Some things about the Panama Papers that Singaporeans need to know.

Please don't hold your breath as I am sure nothing is going to come of it. The firm that was supposedly hacked provides corporate services - people setting up company, setting trusts etc.

Singapore has one of the lowest tax rates so there is very little motivation. Singapore's status as a major financial centre did not just fall from the sky. The Government made it attractive to set up companies and to foreigners to place deposits here. ACU deposits placed by non-residents for instance do not attract tax.

In most cases if you are 18 years of age, have a passport, you can pop into any of the offshore banks across the World and setup a savings account and also get a local PO Box there to get mail. You can then access your account electronically from the comfort of your HDB flat. You also can get a credit card against your deposit issued by the offshore bank and shop with it internationally. You do not need a firm like Mossack Fonseca to setup anything for you. Corrupt ones and those hiding their wealth from their spouses and family only have to fly over and get a savings account.

Many of the names in the partial list for Singapore are Singapore law firms and Singapore lawyers who are expected to help clients setup offshore companies as Singapore is a major financial centre. These would be legitimate setups to take advantage of legal tax structure based on jurisdiction. For example a US firm would setup an offshore subsidiary in Mauritius to then provide loans and funding to it's Singapore Operations. SIA did that in Mauritius to pay a cohort of foreign pilots and not govern by local terms.

Generally Singapore is known for its tight secrecy and well known for hiding things. We also have the infamous numbered account passed by Parliament. No need to go anywhere. The late Khoo Teck Puat held nearly all the shares in his SGX listed companies thru various bank nominees in Singapore and no one had a clue. There was practically no free float in his companies to allow fair share trading an it is against the law. It only came apart when he died. His daughters who knew about it were spared and in return made it easy for Temasek and Ho Ching to take over Standard Chartered Bank from the Khoo family.

An analogy would an American who wants to buy a sawn shot-gun does not need to leave his country to get one.

It does not mean that Offshore companies are not used for nefarious activities by Singaporeans, it just that Singaporeans have less of need compared to an American, European or Australian where the tax rates are very high.

You would be better offer worrying about the haze.

I don't see what the hoo-ha is all about….it's perfectly normal and acceptable for an individual to set up a shell company when they wish to purchase a high profile asset….property, painting, private jet etc….and still remain anonymous.

Indeed no need to buy sawgun just like no need call chicken but its the thrill of catch me if you can.

Then again what is a ltc general doing with offshore bank account. If foreign party buying him off, then there r reason to be worried, no?

Panama in my opinion is a storm in a teacup. Sure, there have been political resignations and some arrests but no long term political will to change things can possibly emerge. We end up punishing and shaming a few and that's about it.

Singapore has status as tax haven and repository of questionable funds with good secrecy in place. This does not serve ordinary Singaporeans. Only a select few reap the benefits.

What is the difference between a Fatcar and a fast car? between CPF and CRS?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Account_Tax_Compliance_Act

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Reporting_Standard

If I recall Ng on retiring from SAF straight went into business. If you do international business chances are you will set up an offshore company to handle the financial flows and do things like currency exchange arbitrage using the expertise that are provided in these offshore companies. Typically you can earn income from overseas and it is only taxed when it is brought into the country except for countries like the US.

Say if NG made money in the US and has plans to buy a second home in London in the near future it best that he sets up an Offshore account. When he ready to buy he can then send the funds directly to London. If he brought the funds from the US into Singapore and then wanted to send it to London, he would have paid income tax and lost at least 17%.

virus said:

Indeed no need to buy sawgun just like no need call chicken but its the thrill of catch me if you can.

Then again what is a ltc general doing with offshore bank account. If foreign party buying him off, then there r reason to be worried, no?

Click to expand...

JHolmesJr said:

I don't see what the hoo-ha is all about….it's perfectly normal and acceptable for an individual to set up a shell company when they wish to purchase a high profile asset….property, painting, private jet etc….and still remain anonymous.

Click to expand...

