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{{short description|Low "effective" tax rates for foreign corporations}}{{Complicated|date=May 2025}}{{taxation}}
A '''Corporate haven''', '''corporate tax haven''', or '''multinational tax haven,''' is a jurisdiction that [[multinational corporation]]s find attractive for establishing subsidiaries or headquarters. This appeal is due to favourable tax regimes (beyond just the headline rate), favourable secrecy laws (such as relaxed disclosure requirements), and/or favourable regulatory regimes (such as weak data-protection or employment laws).

Unlike traditional [[tax havens]], modern corporate tax havens reject that they have anything to do with near-zero [[Corporation tax in the Republic of Ireland#Effective tax rate (ETR)|effective tax rates]], due to their need to encourage jurisdictions to enter into bilateral [[Tax treaty|tax treaties]] that accept the haven's [[base erosion and profit shifting]] (BEPS) tools. [[CORPNET]] show each corporate tax haven is strongly connected with specific traditional tax havens (via additional BEPS tool "backdoors" like the [[double Irish]], the [[Dutch sandwich]], and [[Double Irish arrangement#Replacement by Single Malt|single malt]]). Corporate tax havens promote themselves as "knowledge economies", and intellectual property ([[intellectual property|IP]]) as a "new economy" asset, rather than a tax management tool, which is encoded into their statute books as their primary BEPS tool. This perceived respectability encourages corporations to use these [[International Financial Centers|International Financial Centres]] (IFCs) as regional headquarters (i.e. [[Google]], [[Apple Inc.|Apple]], and [[Facebook]] use [[Ireland]] in [[EMEA]] over [[Luxembourg]], and [[Singapore]] in [[Asia-Pacific|APAC]] over [[Hong Kong]]/[[Taiwan]]).

While the "headline" corporate tax rate in jurisdictions most often implicated in BEPS is always above zero (e.g. [[Netherlands]] at 25%, U.K. at 19%, [[Singapore]] at 17%, and [[Ireland]] at 12.5%), the "[[Corporation tax in the Republic of Ireland#Effective tax rate (ETR)|effective]]" tax rate (ETR) of multinational corporations, net of the BEPS tools, is closer to zero. To increase respectability, and access to [[tax treaty|tax treaties]], some jurisdictions like Singapore and Ireland require corporates to have a "substantive presence", equating to an "employment tax" of approximately 2–3% of profits shielded and if these are real jobs, the tax is mitigated.

In corporate tax haven lists, CORPNET's "[[Conduit and Sink OFCs|Orbis connections]]", ranks the Netherlands, U.K., Switzerland, Ireland, and Singapore as the world's key corporate tax havens, while [[Gabriel Zucman|Zucman's]] "[[Conduit and Sink OFCs#Ireland underestimated|quantum of funds]]" ranks Ireland as the largest global corporate tax haven. In proxy tests, Ireland is the largest recipient of U.S. [[Tax inversion#Destinations|tax inversions]] (the U.K. is third, the Netherlands is fifth). Ireland's [[double Irish]] BEPS tool is credited with the largest build-up of untaxed corporate [[double Irish|offshore cash in history]]. Luxembourg and Hong Kong and the Caribbean "triad" (BVI-Cayman-Bermuda), have elements of corporate tax havens, but also of traditional tax havens.

Economic Substance legislation introduced in recent years has identified that BEPS is not a material part of the financial services business for Cayman, BVI and Bermuda. While the legislation was originally resisted on extraterritoriality, human rights, privacy, international justice, jurisprudence and colonialism grounds, the introduction of these regulations has had the effect of putting these jurisdictions far ahead of onshore regulatory regimes.

==Global BEPS hubs==
{{see also|Base erosion and profit shifting}}

Modern corporate tax havens, such as Ireland, Singapore, the Netherlands and the U.K., are different from traditional "offshore" financial centres like Bermuda, the Cayman Islands or Jersey.<ref name="dut">{{cite web|url=https://thecorrespondent.com/6942/bermuda-guess-again-turns-out-holland-is-the-tax-haven-of-choice-for-us-companies/417639737658-b85252de|title=Bermuda? Guess again. Turns out Holland is the tax haven of choice for US companies|publisher=The Correspondent|date=30 June 2017|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813222811/https://thecorrespondent.com/6942/bermuda-guess-again-turns-out-holland-is-the-tax-haven-of-choice-for-us-companies/417639737658-b85252de|archive-date=13 August 2017|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="dutx">{{cite web|url=https://www.somo.nl/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/A-tax-haven.pdf|title=The Netherlands: A Tax Haven?|publisher=Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO)|author1=Richard Murphy|author2=Francis Weyzig|date=2006|access-date=2018-06-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629211222/https://www.somo.nl/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/A-tax-haven.pdf|archive-date=2018-06-29|url-status=dead|author1-link=Richard Murphy (tax campaigner)}}</ref>  Corporate havens offer the ability to reroute untaxed profits from higher-tax jurisdictions back to the haven;<ref name="bbbg"/><ref name="qzz"/> as long as these jurisdictions have bi-lateral [[Tax treaty|tax treaties]] with the corporate haven.<ref name="singapore">{{cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/business/multinationals-channel-more-money-through-hubs-in-singapore-switzerland-than-ever-before-tax-office-says-20150204-1363u5.html|title=Multinationals channel more money through "hubs" in Singapore, Switzerland than ever before, Tax Office says|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|date=5 February 2015|access-date=21 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522042115/https://www.smh.com.au/business/multinationals-channel-more-money-through-hubs-in-singapore-switzerland-than-ever-before-tax-office-says-20150204-1363u5.html|archive-date=22 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>  This makes modern corporate tax havens more potent than more traditional [[tax havens]], who have more limited tax treaties, due to their acknowledged status.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2387&context=key_workplace|title=Tax Havens: International Tax Avoidance and Evasion |author=Jane Gravelle|publisher=Cornell University|date=15 January 2015}}</ref>  

The Cayman Islands, BVI, Bermuda, Jersey and Guernsey are more properly now known as IFCs or [[Offshore financial centre|Offshore Financial Centres]] (OFCs). 

===Tools===

Tax academics identify that extracting untaxed profits from higher-tax jurisdictions requires several components:<ref name="dut2">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/oct/19/tax-avoidance-in-netherlands-becomes-focus-of-campaigners|title=Dutch masters of tax avoidance|newspaper=The Guardian|date=19 October 2011|access-date=14 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515080658/https://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/oct/19/tax-avoidance-in-netherlands-becomes-focus-of-campaigners|archive-date=15 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="zew">{{cite web|url=http://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp13078.pdf|title=Profit Shifting and "Aggressive" Tax Planning by Multinational Firms|page=3|publisher=Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW)|date=October 2013|access-date=2018-05-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170811020522/http://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp13078.pdf|archive-date=2017-08-11|url-status=dead}}</ref>
{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
|{{slink||IP-based BEPS tools}}, which enable the profits to be extracted via the cross-border charge-out of group IP (known as "intergroup IP charging"); and/or
|{{slink||Debt-based BEPS tools}}, which enable the profits to be extracted via the cross-border charge-out artificially high interest (known as "earnings stripping"); and/or
|{{slink||TP-based BEPS tools}}, which enable profits to be extracted by claiming that a ''process'' performed on the product in the jurisdiction justifies a large increase in the [[Transfer pricing|transfer price]] ("TP") at which the finished product is charged-out at, in the jurisdiction, to higher-tax jurisdictions (known as [[contract manufacturing]]); and
|Bilateral tax treaties with the corporate tax haven, which accept these BEPS tools as deductible against tax in the higher-tax jurisdictions.
}}
Once the untaxed funds are rerouted back to the corporate tax haven, additional BEPS tools shield against paying taxes in the haven.  It is important these BEPS tools are complex and obtuse so that the higher-tax jurisdictions do not feel the corporate haven is a traditional tax haven (or they will suspend the bilateral tax treaties).  These complex BEPS tools often have interesting labels:<ref name="zew"/><ref name="caid">{{cite web|url=https://www.christianaid.ie/sites/default/files/2018-02/impossible-structures-tax-report.pdf|title='Impossible' structures: tax outcomes overlooked by the 2015 tax Spillover analysis|publisher=Christian Aid|date=2017|access-date=2018-05-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322020723/https://www.christianaid.ie/sites/default/files/2018-02/impossible-structures-tax-report.pdf|archive-date=2018-03-22|url-status=dead}}</ref>
{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
|[[Royalty payment]] BEPS tools to reroute the funds to a low tax jurisdiction (i.e. [[double Irish]] and [[Double Irish arrangement#Replacement by Single Malt|single malt]] in Ireland or [[dutch sandwich]] in the Netherlands); or
|[[Capital allowance]] BEPS tools that allow IP assets to be written off against taxes in the jurisdiction (i.e. Apple's 2015 [[Double Irish arrangement#Backstop of capital allowances|capital allowances for intangibles]] tool in [[leprechaun economics]]); or
|Lower IP-sourced income tax regimes, offering explicitly lower ETRs against charging out of cross-border group IP (i.e. the U.K. [[patent box]], or the Irish [[Corporation tax in the Republic of Ireland#Knowledge Development Box|knowledge box]]); or
|Beneficial treatment of interest income (from {{slink||Debt-based BEPS tools}}), enabling it to be treated as non-taxable (i.e. the Dutch "double dipping" interest regime<ref name="dut10">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/dec/10/taxandspending-taxavoidance|title=Dutch Double Dips and Dutch Sandwiches|newspaper=The Guardian|date=10 December 2010|access-date=25 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180526041648/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/dec/10/taxandspending-taxavoidance|archive-date=26 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>); or
|Restructuring the income into a [[securitisation]] vehicle (by owning the IP, or other asset, with debt), and then "washing" the debt by "back-to-backing" with a Eurobond (i.e. [[Irish Section 110 Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)#Evolution|Orphaned Super-QIAIF]]).  
}}

===Execution===

Building the tools requires advanced legal and accounting skills that can create the BEPS tools in a manner that is acceptable to major global jurisdictions and that can be encoded into bilateral tax treaties, and does not look like a "tax haven" type activity.  Most modern corporate tax havens therefore come from established [[financial centres]] where advanced skills are in-situ for financial structuring.<ref name="dut5"/><ref name="dut3"/>  In addition to being able to create the tools, the haven needs the respectability to use them.  Large high-tax jurisdictions like Germany do not accept IP–based BEPS tools from Bermuda but do from Ireland.  Similarly, Australia accepts limited IP–based BEPS tools from Hong Kong but accepts the full range from Singapore.<ref name="dut4"/>  

Tax academics identify a number of elements corporate havens employ in supporting respectability:<ref name="ftt">{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/d9b4fd34-ca3f-11e3-8a31-00144feabdc0|title=Tax avoidance: The Irish inversion|newspaper=[[Financial Times]]|date=14 April 2014|access-date=19 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180519085507/https://www.ft.com/content/d9b4fd34-ca3f-11e3-8a31-00144feabdc0|archive-date=19 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
|Non-zero headline tax rates.  While corporate tax havens have ETRs of close to zero, they all maintain non-zero "headline" tax rates.  Many of the corporate tax havens have accounting studies to prove that their "effective" tax rates are similar to their "headline" tax rates,<ref name="pwcrates"/> but this is because they are net of the {{slink||IP-based BEPS tools}} which consider much of the income exempt from tax;

