A few items of interest to update you…

• A letter signed by a dozen of us, commenting on the BBC2 programme ‘The Town that took on the Taxman’ has been published in this week’s IoM Examiner, entitled “We stand by Cat’s ‘tax haven’ views”. View the text of the letter here on taxwatch.im, or you can see it on the Isle of Man Examiner website:

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/isle-of-man-examiner-letters-february-2-2016-1-7710439

• The Island’s financial regulators stand accused of ‘massive failure’ as Westminster MPs investigate allegations of a £75m mis-selling insurance scandal.

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/manx-financial-regulator-s-massive-failure-over-75m-alleged-mis-selling-scandal-1-7710146

• The Chief Minister announced at his recent ‘State of the Nation’ report that the Isle of Man won’t be setting up a public register showing the true ownership of companies.  Several of us had argued the case for this in a submission to the government’s consultation – so a disappointment, though hardly a surprise.  The UK has committed to such a register, though very few others have followed their lead.  The Financial Times covered the story which you can read here:

http://on.ft.com/1RHcqJI

• More encouragingly, an item from the BBC suggesting the UK may be about to introduce country-by-country reporting, forcing multinational companies to disclose their sales and profits for each country in which they operate, rather than just the total figures.

http://www.taxjustice.net/2016/01/28/tjn-calls-for-public-country-by-country-reporting-a-few-hours-later/