That is not how politics works. The masses demand blood

The reason why Panama is red-hot for offshore activities is that it is practically immune from international sanctions (read bullet-proof). All the traditional offshore locations such as the Caribbean, Switzerland, Luxembourg etc have been threatened by various countries ready to impose sanctions and these have countries have started to cooperate with tax authorities in many countries. Switzerland was one of the first countries to fold. Interestingly many of their account fled to Singapore.

Panama owns the most important shipping channel in the World. Any country that threatens them with sanctions will have their ships or cargo that carried for this countries restricted or banned. So nobody wants to touch Panama.

who really cares about if Singaporeans are on the list?

Singapore is a financial heaven yes - but secrecy ? If US demand to see accounts of someone in Singapore I trust we will open the books faster than u unzip your pants.

If it is in the interest of Singapore and or the PAP, no one can get access. Notice that many of the names in the partial list are Indonesians. The cornerstone of any Tax haven is secrecy.

This is also one of the elements of our education system. Singapore students have no idea what Singapore is known for amongst foreigners. And its not Durians.

red amoeba said:

Singapore is a financial heaven yes - but secrecy ? If US demand to see accounts of someone in Singapore I trust we will open the books faster than u unzip your pants.

Click to expand...

scroobal said:

This is also one of the elements of our education system. Singapore students have no idea what Singapore is known for amongst foreigners. And its not Durians.

Click to expand...

Also sad that websites like TOC cannot perform this educational role

Panama is just another flag highlighting the broken world financial system which has caused a permanent divide and stratification of society.

"Even if it doesn’t shock us, it should make us angry."

__________________________________

http://www.theguardian.com/news/com...-papers-british-property-housing-young-people


It is the largest leak in journalistic history, has led to a prime minister’s resignation in Iceland and calls for the reform of tax havens and has exposed the potentially shady dealings of many other world leaders.


And yet, I found it hard to be shocked by some of the revelations of the Panama Papers. The revelation that Putin might have a fortune hidden away in offshore accounts in the names of his friends doesn’t surprise me if I’m honest. I imagine I’m not alone in feeling like this – it’s yet another story detailing the many unjust advantages enjoyed by the rich.


In particular, I think I am not alone among members of Generation Y. As a recent Guardian investigation revealed, millennials (those aged 20-35) are particularly frustrated with the political and economic status quo, with one study finding that the key reason offered by young people about why they are disenchanted with democracy being that it “only serves the interest of the few”.
[h=1]What are the Panama Papers? A guide to history's biggest data leak[/h]
So it doesn’t come as a surprise to us, nor I imagine to older generations, that leaders are out for themselves, that some wealthy people do immoral, or possibly illegal, things to make more money for themselves and keep as much of it out of the communal pot as possible. It’s easy to get blase about what are extraordinary revelations, and to dismiss them with a world-weary shrug of the shoulders.




Which is exactly why today’s revelations about the connections between tax havens and property ownership are so important. Revealed in the leaked documents was the fact that 2,800 Mossack Fonseca companies are connected to more than 6,000 UK title deeds, worth at least £7bn . On top of this, according to Guardian analysis, more than 90,000 properties in England and Wales are listed in the Land Registry to overseas owners, at least 75,000 of which are owned by companies or individuals registered in tax havens.


In a country where most young people cannot afford to buy a home, the fact that thousands of properties are bought through tax haven-based companies, by people who are already wealthy enough to restructure their finances to take advantage of tax havens, driving up house prices, and pushing out owner-occupiers, matters. And it especially matters to millennials.


The Guardian’s recent series focusing on the plight of Generation Y, revealed that increasingly the inequality in western countries is a generational one. The UK’s social mobility tsar warned that unless the “wind of change” swept through the country, Britain could soon become “permanently divided” as a result of intergenerational inequality.


We revealed that, compared with a decade ago, young couples and families in the UK were £900 a year worse off whereas the incomes of recent retirees had increased by £5,500 over the same period. The president of the European central bank warned that workplaces in Europe were rigged to protect older workers at the expense of young people; we read of how young Brits were “bearing the burden of past pension mistakes” and how the situation in the US is so severe that one professor of economics warned that “the US is out to bankrupt its children”.


