OpenLux

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OpenLux is a research on tax avoidance in Europe. Evaluated documents published in February 2021 show details on tax avoidance due to Luxembourg's favorable financial policy . According to expert assessments, the country's legislation damages the European Union to the tune of ten billion euros annually .

The OpenLux research was carried out by Süddeutsche Zeitung , Le Monde , Miami Herald , Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and other journalistic partners in Luxembourg .

history

Investigative journalists received around three million documents and records from Luxembourg's online business register platforms. This includes company documents, financial statements and beneficial ownership statements from more than 260,000 companies covering a period from 1955 to December 2020. After analyzing the OpenLux data, Transparency International and Anti-Corruption Data Collective found that around 80 percent of private investment funds in Luxembourg do not declare who will benefit from these funds. When comparing the data from the Luxembourg register with the reports that some funds have filed with the US government, the analysis shows that more than 15 percent of the funds provided conflicting information about their beneficial owners to the US and Luxembourg authorities. This means that a significant number of Luxembourg domiciled funds appear to have failed to identify their owners as required by law. Luxembourg is home to more than 15,000 mutual funds holding more than EUR 4.5 trillion in assets. It is estimated that 67 percent of cross-border funds worldwide are based in Luxembourg.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung presented a number of financial practices that Luxembourg is using to damage all other EU countries:

Real estate companies

According to the land register, Luxembourg companies own thousands of properties in Germany. The rental income initially flows to Luxembourg, which means that fewer taxes are paid than if the company were based in Germany. If the real estate company gets a loan from another company (which usually belongs to the same owner), the tax burden in Luxembourg can be massively reduced.

Since the lending company now theoretically has income from lending that it would have to pay tax in Luxembourg, this company itself takes out a loan from a company (usually with the same owner) in an offshore “tax haven” that does not levy any duties. These companies are often based in Jersey or the British Virgin Islands . The interest payments to this offshore company then reduce the taxable income in Luxembourg.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Luc Caregari: #OpenLux: Hearts and Minds. In: woxx.lu. February 8, 2021, accessed February 9, 2021 .
  2. ^ A b Frederik Obermaier, Viktoria Spinrad: OpenLux: How Luxembourg excludes its EU neighbors. Retrieved February 10, 2021 .
  3. ↑ Antonio Baquero (OCCRP), Maxime Vaudano (Le Monde), Cecilia Anesi (IRPI): Shedding Light on Big Secrets in Tiny Luxembourg - OCCRP. In: occrp.org. Retrieved February 9, 2021 .
  4. ↑ Open-Lux: 80 per cent of Luxembourg private investment funds at risk of laundering dirty money. In: news.cision.com. February 8, 2021, accessed February 9, 2021 .
  5. ↑ OpenLux: Luxembourg tax haven continues to attract corporations and rich people. In: sueddeutsche.de . February 8, 2021, accessed February 9, 2021 .
  6. ↑ Not so open Lux: Authorities in the dark over… In: transparency.org. February 8, 2021, accessed February 9, 2021 .
  7. ↑ Associated Press: Luxembourg defends itself against new tax haven allegations. In: The Washington Post. February 8, 2021, accessed February 9, 2021 .