This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) war on offshore tax evasion. The authors explain the new emerging regulatory regimes on the global exchange of information to combat offshore tax evasion and analyse why Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) is not a “magic bullet” solution. Chapters include coverage of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), AEOI and the Common Reporting Standards (CRS), and the unprecedented extra-territorial enforcement by the United States of its tax and reporting laws, including the FBAR provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act. These new legal regimes directly impact nearly all financial institutions and financial service providers in the U.S., U.K., EU, Canada, and each of the 132 member jurisdictions of the OECD’s Global Forum, as well as 8 million U.S. expats. In light of The Panama Papers, this book offers a timely and valuable contribution on the prevalence and costs of international tax evasion for the global financial community, policy-makers, and practitioners alike.

There is something visceral about ownership. This is mine; you can’t have it. This is mine; you can share it. This is ours. Try to find it. Contemporary literature and investigative journalism are showing that the scale of the problem of tax evasion, money laundering, organised crime, terrorism, bribery, corruption and gross human rights abuses is vast. Ownership – specifically, the quest to identify beneficial owners - has been chosen by national and international regulators as the touchstone, the litmus test in the fight back. An owner by definition must possess something for which they are financially accountable. But what is meant by "ownership"? This book explains why ownership is pivotal to accountability, and what ownership means in common law, civil law and Shariah law terms. It looks in detail at State, regional and international transparency strategies and at an equally powerful global private counter-initiative to promote beneficial ownership avoidance through the use of so-called "orphan structures". Where there is no owner, there is no accountability. The distinction between privacy and legitimate confidentiality on the one hand, and concealment on the other is explained with reference to commercial and trade law and practice, principles of corporate governance and applicable business human rights. This book introduces one further counter initiative: the phenomenon of transient ownership made possible through the use of cryptocurrency and the blockchain. The study concludes with a blueprint for action with recommendations addressed to states, international organisations, practitioners and other stakeholders.

This book explores the connection between ownership, on one hand, and immunity from legal responsibility, on the other. It presents a definition of the concept of beneficial ownership, the reasons for its concealment, and failures in international legal structures and arrangements. Globally, States confront complex criminality, such as corruption, tax evasion, doctrinal fanaticism, trafficked slaves, terrorism and, war. At the personal level, men and women may seek to escape their creditors, to disinherit unwanted heirs, to cheat divorced partners, and to appear straightforward when this is not the case. The response of politicians and regulators has been a global State initiative to identify beneficial owners via public registers to promote transparency and accountability. Yet, at the same time, there is an equally powerful global and personal counter-initiative to promote beneficial ownership avoidance. Where there is no owner, there is no accountability. This book examines what “ownership” means in legal terms across multiple legal systems and explains why singling out “ownership” as being pivotal to State and personal accountability is a strategy both flawed and disingenuous. It is argued that an apparent lack of political will coupled with shape-shifting definitions of “ownership” have resulted in tokenism. Particular attention is paid to those “orphan” structures which have evolved from standard models, or which have been designed for the purpose in each case of facilitating ownership concealment and avoidance. The author explains how the virtual world of the blockchain, crypto-assets and cryptocurrency, and virtual entities such as the Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO), all of which elude legal classification, have opened a new world of possibilities. Applicable across all jurisdictions and legal systems, the book will be a valuable resource for academics, researchers, and policy-makers working in the areas of Financial Crime, Regulation, Compliance, Business, and Accountancy.

This book provides a critical and contemporary evaluation of the laws and enforcement policies pertaining to tax evasion in the United Kingdom (UK) and United States (US). Since the inception of taxes, revenue collection authorities around the world have attempted to address the seemingly perennial problem of individuals evading their tax liabilities. The financial crisis has shone a new light on the issue with an increased interest in using the criminal justice system as a means of addressing it in the UK. In sharp contrast to the UK, the US has a strong record of prosecuting crimes of tax evasion, whether committed by individuals or professional corporate facilitators. Providing an evaluation of the UK’s tax evasion laws and enforcement policy, through a comparative approach, this work highlights insights provided by the US experience. In so doing, the book explores the interconnections between tax evasion and money laundering, identifying best practices, omissions, and areas for reform. The work will be a valuable resource for researchers, academics, and policy-makers working in the areas of financial crime, financial law, accountancy and criminal justice.

This book addresses sixteen different reform proposals that are urgently needed to correct the fault lines in the international tax system as it exists today, and which deprive both developing and developed countries of critical tax resources. It offers clear and concrete ideas on how the reforms can be achieved and why they are important for a more just and equitable global system to prevail. The key to reducing the tax gap and consequent human rights deficit in poor countries is global financial transparency. Such transparency is essential to curbing illicit financial flows that drain less developed countries of capital and tax revenues, and are an impediment to sustainable development. A major break-through for financial transparency is now within reach. The policy reforms outlined in this book not only advance tax justice but also protect human rights by curtailing illegal activity and making available more resources for development. While the reforms are realistic they require both political and an informed and engaged civil society that can put pressure on governments and policy makers to act.

Organised crime, corruption, and terrorism are considered to pose significant and unrelenting threats to the integrity, security, and stability of contemporary societies. Alongside traditional criminal enforcement responses, strategies focused on following the money trail of such crimes have become increasingly prevalent. These strategies include anti-money laundering measures to prevent ‘dirty money’ from infiltrating the legitimate economy, proceeds of crime powers to target the accumulated assets derived from crime, and counter-terrorist financing measures to prevent ‘clean’ money from being used for terrorist purposes. This collection brings together 17 emerging researchers in the fields of anti-money laundering, proceeds of crime, counter-terrorist financing and corruption to offer critical analyses of contemporary anti-assets strategies and state responses to a range of financial crimes. The chapters focus on innovative anti-financial crime measures and assemblages of governance that have become a feature of late modernity and on the ways in which individual nation states have responded to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing requirements in light of their specific social, political, and economic contexts. This collection draws on perspectives from law, criminology, sociology, politics, and other disciplines. It adopts a much-needed international approach, focusing not only on expected jurisdictions, such as the United States and United Kingdom, but also on analysis from countries such as Qatar, Kuwait, Iran, and Nigeria. The authors stand out for their fresh and original research, which places them at the cutting edge of the subject. This book provides a comprehensive, insightful, and original study of an important and developing field for academics, students, practitioners, and policymakers in multiple jurisdictions.

Why has global tax governance been politicized and how can we explain the varying intensity and content of public debates? This book offers an integrated theory of the politicization of international institutions and a detailed account of how the institutional design and policy output of tax governance by the EU and OECD have developed over time. Offering the first in-depth empirical analysis to compare politicization across international institutions, it blends institutionalist explanations that focus on the growing authority of international institutions, and sociological and political economy approaches that take into account domestic context. Exploring why and how international institutions have become increasingly contested in the 21st century, this book will be of particular interest to the scholars of the transfer of authority from the nation-state to international institutions, and the societal repercussions and political struggles that connect these processes. Researchers in the fields of political science, international relations, sociology, and political communication will also find it useful and insightful.