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Hide-and-seek: Can tax treaties reveal offshore wealth?

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  • Jeong-Dae Lee

    (Macroeconomic Policy and Financing for Development Division, UNESCAP)

Abstract

In response to offshore tax evasion, governments have introduced new tax treaties to facilitate the exchange of financial account information between jurisdictions, including traditional tax havens. Based on international banking statistics, I examine whether these treaties have had a material impact on offshore evasion. Based on panel regression analysis, I find that cross-border deposits in traditional haven jurisdictions, taken as a proxy for offshore evasion in the literature, have declined substantially. However, I also find that these offshore assets are being relocated to few non-compliant tax havens and moreover, “non-haven” offshore financial centres, most notably the United States, which has yet to commit to reciprocal and automatic exchange of information and establish a public register of ultimate beneficial ownership.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeong-Dae Lee, 2019. "Hide-and-seek: Can tax treaties reveal offshore wealth?," MPDD Working Paper Series WP/19/07, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
    • Handle: RePEc:unt:wpmpdd:wp/19/07
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    File URL: https://www.unescap.org/publications/mpfd-working-paper-hide-and-seek-can-tax-treaties-reveal-offshore-wealth
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    tax evasion; tax haven; exchange of information;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance

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