E-mails reveal that Swatch feared tax challenge

By Adrian Michaels

"Senior financial executives at Swatch Group feared that the company's global tax arrangements would be challenged by authorities if the accounting treatment applied to watches moving through the company became known.

The Swiss watch group, whose profits have benefited from a lowering of its overall tax rate, funnelled the paperwork for many watches through a subsidiary called Swatch Group (Asia), based in Hong Kong and registered in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands. SG (Asia) added significant mark-ups to the prices of goods sent to it from other parts of the group before sending them on internally."

- There are two things that can be learned here. First, what you put in email (or anywhere on a computer for that matter) can be recreated and accessed. Say only what you would want others to read. Second, you should try your best to optimize (read minimize) the taxes that you pay, just make sure you do it legally. -ed.
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