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APRIL 23 A contact for a story said: We need to talk this week. The reason, as it turned out, was that he had to leave Singapore because his employment pass had not been renewed. And he is not the only one. Other employment pass holders have also been forced to leave and even some permanent residents (PR) re-entry permits have not been renewed.

While there is plenty of discussion in Singapore about having too many foreigners here, the buzz in the expat community is about how uncertain it is whether they can continue to live here.

Whether the number of rejected applications is actually large or small isnt clear. Regardless of reality, word has gotten around about passes not being renewed and rumours about the reasons are flowing fast. As one blogger wrote: Its pot luck Doesnt seem to be any rhyme nor reason.

The issue affects talented people who are considering whether to move to Singapore too. While people who want to come here for more mundane jobs may have few options, talented individuals have a multitude of choices.

When they hear about employment pass renewal rejections and when they can have greater certainty about a long-term job if they move somewhere else, they may well decide to bypass the island and take their skills elsewhere.

Employers, too, are facing difficulties.

One well-placed industry observer told me that many major companies are concerned about their ability to maintain their skilled expat staff especially when they have not been able to hire and retain local staff with similar skills. Companies in industries like hospitality, for example, have found that staff who have been here for many years are suddenly not being allowed to stay.

The buzz about rejections is compounded by a lack of clarity about which employment passes or PR permits will be renewed.

While salary requirements are online and the Ministry of Manpower even has an online Self-Assessment Tool, some people who seem to meet the criteria have still been turned down. Some people have successfully appealed against rejections, though many of them are not sure why their appeal succeeded.

Lacking clear information, the rumour mill has gone into higher gear.

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The uneasy expats — Richard Hartung

GWEN MOORE | Democratic member of Congress from Milwaukee madison.com | | Posted: Monday, April 23, 2012 5:00 am

Ugland House is a modest five-story office building in the Cayman Islands, yet it is the registered address for 18,857 companies. The Cayman Islands, like many other offshore tax havens, levies no income taxes on companies incorporated there. Simply by registering themselves in the Cayman Islands, companies can legally shift much of their U.S.-earned profit to the Caymans and pay no tax on it.

The vast majority of these companies have no physical presence in the Caymans other than a post office box at Ugland House. About half of these companies have their billing address in the U.S. This transparently false corporate presence is one of the hallmarks of a tax haven.

Abuse of tax havens by multinational companies and wealthy individuals is one of the most outrageous loopholes in the American tax system. These complex tax avoidance schemes allow many of Americas largest corporations to drastically shrink their tax bill. For example:

Google uses techniques nicknamed the double Irish and the Dutch sandwich, involving two Irish subsidiaries and one in Bermuda a tax haven that helped shrink its tax bill by $3.1 billion between 2008 and 2010.

Wells Fargo paid no federal income taxes for 2008, 2009 and 2010 despite being profitable all three years in part due to its use of 58 offshore tax haven subsidiaries.

G.E. received $3.3 billion in tax refunds in 2010 despite reporting over $5 billion in U.S. profits to shareholders. The company has $94 billion parked offshore and uses 14 tax haven subsidiaries.

These same corporations take advantage of and benefit from the many services and public structures provided by our tax dollars an education system that prepares their workforce, government-funded research which helps them remain competitive globally, a publicly funded infrastructure system to transport their products, and the protection that our military and court system provide. They are in effect parasites.

While this practice is not illegal, it could easily be stopped by Congress, except that these tax dodgers take their tax rebates and spend heavily on lobbying expenditures and campaign contributions. A recent report by WISPIRG and Citizens for Tax Justice found that 30 unusually aggressive tax dodging corporations have made campaign contributions to 524 (98 percent) sitting members of Congress, and disproportionately to the leadership of both parties and to key committee members, including the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. Among Wisconsins delegation, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, a Republican from Janesville who also sits on the Ways and Means Committee, received $144,750 and Ways and Means Committee member Ron Kind, a Democrat from La Crosse, received $109,500 from these 30 companies.

The pervasiveness of campaign money across party lines speaks volumes about why major proposals to close corporate tax loopholes have not even come up for a vote.

Excerpt from:
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore: Ditch Cayman Islands tax loophole

ST PETER PORT, Guernsey, April 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Research shows time and time again that for the vast majority of expatriates, organising their offshore savings is often left on the "to do" list until after the move aboard, at which point inertia and amnesia taker over. Meanwhile, savings are left languishing in low return accounts, often with unnecessary tax being deducted, so eroding their value still further.

Yet for many, finance is actually at the heart of the reason for moving abroad. For some, going abroad is driven by the aim of saving more and within a shorter timeframe. For those retiring, enjoying a better lifestyle with lower living costs is the aim, so protecting the value of savings is vitally important.

Savings can take many forms, from simple offshore deposit accounts to more complex equity based funds and plans. At the core of everybody's portfolio, however big or small, should be a simple deposit account for rainy days and emergencies. What many do not realise is that once they live abroad, the vast majority of us can open our own offshore savings account with as little as 10,000.