And then there was housing. Home ownership is out of reach for most young people in the country, something that has been known and reported for a long time. But in our series, the Guardian revealed that for young couples who want to start a family, even renting an appropriate property (one with two bedrooms) on what is accepted as an affordable rate (30% of the median income of the region) is now impossible in two-thirds of the UK.


This is where the Panama Papers come in. Now we know just how much property is owned by companies linked with Mossack Fonseca, we can see how it affects young people. These companies buy property for very different reasons and with very different resources at their disposal than the average millennial looking to get on the property ladder.
[h=1]A world of hidden wealth: why we are shining a light offshore[/h]


The tax haven-operated company is not wondering whether it can scrimp and borrow from their family to get together the deposit for a two-bedroom apartment that might allow them to have a child, rather than the one-bedroom property that’s already bankrupting them. They’re not debating whether the savings they get from buying in the furthest-flung suburbs of the city are worth the cost of the commute. In fact they may not be thinking about the property as a place in which people live at all.


Properties owned by offshore landlords aren’t illegal, nor are they the only reason for the precipitously escalating house prices across the country, but they are a factor. And as these companies and the, until now, mostly anonymous people behind them, buy more properties across the country, the dream of young adults buying a house, not as an investment, but as a home, gets further and further out of reach.


Millennials probably won’t be surprised by the revelations of how the tax haven system keeps the rich and powerful rich and powerful, but it’s important to remember that such wealth often comes at the expense of others. Even if it doesn’t shock us, it should make us angry.

the millennials can only suck thumb la.

I did not wish to post this article as the conspiracy theorist flavour is too strong and my BS metre has started to climb a little when I initially read it.

But I feel it is still worth a quick glance. Perhaps some forummers here will tell me if this is BS, or if there are some elements in the article worthy of consideration.

_________________


Vigilantcitizen.com:

Described as the “biggest data leak in modern journalism”, the Panama Papers reveal global corruption of the financial elite. This “leak” is however carefully controlled and targeted towards specific individuals in order to serve the true elite’s agenda.

An anonymous source contacted journalists around the world a year ago and provided them with over 2.6 terabytes of data from Mossack Fonseca, a notorious Panamanian law firm which sells anonymous offshore companies to the financial elite. The documents were obtained by the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

On April 3rd, several news sources revealed simultaneously the story, effectively centering worldwide media attention around this single issue. The massive leak – dubbed the Panama Papers – includes over 11.5 million documents and implicates 72 current and former heads of state.

Although the leak reveals a gigantic system of global corruption around the world, it curiously names very few powerful figures in the U.S., Britain and the Western world. On the other hand, many of the “wrongdoers” happen to be “outsiders” or at odds with the Western elite. In fact, many of the people named by the leak are associated with regimes that the elite is looking to destabilize. Are the Panama Papers carefully orchestrated to target specific individuals?

The ICIJ released a video on YouTube explaining how offshore companies facilitate wars, human trafficking and drug dealing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6XnH_OnpO0

Although the allegations in the above video are serious and disturbing, one can’t help but notice that it mainly focuses on Russia and Uganda. In fact, the media spin of the leaks does not focus on the true world elite – part of organizations such as the Trilateral Commission and the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR).

A perfect example of how mass media is spinning the story can be found in USA Today. Under the title “Panama Papers read like Who’s Who of world power”, the paper lists some of the main culprits. It doesn’t take long to realize that the title should actually be : “Panama Papers read like Who’s Who of regimes world power is looking to destabilize”.

With the exception of David Cameron’s father, there is a distinct lack of figures from the true world elite.

On the official website of the ICIJ, the main culprits are clearly listed, complete with their faces.

According to the website, the main countries involved in the Panama Papers are: Argentina, Georgia, Iceland, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Ukraine, Russia, China, Syria, Palestine, Greece … and a little bit of UK.

Although corruption is undoubtedly rampant in these regimes, why are the culprits of the Papers either puppet states or somewhat at odds with the true world elite? Is this “leak” actually an underhanded attempt to destabilize specific forces?

