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Brussels, 13 November 2008
Review of the Savings Taxation Directive – Frequently Asked Questions
(see also IP/08/1697)
Why is the Commission proposing changes to the Savings Directive?
What are the changes proposed?
First, the Commission proposes to improve the Directive so as to better ensure taxation of interest payments which are channelled through intermediate tax-exempted structures.
Second, the Commission proposes to extend the scope of the Directive to income obtained from investments in some innovative financial products with capital protection (less than 5% risk coverage) and in certain life insurance products.
Third, the proposal brings a major reduction of administrative burden for individuals who opt for exchange of information in Austria, Belgium or Luxembourg where they receive interest payments and therefore claim exemption from withholding tax. The proposal asks that the paying agent will directly report information to the tax authorities, at the request of the individual who authorize it, in place of levying the withholding tax.
Fourth, the Commission proposes to ensure a level playing field between all investment funds or schemes, independently of their legal form.
Fifth, it proposes technical improvements which are beneficial for the activity of paying agents, such as a clearer treatment of investment funds established in a country different from the one of the paying agent and a clearer guidance for Member States in order to avoid possible cases of duplication of paying agent responsibilities.
What experience do you have on withholding tax till now?
The table below displays available information, for the countries levying a withholding tax, about the amount of revenue shared with the other Member States.
The sum of the tax revenue shared in 2006 by countries applying the withholding tax regime is 500 million €. It corresponds to 75% of the withholding tax collected by those countries applying the withholding tax system. Given that 25% of the amount collected is kept by the country having levied the withholding tax, the total tax withheld is about 670 million €. If one assumes that the withholding tax was 15%, this would represent total interest payments of about 4.5 billion €.
What experience do you have on exchange of information till now?
It has first to be noted that the data provided by Member States and other jurisdictions covered by the savings taxation measures contain a critical number of missing values. This leads to the problem that the data must be interpreted with caution, since missing values significantly reduce the number of observations for certain jurisdictions.
The data on information exchange from EU Member States and other jurisdictions show that reported interest payments increased significantly between the second half of 2005 and 2006. Unsurprisingly, the largest payments can be found in the largest economies.
The total amount of interest payments made, for which information was exchanged, is shown in the following table. It has to be stressed that it does not correspond to any amount of tax collected. The Member States, having been informed that interest payments were made to individuals resident on their territory, have then applied, if appropriate, a tax according to their own tax regime. Given that the tax regimes within the MS differ from each other, it is impossible to give an estimation of the amount of money collected corresponding to the interest payments reported
[ Figures and graphics available in PDF and WORD PROCESSED ]
Taking the very conservative assumption that the UK would report a similar amount for the fiscal year 2006 to what it reported for the period between July 2005 and April 2006, it can be extrapolated that the total of interest payments made for which information was exchanged is 20bn € in 2006.
Do you have any data on money leaving the EU due to the application of the Savings Directive?
The economic analysis made by the Commission has shown that:
Doesn't this proposal create extra burden for paying agents?
Not necessarily.
Under the money laundering Directive the paying agents should already have the information requested.
Moreover, the introduction of the new annex (indicative compliance list) will bring more clarity and legal certainty to paying agents. Furthermore, the proposal contains technical improvements which are also beneficial for the activity of paying agents, such as a clearer treatment of investment funds established in a country different from the one of the paying agent and a clearer guidance for Member States in order to avoid possible cases of duplication of paying agent responsibilities. .
Given that the scope of the Directive is extended to ensure a level playing field between equivalent products and intermediaries, it is clear that the proposal will introduce new burden on some paying agents that are not yet in the scope of the Directive (some trustees and some insurance companies).
Given the financial crisis, should the Commission not be more ambitious and extend the exchange of information to income other than interest (such as dividends ...)?
Some voices have called for a more radical extension of the scope of the Directive to any kind of investment income. The Savings Taxation Directive may, however, not be the most suitable framework for improving cooperation between tax authorities for those items of income whose tax treatment varies considerably between Member States (like dividends or capital gains from those speculative financial instruments which do not provide substantial capital protection).
Solutions based exclusively on the exchange of information would also seem more appropriate for the purpose of ensuring that neither double taxation, nor avoidance of any taxation, arise in relation to those life insurance contracts where a significant share of the premiums paid serve to cover risks, or with regards to pensions.
The Commission is currently working on a review of the Directive on Mutual Assistance between the tax authorities of Member States (Directive 77/799/EEC) that could improve the conditions for cooperation on these forms of income. Proposals should be expected before the end of this year.
