EU issues formal notice to 17 member states over money laundering directive

[Silvio]

https://www.internationalinvestment...rmal-notice-member-money-laundering-directive
The EC has sent letters of formal notice - equivalent to bringing legal proceedings - to Cyprus, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain, all of whom Brussels says has yet to implement any of the Directive's elements.

In addition, the EC said Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg and Poland had only partially implemented the measures.

In a statement the EC said: "The Commission regrets that the Member States in question have failed to transpose the Directive in a timely manner and encourages them all to do so urgently, bearing in mind the importance of these rules for the EU's collective interest."

The EU also singled out Lexembourg for having "allowed firms unlimited deductibility of interest" from their tax bills.

 

[Tax Cow]

I hereby issue a formal notice to the EU.

Dear EU commission and other important-sounding institutions which embody the biggest wave of communism and centralization of powers since the fall of the USSR.

5AMLD and its predecessors harm legitimate small business, and it does nothing, nothing at all, to reduce money laundering. Like a stream of water, dirty money always finds the path of least resistance.

Launderers on a mission have all the time in the world to find a hole to squeeze through. Meanwhile, legitimate businesses find it harder than ever to do everyday payments; fail to pay their suppliers on time due to AML harassment, fail to meet the expectations of their clients. If they have a bank account at all.

You are NOT on a moral high ground in the matters of AML. You are the source and the destination of dirty money that could do with some washing. From opinion buying and agenda-setting in individual member states, to setting special rules in favor of the highest bidders, including globalist ideologosts like G.Soros and private big businesses of which there are too many to mention.

And lastly, could you please stop putting your tax competition butthurt in the formal notices AML-related topics. What Luxembourg does with interest deductibility is their internal affair, and the least appropriate place to bring it up is in a "shame letter" on an entirely different topic.

Regars,
A fellow with Marx avatar on OCTF

 

[Tax Cow]

One more thing. On a positive note.

Despite disagreeing with you on the ineffective AML BS policies that waste everyone's time, I recognize your recognition that dirty money is not only a matter of Panama or some other exotic places at least a thousand miles away from the angelic EU.

 

[JohnLocke]

Very well written, thanks for the information to both of you

 

[KJK]

Haha nice read

Dear EU commission and other important-sounding institutions which embody the biggest wave of communism and centralization of powers since the fall of the USSR.

To be honest you shouldn't exclude China (looked like regime will change around the fall of USSR but it was actually revived in 1992)

Launderers on a mission have all the time in the world to find a hole to squeeze through. Meanwhile, legitimate businesses find it harder than ever to do everyday payments; fail to pay their suppliers on time due to AML harassment, fail to meet the expectations of their clients. If they have a bank account at all.

I think what the EU is missing that some level of gray or black economy can be good in general. If you enforce total control and total oversight in zero-rate EU-economy, you will get some weird socio-economical combination of China and Japan (taking the worst from both).

I'm not promoting that Russian corrupt politicians should launder money through these countries but EU goes to the other extreme, everything controlled, regulated and taxed.

If someone has dubious money but cannot get them into the system, he/she will maybe sit on them, it will not be spent or it will be spent in more accepting jurisdiction.

You are NOT on a moral high ground in the matters of AML. You are the source and the destination of dirty money that could do with some washing. From opinion buying and agenda-setting in individual member states, to setting special rules in favor of the highest bidders, including globalist ideologosts like G.Soros and private big businesses of which there are too many to mention.

I always wondered that the definition of "dirty money" is very funny, in my opinion basically all money is "dirty" to some extent. Similar problems are now happening e.g. in crypto and Bitcoin - some addresses are considered dirty and some clean while the original hope was to create digital cash that is fungible.

And lastly, could you please stop putting your tax competition butthurt in the formal notices AML-related topics. What Luxembourg does with interest deductibility is their internal affair, and the least appropriate place to bring it up is in a "shame letter" on an entirely different topic.

Oh, I understand this is also a bit tasting their own medicine. Luxembourg was one of the founding members of the EU (LU,BE,FR,IT,NL,DE).

What I find worse is that EU tries to pressure other countries as well and bully them - recently Bahamas was mentioned on this forum, Switzerland is another example.

 

[Tax Cow]

Still puzzled why they merge the topics of ML and tax competition so relentlessly. Both being discussed together, to a point where not just tax-evaded money, but legally aquired funds bearing a low effective tax, too, is effectively condemned as dirty. Not the first nor the last time it happens.

Or maybe I'm failing to see a mountain from the pebble: they really care about tax more, and they do not mind applying a communist-style choke on the economy if there's a chance it might help.

 

[anotherone]

According to my observation, the monitoring of people and companies is really overestimated. I can see in my entourage many people who easily evade tax. Even after all those EU AML implementation.
All the stories related to tax evasion and money laundering in my Western european country were the result of reporting by people. They don't have super powerful applications to monitor everyone. I have talked to an employee of a tax authorities in my country. I played the simp and asked "what was your biggest catch?" she told me about a construction company. It was a low-level tax evasion system with fake invoices. I expected something with bitcoins, and international transfers. She worked in a region near the german border, the belgium and dutch border. So, I thought offenders would use borders. they don't detect anything.
While the EC looks like the authority in 1984, they are far away from its mass monitoring. Most of the investigations are started because of a whistleblower.
I can see in my country that the people who have problems are honest people who report their taxes because they are asked to justify the source of what they honestly earned. An honest person should never have to justify himself.