{{quote|Make no mistake: the headline rate is not what triggers tax evasion and aggressive tax planning. That comes from schemes that facilitate [base erosion and] profit shifting [or BEPS].|source=[[Pierre Moscovici]], ''Financial Times'', 11 March 2018<ref name="pierre">{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/2b356956-17fc-11e8-9376-4a6390addb44|title=Multinationals pay lower taxes than a decade ago|newspaper=Financial Times|date=11 March 2018|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180429092102/https://www.ft.com/content/2b356956-17fc-11e8-9376-4a6390addb44|archive-date=29 April 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>}}

|OECD compliance and endorsement.  Most corporate tax structures in modern corporate tax havens are OECD–whitelisted.<ref name="pod">{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/paschal-donohoe-rejects-report-branding-republic-world-s-biggest-tax-haven-1.3529061|title=Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe rejects Gabrial Zucman report branding Ireland as the 'world's biggest tax haven'|quote=Minister Donohoe pointed out that the Republic earned the "highest rating possible in terms of transparency" in the OECD's latest review. |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]|date=13 June 2018}}</ref>  The OECD has been a long-term supporter of IP–based BEPS tools and cross-border intergroup IP charging.  All the corporate tax havens signed the 2017 OECD [[Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting|MLI]] and marketed their compliance, however, they all opted out of the key article 12 section;<ref name="itm"/><ref name="caid"/>

{{quote|Under BEPS, new requirements for country-by-country reporting of tax and profits and other initiatives will give this further impetus, and mean even more foreign investment in Ireland.|source=''[[Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal]]'', "IP and Tax Avoidance in Ireland", 30 August 2016<ref name="fordam"/>}}

|{{slink||Employment tax}} strategies.  Leading corporate tax havens distance themselves from zero tax jurisdictions by requiring corporates to establish a "presence of substance" in their jurisdiction.  This equates to an effective "employment tax" of circa 2–3% but it gives the corporate, and the jurisdiction, defense against accusations as being a tax haven, and is supported in OCED [[Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting|MLI]] Article 5.

{{quote|If [the OECD] BEPS [Project] sees itself to a conclusion, it will be good for Ireland.|author=[[Feargal O'Rourke]], CEO PwC Ireland, ''The Irish Times'', May 2015.<ref name="fer"/>}}

|Data protection laws.  To maintain OECD–whitelist status, corporate tax havens cannot use the secrecy legislation.  Activists assert that companies keep the "effective" tax rates of corporations hidden with data protection and privacy laws which prevent the public filing of accounts and also limit the sharing of data across State departments (see [[Ireland as a tax haven#Captured state|here]] for examples), however most of the situation that have reached the media have been based on information published by the subject companies.

{{quote|Local subsidiaries of multinationals must always be required to file their accounts on public record, which is not the case at present. Ireland is not just a tax haven at present, it is also a corporate secrecy jurisdiction.|source=[[Richard Murphy (tax campaigner)|Richard Murphy]], co-founder of the [[Tax Justice Network]] and the [[Financial Secrecy Index]], June 2018.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2018/07/04/irelands-playing-games-in-the-last-chance-saloon-of-tax-justice/|title=Ireland's playing games in the last chance saloon of tax justice|publisher=[[Richard Murphy (tax campaigner)|Richard Murphy]]|date=4 July 2018|quote=Local subsidiaries of multinationals must always be required to file their accounts on public record, which is not the case at present. Ireland is not just a tax haven at present, it is also a corporate secrecy jurisdiction.|access-date=6 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180708221837/http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2018/07/04/irelands-playing-games-in-the-last-chance-saloon-of-tax-justice/|archive-date=8 July 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>}}

}}

==Aspects==

===Misnomer===

While jurisdictions traditionally labelled as [[tax haven]]s have often marketed themselves as such, modern Offshore Financial Centres reject the tax haven label.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2009/05/us_tax_haven_claim_surprises_d/|title=US tax haven claim surprises Dutch|publisher=DutchNews.nl|date=5 May 2009|access-date=14 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515112204/https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2009/05/us_tax_haven_claim_surprises_d/|archive-date=15 May 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/ireland-is-not-a-tax-haven-leo-varadkar-says-1.3303226?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Feconomy%2Fireland-is-not-a-tax-haven-leo-varadkar-says-1.3303226|title=Ireland is not a tax haven, Leo Varadkar says|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=23 November 2017|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180419054610/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/ireland-is-not-a-tax-haven-leo-varadkar-says-1.3303226?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Feconomy%2Fireland-is-not-a-tax-haven-leo-varadkar-says-1.3303226|archive-date=19 April 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="straits">{{cite news|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/business/banking/spore-is-no-tax-haven-govt-experts-here|title=MOF rejects claim of Singapore as tax haven|newspaper=[[The Straits Times]]|date=14 December 2016|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514012242/https://www.straitstimes.com/business/banking/spore-is-no-tax-haven-govt-experts-here|archive-date=14 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>  This is to ensure that other higher-tax jurisdictions, from which the corporate's main income and profits often originate, will sign bilateral tax-treaties with the haven,<ref name="xyz"/> and also to avoid being black-listed.<ref name="reuters1">{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/ireland-brazil-funds/blacklisted-by-brazil-dublin-funds-find-new-ways-to-invest-idUSL8N1MK2NX|title=Blacklisted by Brazil, Dublin funds find new ways to invest|work=Reuters|date=20 March 2017|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614121655/https://www.reuters.com/article/ireland-brazil-funds/blacklisted-by-brazil-dublin-funds-find-new-ways-to-invest-idUSL8N1MK2NX|archive-date=14 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="independent1">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/ireland-no-tax-haven-us-authorities-told-35565554.html|title=Oregon Department of Revenue made a recommendation that Ireland be included as a 'listed jurisdiction' or tax haven|newspaper=Irish Independent|date=26 March 2017|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614121653/https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/ireland-no-tax-haven-us-authorities-told-35565554.html|archive-date=14 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.taxjustice.net/2017/04/10/tax-haven-blacklisting-13-latin-american-countries/|title=Tax haven blacklisting in Latin America|publisher=Tax Justice Network|date=6 April 2017|access-date=21 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522043636/https://www.taxjustice.net/2017/04/10/tax-haven-blacklisting-13-latin-american-countries/|archive-date=22 May 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

This issue has caused debate on what constitutes a tax haven,<ref name="sing"/> with the OECD most focused on transparency (the key issue of traditional tax havens),<ref name="pod"/><ref name="ced">{{cite web|url=http://www.thejournal.ie/oced-ireland-tax-haven-1005122-Jul2013/|title=OECD tax chief: 'Ireland is not a tax haven'|publisher=thejournal.ie|date=23 July 2013|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180427201152/http://www.thejournal.ie/oced-ireland-tax-haven-1005122-Jul2013/|archive-date=27 April 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/why-irelands-transparency-and-tax-regime-means-it-is-not-a-haven-36564387.html|title=Why Ireland's transparency and tax regime means it is not a haven|newspaper=Irish Independent|date=February 2018|access-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180513224041/https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/why-irelands-transparency-and-tax-regime-means-it-is-not-a-haven-36564387.html|archive-date=2018-05-13|url-status=live}}</ref> but others focused on outcomes such as total [[Corporation tax in the Republic of Ireland#Effective tax rate (ETR)|effective corporate taxes]] paid.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/07/eu-tax-haven-blacklist-whitewash-west-imperialism-tackle-avoidance|title=A tax haven blacklist without the UK is a whitewash|newspaper=The Guardian|date=7 December 2017|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180513223643/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/07/eu-tax-haven-blacklist-whitewash-west-imperialism-tackle-avoidance|archive-date=13 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/oxfam-says-ireland-is-a-tax-haven-judged-by-eu-criteria-1.3307370?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Feconomy%2Foxfam-says-ireland-is-a-tax-haven-judged-by-eu-criteria-1.3307370|title=Oxfam says Ireland is a tax haven judged by EU criteria|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=28 November 2017|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180424215233/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/oxfam-says-ireland-is-a-tax-haven-judged-by-eu-criteria-1.3307370?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Feconomy%2Foxfam-says-ireland-is-a-tax-haven-judged-by-eu-criteria-1.3307370|archive-date=24 April 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="aa4">{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/joseph-stiglitz-cheating-ireland-muddled-europe-1.2776981?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Feconomy%2Fjoseph-stiglitz-cheating-ireland-muddled-europe-1.2776981|title=Joseph Stiglitz: 'Cheating' Ireland, muddled Europe|newspaper=The Irish Examiner|date=2 September 2016|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612150004/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/joseph-stiglitz-cheating-ireland-muddled-europe-1.2776981?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Feconomy%2Fjoseph-stiglitz-cheating-ireland-muddled-europe-1.2776981|archive-date=12 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="aa2">{{cite web|url=https://www.icij.org/investigations/paradise-papers/bermuda-luxembourg-new-eu-blacklist-omits-major-tax-havens/|title=Where is Luxembourg, Ireland and the Netherlands on the new EU blacklist|publisher=The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists|date=5 December 2015|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328142712/https://www.icij.org/investigations/paradise-papers/bermuda-luxembourg-new-eu-blacklist-omits-major-tax-havens/|archive-date=28 March 2019|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>  It is common to see the media, and elected representatives, of a modern corporate tax haven ask the question, "Are we a tax haven ?"<ref name="aa1">{{cite web|url=https://esvnijmegen.nl/en/esvisie/the-netherlands-tax-haven-or-not/|title=The Netherlands: tax haven or not?|publisher=ESV|date=2016|access-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613212048/https://esvnijmegen.nl/en/esvisie/the-netherlands-tax-haven-or-not/|archive-date=2018-06-13|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://claredaly.ie/is-ireland-a-tax-haven-for-corporations/|title=Is Ireland a Corporate Tax Haven, Clare Daly Irish Dail T.D.|date=2013|access-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514064828/http://claredaly.ie/is-ireland-a-tax-haven-for-corporations/|archive-date=2018-05-14|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-31/is-the-u-k-already-the-kind-of-tax-haven-it-claims-it-won-t-be|title=Is the U.K. Already the Kind of Tax Haven It Claims It Won't Be?|publisher=Bloomberg News|date=31 July 2017|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613185644/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-31/is-the-u-k-already-the-kind-of-tax-haven-it-claims-it-won-t-be|archive-date=13 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="forbes">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/taxanalysts/2013/11/06/if-ireland-is-not-a-tax-haven-what-is-it/#79ff76d37746|title=If Ireland Is Not A Tax Haven, What Is It?|magazine=[[Forbes]]|date=November 2014|access-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180427185227/https://www.forbes.com/sites/taxanalysts/2013/11/06/if-ireland-is-not-a-tax-haven-what-is-it/#79ff76d37746|archive-date=2018-04-27|url-status=live}}</ref>