What is an offshore account?

An offshore account is simply a savings account like any other, but it will be located offshore, out of the country where you are living. Offshore accounts located in specifically designated overseas territories have a key advantage in that they are able to offer interest on savings which is paid before tax has been deducted. The Channel Islands and Isle of Man are highly regarded, well regulated jurisdictions which specialise in offering offshore accounts to UK citizens who have left the UK to live or retire abroad and they offer many such accounts from high street bank and building society names.

If you are working or retired and you have left the UK permanently and are no longer tax resident there, here are five reasons why you might want one of these accounts:

Wherever you are living, looking after your savings should be one of your top priorities. Skipton International Limited offers a range of easy access, notice and limited issue fixed rate bond accounts. Skipton International Ltd is part of Skipton Building Society, the fourth largest in the UK with nearly 14 billion of assets.

Editor's notes:

1. AER stands for Annual Equivalent Rate and illustrates what the rate would be if interest was paid and added each year.

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Offshore Savings Accounts - Should you Open One?

After a topsy-turvy decade for stocks you might be finding it hard to stick to your investment plan. Perhaps youre tempted to take on more risk in an effort to make up for past losses. Maybe youre invested in only a few stocks, or those that appear to have supercharged growth prospects. Alternately, you might be cringing in fear after dumping your stocks. Problem is, taking an extreme stanceone way or the otheris likely to lead to disappointment in the long run.

Instead, a balanced approach is more likely to lead to a satisfactory outcome. When it comes to stocks, take a page out of Warren Buffetts book and try to invest in good stocks for the long term. Thats just the sort of approach that I recommend.

Let me show you how to construct a solid do-it-yourself stock portfolio. My goal is to start new investors out on the right path and provide a few useful pointers to more seasoned aficionados at the same time.

Before you begin

A few words of wisdom before we launch into the stock-picking advice. It makes little sense to build an investment portfolio if you dont have a solid fiscal foundation, so thrift and debt elimination should come first. You should pay off your credit cards, lines of credit, and other debts before starting to invest seriously.

After eliminating debt, sock away some cash in GICs or a high-interest savings account. If you lose your job, run into illness, or face some other calamity, you dont want this emergency fund to be in stocks. You should only turn to the markets with money that can be invested for many years.

Once youre ready to invest for the long term, how should you divvy up your portfolio? Should you put all of your long-term investments in stocks, or does it makes sense to hold bonds as well?

The yield generated by bonds these days is pitiful: at current inflation levels, bond investors are losing purchasing power. Taxes make the situation even worse. (Ideally bonds should be sheltered in RRSPs and TFSAs.) However, bonds are still a useful bulwark, because they offer some stability and, unlike stocks, theyre unlikely to plummet in value quickly. You probably wont make much money from bonds these days, but youre not likely to lose 50% either. Stocks cant make such promises.

In his book The Intelligent Investor, Benjamin Graham suggests starting with a half-and-half split between stocks and bonds in normal times. Should one or the other become attractively priced, then you might tilt the portfolio accordingly. But at a minimum, investors should have at least 25% in stocks and 25% in bonds.

You might also tilt your portfolio one way or the other based on personal preference. If youre aggressive, then you might want to go 75% stocks, while more conservative investors might lean to 75% bonds. Older investors with shorter time horizons might similarly opt for more bonds than the young. But these are rules of thumb and individual circumstances might call for different allocations.

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Stocks that pay you back

(RTTNews.com) - After moving sharply lower at the open, stocks have seen continued weakness over the course of morning trading on Monday. The major averages are stuck firmly in negative territory after turning in a mixed performance last week.

Much of the weakness on Wall Street stems from renewed concerns about the global economy following the release of disappointing economic data from China and Europe.

Traders have also reacted negatively to news that French President Nicolas Sarkozy came in second in a first round of voting, losing to socialist Francois Hollande. Sarkozy is expected to face an uphill battle in a run-off election against Hollande on May 6th.

Reflecting the global economic concerns, steel stocks are posting particularly steep losses in late morning trading. The NYSE Arca Steel Index is down by 2.8 percent after hitting a three-month intraday low.

Gold stocks are also seeing substantial weakness on the day, resulting in a 2.7 percent drop by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The weakness in the gold sector comes amid a notable decrease by the price of the precious metal.

Most of the major sectors have also shown notable moves to the downside on the day, with internet, networking, software, and housing stocks posting sharp losses.

The major averages have climbed off their worst levels of the day in recent trading but remain stuck in the red. The Dow is down 132.48 points or 1 percent at 12,896.78, the Nasdaq is down 46.97 points or 1.6 percent at 2,953.48 and the S&P 500 is down 15.69 points or 1.1 percent at 1,362.84.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

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Originally posted here:
Stocks Remain Sharply Lower In Late Morning Trading - U.S. Commentary