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The Isle of Man has been criticised as a tax haven for Britons looking to dodge UK inheritance law.

Companies not registered in Britain do not have to pay stamp duty when a London property is sold or the 40 per cent inheritance tax when an owner dies in the Isle of Man.

This costs the city of London hundreds of millions of pounds each year and is increasingly attracting foreign firms looking to benefit from the British market but unwilling to be subjected to tax.

In 2011, companies based in the Isle of Man purchased £82.3 million worth of London property - up from £49 million in 2009.

Owen Smith, shadow exchequer secretary to the Treasury, has supported calls from Labour leader Ed Miliband for tax reforms in the Isle of Man, Geurnsey and the Jersey.

However, Isle of Man's chief minister Allan Bell has called claims from the UK Labour Party "ill-informed".

See also report on IOM radio 3FM: http://ht.ly/8Eitz

A communiqué from the government of the Isle of Man on Friday:
"THE Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman David Wootton, is visiting the Isle of Man next week to learn more about the Island’s role as an international business and finance centre."

Tax havens always deny being tax havens, and much prefer these rather grand titles such as ‘international finance centre,’ but anyway. ...

The Landsbanki Winding-Up Board is suing the top management of the bankrupt bank, board-members and insurers for damages caused by not stopping the bank’s operations on October 3 2008 when, according the the WUP, the bank was de facto bankrupt. In total, the WUB claims the damages amount to ISK45bn (€282m).
...

The claims are based on money going out of the bank on its last day of operation October 6 2008, in total ISK35bn (now €219m). This money went onto the accounts of MP Bank, Straumur and Landsvaki, one of Landsbanki’s own money market funds. The dates are important because this means that according to the WUB the bank was already bankrupt when the British authorities closed down the bank.

See also: http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/search/news/Default.asp?ew_0_...

Update 20 Jan 2012: "More on Lansdbanki's last hours" here:
http://uti.is/2012/01/more-on-landsbankis-last-hours/

The work of the Serious Fraud Office in reducing financial crime could be improved if ‘recklessness’ was introduced as an offence, the investigator’s outgoing director has said.

Richard Alderman said a crime of recklessness would have to show an individual had the necessary knowledge and intent of pursuing a course of action, despite knowing the risks attached to this.

He said: “The public does not understand why it is that enforcement authorities such as the SFO have been unable to take action against senior financial people. They contrast the SFO with the US system.”
...
The SFO presided over several high-profile cases during 2011 including the start of an investigation into the collapse of the Kaupthing Banking Group ...

"The Isle of Man News has a fascinating article asking whether the pressure has been taken off the Isle of Man now on tax matters.

Much of the analysis is wrong because they think the issues are now resolved, and that is far from true ... "

Six former superiors at the now defunct bank Kaupþing (Kaupthing) must pay its bankruptcy estate more than ISK 4 billion (USD 32 million, EUR 25 million), according to a court order announced yesterday. The estate’s managers are demanding that assets both in Iceland and abroad will be liquidated to cover the debt. ....

From Manx Radio:

A member of the United Kingdom parliament is defending the contribution offshore centres make to the British economy.

Writing on the Financial Director website, London and Westminster's Conservative member Mark Field says jurisdictions such as the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey have been taking unfair criticism in the UK.

He says many small centres are stable, well-regulated and neutral jurisdictions which provide liquidity and investment opportunities to Britain.

Mr Field also dismisses claims the offshores engage in harmful tax practices, saying the The Foot Review showed that's not the case.

And he says the Isle of Man is currently among the highest rated jurisdictions globally for complying with international standards.

Comment:
anrigaut on 17/Nov/2011 11:02
Mark Field is MP for Westminster. The City of London is, by all accounts, the biggest 'offshore' centre of all. So it's hardly surprising he defends the activities of tax havens. That doesn't mean what he says is the truth. Awareness of the real harm done by the offshore system's facilitation of tax avoidance (and worse) is growing. Rather than trying to sustain the myth put out by the all-powerful finance industry and the government in thrall to it, Manx Radio might consider looking at the other side of the coin. A good place to start would be the recent "Tax Havens" thread on manxforums where some of the less fooled Manxies are beginning to raise serious and intelligent questions. As one of the contributors neatly put it: "Are we kidding ourselves? We know we are a tax haven. It's how we earn a living. We may wish it were not so but there it is." Now that at least was honest. http://www.manxforums.com/forums/index.php?/topic/49432-tax-havens/page_...

The Isle of Man is at the forefront of the crusade to stamp out tax evasion, a tax transparency report has concluded

Delivered to the G20 in Cannes, the report detailed how the Isle of Man was one of eight jurisdictions to meet all of the standards required for "effective information exchange" on suspected tax cheats.

The Isle of Man's willingness to follow best practice on information exchange was instantly derided, however, by critics who believe the information exchange procedure employed is ineffective.

Much better, they argue, would be an automatic exchange of information where tax authorities could access information more freely and without having to jump through hoops that they say make the current system obstructive and ultimately futile.

Tax expert Richard Murphy said: "There’s no doubt the Isle of Man did well in this test on ability to information exchange. But it is a bit like the student who got A* in the GCSE in making love but has yet to have a partner. Geting a good mark in theory and actually getting on with the reality are sometimes two very different things."
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Hreidar Már Sigurdsson, who was CEO of Icelandic bank Kaupthing when it collapsed in 2008, was called in for questioning in relation to the investigation of the so-called Al-Thani case last week, according to the sources of mbl.is.
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Ruv.is reports that the Icelandic Special Prosecutor’s Office is currently investigating more than 200 cases, ten of which are expected to be completed before the end of this year. ...

The Isle of Man is launching an international push to persuade more British expats and international companies to domicile their pensions on the island.

The island’s financial promotional body, the Isle of Man Finance Partnership, has joined forces with the Isle of Man Association of Pension Scheme Providers (APSP) in this initiative.

The main target of the campaign will be financial advisers and its buzz phrase will be “international retirement solutions”. ...

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