For example, when it was shown in 2014, prompted by an October 2013 Bloomberg piece,<ref name="bbbg"/><ref name="ftt"/> that the effective tax rate of U.S. multinationals in Ireland was 2.2% (using the U.S. [[Bureau of Economic Analysis]] method),<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/corporate-tax-calculations-1.1689233?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Feconomy%2Fcorporate-tax-calculations-1.1689233|quote=A study by James Stewart, associate professor in finance at Trinity College Dublin, suggests that in 2011 the subsidiaries of US multinationals in Ireland paid an effective tax rate of 2.2 per cent.|title=Effective Corporate Tax calculations: 2.2%|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=14 February 2014|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180426215100/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/corporate-tax-calculations-1.1689233?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Feconomy%2Fcorporate-tax-calculations-1.1689233|archive-date=26 April 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="weil">{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2014-02-11/weil-on-finance-yes-ireland-is-a-tax-haven|title=Weil on Finance: Yes, Ireland Is a Tax Haven|publisher=Bloomberg News|date=11 February 2014|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180427150118/https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2014-02-11/weil-on-finance-yes-ireland-is-a-tax-haven|archive-date=27 April 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/multinationals-escape-tax-due-to-exceptional-rules-study-claims-1.1784447|title=Multinationals escape tax due to 'exceptional' rules, study claims|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=6 May 2014|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612160128/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/multinationals-escape-tax-due-to-exceptional-rules-study-claims-1.1784447|archive-date=12 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="qzz">{{cite news|url=https://qz.com/176070/new-evidence-makes-it-plain-that-ireland-is-a-tax-haven/|title=New research makes it plain that Ireland is a tax haven|work=Quartz|date=11 February 2014|access-date=19 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180520123906/https://qz.com/176070/new-evidence-makes-it-plain-that-ireland-is-a-tax-haven/|archive-date=20 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> it led to denials by the Irish Government<ref name="cnbc1">{{cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2014/02/11/irish-pm-counters-corporate-tax-rate-claims-.html|title=Irish PM counters corporate tax rate claims|publisher=CNBC|date=February 2014|access-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180426213801/https://www.cnbc.com/2014/02/11/irish-pm-counters-corporate-tax-rate-claims-.html|archive-date=2018-04-26|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/kenny-warns-continued-loose-talk-on-taxation-is-damaging-our-country-35151995.html|title=Kenny warns continued 'loose talk on taxation is damaging our country'|newspaper=Irish Independent|date=February 2014|access-date=2018-06-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612143512/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/kenny-warns-continued-loose-talk-on-taxation-is-damaging-our-country-35151995.html|archive-date=2018-06-12|url-status=live}}</ref> and the production of studies claiming Ireland's effective tax rate was 12.5%.<ref name="pwcrates">{{cite web|url=http://www.budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2015/Documents/Technical_Paper_Effective_Rates_Corporation_Tax_Ireland.pdf|title=Effective Corporate Tax in Ireland: April 2014|publisher=Department of Finance|date=April 2014|access-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180424174535/http://www.budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2015/Documents/Technical_Paper_Effective_Rates_Corporation_Tax_Ireland.pdf|archive-date=2018-04-24|url-status=live}}</ref>  However, when the EU fined Apple in 2016, Ireland's largest company,<ref name="itb">{{cite news| url=http://www.top1000.ie/companies| title=Ireland's Top 1000 Companies| newspaper=The Irish Times| date=2018| access-date=2018-05-11| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180510052425/https://www.top1000.ie/companies| archive-date=2018-05-10| url-status=live}}</ref> [[EU illegal State aid case against Apple in Ireland|€13 billion in Irish back taxes]] (the largest tax fine in corporate history<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/4472500/apple-eu-irish-tax-bill/|title=Apple vs. the E.U. Is the Biggest Tax Battle in History|last=Foroohar|first=Rana|date=30 August 2016|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=14 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114131815/http://time.com/4472500/apple-eu-irish-tax-bill/|archive-date=14 November 2016|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>), the EU stated that Apple's effective tax rate in Ireland was approximately 0.005% for the 2004-2014 period. The EU's position was found, on appeal in the EU's court, to be unsupported by the facts. However, the G7 leaders in the wake of reporting about a Microsoft subsidiary's level of taxation in 2020, have proposed an agreement on a global [[minimum corporate tax rate]] of 15%. 
{{quote|Applying a 12.5% rate in a tax code that shields most corporate profits from taxation, is indistinguishable from applying a near 0% rate in a normal tax code.|source=[[Jonathan Weil]], Bloomberg View, 11 February 2014<ref name="weil"/>}}

Activists in the [[Tax Justice Network]] propose that Ireland's effective corporate tax rate was not 12.5%, but closer to the BEA calculation. Studies cited by ''The Irish Times'' and other outlets suggest that the effective tax rate is close to the headline 12.5 percent rate – but this is a theoretical result based on a theoretical "standard firm with 60 employees" and no exports: in reality, multinational businesses and their corporate structures vary significantly. It is not just Ireland, however.  The same BEA calculation showed that the ETRs of U.S. corporates in other jurisdictions was also very low: Luxembourg (2.4%),  the Netherlands (3.4%) and the US for multinationals based in other parts of the World.<ref name="qzz"/>  When [[Gabriel Zucman]], published a multi-year investigation into corporate tax havens in June 2018, showing that Ireland is the largest global corporate tax haven (having allegedly shielded $106 billion in profits in 2015), and that Ireland's effective tax rate was 4% (including all non-Irish corporates),<ref name="gabrielzucman">{{cite web|url=http://gabriel-zucman.eu/|title=The Missing Profits of Nations|page=31|author1=Gabriel Zucman|author2=Thomas Torslov|author3=Ludvig Wier|quote=Table 2: Shifted Profits: Country-by-Country Estimates (2015)|publisher=University of Berkley|date=June 2018|access-date=2018-05-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522074245/http://gabriel-zucman.eu/|archive-date=2018-05-22|url-status=live|author1-link=Gabriel Zucman}}</ref> the Irish Government countered that they could not be a tax haven as they are OECD-compliant.<ref name="pod"/>

{{quote|There is a broad consensus that Ireland must defend its 12.5 per cent corporate tax rate. But that rate is defensible only if it is real. The great risk to Ireland is that we are trying to defend the indefensible. It is morally, politically and economically wrong for Ireland to allow vastly wealthy corporations to escape the basic duty of paying tax. If we don't recognise that now, we will soon find that a key plank of Irish policy has become untenable.|source=''[[The Irish Times]]'', "Editorial View: Corporate tax: defending the indefensible", 2 December 2017<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorial/corporate-tax-defending-the-indefensible-1.3312515|title=Corporate tax: defending the indefensible|date=2 December 2017|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=14 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202044329/http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorial/corporate-tax-defending-the-indefensible-1.3312515|archive-date=2 December 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>}}

===Financial impact===
{{see also|Corporation tax in the Republic of Ireland#Effective tax rate (ETR)}}

It is difficult to calculate the financial effect of tax havens in general due to the obfuscation of financial data. Most estimates have wide ranges (see [[tax haven#Financial effect|financial effect of tax havens]]).  By focusing on "headline" vs. "effective" corporate tax rates, researchers have been able to more accurately estimate the annual financial tax losses (or "profits shifted"), due to corporate tax havens specifically. This is not easy, however.  As discussed above, havens are sensitive to discussions on "effective" corporate tax rates and obfuscate data that does not show the "headline" tax rate mirroring the "effective" tax rate.

Two academic groups have estimated the "effective" tax rates of corporate tax havens using very different approaches:
{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
| 2014 [[Bureau of Economic Analysis]] (or BEA) calculation applied to get the "effective" tax rates of U.S. corporates in the haven (per above {{slink||Denial of status}});<ref name="qzz"/> and
| 2018 [[Gabriel Zucman]] "The Missing Profits of Nations" analysis which uses national accounts data to estimate effective tax rates of all non-domestic corporates in the haven.<ref name="gabrielzucman"/>
}}

They are summarised in the following table (BVI and the Caymans counted as one), as listed in Zucman's analysis (from Appendix, table 2).<ref name="gabrielzucman"/>

{| style="font-size:100%;"
|-
| width="50%" align="left" |
|- valign="top"
|
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! style="width:120px;text-align:left" | Profits shifted<br/>(2015 $ bn)<ref name="gabrielzucman"/>
! style="width:180px;text-align:left" | Jurisdiction
! style="width:120x;text-align:left" | Headline rate<br/>(all firms)
! style="width:120px;text-align:left" | Effective rate<br/>(foreign firms)<ref name="gabrielzucman"/>
! style="width:120px;text-align:left" | BEA rate<br/>(U.S. firms)<ref name="qzz"/>
! style="width:250px;text-align:left" | Comment
|-
| 106 || align="left" | {{flag|Ireland}} || 12.5% || 4% || 2.2% || headline rate appears cosmetic
|-
| 97 || align="left" | Caribbean (ex. Bermuda)|| <3% || 2% || 1.2% || traditional tax haven, rates are negligible
|-
| 70 || align="left" | {{flag|Singapore}}  || 17% || 8% || - || headline rate appears cosmetic
|-
| 58 || align="left" | {{flag|Switzerland}} || 21% || 16% || 6.7% || - 
|-
| 57 || align="left" | {{flag|Netherlands}} || 25% || 10% || 3.4% || headline rate appears cosmetic
|-
| 47 || align="left" | {{flag|Luxembourg}}|| 29% || 3% || 2.4% || headline rate appears cosmetic
|-
| 42 || align="left" | {{flag|Puerto Rico}}|| 37.5% || 3% || - || -
|-
| 39 || align="left" | {{flag|Hong Kong}} || 18% || 18% || - || -
|-
| 24 || align="left" | {{flag|Bermuda}} || 0% || 0% || 0.4% || zero headline rate
|-
| 13 || align="left" | {{flag|Belgium}} || 25% || 19% || - || -
|-
| 12 || align="left" | {{flag|Malta}} || 35% || 5% || - || -
|}
|- valign="top"
|}

Zucman used this analysis to estimate that the annual financial impact of corporate tax havens was $250 billion in 2015.<ref name="zuc10"/>  This is beyond the upper limit of the OECD's 2017 range of $100–200 billion per annum for [[base erosion and profit shifting]] activities.<ref name="BEPS Background">{{cite web|title=BEPS Project Background Brief|url=http://www.oecd.org/tax/beps/background-brief-inclusive-framework-for-beps-implementation.pdf|quote=With a conservatively estimated annual revenue loss of USD 100 to 240 billion, the stakes are high for governments around the world.|publisher=OECD|date=January 2017|access-date=2018-06-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170722073652/http://www.oecd.org/tax/beps/background-brief-inclusive-framework-for-beps-implementation.pdf|archive-date=2017-07-22|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[World Bank]], in its 2019 [[World Development Report]] on the future of work suggests<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2019|title=World Development Report 2019: The Changing Nature of Work|website=World Bank|access-date=2018-10-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930193143/http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2019|archive-date=2018-09-30|url-status=live}}</ref> that tax avoidance by large corporations limits the ability of governments to make vital human capital investments.

