What is 'Offshore'? International Tax Evasion and Avoidance and How to Combat it

Abstract

This briefing aims to explain the ‘offshore’ system which enables both evasion and avoidance of tax, as well as of other types of laws and regulations, and discusses countermeasures. All illicit cross-border financial flows exploit the offshore system, so understanding how it works is the key to ensuring effective and coherent countermeasures, in relation to tax, money-laundering and corruption. It was written as a submission to the United Nations High Level Panel on Financial Accountability, Transparency & Integrity.