The US has achieved a significant result in its efforts to clamp down on tax evasion by its entities and citizens around the world by persuading Switzerland to sign a bilateral agreement for the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).
A consultation has revealed that multinational companies, accounting firms and standard setters want IAS 12, the international accounting standard for income taxes, to change but few are in favour of tearing it up and starting again.
Reduced compliance costs, improved service and how best to ensure that the UK tax system is implemented as parliament intended are some of the aims of a new academic organisation set up to look at how UK tax administration could operate better.
Dave Hartnett, the most senior tax official at HMRC in the UK until his retirement in 2012, is to become an adviser to a new committee set up by HSBC, the global bank, to advise it on risks in the financial system.
Intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) the US has signed and is negotiating with overseas jurisdictions are taking over as the focus for compliance with Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).