Tax Heavens and Offshore Financial Centres

Tax Havens

The term ‘tax haven’ has been widely used since the 1950s. However, there is no precise definition of the term. The OECD initially defined tax havens as being characterised by no or very low taxes, lack of effective exchange of information, and lack of transparency about substantial activities. It listed 35 countries jurisdictions as tax havens in the year 2000. The list has changed over time as moretax havens have made agreements to share information.

Offshore Financial Centres

Some of the old tax havens have adopted the more benign designation of ‘offshore financial centre’ (OFC) and tend ....

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