===Conduits and Sinks===
{{main|Conduit and Sink OFCs}}
Modern corporate tax havens like Ireland, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands have become more popular for U.S. corporate [[tax inversion]]s than leading traditional [[tax haven]]s, even Bermuda.<ref name="bbb">{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/tax-inversion-tracker/|title=Tracking Tax Runaways|publisher=Bloomberg News|date=1 March 2017|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181031060724/https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/tax-inversion-tracker/|archive-date=31 October 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> 
[[File:Uncovering Offshore Financial Centers Cayman Conundrum.jpg|thumb|"Uncovering Offshore Financial Centers": Relationship of [[Conduit and Sink OFCs|Conduit and Sink Offshore Financial Centres]]]]
However, corporate tax havens still retain close connections with traditional tax havens as there are instances where a corporation cannot "retain" the untaxed funds in the corporate tax haven, and will instead use the corporate tax haven like a "conduit", to route the funds to more explicitly zero-tax, and more secretive traditional tax havens.  Google does this with the Netherlands to route EU funds untaxed to Bermuda (i.e. [[dutch sandwich]] to avoid EU [[withholding taxes]]),<ref name="google1">{{cite news| url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/double-irish-and-dutch-sandwich-saved-google-3-7bn-in-tax-in-2016-1.3343205| title='Double Irish' and 'Dutch Sandwich' saved Google $3.7bn in tax in 2016| newspaper=The Irish Times| date=2 January 2018| access-date=13 May 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180324042507/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/double-irish-and-dutch-sandwich-saved-google-3-7bn-in-tax-in-2016-1.3343205| archive-date=24 March 2018| url-status=live| df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="Bloomberg">{{cite web| url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-02/google-s-dutch-sandwich-shielded-16-billion-euros-from-tax| title=Google's 'Dutch Sandwich' Shielded 16 Billion Euros From Tax| publisher=Bloomberg| date=2 January 2018| access-date=13 May 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180605192813/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-02/google-s-dutch-sandwich-shielded-16-billion-euros-from-tax| archive-date=5 June 2018| url-status=live| df=dmy-all}}</ref> and Russian banks do this with Ireland to avoid international sanctions and access capital markets (i.e. [[Irish Section 110 Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)|Irish Section 110 SPVs]]).<ref name="rus2">{{cite web|url=https://www.businesspost.ie/news/russian-firms-funnelled-e100bn-dublin-410840|title=How Russian Firms Funnelled €100bn through Dublin|publisher=The Sunday Business Post|date=4 March 2018|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612142121/https://www.businesspost.ie/news/russian-firms-funnelled-e100bn-dublin-410840|archive-date=12 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="rus3">{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/more-than-100bn-in-russian-money-funnelled-though-dublin-1.3414480|title=More than €100bn in Russian Money funneled through Dublin|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=4 March 2018|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180315195900/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/more-than-100bn-in-russian-money-funnelled-though-dublin-1.3414480|archive-date=15 March 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

A study published in ''[[Nature (magazine)|Nature]]'' in 2017 (see [[Conduit and Sink OFCs]]),  highlighted an emerging gap between corporation tax haven specialists (called Conduit OFCs), and more traditional tax havens (called Sink OFCs).  It also highlighted that each Conduit OFC was highly connected to specific Sink {{Not a typo|OFC(s)}}.  For example, Conduit OFC Switzerland was highly tied to Sink OFC Jersey.  Conduit OFC Ireland was tied to Sink OFC Luxembourg,<ref name="llux">{{cite web|url=https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/Issues/2018/06/28/Ireland-Selected-Issues-46027|page=20|quote=Figure 3. Foreign Direct Investment - Over half of Irish outbound FDI is routed to Luxembourg|title=Ireland:Selected Issues|publisher=[[International Monetary Fund]]|date=June 2018|access-date=2018-07-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180706132549/https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/Issues/2018/06/28/Ireland-Selected-Issues-46027|archive-date=2018-07-06|url-status=live}}</ref> while Conduit OFC Singapore was connected to Sink OFCs Taiwan and Hong Kong (the study clarified that Luxembourg and Hong Kong were more like traditional tax havens).

The separation of tax havens into Conduit OFCs and Sink OFCs, enables the corporate tax haven specialist to promote "respectability" and maintain OECD-compliance (critical to extracting untaxed profits from higher-taxed jurisdictions via cross-border intergroup IP charging), while enabling the corporate to still access the benefits of a full tax haven (via [[double Irish]], dutch sandwich type BEPS tools), as needed.

We increasingly find [[offshore magic circle]] law firms, such as [[Maples and Calder]] and [[Appleby (law firm)|Appleby]],<ref name="appley"/> setting up offices in major Conduit OFCs, such as Ireland.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Law firm Walkers doubles up on Dublin office space in the IFSC|url=https://www.businesspost.ie/property/law-firm-walkers-doubles-dublin-office-space-ifsc-408090|publisher=Sunday Business Post|date=4 February 2018|access-date=20 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180327213219/https://www.businesspost.ie/property/law-firm-walkers-doubles-dublin-office-space-ifsc-408090|archive-date=27 March 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=MaplesFS plans to add staff after Dublin office move|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/maplesfs-plans-to-add-staff-after-dublin-office-move-1.3071980|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=5 May 2017|access-date=20 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703051101/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/maplesfs-plans-to-add-staff-after-dublin-office-move-1.3071980|archive-date=3 July 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Mourant opens Dublin office|url=https://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2008/01/15/mourant-opens-dublin-office/|publisher=Jersey Post|date=January 2008|access-date=2018-05-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515112141/https://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2008/01/15/mourant-opens-dublin-office/|archive-date=2018-05-15|url-status=dead}}</ref>

{{quote|A key architect [for Apple] was [[Baker McKenzie]], a huge law firm based in Chicago. The firm has a reputation for devising creative offshore structures for multinationals and defending them to tax regulators. It has also fought international proposals for tax avoidance crackdowns.  Baker McKenzie wanted to use a local Appleby office to maintain an offshore arrangement for Apple. For Appleby, Mr. Adderley said, this assignment was "a tremendous opportunity for us to shine on a global basis with Baker McKenzie."|source=''[[The New York Times]]'', "After a Tax Crackdown, Apple Found a New Shelter for Its Profits", 6 November 2017<ref name="nyt">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/06/world/apple-taxes-jersey.html|title=After a Tax Crackdown, Apple Found a New Shelter for Its Profits|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=6 November 2017|access-date=17 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171106192019/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/06/world/apple-taxes-jersey.html|archive-date=6 November 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>}}

===Employment tax===

Several modern corporate tax havens, such as Singapore and the United Kingdom, ask that in return for corporates using their IP-based BEPS tools, they must perform "work" on the IP in the jurisdiction of the haven.  The corporation thus pays an effective "employment tax" of circa 2–3% by having to hire staff in the corporate tax haven.<ref name="smh">{{cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/business/singapore-remains-the-top-choice-for-multinational-hubs-tax-data-shows-20150429-1mw59e.html|title=Singapore remains the top choice for multinational hubs, tax data shows|date=30 April 2015|access-date=19 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180520053747/https://www.smh.com.au/business/singapore-remains-the-top-choice-for-multinational-hubs-tax-data-shows-20150429-1mw59e.html|archive-date=20 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>  This gives the haven more respectability (i.e. not a "[[brass plate company|brass plate]]" location), and gives the corporate additional "substance" against challenges by taxing authorities. The OECD's Article 5 of the  [[Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting|MLI]] supports havens with "employment taxes" at the expense of traditional [[tax haven]]s.

{{quote|Mr. Chris Woo, tax leader at PwC Singapore, is adamant the Republic is not a tax haven. "Singapore has always had clear law and regulations on taxation. Our incentive regimes are substance-based and require substantial economic commitment. For example, types of business activity undertaken, level of headcount and commitment to spending in Singapore", he said.|''[[The Straits Times]]'', 14 December 2016<ref name="straits"/>}}

Irish IP-based BEPS tools (e.g. the "[[Double Irish arrangement#Backstop of capital allowances|capital allowances for intangible assets]]" BEPS scheme), have the need to perform a "relevant trade" and "relevant activities" on Irish-based IP, encoded in their legislation, which requires specified employment levels and salary levels (discussed [[Corporation tax in the Republic of Ireland#Low tax economy|here]]), which roughly equates to an "employment tax" of circa 2–3% of profits (based on Apple and Google in Ireland).<ref name="rev1">{{Cite web|title=Intangible Assets Scheme under Section 291A Taxes Consolidation Act 1997|url=https://www.revenue.ie/ga/tax-professionals/historic-material/tax-briefing/2010/tax-briefing-issue-09-2010.pdf|publisher=Irish Revenue|date=2010|access-date=2018-05-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213200517/https://revenue.ie/ga/tax-professionals/historic-material/tax-briefing/2010/tax-briefing-issue-09-2010.pdf|archive-date=2017-12-13|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="cap2">{{cite web|url=https://www.revenue.ie/en/tax-professionals/tdm/income-tax-capital-gains-tax-corporation-tax/part-09/09-02-05.pdf|title=Capital Allowances for Intangible Assets under section 291A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (Part 9 / Chapter2)|publisher=Irish Revenue|date=February 2018|access-date=2018-05-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329120828/https://www.revenue.ie/en/tax-professionals/tdm/income-tax-capital-gains-tax-corporation-tax/part-09/09-02-05.pdf|archive-date=2018-03-29|url-status=dead}}</ref>

For example, Apple employs 6,000 people in Ireland, mostly in the Apple Hollyhill Cork plant.  The Cork plant is Apple's only self-operated manufacturing plant in the world (i.e. Apple almost always contracts to 3rd party manufacturers).  It is considered a low-technology facility, building iMacs to order by hand, and in this regard is more akin to a global logistics hub for Apple (albeit located on the "island" of Ireland).  No research is carried out in the facility.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/30/the-guardian-view-on-tax-and-ireland-apple-pay-your-way|title=The Guardian view on tax and Ireland: Apple, pay your way|website=[[TheGuardian.com]]|date=30 August 2016|access-date=19 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612210924/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/30/the-guardian-view-on-tax-and-ireland-apple-pay-your-way|archive-date=12 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>  Unusually for a plant, over 700 of the 6,000 employees work from home (the largest remote percentage of any Irish technology company).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/revealed-eight-facts-you-may-not-know-about-the-apple-irish-plant-36409796.html|title=Revealed Eight facts you may not know about the Apple Irish plant|newspaper=Irish Independent|date=15 December 2017|access-date=19 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612211114/https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/revealed-eight-facts-you-may-not-know-about-the-apple-irish-plant-36409796.html|archive-date=12 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="appleq">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/may/29/apple-tax-profits-ireland-cork|title=Apple's multi-billion dollar, low-tax profit hub: Knocknaheeny, Ireland|newspaper=The Guardian|date=29 May 2013|access-date=12 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612211047/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/may/29/apple-tax-profits-ireland-cork|archive-date=12 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

When the EU Commission completed their [[EU illegal State aid case against Apple in Ireland|State aid investigation into Apple]], they found Apple Ireland's ETR for 2004–2014, was 0.005%, on over €100bn of globally sourced, and untaxed, profits.<ref name="europax">{{cite web|url=http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-2923_en.htm|title=State aid: Ireland gave illegal tax benefits to Apple worth up to €13 billion|publisher=EU Commission|date=30 August 2016|access-date=19 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180518162649/http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-2923_en.htm|archive-date=18 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>  The "employment tax" is, therefore, a modest price to pay for achieving very low taxes on global profits, and it can be mitigated to the extent that the job functions are real and would be needed regardless.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.finfacts.ie/Irish_finance_news/articleDetail.php?Does-Google-Ireland-have-6-000-employees-in-Ireland-649|title=Does Google Ireland really have 6,000 employees in Ireland?|date=17 June 2016|access-date=21 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180416012636/http://www.finfacts.ie/Irish_finance_news/articleDetail.php?Does-Google-Ireland-have-6-000-employees-in-Ireland-649|archive-date=16 April 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

