Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Collect (talk | contribs) at 21:58, 14 November 2014 (stick to non-flowery recitation of facts ,removed section about a specific living person making serious allegations and inferences per WP:BLP). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Luxembourg Leaks (sometimes shortened to Lux Leaks or LuxLeaks) is the name of a collaborative journalistic investigation, based on confidential tax agreements in Luxembourg, released in November 2014. 80 journalists from media organizations around the globe collaboratively reviewed 28,000 pages.

The investigation was made by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, launched in 1997 by Center for Public Integrity, founded 1989. The organization partnered with CNBC (USA), CBC (Canada ), The Irish Times (Ireland) , Le Monde (France), Tagesanzeiger (Switzerland), Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), Asahi Shimbun (Japan) and many others. All documents are available online in a searchable database categorized by industry and cooperation published by the ICIJ and by other websites. The leaked documents document tax rulings between Luxembourg and companies such as Pepsi, Ikea, Accenture, Burberry, Procter & Gamble, Heinz, JP Morgan, FedEx, Abbott Laboratories, Amazon, Deutsche Bank, the Australian financial group Macquarie, Shire, Icap, Dyson.Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page). More than 340 companies worldwide used this method to reduce tax payments. Foreign corporations started coming to Luxembourg in large numbers in the early 1990s, when Luxembourg adopted an EU directive that allowed companies to pay taxes in a European headquarters country other than where their subsidiaries operated.

There have been no allegations that the deals were illegal under the law of Luxembourg. The European commission has started an examination of two cases: The tax rulings between the tax authorities of Luxemburg and Amazon and Fiat finance may be illegal subsidies and thus violate EU rules on state aid. Some months prior to the leak Luxembourg refused to provide the EU with information about its tax rulings. The rulings have attracted international attention.

Most of the leaked tax rulings were negotiated and approved by a single civil servant.

See also

• Offshore leaks
• Tax haven
• Offshore financial center
• Global Integrity

External links

• International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Luxembourg Leaks: Global Companies' Secrets Exposed
• The Guardian, Luxembourg tax files: how tiny state rubber-stamped tax avoidance on an industrial scale. (Including videos of visits in Luxembourg.)

References

1. ICIJ, Luxembourg Leaks Stories Around the World
2. CNBC (USA), Taxes, multinational firms & Luxembourg—revealed, “In a partnership with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, CNBC was able to (…)”
3. CBC (Canada), Federal pension board used offshore 'scheme' to skirt foreign taxes, (..) “the tax-avoidance plan was obtained by the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and shared with CBC News”(…)
4. The Irish Times (Ireland), Northern and Shell used west Dublin address to cut Luxembourg tax bill on €1bn
5. Le Monde (France), Le Luxembourg, plaque tournante de l’évasion fiscal, “Dans une enquête réalisée en partenariat avec le consortium de journalisme d'investigation ICIJ et quarante medias étrangers (The Guardian au Royaume-Uni, le Süddeutsche Zeitung en Allemagne, la télévision publique canadienne Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, l' Asahi Shimbun au Japon, etc.), Le Monde révèle les dessous du système fiscal luxembourgeois.”
6. Der Tagesanzeiger (Switzerland), Luxemburgs Milliardenrabatte für Grosskonzerne
7. Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), Konzerne ertricksen sich in Luxemburg Milliarden an Steuern
8. Asahi Shimbun (Japan),
9. ICIJ, Explore the Documents: Luxembourg Leaks Database
10. Luxembourg Leaks – search the documents, linked e.g. by The Irish Times, Lux Leaks
11. ^ "Luxembourg tax files: how tiny state rubber-stamped tax avoidance on an industrial scale". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
12. Wall Street Journal, 21 October, 2014
13. European Commission, press release, State aid: Commission investigates transfer pricing arrangements on corporate taxation of Amazon in Luxembourg, 7 October 2014
14. Global Policy Forum, Luxembourg Leaks: Secret Tax Deals of Multinationals Exposed, November 6, 2014
15. "Carr, Wayne and Kelly (2014) ‘Lux Leaks’ Revelations Bring Swift Response Around World", November 6, 2014, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
16. Süddeutsche Zeitung, Ärger im Steuer-Märchenland, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 6 November 2014
17. Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Deutsche Bank: Gewinne fließen um den Globus, 6 November 2014
18. Business-Friendly Bureaucrat Helped Build Tax Haven in Luxembourg, Wall Street Journal, 21 October 2014

• Financial scandals
• 2014 in Luxembourg
• 2014 scandals