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Bahamas leaks reveal more offshore companies linked to Belgium
A number of Belgian individuals and companies have been named in the 'Bahamas leaks', a new cache of leaked documents revealing the names of those associated with an offshore tax haven in the Bahamas. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) screened 1.3 million documents of more than 175,000 companies registered in the Bahamas. It found that 116 offshore companies can be linked to Belgium, report Knack and Le Soir.
The 116 companies are managed, chaired or owned by 92 Belgians or foreigners residing in Belgium, 54 of whom were active after 2011. The latest leak of offshore tax haven documents reveals the numerous ways in which some companies and individuals exploit secretive offshore tax regimes.
Dexia Bank Belgium is also named in the leaks under its former subsidiary Experta, after the bank was already discredited five months ago in the unprecedented data breach on offshore companies in Panama, known as the Panama Papers.
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This war on offshoring is going to result in huge problems for expats, just mark my words. The UK government is already talking about (and may have done it) making any tax "mistake" an automatic criminal offence if the taxable event occurred outside of the UK. So, slap wrist of you make a mistake on your domestic tax, prison if you make a mistake on your French holiday home.
To see where this hysteria can lead, look the USA and FATCA. The bloody fools have criminalised every single "US person" not living in the USA by the fact that they have financial lives outside of the USA. It is no longer possible for an American to lead a normal middle class life outside of the USA, it's that simple.