there’s
NO PLACE
to hide
NO PLACE
to run
Are you a terrorist, a drug trafficker or do
you launder money? — Are you joking?
Of course not.
Do you have undisclosed offshore assets,
dividends, income and capital gains? —
Yes.
Then welcome to the world of tax evasion,
where you are also deemed a criminal.
there are 101 countries signed up to this
global initiative, in terms of which the
various tax authorities will automatically
start sharing information from June 2017
for the early adopters, and from 2018, for
the second-stage adopters:
www.oecd.org/tax/transparency/AEOIcommitments.pdf
It is well known that government agencies
around the world have turned up the heat
on tax havens to uncover illegal and illicit
activities. What is not commonly known is
that tax authorities, desperate for revenue,
have begun to target these same regions
and have acquired an enlarged arsenal to
seek and find your hidden treasure. Even if
you think you are compliant, rules change,
and there are no more grey areas when it
comes to tax evasion.
We are currently in the reporting period
which started on 1 January 2016. At
Carrick we have seen letters from trustees
and banks preparing their clients for this
automatic information-sharing obligation,
and South Africa was an early adopter.
Not disclosing your offshore earnings and
assets is therefore no longer an option. It
is not something you can brush aside and
put off for another day. The final hour is
upon us and action needs to be taken.
SARS and the Reserve Bank are firmly on Being in the front line of advising high-netthe global-collection bandwagon: enter the worth individuals, we are often taken aback
Common Reporting Standard. Currently, by the levels of ignorance, arrogance or