Like most mass media “leaks”, the information released has been carefully curated and controlled by the powers that be in order to serve a specific agenda . Under the guise of “investigative journalism”, pressure is put on a specific set of regimes and individuals. Meanwhile, the true elite, the one that takes part in the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberg meetings, the CFR and so forth are exempt from the scandal.

While the masses are lead to think that they are learning the ugly truth about the world elite, they are actually being served a small part of the picture. What do you expect? The biggest scammers in the world happen to own the newspapers that “leaked” the Panama Papers.

Interesting how selective the exposed parties are in the panama papers.

"Here’s why it’s legal for Facebook to pay less than £5,000 in British tax
Rob WaughRob Waugh for Metro.co.ukMonday 12 Oct 2015 10:46 am
970
Here’s why it’s legal for Facebook to pay less than £5,000 in British tax
Tax? What’s that? (Picture Getty)
Sick bags at the ready: Facebook has a billion users, UK income of over £100 million – and a tax bill just under £5,000, lower than most British workers.

So how does Facebook do it – and why is it legal?

It’s all about the difference between tax ‘avoidance’ (which is legal), and tax ‘evasion’, which is illegal.

What is the difference between tax avoidance and evasion?

Generally speaking, tax avoidance involves using legal means to pay the lowest possible tax – but this can turn into tax evasion if you have a deliberate plan not to pay the tax due.

Tax evasion is when people or companies under-report income, or use illegal schemes to avoid paying tax.

Tax avoidance is also frowned on – but uses legal schemes (such as the so-called ‘Double Irish’ strategy, below), to reduce corporation tax.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the Newseum September 18, 2013 in Washington, DC. Mark Zuckerberg discussed the Internet and Immigration. Photo by Olivier Douliery/ABACAUSA.com
Has good accountants (Picture Getty)
How do companies get away with paying so little?

So-called ‘Double Irish’ tax avoidance strategies are used to ‘shift’ profits from higher tax countries to lower tax ones.

Companies often use several different corporate entities within the larger, overall company, so that, for instance, an electronic purchase initiated in the UK is ‘completed’ in Ireland or Luxembourg.

This is perfectly legal under UK law.

Is Facebook the only company that pays low tax in the UK?

No. Many large Silicon Valley companies pay very little tax in the UK, including Starbucks and US technology firms Apple and Microsoft.

Google made £3.4 billion of revenues in the UK last year but paid just just £20.4 million in corporation tax.

A number of other companies, including, also pay little tax.

How much money does Britain lose every year?

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) released figures last October estimating the gap between the amount of tax collected and the sum owed had grown to £34 billion.

The proportion of tax due but not collected was 6.8% in 2012/13 compared with 6.6% in 2011/12 – resulting in an increase of £1 billion in the tax gap – although the tax gap was 8.5% in 2005/06, HMRC said.

It attributed £3.1 billion of the 2012/13 gap to tax avoidance and £4.1 billion to evasion.

What is the Government doing to tackle tax avoidance and evasion?

Chancellor George Osborne has announced plans to crack down on firms that pay low tax.

He is due to outline the proposals that will force companies to declare their UK profits in the autumn statement in December.

The coalition previously claimed it collected an extra £100 billion in revenue over the past five years from tackling tax evasion, avoidance and non-compliance.

Among other measures, the government announced plans in March 2015 to impose criminal penalties on banks and accountants that aid tax evasion with the creation of the new offence of corporate failure to prevent evasion."



Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2015/10/12/heres...an-5000-in-british-tax-5434871/#ixzz454XRXCVK

scroobal said:

Singapore has one of the lowest tax rates so there is very little motivation. Singapore's status as a major financial centre did not just fall from the sky. The Government made it attractive to set up companies and to foreigners to place deposits here. ACU deposits placed by non-residents for instance do not attract tax.

Click to expand...

I wish to add to your observation.

I'm sure you've heard of TrustNet Portcullis whose mastermind is David Chong, a Cambridge-educated lawyer who speaks English with a crisp British accent. It basically does what that Panama company is doing, only better.

According to a little bird from the West, Familee have shares in the said company.

scroobal said:

You would be better offer worrying about the haze.

Click to expand...

Very astute observation.