What about external competition (financial centres outside EU)? How will the Commission proceed with the third countries which are currently part of the Savings Tax network?
Once Member States agree on the ways of closing existing loopholes, the Council is expected to ask the Commission to examine with non-EU countries and jurisdictions participating in the mechanism as to how to update the respective agreements in a similar way. However, it is premature to speculate today on how they will react to our approach, as the EU first needs to reach a unanimous agreement internally.
Following the request of the ECOFIN Council, the European Commission launched discussions with selected important financial centres, namely Hong Kong, Singapore and Macao in order to extend the geographical scope of the existing Directive. The discussions are on-going at present and it is too soon to anticipate their outcome.
Formal negotiations will start shortly with Norway, at its request, whilst other jurisdictions like Bermuda and Iceland have shown interest in participating in the savings taxation arrangements.
Is the Commission creating a black list of countries through Annexes provided in the amendments?
NO! Annex 1 of the proposal does not have anything to do with the so-called "black-list" of tax heavens. Annex 1 is based on an analysis of the tax regime of the specific entity or legal arrangement in the corresponding named jurisdiction mentioned. Only those entities and legal arrangements to which EU resident individuals can have access as beneficial owners and which are not subject to effective taxation on their income in that jurisdiction are mentioned in the list. Its purpose is to facilitate the job of the paying agents in executing the application of the Directive. Appropriate procedures are provided to amend the list if the information contained in it needs to be updated.
To which income does the Commission propose to extend the scope of the Directive?
The Commission proposes to extend the scope of the Directive to cover substantially equivalent income derived from those products that, from the investor's viewpoint, can be regarded as equivalent to debt claims because their risk is known and is not higher than that of debt claims.
Therefore, the proposal extends the scope of the Directive to the following products:
The possibility to include a positive list with the products that meet these criteria was eventually discarded for practical reasons, associated with the rapid developments in the financial markets that would very quickly make the list obsolete: any updating of the list would come too late. The Commission considers that the above described criteria for identifying the products concerned provide enough clarity to paying agents and that a detailed list is not necessary.
What will be the consequences for those who receive money from foundations?
What does the Commission propose with regard to investment funds?
Currently, income obtained by individuals through some investment funds (mainly investment funds subject to the UCITS Directive) is already within the scope of the Directive. The Commission proposes to extend the scope of the Directive to all investment funds or schemes, wherever located and independent of their legal form and regulatory regime, having invested in debt claims or other equivalent securities. For this purpose, all the current references to the UCITS Directive for investment funds established in the EU will be replaced by a reference to the registration of the fund in accordance with the domestic rules of any of the Member States; for investment funds established outside the EU, a broad definition of investment funds or schemes based on concepts prevailing at OECD level will be used.
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text: BPI to Close Plants Over 'Pink Slime' Controversy March 27, 2012 03:57 AM Tweet TAGS: Marketing, Overseas December 18, 2014 By Kim Watson Potts Drovers Email Yesterday Beef Products Inc., the company that pioneered lean finely textured beef, announced it was temporarily closing its plants in Texas, Kansas and Iowa. The company will continue operations at its headquarters in Dakota Dunes, S.D. Those closures put about 600 people out of work as the company continues to fight a public perception battle with the media and consumers. BPI says it will give those workers laid off a 60 day severance package that includes pay and benefits. The company was hit hard following ABC news reports regarding lean finely textured beef, referred to as 'pink slime.' Following the media frenzy, several major retailers, restaurants as well as several school districts boycotted the product in their ground beef purchases as consumers demanded the product not be used. "Congratulations, ABC World News. Your relentless coverage and uninformed criticism of a safe and wholesome beef product has now delivered a hook for yet another nightly news broadcast" said J. Patrick Boyle, American Meat Institute President, in a statement. "A three-week war waged on a beef product called lean finely textured beef came to a painful head as hundreds of people lost their jobs when one of the primary processors shuttered three plants. While lean finely texture beef was given a catchy and clever nickname in 'pink slime,' the impact of alarming broadcasts about this safe and wholesome beef product by Jamie Oliver, ABC News and others are no joke to those families that are now out of work." According to a story in the Amarillo Globe News, BPI founder Eldon Roth came to Amarillo, where the Texas plant is located, to tell the employees about the decision to close and hold a press conference for local media. "While we're doing our best to communicate the facts about our product, the media firestorm over a manufactured scandal has caused real damage to our company," said Craig Letch, the company's director of food safety and quality assurance. "We're doing everything we can to set the record straight, but we know this will take time." Meanwhile beef industry advocates are also working to set the record straight by explaining the product to consumers via social media by providing facts and information about lean finely textured beef: Beef Advocates on High Alert. The BPI plants shutting down produced 600,000 pounds of lean finely textured beef product and used beef trimmings from local meatpackers in the area. In response the the loss of the BPI's business, Tyson Foods said it was making adjustments, according to the Amarillo Globe News report. "Our company is one of many beef processors that sell beef trimmings to BPI. The reduction of BPI's operations means less lean meat will be recovered and more of the beef trimmings will be converted into lower-value products," said Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson. "We're making some modifications in our production processes to adjust for this change. We're also making adjustments to accommodate our customers that no longer want BPI's Lean Finely Textured Beef in their ground beef." In a time of shorter cattle supplies, this will further pressure beef prices and consumers will probably see an increase in ground beef prices. "American families will also pay the price at the checkout counter as they see the price of ground beef begin to rise while we work to grow as many as 1.5 million more head of cattle to replace the beef that will no longer be consumed due to this manufactured scare," said Boyle. Back to news

subset: commoncrawl


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ECE 695A Lecture 16: Review Questions
Additional materials available (3)
Licensed according to this deed.
