found that it makes financial sense.

Switzerland has discovered that some citizens are overpaying in order to receive the 2% annual interest paid by the government when making tax refunds.

The 2% easily beats the amount offered by Swiss banks on saving deposits - currently between 0.1% and 0.5%.

Peter Hegglin, finance director of the Zug region, discovered the practice when he was investigating why government coffers were better-funded than expected.

Sadly, the ruse would not work in the UK. The Government changed the rules a few months ago, and now does not pay any interest when it refunds taxpayers who have paid more than they owed. But late payers of tax are still charged interest.

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