VATICAN CITY
Crux
By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent April 1, 2015
ROME — In the latest effort under Pope Francis to reform the Church’s finances, the Vatican and Italy reached an agreement on Wednesday to share financial and tax information, designed to help both states crack down on money-laundering and other illicit behavior.
The agreement is also intended to ensure that the so-called “Vatican bank,” which reportedly controls almost $10 billion in assets, no longer functions as an offshore tax haven for wealthy Italian VIPs, a perception that has long angered both tax officials and financial regulators in Italy.
Among other things, the agreement likely will mean that entities with deposits in the Vatican bank will have pay taxes on interest income to Italy.
Given that some of the most damaging complaints about Vatican money management over the years have come from Italian politicians, bankers, and regulators, the agreement could provide the Vatican with a firebreak against new scandal.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.