USA: Paradise Files: Trump commerce secretary's business links with Putin family laid out in leaked files - by Jon Swaine and Luke Harding

Ross, a billionaire and close friend of Trump, retained holdings in Navigator after taking office this year. The relationship means he stands to benefit from the operations of a Russian company run by Putin’s family and close allies, some of whom are under US sanctions.

Corporate records show Navigator ramped up its relationship with Sibur from 2014, as the US and EU imposed sanctions on Russians. The measures followed Putin’s aggression in eastern Ukraine and annexation of Crimea. Navigator has collected $68m in revenue from its Sibur partnership since 2014.

Ross, 79, has apparently faced little official scrutiny over the arrangement. He told a US ethics watchdog that he was keeping a pair of obscurely named holding companies, but did not specify whether he would also retain their interests in Navigator and its lucrative contract in Russia.

The Ross interests appear in the Paradise Papers, a trove of millions of leaked offshore files reviewed by the Guardian, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other partners. They join established links between Ross and Russian finance that have raised questions over his selection by Trump to head the US Department of Commerce.

Read more: Trump commerce secretary's business links with Putin family laid out in leaked files | News | The Guardian

The Netherlands: Dutch tax inspector allows U.S. multinational to evade $169 mil. in taxes - by Janene Pieters

Dutch Tax Services

A Dutch tax inspector gave United States multinational Proctor & Gamble permission to move 676 million dollars to the Cayman Islands untaxed, Trouw reported on Tuesday based on its own investigation into the so-called Paradise Papers. As a result, the Dutch treasury missed out on 169 million dollars, or over 145 million euros, in taxes, according to the newspaper.

The Paradise Papers is the collective name for 13.4 million documents and emails about tax havens. The data was leaked to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, who shared it with global media through international journalist collective ICIJ.

According to Trouw, this decision, or so-called ruling, was made by a local inspector at the Rotterdam office of the Tax Authority in 2008. The inspector seems to have made the decision by himself, without consulting anyone else. According to the Tax Authority's rules, rulings involving such high amounts must first be submitted to a special team of ruling specialists. The Tax Authority acknowledged to Trouw that this ruling did not comply to the Authority's own rules. The spokesperson could not explain why or how this happened, and did not know whether local inspectors violated the rules in other arrangements with multinationals.

Trouw has the document showing the arrangement with Proctor & Gamble (P&G) in its possession. The American multinational is one of the largest suppliers of household and healthcare products in the world. In the Netherlands the company is known for brands like Oral-B, Always, Pampers and Gilette.

Over the past few years, such Tax Authority rulings were frequently subject to criticism, especially after the revelations of the Panama Papers and so-called sweetheart tax deals with multinationals like Starbucks. The Tax Authority doesn't reveal the content of such agreements, which means that the Tweede Kamer - the lower house of Dutch parliament - can't check the agreements. Despite the criticism, several State Secretaries did not scrap the rulings, as they make it more attractive for foreign companies to settle in the Netherlands, according to NU.nl.

These rulings must, however, comply to strict conditions. Former State Secretary Eric Wiebes of Finance sent a standard format of such rulings to the Tweede Kamer earlier this year as an example. It showed that rulings are subject to requirements like a description of the company's global structure, a signature of a second inspector and a list of conditions the company must comply with to keep the agreement from being annulled.

Trouw showed the agreement with P&G to Jan van de Streek, professor of Tax Law at Utrecht University. According to him, it looks nothing like the example ruling Wiebes sent to the Tweede Kamer. This agreement consists only of a two-page letter written on PricewaterhouseCoopers stationary, which refers only to a telephone conversation with the Rotterdam inspector. There is no sign of the other required data, the list of conditions or the signature of a second inspector.

Note EU-Digest: An interesting point is that in last weeks Parliamentary debate, whereby PM Rutte outlined the plans of the new Government the coming years,  he passionately defended to continue the Dutch Government policy of welcoming US multi-Nationals to the Netherlands with open arms - because as he said "it creates jobs". 

The truth of the matter is that even though there are several multi-national companies located in the Netherlands, most of the Multi-Nationals come to the Netherlands, mainly because the Netherlands is known as a Tax Haven for Multi National Companies 

As to the job creation in the Netherlands by US multi-Nationals referred to by PM Rutte, obviously some jobs are created, but in reality most jobs are the result of local small business activities and trade related business developments within the EU.

Read more: Paradise Papers: Dutch tax inspector allows U.S. multinational to evade $169 mil. in taxes | NL Times

Tax Evasion: "Paradise Papers' documents touch Trump administration" - by Brent D.Griffiths

The group behind the release of last year’s Panama Papers has published a new collection of documents about offshore finance that touches the Trump administration.'

The so-called Paradise Papers show financial connections between wealthy Russians and two members of President Donald Trump's administration, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and White House adviser Jared Kushner, who is also the president's son-in-law.

The more than 13 million documents — most of them leaked from Appleby, one of the world’s largest offshore law firms — were obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, the outlet that also obtained the Panama Papers documents. The Washington, D.C.-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and nearly 100 news organizations including the New York Times dug into the trove of documents.

The revelations so far do not relate directly to Russian interference in the 2016 election or to special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe. But the New York Times reported that even after joining the administration, Ross has maintained investments in a shipping firm with close connections to a Russian oligarch subject to U.S. sanctions and to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law. 

Read more: Paradise Papers' documents touch Trump administration - POLITICO

Britain: The Tories won’t deal with this tax scandal. The fingers point too close to home - by John McDonnell

The revelations in the Paradise Papers leak have showed, once again, that our economy is rigged to the benefit of the powerful, the wealthy and giant corporations. While most of us are expected to – and do – pay the taxes that are due from us, a tiny minority operate under different rules. If you’re rich enough, you can join the same exclusive club – a world of offshore trusts and secretive tax havens, administered by offshore specialists like Appleby’s, the firm at the centre of current revelations. It is one rule for the super-rich and another for the rest of us.

What the 13.4m documents that comprise the Paradise Papers show, like the Panama Papers before them, is the sheer extent of offshore tax avoidance. The problem is endemic to the global financial system, and Britain is at the centre of it. Investigations over the summer revealed that more than £1 in every £7 that corporations placed in tax havens came through the UK – making it, with the Netherlands, the largest single conduit for corporate avoidance by some distance. Our historical connections to notorious tax havens such as Bermuda and the Channel Islands, along with the City of London’s massive financial infrastructure, make Britain an ideal sluice for finances seeking secrecy and dodging taxes.

This is not about a few individuals seeking to undermine the system, it is the system. It developed over decades, and ending the unfairness of it will require the serious, systematic efforts from committed governments here and across the world. Thanks to its historical links, Britain is uniquely placed to help end the scourge of tax avoidance, freeing up resources for essential public services like the NHS after years of grinding Tory spending cuts. Labour is absolutely committed to stamping out tax avoidance once and for all. We announced before the election the most comprehensive anti-avoidance programme ever published by a major political party in Britain and are pushing this government hard on the issue.

Read more: The Tories won’t deal with this tax scandal. The fingers point too close to home | John McDonnell | Opinion | The Guardian