"Employment taxes" are considered a distinction between modern corporate tax havens, and near-corporate tax havens, like Luxembourg and Hong Kong (who are classed as [[Conduit and Sink OFCs|Sink OFCs]]).  The Netherlands has been introducing new "employment tax" type regulations, to ensure it is seen as a modern corporate tax haven (more like Ireland, Singapore, and the U.K.), than a traditional tax haven (e.g. Hong Kong).<ref name="ned">{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/ef9b87ac-1af5-11e8-aaca-4574d7dabfb6|title=Dutch set out plan to counter tax-haven reputation|newspaper=Financial Times|date=27 February 2018|access-date=19 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180520053955/https://www.ft.com/content/ef9b87ac-1af5-11e8-aaca-4574d7dabfb6|archive-date=20 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

{{quote|The Netherlands is fighting back against its reputation as a tax haven with reforms to make it more difficult for companies to set up without a real business presence. Menno Snel, the Dutch secretary of state for finance, told parliament last week that his government was determined to "overturn the Netherlands' image as a country that makes it easy for multinationals to avoid taxation".|''[[Financial Times]]'', 27 February 2018<ref name="ned"/>}}

===U.K. transformation===

The United Kingdom was traditionally a "donor" to corporate tax havens (e.g. the last one being [[Shire plc]]'s [[tax inversion]] to Ireland in 2008<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2008/apr/15/shire.pharmaceuticals|title=Drugs company moves to cut tax bill|newspaper=The Guardian|date=15 April 2008|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405214707/https://www.theguardian.com/business/2008/apr/15/shire.pharmaceuticals|archive-date=5 April 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>). However, the speed at which the U.K. changed to becoming one of the leading modern corporate tax havens (at least up until pre-[[Brexit]]), makes it an interesting case (it still does not appear on all {{slink||Corporate tax haven lists}}).

[[File:British Overseas Territories (at the same geographic scale).svg|thumb|British Overseas Territories (same geographic scale) includes leading traditional and corporate global tax havens including the Caymans, the BVI and Bermuda, as well as the U.K. itself.]]

The U.K. changed its tax regime in 2009–2013. It lowered its corporate tax rate to 19%, brought in new IP-based BEPS tools, and moved to a territorial tax system.<ref name="uk1"/>  The U.K. became a "recipient" of U.S. corporate tax inversions,<ref name="bbb"/> and ranked as one of Europe's leading havens.<ref name="econ"/>  A major study now ranks the U.K. as the second largest global [[Conduit and Sink OFCs|Conduit OFC]] (a corporate haven proxy).  The U.K. was particularly fortunate as 18 of the 24 jurisdictions that are identified as [[Conduit and Sink OFCs|Sink OFCs]], the traditional tax havens, are current or past dependencies of the U.K. (and embedded into U.K. tax and legal statute books).<ref name="tjn1">{{cite web|url=https://www.taxjustice.net/2017/05/04/coming-soon-spiders-web-film-britains-tax-haven-empire/|title=The Spider's Web – a film about Britain's tax haven empire|publisher=Tax Justice Network|date=15 May 2017|access-date=21 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522043143/https://www.taxjustice.net/2017/05/04/coming-soon-spiders-web-film-britains-tax-haven-empire/|archive-date=22 May 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

New IP legislation was encoded into the U.K. statute books and the concept of IP significantly broadened in U.K. law.<ref name="ukipo"/> The U.K.'s Patent Office was overhauled and renamed the [[Intellectual Property Office (United Kingdom)|Intellectual Property Office]].  A new U.K. Minister for Intellectual Property was announced with the 2014 Intellectual Property Act.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.ft.com/content/fd389880-0e7b-11e4-b1c4-00144feabdc0| title=Lucy Neville-Rolfe appointed UK intellectual property minister| newspaper=Financial Times| date=19 July 2014| access-date=20 May 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180521020857/https://www.ft.com/content/fd389880-0e7b-11e4-b1c4-00144feabdc0| archive-date=21 May 2018| url-status=live| df=dmy-all}}</ref>  The U.K. is now 2nd in the 2018 Global IP Index.<ref name="gipc"/>

{{quote|A growing array of tax benefits have made London the city of choice for big firms to put everything from "letterbox" subsidiaries to full-blown headquarters. A loose regime for "controlled foreign corporations" makes it easy for British-registered businesses to park profits offshore. Tax breaks on income from patents [IP] are more generous than almost anywhere else. Britain has more tax treaties than any of the three countries [Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Ireland] on the naughty step—and an ever-falling corporate-tax rate. In many ways, Britain is leading the race to the bottom.|source=''[[The Economist]]'', "Still slipping the net", 8 October 2015<ref name="econ"/>}}

The U.K.'s successful transformation from "donor" to corporate tax havens, to a major global corporate tax haven in its own right, was quoted as a blueprint for type of changes that the U.S. needed to make in the [[Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017]] tax reforms (e.g. territorial system, lower headline rate, beneficial IP-rate).<ref name="uuu1">{{cite web| url=https://files.taxfoundation.org/legacy/docs/TaxFoundation_FF442.pdf| title=Tax Reform in the UK Reversed the Tide of Corporate Tax Inversions| publisher=Tax Foundation| date=14 October 2014| access-date=13 May 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417023458/https://files.taxfoundation.org/legacy/docs/TaxFoundation_FF442.pdf| archive-date=17 April 2018| url-status=dead| df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="uk1">{{cite web|url=https://taxfoundation.org/tax-reform-uk-reversed-tide-corporate-tax-inversions/|title=How Tax Reform solved UK inversions|publisher=Tax Foundation|date=14 October 2014|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417155717/https://taxfoundation.org/tax-reform-uk-reversed-tide-corporate-tax-inversions/|archive-date=17 April 2019|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="uktax1">{{cite web|url=https://taxfoundation.org/united-kingdom-s-experience-inversions/|title=The United Kingdom's Experience with Inversions|publisher=Tax Foundation|date=5 April 2016|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180927112909/https://taxfoundation.org/united-kingdom-s-experience-inversions/|archive-date=27 September 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

===Distorted GDP/GNP===
[[File:2020 EU ratio of GNI to GDP.png|thumb|The distorted GNI to GDP ratio in some EU states indicates a profound disproportionality in corporate havens as Ireland and Luxembourg.<ref>{{Cite web |title=GDP (current US$) {{!}} Data |url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD |access-date=2022-05-13 |website=data.worldbank.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=GNI per capita, Atlas method (current US$) {{!}} Data |url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ny.gnp.pcap.cd?year_high_desc=true |access-date=2022-05-13 |website=data.worldbank.org}}</ref>]]
Some leading modern corporate tax havens are synonymous with [[offshore financial centres]] (or OFCs), as the scale of the multinational flows rivals their own domestic economies (the IMF's sign of an OFC<ref name="imf">IMF working paper: [http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2007/wp0787.pdf Concept of Offshore Financial Centers: In Search of an Operational Definition; Ahmed Zoromé; IMF Working Paper 07/87; April 1, 2007] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407224029/http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2007/wp0787.pdf |date=April 7, 2016 }}. (PDF). Retrieved on 2011-11-02.</ref>).  The American Chamber of Commerce Ireland estimated that the value of U.S. investment in Ireland was €334bn, exceeding Irish GDP (€291bn in 2016).<ref name="amc">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/denouncing-ireland-as-a-tax-haven-is-as-dated-as-calling-it-homophobic-because-of-our-past-37032219.html|title=Denouncing Ireland as a tax haven is as dated as calling it homophobic because of our past|newspaper=Irish Independent|date=21 June 2018|quote=The total value of US business investment in Ireland - ranging from data centres to the world's most advanced manufacturing facilities - stands at $387bn (€334bn) - this is more than the combined US investment in South America, Africa and the Middle East, and more than the BRIC countries combined.|access-date=21 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621055202/https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/denouncing-ireland-as-a-tax-haven-is-as-dated-as-calling-it-homophobic-because-of-our-past-37032219.html|archive-date=21 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>  An extreme example was Apple's "onshoring" of circa $300 billion in [[intellectual property]] to Ireland, creating the [[leprechaun economics]] affair.<ref name="cofr">{{cite web|url=https://www.cfr.org/blog/tax-avoidance-and-irish-balance-payments|title=Tax Avoidance and the Irish Balance of Payments|publisher=Council on Foreign Relations|date=25 April 2018|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428162831/https://www.cfr.org/blog/tax-avoidance-and-irish-balance-payments|archive-date=28 April 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> However Luxembourg's GNI is only 70% of GDP.<ref name="economic-incentives.blogspot.ie">{{cite web|url=http://economic-incentives.blogspot.ie/2013/04/gdp-and-international-comparisons.html|title=International GNI to GDP Comparisons|publisher=Seamus Coffey, University College Cork|date=29 April 2013|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180319213831/http://economic-incentives.blogspot.ie/2013/04/gdp-and-international-comparisons.html|archive-date=19 March 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>  The distortion of Ireland's economic data from corporates using Irish IP-based BEPS tools (especially the [[double Irish arrangement#Backstop of capital allowances|capital allowances for intangible assets]] tool), is so great, that it distorts EU-28 aggregate data.<ref name="brad">{{cite web|url=https://www.cfr.org/blog/ireland-exports-its-leprechaun|title=Ireland Exports its Leprechaun|publisher=Council on Foreign Relations|date=11 May 2018|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514142152/https://www.cfr.org/blog/ireland-exports-its-leprechaun|archive-date=14 May 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

{{quote|A stunning $12 trillion—almost 40 percent of all foreign direct investment positions globally—is completely artificial: it consists of financial investment passing through empty corporate shells with no real activity. These investments in empty corporate shells almost always pass through well-known tax havens. The eight major pass-through economies—the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Hong Kong SAR, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Ireland, and Singapore—host more than 85 percent of the world's investment in special purpose entities, which are often set up for tax reasons. |source="Piercing the Veil", [[International Monetary Fund]], June 2018<ref name="imfx"/>}}

This distortion means that all corporate tax havens, and particularly smaller ones like Ireland, Singapore, Luxembourg and Hong Kong, rank at the top in global [[List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita|GDP-per-capita]] league tables. In fact, not being a country with oil & gas resources and still ranking in the top 10 of world GDP-per-capita league tables, is considered a strong proxy sign of a corporate (or traditional) tax haven.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/39181/921.pdf?sequence=1|title=Do Tax Havens Flourish|publisher=Michigan Ross School of Business|date=2004|access-date=2018-05-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818061404/https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/39181/921.pdf?sequence=1|archive-date=2017-08-18|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="atlantic"/><ref name="qqtz">{{cite news|url=https://qz.com/1300880/tax-havens-mean-40-of-foreign-direct-investments-are-artificial/|title=How tax havens turn economic statistics into nonsense|work=Quartz|date=11 June 2018|access-date=12 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612143908/https://qz.com/1300880/tax-havens-mean-40-of-foreign-direct-investments-are-artificial/|archive-date=12 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> GDP-per-capita tables with identification of haven types are here {{slink||GDP-per-capita tax haven proxy}}.