Published on
Review Question
- What is the difference between hot atom dissociation vs. cold atom dissociation?.
- Many experiments are reported at 77K and 295K. Why these temperatures?.
- Why is there such a big difference between VT degradation and NIT degradation?.
- Impact ionization threshold is significantly larger than Eg. What role does it have for HCI degradation? Explain..
- Will there by no HCI degradation if VD reduced below impact ionization threshold? What theory would you use to calculate the defect generation rate.
Cite this work
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
EE 226, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN


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Whole back wheel is bent and fucked up, frame may be damaged. The asshole was pulling out of a Walgreens and I had space to pass him since LEGALLY he's supposed to stop before he pulls out (I was on the curb, I know, not supposed to be). As I get half past him, he starts moving again and before I have time to move he runs into me, taking out the wheel and knocking my bike out from under me. Scratches on my right leg from the bike getting knocked around, and my knee feels wobbly but that could be from nerves and adrenaline, nothing hurts though. As I'm cursing about getting hit, he gets out of his car and gives me shit for being on the sidewalk. I told him get away from me before I put his head through his windshield. His wife kept asking if I was ok and I said I'm fucking furious, your husband needs to get away from before I hurt him. He then drives off, never asking if I'm ok or about the damage he inflicted on me or my bike.I'm so over today...
Been hit on my bike twice. Somehow didn't get any injuries either time (and in one of them the car was going like 30mph...).It sucks but getting angry doesn't solve anything. I really hope you got his insurance info at least...
Whole back wheel is bent and fucked up, frame may be damaged.
Neogaf was destroyed. I'm going to be more active here now :)
@Tomara jeez, what kind of assholes do live around? Most people just steal the bike, not wreck it...my condolences, even if it was a long time ago.
Having storage issues starting to crop up. Need to get some games off my shelves and was thinking of storing my PS2 games and DS/3DS cases, but my closet is practically full of empty figure boxes so I'd really have nowhere to store them even if I wanted to. My only solution I can think of at the moment is to try and find some bins that will allow me to store the games under my bed.
Klutz forgive me for being simple here but....why not put things in the empty boxes in your storage space-lacking closet?


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Casey Anthony Case: Detectives Overlook Crucial Google Search Evidence
Investigators overlooked critical evidence in the disappearance of 2-year-old Caylee Anthony.
The Florida sheriff's office in charge of the case missed evidence that someone in the Anthony home did a Google search for "fool-proof" suffocation methods on the day Caylee was last seen alive.
Orange County sheriff's Capt. Angelo Nieves said Sunday that the office's computer investigator missed the June 16, 2008, search. The agency's admission was first reported by Orlando television station WKMG. It's not known who performed the search. The station reported it was done on a browser primarily used by the 2-year-old's mother, Casey Anthony, who was acquitted of the girl's murder in 2011.
Anthony's attorneys argued during trial that Casey Anthony helped her father, George Anthony, cover up the girl's drowning in the family pool.
WKMG reports that sheriff's investigators pulled 17 vague entries only from the computer's Internet Explorer browser, not the Mozilla Firefox browser commonly used by Casey Anthony. More than 1,200 Firefox entries, including the suffocation search, were overlooked.
Whoever conducted the Google search looked for the term "fool-proof suffcation," misspelling "suffocation," and then clicked on an article about suicide that discussed taking poison and putting a bag over one's head.
