Mexico widens tax evasion probe in wake of Panama Papers

MEXICO town Mexico is widening a probe into tax evasion by using requiring banks at hand over names of nearby customers with transactions in tax havens, files showed, weeks after the "Panama Papers" solid a highlight on how the world's wealthy and famous stash their wealth.

In a letter this yr, Mexico's tax authority SAT requested banking regulators to compel banks and brokerages to provide a listing of clients who made transactions or investments in over one hundred jurisdictions.

"to comply with its fiscal responsibilities over resident taxpayers with presumed monetary property in international locations special as 'tax havens', SAT ... calls for facts and documentation to plot and schedule tax examinations of these taxpayers," the letter reviewed by means of Reuters said.

Reuters changed into now not able to verify the date that the letter changed into sent, however a supply acquainted with the problem said it turned into dated closing month.

SAT and Mexico's banking authority CNBV declined to comment.

Governments global have all started cracking down on tax evasion on the grounds that early April when reviews based on an 11.5 million-document leak from Panamanian regulation firm Mossack Fonseca shed light on schemes utilized by the wealthy to skirt taxes.

SAT leader Aristoteles Nunez said last month that government have been investigating 33 humans mentioned within the "Panama Papers" for feasible tax evasion or economic crimes.

In a declaration earlier this week, SAT stated it'd additionally probe human beings and companies named in a subsequent e-book.

A separate letter from Mexico's banking regulator to a brokerage asks the firm to comply with the huge data request in 15 working days. If it fails to conform, it could face fines or transient closure, in keeping with a regulation cited inside the letter.

A supply acquainted with the problem stated a few banks received a comparable letter remaining month.

a few of the jurisdictions listed inside the letter from SAT, inclusive of Anguilla and Belize, are on the OECD's 2000 tax haven list. however the listing additionally includes ireland and the U.S. states of Delaware and Nevada.

further to the names of taxpayers, authorities are looking for deposit or withdrawal quantities and taxpayer identity numbers.