Fortunately I'm thousands of miles away from this year's haze.

The haze also shows the world how inept and incapable our highest-paid politicians and ministars are,

scroobal said:

Please don't hold your breath as I am sure nothing is going to come of it. The firm that was supposedly hacked provides corporate services - people setting up company, setting trusts etc.

Singapore has one of the lowest tax rates so there is very little motivation. Singapore's status as a major financial centre did not just fall from the sky. The Government made it attractive to set up companies and to foreigners to place deposits here. ACU deposits placed by non-residents for instance do not attract tax.

In most cases if you are 18 years of age, have a passport, you can pop into any of the offshore banks across the World and setup a savings account and also get a local PO Box there to get mail. You can then access your account electronically from the comfort of your HDB flat. You also can get a credit card against your deposit issued by the offshore bank and shop with it internationally. You do not need a firm like Mossack Fonseca to setup anything for you. Corrupt ones and those hiding their wealth from their spouses and family only have to fly over and get a savings account.
t held ne
Many of the names in the partial list for Singapore are Singapore law firms and Singapore lawyers who are expected to help clients setup offshore companies as Singapore is a major financial centre. These would be legitimate setups to take advantage of legal tax structure based on jurisdiction. For example a US firm would setup an offshore subsidiary in Mauritius to then provide loans and funding to it's Singapore Operations. SIA did that in Mauritius to pay a cohort of foreign pilots and not govern by local terms.

Generally Singapore is known for its tight secrecy and well known for hiding things. We also have the infamous numbered account passed by Parliament. No need to go anywhere. The late Khoo Teck Puaarly all the shares in his SGX listed companies thru various bank nominees in Singapore and no one had a clue. There was practically no free float in his companies to allow fair share trading an it is against the law. It only came apart when he died. His daughters who knew about it were spared and in return made it easy for Temasek and Ho Ching to take over Standard Chartered Bank from the Khoo family.

An analogy would an American who wants to buy a sawn shot-gun does not need to leave his country to get one.

It does not mean that Offshore companies are not used for nefarious activities by Singaporeans, it just that Singaporeans have less of need compared to an American, European or Australian where the tax rates are very high.

You would be better offer worrying about the haze.

Click to expand...

wow thanks for such great insight!!! i am sure the vast majority of us plebs didn't have a clue about it.

Love the way how your 2nd last sentence contridicts your first sentence.

I agree. I am still waiting for someone in the media world to explain to the locals about the Panama papers. When I saw the press saying that MOF, MAS and IRAS were going to look into it I realised that even the press had little clue.

Thick Face Black Heart said:

Also sad that websites like TOC cannot perform this educational role

Click to expand...

scroobal said:

The reason why Panama is red-hot for offshore activities is that it is practically immune from international sanctions (read bullet-proof). All the traditional offshore locations such as the Caribbean, Switzerland, Luxembourg etc have been threatened by various countries ready to impose sanctions and these have countries have started to cooperate with tax authorities in many countries. Switzerland was one of the first countries to fold. Interestingly many of their account fled to Singapore.

Panama owns the most important shipping channel in the World. Any country that threatens them with sanctions will have their ships or cargo that carried for this countries restricted or banned. So nobody wants to touch Panama.

Click to expand...

Nigger care to post the links where countries have vowed to impose sanctions on say the bahamas, switzerland?

Do you think panama controls the panama canal or other countries like say the US?

Here's how stupid the connection you made here about the recent panama accounts along with the canal sounds but before we delve into that are you sure other countries impose sanctions on these countries to get them to reveal their off shore accounts held by say their own corrupt citizens?

One example. Let's assume myanmar generals have a few off shore accounts held in say switzerland or some carribean country so they would somehow impose sanctions on those countries to get information about their corrupt generals' accounts? Are you retarded?

Also if many of the accounts have fled to singapore that means sanctions would be imposed on sinkieland am i right? How ludicrous.

As if that wasn't retarded enough next you compare off shore accounts held in panama to the panama canal. No shit nigger the damn canal is located in panama but do you think they control the canal? Also are you sure that is how shipping cargo is restricted or banned?