The browser then recorded activity on the social networking site MySpace, which was used by Casey Anthony but not her father.
A computer expert for Anthony's defense team found the search before the trial. Her lead attorney, Jose Baez, first mentioned the search in his book about the case but suggested it was George Anthony who conducted the search after Caylee drowned because he wanted to kill himself.
Not knowing about the computer search, prosecutors had argued Caylee was poisoned with chloroform and then suffocated by duct tape placed over her mouth and nose. The girl's body was found six months after she disappeared in a field near the family home and was too decomposed for an exact cause of death to be determined.
Prosecutors presented evidence that someone in the Anthony home searched online for how to make chloroform, but Casey Anthony's mother, Cindy, claimed on the witness stand that she had done the searches by mistake while looking up information about chlorophyll.
Many jurors apparently went into hiding amid public outrage over the verdict and refused to comment, but two have said prosecutors couldn't conclusively prove how Caylee died.
Prosecutors Linda Drane Burdick and Jeff Ashton didn't respond to emails from The Associated Press on Sunday.
But Ashton told WKMG that "it's just a shame we didn't have it. This certainly would have put the accidental death claim in serious question."
Baez, who no longer represents Anthony, didn't respond to phone or email messages Sunday from The Associated Press but told WKMG that he expected prosecutors to bring up the search at trial.
"When they didn't, we were kind of shocked," said Baez, who was brought into the national spotlight for representing Anthony during the trial.
Her current attorney, Cheney Mason, who was also on the trial team, didn't return an email message from AP Sunday, and his office answering service refused to take a phone message.
The sheriff's office didn't consult the FBI or Florida Department of Law Enforcement for help searching the computer in the Anthony case, a mistake investigators have learned from, Nieves said.
Based on reporting by The Associated Press.
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With a March deadline fast approaching for once-unthinkable automatic federal budget cuts under sequestration, AOPA and the general aviation community are sizing up the possible impact on everything from the FAA's NextGen modernization initiative to the Contract Tower Program, and the day-to-day operation of air traffic control services and facilities.
Details are hard to come by--although some estimates have included a $160 million bite out of NextGen funding--but that has not prevented the industry from attempting to sketch out the look of air traffic services in a post-sequestration budget environment.
"This is a very difficult time as Congress works to reduce the deficit," said Lorraine Howerton, AOPA vice president of legislative affairs. "We have been closely following the potential for sequestration and keeping our supporters in Congress informed of any adverse impacts to general aviation."
The picture was filled in to some degree with a new statement from FAA Administrator Michael Huerta on the impact of sequestration.
"Without an agreement to avoid these budget cuts, the FAA will be forced to confront a budget reduction of approximately $627 million for this fiscal year," he said.
Huerta said that all cost reduction options were "on the table, and we will take all reasonable measures to avoid proposing furloughs. However, given the magnitude of the shortfall we face, it is likely that significant federal employee furloughs and drastic reductions in services performed by contract personnel would be necessary."
Most of the agency's 47,000 employees would see furloughs of one day per pay period, and possibly two, until the current fiscal year ends in September. Staffing cutbacks would require reducing operational services to levels that could be managed safely, the administrator cautioned.
Airport development funding would not take an immediate hit, Huerta said, because "under current law, programs and projects funded under the Airport Improvement Program are exempt from sequestration and would continue to operate at current funding levels."
Industry groups have worked for months to assess the impact of sequester, including any furloughs in the air traffic control ranks. Assuming cuts in FAA operational funding of almost 8.2 percent, the result could be "furloughing between 2,000 and 2,200 air traffic controllers, about 12 percent of the workforce," said the National Air Traffic Controllers Association in a December 2012 report.
This would inevitably lead to a reduction in services, reduced capacity, and fewer flights," it said.
Ripple effects from the cuts "would negatively impact airlines, pilots, flight attendants, private aviation, airport employees, passengers and the many businesses that depend on a vibrant aviation sector, which drives nearly 10 million jobs and contributes $1.3 trillion to the nation's GDP," NATCA said.
AOPA has been a strong supporter of the Contract Tower Program, which provides vital services at 249 airports that mostly serve general aviation. Last year AOPA joined with 11 other aviation organizations to urge full funding for the program in fiscal 2013--partly in a response to reports that the program had been targeted for cuts despite its cost-effective delivery of proven safety benefits.
And now? In its 2012 annual report, the American Association of Airport Executives warned of the impact of the across-the-board cuts on communities and businesses now reaping benefits of the program: "Without contract towers, certain communities could lose important businesses who rely on those towers. This is yet one more example of how local communities will feel the effects of sequestration cuts," AAAE said.
