01 April 2016

IFC Review: Disclosure Initiatives for Tax Purposes in Offshore Regimes – The New Double Standard

We have witnessed emboldened new initiatives geared towards compelling offshore financial centres to enter into radical arrangements that aim at full disclosure of information and the desecration of financial privacy. Offshore financial regimes have been challenged for some time now, given their successful role in equalising global revenues, often, though not exclusively, through efficient, innovative tax competitive regimes. However, the current transparency imperative is perhaps the greatest blow, especially the emerging concept of tax transparency, particularly when applied to the transnational sphere. The path to tax transparency has been through a concerted and continuous international effort to erode (some may say annihilate), the principle of financial confidentiality.

Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine examines disclosure initiatives for tax purposes in IFCs and calls for proportionality, balance and fairness in approaching these new tax transparency initiatives

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