Ireland's distorted economic statistics, post leprechaun economics and the introduction of [[modified gross national income|modified GNI]], is captured on page 34 of the OECD 2018 Ireland survey:<ref name="oecd">{{cite web|url=http://www.finance.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/OECD-survey.pdf|title=OECD Ireland Survey 2018|publisher=OECD|date=March 2018|access-date=2018-05-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180404202024/http://www.finance.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/OECD-survey.pdf|archive-date=2018-04-04|url-status=dead}}</ref>
{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
| On a Gross Public Debt-to-GDP basis, Ireland's 2015 figure at 78.8% is not of concern;
| On a Gross Public Debt-to-GNI* basis, Ireland's 2015 figure at 116.5% is more serious, but not alarming;
| On a Gross Public Debt Per Capita basis, Ireland's 2015 figure at over $62,686 per capita, exceeds every other OECD country, except Japan.<ref name="irip">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/national-debt-now-44000-per-head-35904197.html|title=National debt now €44000 per head|newspaper=Irish Independent|date=7 July 2017|access-date=21 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180407053502/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/national-debt-now-44000-per-head-35904197.html|archive-date=7 April 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
}}

This distortion leads to exaggerated credit cycles. The artificial/distorted "headline" GDP growth increases optimism and borrowing in the haven, which is financed by global capital markets (who are misled by the artificial/distorted "headline" GDP figures and misprice the capital provided).  The resulting bubble in asset/property prices from the build-up in credit can unwind quickly if global capital markets withdraw the supply of capital.<ref name="atlantic">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/tax-haven-curse/491411/|title=Why Tax Havens are Political and Economic disasters|magazine=[[The Atlantic]]|date=28 July 2016|access-date=25 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180526041555/https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/tax-haven-curse/491411/|archive-date=26 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>  Extreme credit cycles have been seen in several of the corporate tax havens (i.e. Ireland in 2009-2012 is an example).<ref name="ber"/>  Traditional tax havens like Jersey have also experienced this.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/dec/08/fall-of-jersey-how-tax-haven-goes-bust|title=The fall of Jersey: how a tax haven goes bust|newspaper=The Guardian|date=8 December 2015}}</ref>

{{quote|The statistical distortions created by the impact on the Irish National Accounts of the global assets and activities of a handful of large multinational corporations [during [[leprechaun economics]]] have now become so large as to make a mockery of conventional uses of Irish GDP.|author=[[Patrick Honohan]], ex-Governor of the [[Central Bank of Ireland]], 13 July 2016<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irisheconomy.ie/index.php/2016/07/13/the-irish-national-accounts-towards-some-dos-and-donts/|title=The Irish National Accounts: Towards some do's and don'ts|publisher=irisheconomy.ie|date=13 July 2016|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180429030914/http://www.irisheconomy.ie/index.php/2016/07/13/the-irish-national-accounts-towards-some-dos-and-donts/|archive-date=29 April 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>}}

==Intellectual-property–based BEPS tools{{anchor|IP-based BEPS tools}}==
{{see also|Base erosion and profit shifting|Double Irish arrangement}}

===Raw materials of tax avoidance===

Whereas traditional corporate tax havens facilitated avoiding domestic taxes (e.g. U.S. corporate [[tax inversion]]), modern corporate tax havens provide [[base erosion and profit shifting]] (or BEPS) tools,<ref name="zew"/> which facilitate avoiding taxes in all global jurisdictions in which the corporation operates.<ref name="tilburg">{{cite web| url=http://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=143915| title=Intellectual Property Tax Planning in the light of Base Erosion and Profit Shifting| publisher=University of Tilburg| date=June 2017| access-date=2018-05-18| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180519032352/http://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=143915| archive-date=2018-05-19| url-status=dead}}</ref>  This is as long as the corporate tax haven has tax-treaties with the jurisdictions that accept "[[royalty payment]]" schemes (i.e. how the IP is charged out), as a deduction against tax.<ref name="bbbg">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/infographics/u-s-profits-in-ireland-pile-up.html|title=Ireland: Where Profits Pile Up, Helping Multinationals Keep Taxes Low|newspaper=Bloomberg.com|publisher=Bloomberg News|quote=Meanwhile, the tax rate reported by those Irish subsidiaries of U.S. companies plummeted to 3% from 9% by 2010|date=October 2013|access-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180516033549/https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/infographics/u-s-profits-in-ireland-pile-up.html|archive-date=2018-05-16|url-status=live}}</ref>  A crude indicator of a corporate tax haven is the amount of full bilateral tax treaties that it has signed.  The U.K. is the leader with over 122, followed by the Netherlands with over 100.<ref name="ukx">{{Cite web|title=The Tax Treaty Network of the United Kingdom|url=http://www.fieldtax.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/2013-9-ILT-247-The-Tax-Treaty-Network-of-the-United-Kingdom1.pdf|publisher=International Taxation (Volume 9)|date=September 2013|access-date=2018-05-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709092511/http://www.fieldtax.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/2013-9-ILT-247-The-Tax-Treaty-Network-of-the-United-Kingdom1.pdf|archive-date=2017-07-09|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="dut2"/><ref name="ukx1">{{cite news|title=UK tops global table of damaging tax deals with developing countries|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/feb/23/uk-tops-global-table-of-damaging-tax-deals-with-developing-countries|newspaper=The Guardian|date=23 February 2016|access-date=17 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180517223424/https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/feb/23/uk-tops-global-table-of-damaging-tax-deals-with-developing-countries|archive-date=17 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

BEPS tools abuse [[intellectual property]] (or IP), GAAP accounting techniques, to create artificial internal [[intangible asset]]s, which facilitate BEPS actions, via:<ref name="zew"/><ref name="caid"/>
{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
|[[Royalty payment]] schemes, used to route untaxed funds to the haven, by charging-out the IP as a tax-deductible expense to the higher-tax jurisdictions; and/or
|[[Capital allowance]] for [[intangible asset]]s schemes, used to avoid corporate taxes within the haven, by allowing corporates write-off their IP against tax.  
}}
IP is described as the "raw material" of tax planning.<ref name="fordam">{{cite web | url=http://www.fordhamiplj.org/2016/08/30/ip-tax-avoidance-ireland/ | title=Intellectual Property and Tax Avoidance in Ireland | publisher=Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal | date=30 August 2016 | access-date=18 May 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502112434/http://www.fordhamiplj.org/2016/08/30/ip-tax-avoidance-ireland/ | archive-date=2 May 2019 | url-status=dead | df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref name="ucla">{{cite web | url=https://www.uclalawreview.org/pdf/62-1-1.pdf | title=Intellectual Property Law Solutions to Tax Avoidance | publisher=UCLA Law Review |first=Andrew |last=Blair-Stanek| page=4 | date=2015 | access-date=2018-05-18 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316232500/http://www.uclalawreview.org/pdf/62-1-1.pdf | archive-date=2015-03-16 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="raw">{{cite web| url=https://www.bnrbeurs.nl/2017/02/22/the-corporate-tax-avoidance-toolbox/| title=Intellectual Property and the Corporate Tax Avoidance Toolbox| publisher=B&R Beurs| date=2018| access-date=2018-05-13| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616180418/https://www.bnrbeurs.nl/2017/02/22/the-corporate-tax-avoidance-toolbox/| archive-date=2018-06-16| url-status=dead}}</ref>  Modern corporate tax havens have IP-based BEPS tools,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/c7dc2092-cfb7-11e3-a2b7-00144feabdc0|title=U.K. Patent Box holds key to Pfizer-AstraZeneca deal's attraction|newspaper=Financial Times|date=April 2014|access-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180513223912/https://www.ft.com/content/c7dc2092-cfb7-11e3-a2b7-00144feabdc0|archive-date=2018-05-13|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="lx"/>  and are in all their bilateral tax-treaties.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.somo.nl/new-tax-treaty-policy-prejudices-developing-countries/|title=New Dutch Tax Treaties Harms Developing Countries|publisher=somo.nl|date=20 April 2011|access-date=14 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515112210/https://www.somo.nl/new-tax-treaty-policy-prejudices-developing-countries/|archive-date=15 May 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>  IP is a powerful tax management and BEPS tool, with almost no other equal, for four reasons:<ref name="zew"/><ref name="tilburg"/>

{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
|Hard to value.  IP made in a U.S. R&D laboratory, can be sold to the group's Caribbean subsidiary for a small sum (and a tiny U.S. taxable gain is realised), but then repackaged and revalued upwards by billions after an expensive valuation audit by a major accounting firm (from a corporate tax haven);<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.ey.com/gl/en/services/tax/international-tax/alert--oecd-releases-implementation-guidance-on-hard-to-value-intangibles| title=OECD releases implementation guidance on hard-to-value intangibles| publisher=Ernst & Young| date=23 May 2017| access-date=18 May 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180519121954/http://www.ey.com/gl/en/services/tax/international-tax/alert--oecd-releases-implementation-guidance-on-hard-to-value-intangibles| archive-date=19 May 2018| url-status=live| df=dmy-all}}</ref>
|Perpetually replenishable.  The firms that have IP (i.e. Google, Apple, Facebook), have "product cycles" where new versions/new ideas emerge.  This product cycle thus creates new IP which can replace older IP that has been used up and/or written-off against taxes;<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.ipos.gov.sg/growing-your-business-with-ip| title=Growing your business with IP cycle| publisher=Intellectual Property Office of Singapore| date=2018| access-date=2018-05-21| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522112133/https://www.ipos.gov.sg/growing-your-business-with-ip| archive-date=2018-05-22| url-status=live}}</ref>
|Very mobile.  Because IP is a virtual asset which only exists in contracts (i.e. on paper), it is easy to move/relocate around the world; it can be restructured into vehicles that provide secrecy and confidentiality around the scale, ownership, and location, of the IP;<ref name="amzn"/>
|Accepted as an intergroup charge.  Many jurisdictions accept IP [[royalty payments]] as a deductible against tax, even intergroup charges; Google Germany is unprofitable because of intergroup IP royalties it pays Google Bermuda (via Google Ireland), which is profitable.<ref name="conv">{{cite news|title=OECD's new tax proposals won't stop companies shifting profits to tax havens|url=https://theconversation.com/oecds-new-tax-proposals-wont-stop-companies-shifting-profits-to-tax-havens-48466|work=The Conversation|date=6 October 2016|access-date=19 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180520053757/https://theconversation.com/oecds-new-tax-proposals-wont-stop-companies-shifting-profits-to-tax-havens-48466|archive-date=20 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
}}