Huerta, in his sequester-impact statement, warned that "drastic reductions" could hit the services provided by contract programs as well.
If it seems like it took an act of Congress to get that wonderful local airshow established at your airport, here's an irony to ponder: Congressional inaction to avoid sequestration could be responsible for the show being canceled.
What do airshows and the federal budget have to do with one another?
A lot, unlikely as it seems.
That's because the airshows that bring well-known military flight teams to town could become casualties of sequestration.
The sequester could touch off a domino effect of consequences for airshows, airports, and communities, says the International Council of Air Shows (ICAS).
ICAS explained to members that under the Budget Control Act of 2011, the Defense Department and all other federal agencies would be "forced to make dramatic cuts to non-essential spending. That includes ending the participation of the U.S. military in air shows around the country. And, without that participation, it's not clear that the air show industry in the United States can survive."
The organization points out that each year more than 300 airshows bring world-class entertainment and a major economic shot in the arm to many local communities. An estimated 11 million to 13 million people attend airshows each year, ICAS said.
Also, the shows provide an effective public-relations link between the armed forces and taxpayers, showcasing national defense capabilities while providing patriotic--and affordable--family entertainment in "a festival-like atmosphere," ICAS said.
ICAS presented the implications of sequestration for the industry in the Feb. 7 edition of its publication Fast Facts .
With or without military participation, airshows benefit all of general aviation by bringing the public out to local airports, where they may start to learn about the industry's role in their communities. Airshows often also become a motivator for young people to pursue aviation as a career path, a decision often sealed by taking a first airplane ride during a local aviation event.
In 2013, some 65 communities are scheduled to host appearances by the Navy's Blue Angels and the Air Force's Thunderbirds flight teams, ICAS said.


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Christopher Gillen, 25, of Pacific Beach, pleaded guilty Dec. 11 to money-laundering charges as part of a scheme to mail packages of marijuana that were mailed to customers after the drug was cultivated in a Midway-area warehouse.
Gillen asked for immediate sentencing and received credit for 11 days in jail with three years probation from San Diego Superior Court Judge Dwayne Moring. Deputy District Attorney Shanish Aloor said Gillen played a minor role in the scheme, and the money-laundering count was reduced to a misdemeanor.
Awaiting sentencing is the defendant's brother, Kyle Thomas Gillen, 26, of Pacific Beach, who is believed to be the ringleader. Kyle Gillen and three others have pleaded guilty to mailing packages of marijuana and money laundering and will be sentenced Jan. 14.
The marijuana was grown in a warehouse in the Midway area. It was raided May 29 by agents from the Southwest Border Anti-Money Laundering Unit. About 300 marijuana plants were discovered. All defendants have posted bond since their arrests and remain free.
— Neal Putnam
Woman carjacked during Internet rendezvous
Police are probing an alleged carjacking involving a 19-year-old woman who reportedly became friends with a male suspect.
Reportedly, the pair decided to meet in the Ocean Beach area in the 4200 block of Voltaire Street on Dec. 11, shortly after 3:30 a.m.
The woman apparently got into the man's car, where he produced a handgun and ordered the woman out, roving to the woman's car and driving away with it.
He was described as a white man, 20 years old, 5 feet 10 inches tall, with a thin build.
Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.
Man gets 34 years in Midway, other heists
A prison term of 34 years and four months was handed down Dec. 16 for an armed robber of three 7-Eleven stores on Midway Drive and in Torrey Pines and 13 other stores elsewhere.
The attorney for Luis Alonso Cruz, 25, asked for the sentence he received while the prosecutor sought an 89-year prison term before San Diego Superior Court Judge Eugenia Eyherabide.
Deputy District Attorney Martin Doyle said Cruz pulled a gun on 13 people in small businesses in a robbery spree in 2012 and asked for consecutive terms. Three other victims were robbed without a gun pointed at them.
Eyherabide fined Cruz more than $11,000. She specifically ordered Cruz to pay $132 to the 7-Eleven store at 13835 Mango Drive in Torrey Pines and $170 and $100 each to the 7-Eleven stores on Midway Drive that were robbed in August 2012. She ordered Cruz to pay nearly $3,000 to the other stores that were held up.
Cruz pleaded guilty Aug. 27 to 16 counts of robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Co-defendant, Alex Sanchez, 24, was sentenced Sept. 10 to 25 years in prison for 13 of the same robberies. The only gunfire was by Sanchez who shot into a wall in one 7-Eleven store in Clairemont.
— Neal Putnam