When corporate tax havens quote "effective rates of tax", they exclude large amounts of income not considered taxable due to the IP-based tools.  Thus, in a self-fulfilling manner, their "effective" tax rates equal their "headline" tax rates.  As discussed earlier ({{slink||Denials of status}}), Ireland claims an "effective" tax rate of circa 12.5%, while the IP-based BEPS tools used by Ireland's largest companies, mostly U.S. multinationals, are marketed with [[Corporation tax in the Republic of Ireland#Effective tax rate (ETR)|effective tax rates]] of <0-3%.<ref name="maples"/><ref name="matheson1">{{cite web|url=http://www.matheson.com/images/uploads/documents/China_Article_-_March_2013.pdf|title=Ireland as a European gateway jurisdiction for China – outbound and inbound investments|quote=The tax deduction can be used to achieve an effective tax rate of 2.5% on profits from the exploitation of the IP purchased. Provided the IP is held for five years, a subsequent disposal of the IP will not result in a clawback.|publisher=[[Matheson (law firm)|Matheson]]|date=March 2013|access-date=2018-06-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712182634/http://www.matheson.com/images/uploads/documents/China_Article_-_March_2013.pdf|archive-date=2018-07-12|url-status=live}}</ref>  These 0-3% rates have been verified in the EU Commission's investigation of Apple (see above), and other sources.<ref name="face1">{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/ca64f938-5dc0-11e3-95bd-00144feabdc0|title='Double Irish' limits Facebook's tax bill to €1.9m in Ireland|newspaper=Financial Times|date=5 December 2013|access-date=17 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180519085405/https://www.ft.com/content/ca64f938-5dc0-11e3-95bd-00144feabdc0|archive-date=19 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="face3">{{cite news|url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/business/facebook-ireland-pays-tax-of-just-30m-on-126bn-816238.html|title=Facebook Ireland pays tax of just €30m on €12.6bn|newspaper=Irish Examiner|date=29 November 2017|access-date=17 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612142137/https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/business/facebook-ireland-pays-tax-of-just-30m-on-126bn-816238.html|archive-date=12 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="google1"/><ref name="Bloomberg"/><ref name="apple">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/06/world/apple-taxes-jersey.html|title=After a Tax Crackdown, Apple Found a New Shelter for Its Profits|work=The New York Times|date=6 November 2017|access-date=17 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171106192019/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/06/world/apple-taxes-jersey.html|archive-date=6 November 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

{{quote| It is hard to imagine any business, under the current [Irish] IP regime, which could not generate substantial intangible assets under Irish GAAP that would be eligible for relief under [the Irish] capital allowances [for intangible assets scheme].&nbsp;... This puts the attractive 2.5% Irish IP-tax rate within reach of almost any global business that relocates to Ireland.|author=[[KPMG]], "Intellectual Property Tax", 4 December 2017<ref name="kpmg">{{Cite web|title=Intellectual Property Tax|url=https://www.kpmgpublications.ie/publication/intellectual-property-tax/|publisher=KPMG|date=4 December 2017|access-date=11 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180502070128/https://www.kpmgpublications.ie/publication/intellectual-property-tax/|archive-date=2 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>}}

===Encoding IP–based BEPS tools===
{{see also|Ireland as a tax haven#Captured state}}
The creation of IP-based BEPS tools requires advanced legal and tax structuring capabilities, as well as a regulatory regime willing to carefully encode the complex legislation into the jurisdiction's statute books (note that BEPS tools bring increased risks of tax abuse by the domestic tax base in corporate tax haven's own jurisdiction, see {{slink||Irish Section 110 SPV}} for an example).<ref name="oxf">{{cite web| url=https://maketaxfair.net/decorrespondent-reveals-netherlands-became-tax-haven/| title=De Correspondent Reveals How the Netherlands Became Tax Haven| publisher=Oxfam |work=De Correspondent| date=May 2017| access-date=2018-05-21| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430203208/https://maketaxfair.net/decorrespondent-reveals-netherlands-became-tax-haven/| archive-date=2019-04-30| url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="dut"/><ref name="dut5">{{Cite web|title=The Professionals: Dealing with the enablers of tax avoidance and financial crime|url=https://www.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/The-Enablers-of-Tax-Avoidance-TJN-Briefing.pdf|publisher=[[Tax Justice Network]]|date=November 2017|author=George Turner|access-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514141354/https://www.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/The-Enablers-of-Tax-Avoidance-TJN-Briefing.pdf|archive-date=2018-05-14|url-status=dead}}</ref>  Modern corporate tax havens, therefore, tend to have large global legal and accounting professional service firms in-situ (many classical tax havens lack this) who work with the government to build the legislation.<ref name="econ"/>  In this regard, havens are accused of being '''captured states''' by their professional services firms.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/jan/09/explainer-what-is-tax-haven|quote=This political capture produces one of the great offshore paradoxes: these zones of ultra-freedom are often highly repressive places, wary of scrutiny and intolerant of criticism.|title=Explainer: what is a tax haven? The most important feature of a secrecy jurisdiction is that local politics is captured by financial services interests|newspaper=The Guardian|date=9 January 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.taxjustice.net/tag/captured-state/|title=Tax Justice Network: Captured State|publisher=Tax Justice Network|date=November 2015|access-date=2018-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620154719/https://www.taxjustice.net/tag/captured-state/|archive-date=2018-06-20|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="amzn">{{cite news|title=Revealed: Project Goldcrest, how Amazon worked with the Luxembourg Government to avoid huge sumes in tax with IP|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/18/revealed-project-goldcrest-amazon-avoid-huge-sums-tax|newspaper=The Guardian|date=18 February 2016|access-date=21 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430202123/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/18/revealed-project-goldcrest-amazon-avoid-huge-sums-tax|archive-date=30 April 2019|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="caid"/>  The close relationship between Ireland's [[International Financial Services Centre, Dublin|International Financial Services Centre]] professional service firms and the State in Ireland, is often described as the "[[Put on the green jersey|green jersey agenda]]".  The speed at which Ireland was able to replace its [[double Irish]] IP-based BEPS tool, is a noted example.<ref name="xx">{{cite news|title = Multinationals replacing 'Double Irish' with new tax avoidance scheme|url = https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/new-loophole-to-replace-the-double-irish-tax-strategy-30728951.html|newspaper = The Irish Independent|date = 9 November 2014|access-date = 13 May 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180612142530/https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/new-loophole-to-replace-the-double-irish-tax-strategy-30728951.html|archive-date = 12 June 2018|url-status = live|df = dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title = Three years of silence on 'Single Malt' tax loophole raises questions|url = https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/three-years-of-silence-on-single-malt-tax-loophole-raises-questions-1.3293313?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Feconomy%2Fthree-years-of-silence-on-single-malt-tax-loophole-raises-questions-1.3293313|newspaper = The Irish Times|date = 16 November 2017|access-date = 13 May 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180612135949/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/three-years-of-silence-on-single-malt-tax-loophole-raises-questions-1.3293313?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Feconomy%2Fthree-years-of-silence-on-single-malt-tax-loophole-raises-questions-1.3293313|archive-date = 12 June 2018|url-status = live|df = dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = The Double Irish is dead, long live the 'knowledge-development box'|url = http://www.thejournal.ie/double-irish-dead-1723096-Oct2014/|publisher = journal.ie|date = 14 October 2014|access-date = 13 May 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180514064844/http://www.thejournal.ie/double-irish-dead-1723096-Oct2014/|archive-date = 14 May 2018|url-status = live|df = dmy-all}}</ref>

{{quote| It was interesting that when [Member of European Parliament, MEP] Matt Carthy put that to the [Finance] Minister's predecessor ([[Michael Noonan (Fine Gael politician)|Michael Noonan]]), his response was that this was very unpatriotic and he should wear the "green jersey". That was the former Minister's response to the fact there is a major [[loophole]], whether intentional or unintentional, in our tax code that has allowed large companies to continue to use the double Irish [the "single malt"].|author=[[Pearse Doherty]] TD, [[Sinn Féin]] Deputy Leader, "[[Dáil Éireann]] Debate, 23 November 2017".<ref name="pearse">{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2017-11-23/18/|title=Dáil Éireann debate - Thursday, 23 Nov 2017|publisher=House of the Oireachtas|date=23 November 2017|access-date=4 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416113155/https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2017-11-23/18/|archive-date=16 April 2019|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>}}

[[File:Enda Kenny Feargal O'Rourke Taken at IBEC 2014 Conference Flickr.jpg|thumb|260px|Irish [[Taoiseach]] [[Enda Kenny]] and PwC (Ireland) Managing Partner [[Feargal O'Rourke]]]]

This type of legal and tax work is beyond the normal trust-structuring of [[offshore magic circle]]-type firms.<ref name="appley">{{cite news|title=Appleby, the offshore law firm with a record of compliance failures|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/appleby-the-offshore-law-firm-with-a-record-of-compliance-failures-1.3280860|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=November 2017|access-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829210210/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/appleby-the-offshore-law-firm-with-a-record-of-compliance-failures-1.3280860|archive-date=2018-08-29|url-status=live}}</ref>  This is more complex legislation that needs to integrate with tax treaties that involve G20 jurisdictions, as well as advanced accounting that will meet U.S. GAAP, SEC and IRS regulations (U.S. multinationals are leading users of IP-based BEPS tools).<ref>{{cite web|title=Tax haven networks and the role of the Big 4 accountancy firms|author1=Alex Cobham|author2=Chris Jones|author3=Yama Temouri|url=https://www.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/JWB-Big-4-Jones-Temouri-Cobham-2017.pdf|publisher=Journal of Business|quote=Our key findings demonstrate that there is a strong correlation and causal link between the size of an MNE's tax haven network and their use of the Big 4|date=2017|access-date=2018-06-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180628153026/https://www.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/JWB-Big-4-Jones-Temouri-Cobham-2017.pdf|archive-date=2018-06-28|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="ukipo">{{Cite web|title = Hidden Value: A study of the UK IP Valuation Market|url = https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/647086/IP-Valuation-Market.pdf|publisher = The UK Intellectual Property Office|date = February 2017|access-date = 2018-05-18|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180519041315/https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/647086/IP-Valuation-Market.pdf|archive-date = 2018-05-19|url-status = live}}</ref>  It is also why most modern corporate tax havens started as [[financial centres]], where a critical mass of advanced professional services firms develop around complex financial structuring (almost half of the main 10 corporate tax havens are in the 2017 top 10 [[Global Financial Centres Index]], see {{slink||Corporate tax haven lists}}).<ref name="dut3">{{Cite web|title=Richard Brooks on how accountants got away with murder in the U.K.|url=https://www.tcij.org/events/2018-01-16/logancij-richard-brooks-how-accountants-got-away-murder|author=Richard Brooks|publisher=[[Centre for Investigative Journalism]]|date=January 2018|access-date=2018-05-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180517005207/https://www.tcij.org/events/2018-01-16/logancij-richard-brooks-how-accountants-got-away-murder|archive-date=2018-05-17|url-status=dead|author-link=Richard Brooks (journalist)}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Ireland actively facilitates firms in avoiding tax, report finds|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/ireland-actively-facilitates-firms-in-avoiding-tax-report-finds-1.3314401|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=4 December 2017|access-date=16 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141437/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/ireland-actively-facilitates-firms-in-avoiding-tax-report-finds-1.3314401|archive-date=12 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="dut4">{{Cite web|title=How Ireland became an offshore financial centre|url=https://www.taxjustice.net/2015/11/11/how-ireland-became-an-offshore-financial-centre/|author=Nicholas Shaxson|publisher=[[Tax Justice Network]]|date=November 2015|access-date=2018-05-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141245/https://www.taxjustice.net/2015/11/11/how-ireland-became-an-offshore-financial-centre/|archive-date=2018-06-12|url-status=dead|author-link=Nicholas Shaxson}}</ref>

{{quote|"Why should Ireland be the policeman for the US?" he asks. "They can change the law like that!" He snaps his fingers. "I could draft a bill for them in an hour." "Under no circumstances is Ireland a tax haven. I'm a player in this game and we play by the rules." said PwC Ireland [[International Financial Services Centre, Dublin|International Financial Services Centre]] Managing Partner, [[Feargal O'Rourke]]|author=Jesse Drucker, Bloomberg, "Man Making Ireland Tax Avoidance Hub Proves Local Hero", 28 October 2013<ref name="for0"/>}}

{{quote|That is until the former venture-capital executive at ABN Amro Holding NV [[Joop Wijn]] becomes [Dutch] State Secretary of Economic Affairs in May 2003. It's not long before the Wall Street Journal reports about his tour of the US, during which he pitches the new Netherlands tax policy to dozens of American tax lawyers, accountants and corporate tax directors. In July 2005, he decides to abolish the provision that was meant to prevent tax dodging by American companies [the [[Dutch Sandwich]]], in order to meet criticism from tax consultants.|source=[[Oxfam]]/''[[De Correspondent]]'', "How the Netherlands became a Tax Haven", 31 May 2017.<ref name="oxf"/><ref name="dec">{{cite web| url=https://decorrespondent.nl/6825/zo-werd-nederland-het-grootste-belastingparadijs-voor-amerikaanse-multinationals/410600865675-af3e00af| title=Zo werd Nederland het grootste belastingparadijs voor Amerikaanse multinationals| work=De Correspondent| date=1 June 2017| access-date=21 May 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430203157/https://decorrespondent.nl/6825/zo-werd-nederland-het-grootste-belastingparadijs-voor-amerikaanse-multinationals/410600865675-af3e00af| archive-date=30 April 2019| url-status=live| df=dmy-all| last1=Frederik| first1=Jesse}}</ref>}}

The EU Commission has been trying to break the close relationship in the main EU corporate tax havens (i.e. Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Malta and Cyprus; the main [[Conduit and Sink OFCs]] in the EU-28, post [[Brexit]]), between law and accounting advisory firms, and their regulatory authorities (including taxing and statistical authorities) from a number of approaches:
{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
| EU Commission State aid cases, such as the [[EU illegal State aid case against Apple in Ireland|€13 billion fine on Apple in Ireland]] for Irish taxes avoided, despite protests from the Irish Government and the Irish [[Revenue Commissioners]];<ref name="revv">{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/revenue-insists-it-collected-all-taxes-apple-owed-1.2772934?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Ftechnology%2Frevenue-insists-it-collected-all-taxes-apple-owed-1.2772934|title=Irish Revenue insists it collected all taxes Apple owed in Ireland|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=30 August 2016|access-date=15 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180427184357/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/revenue-insists-it-collected-all-taxes-apple-owed-1.2772934?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Ftechnology%2Frevenue-insists-it-collected-all-taxes-apple-owed-1.2772934|archive-date=27 April 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
| EU Commission regulations on advisory firms, the most recent example being of the new disclosure rules on regarding "potentially aggressive" tax schemes from 2020 onwards.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/d9289174-26c4-11e8-b27e-cc62a39d57a0|title=Advisers face tighter EU rules on tax schemes|newspaper=Financial Times|date=13 March 2018|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514065623/https://www.ft.com/content/d9289174-26c4-11e8-b27e-cc62a39d57a0|archive-date=14 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
}}

===The "Knowledge Economy"===

Modern corporate havens present IP-based BEPS tools as "innovation economy", "new economy" or "knowledge economy" business activities<ref name="sing">{{Cite web|title=Singapore's government says it's not a tax haven, it's a value-adding IP hub|url=https://www.smh.com.au/business/singapores-government-says-its-not-a-tax-haven-its-a-valueadding-hub-20150430-1mwvdu.html|work=Sydney Morning Hearald|date=30 April 2015|access-date=21 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522041846/https://www.smh.com.au/business/singapores-government-says-its-not-a-tax-haven-its-a-valueadding-hub-20150430-1mwvdu.html|archive-date=22 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Intellectual Property (IP) regime in Ireland|url=https://www.grantthornton.ie/globalassets/1.-member-firms/ireland/insights/factsheets/grant-thornton-intellectual-property-regime-in-ireland-2015-final.pdf|publisher=Grant Thornton|date=August 2015|access-date=2018-05-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180519204449/https://www.grantthornton.ie/globalassets/1.-member-firms/ireland/insights/factsheets/grant-thornton-intellectual-property-regime-in-ireland-2015-final.pdf|archive-date=2018-05-19|url-status=live}}</ref> (e.g. some use the term "[[Corporation tax in the Republic of Ireland#Knowledge Development Box|knowledge box]]" or "[[patent box]]" for a class of IP-based BEPS tools, such as in Ireland and in the U.K.), however, their development as a GAAP accounting entry, with few exceptions, is for the purposes of tax management.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY-global-taxation-of-intellectual-property-20160518.pdf/$FILE/EY-global-taxation-of-intellectual-property-20160518.pdf|title=Global Taxation of Intellectual Property|publisher=Ernst & Young|date=2017|access-date=2018-05-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171003100906/http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY-global-taxation-of-intellectual-property-20160518.pdf/$FILE/EY-global-taxation-of-intellectual-property-20160518.pdf|archive-date=2017-10-03|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name= "ucla"/> A lawyer said "Intellectual property (IP) has become the leading tax-avoidance vehicle."<ref name="ucla"/>

When Apple "onshored" $300 billion of IP to Ireland in 2015 ([[leprechaun economics]]),<ref name="cofr"/> the Irish [[Central Statistics Office (Ireland)|Central Statistics Office]] suppressed its regular data release to protect the identity of Apple (unverifiable for 3 years, until 2018),<ref name="cso">{{cite web|url=http://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/newsevents/documents/pr_GDPexplanatorynote.pdf|title=CSO Press Release|publisher=Central Statistics Office (Ireland)|date=12 July 2016|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171122183804/http://cso.ie/en/media/csoie/newsevents/documents/pr_GDPexplanatorynote.pdf|archive-date=22 November 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> but then described the artificial 26.3% rise in Irish GDP as "meeting the challenges of a modern globalised economy". The behaviour of the CSO was described as [[Put on the green jersey|putting on the "green jersey"]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/newsevents/documents/seminars/globalisationinireland/Globalisation_-_Meeting_the_Measurement_Challenges_-_Michael_Connolly,_CSO.pdf|title=Challenges of Measuring the Modern Global Econpomy|publisher=Central Statistics Office (Ireland)|date=2017|access-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514064935/http://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/newsevents/documents/seminars/globalisationinireland/Globalisation_-_Meeting_the_Measurement_Challenges_-_Michael_Connolly,_CSO.pdf|archive-date=2018-05-14|url-status=live}}</ref>  Leprechaun economics is an example of how Ireland was able to meet with the OECD's transparency requirements (and score well in the [[Financial Secrecy Index]]), and still hide the largest [[BEPS]] action in history.{{cn|date=January 2021}}

As noted earlier ({{slink||U.K. transformation}}), the U.K. has a Minister for Intellectual Property and an [[Intellectual Property Office (United Kingdom)|Intellectual Property Office]],<ref name="ukipo"/> as does Singapore ([[Intellectual Property Office of Singapore]]).  The top 10 list of the 2018 [[Global Intellectual Property Center]] IP Index, the leaders in IP management, features the five largest modern corporate tax havens: United Kingdom (#2), Ireland (#6), the Netherlands (#7), Singapore (#9) and Switzerland (#10).<ref name="gipc">{{cite web|url=http://www.theglobalipcenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/GIPC_IP_Index_2018.pdf|page=6|title=Global IP Index|publisher=GIPC|date=February 2018|access-date=2018-05-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180521021413/http://www.theglobalipcenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/GIPC_IP_Index_2018.pdf|archive-date=2018-05-21|url-status=dead}}</ref>  This is despite the fact that patent-protection has traditionally been synonymous with the largest, and longest established, legal jurisdictions (i.e. mainly older  G7-type countries).

===German "Royalty Barrier" failure===

In June 2017, the German Federal Council approved a new law called an IP "Royalty Barrier" (Lizenzschranke) that restricts the ability of corporates to deduct intergroup cross-border IP charges against German taxation (and also encourage corporates to allocate more employees to Germany to maximise German tax-relief).  The law also enforces a minum "effective" 25% tax rate on IP.<ref>Accordingly, as of 1 January 2018, German-based licensees will be unable to deduct royalties paid to affiliates to the extent that the licensor's royalty income is not subject to the regular tax regime (e.g. IP box regime) and taxed at a low rate within the meaning of the royalty barrier (effective tax rate of < 25 %).{{cite web|date=2 July 2017|title=Federal Council Approves New Law Limiting Royalty Deductions|url=https://www.bakermckenzie.com/en/insight/publications/2017/07/federal-council-approves-royalty-deductions|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214064403/https://www.bakermckenzie.com/en/insight/publications/2017/07/federal-council-approves-royalty-deductions|archive-date=14 December 2018|access-date=30 May 2018|publisher=[[Baker McKenzie]]|df=dmy-all}}</ref>  While there was initial concern amongst global corporate tax advisors (who encode the IP legislation) that a "Royalty Barrier" was the "beginning of the end" for IP-based BEPS tools,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/blog/18th-annual-nyukpmg-tax-lecture-addresses-international-provisions-of-tcja/|title=18th Annual NYU/KPMG Tax Lecture Addresses International Provisions of TCJA|work=Reuters|date=13 May 2018}}{{Dead link|date=November 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> the final law was instead a boost for modern corporate tax havens, whose OECD-compliant, and more carefully encoded and embedded IP tax regimes, are effectively exempted.  More traditional corporate tax havens, which do not always have the level of sophistication and skill in encoding IP BEPS tools into their tax regimes, will fall further behind.

The German "Royalty Barrier" law exempts IP charged from locations which have:
{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
| OECD-nexus compliant "knowledge box" BEPS tools.  Ireland was the first corporate tax haven to introduce this in 2015,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.ie/business/budget/budget-2016-do-you-know-what-the-knowledge-box-is-31576795.html|title=Do you know what the Knowledge Box is?|work=Irish Independent|date=9 October 2015|access-date=30 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615005005/https://www.independent.ie/business/budget/budget-2016-do-you-know-what-the-knowledge-box-is-31576795.html|archive-date=15 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and the others are following Ireland's lead.<ref>A patent box of this kind is likely to be introduced in Switzerland in the context of tax package 17{{cite web|url=https://news.pwc.ch/34853/royalty-restrictions-germany/|title="Royalty Restrictions" in Germany|publisher=PwC Stiwzerland|date=11 July 2017|access-date=30 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218125951/https://news.pwc.ch/34853/royalty-restrictions-germany/|archive-date=18 February 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
| Tax regimes where there is no "preferential treatment" of IP.  Modern corporate tax havens apply the full "headline" rate to all IP, but then achieve lower "effective" rates via BEPS tools.
}}

One of Ireland's main tax law firms, [[Matheson (law firm)|Matheson]], whose clients include some of the largest U.S. multinationals in Ireland,<ref>At least 125 major U.S. companies have registered several hundred subsidiaries or investment funds at 70 Sir John Rogerson's Quay, a seven-story building in Dublin's docklands, according to a review of government and corporate records by The Wall Street Journal.  The common thread is the building's primary resident: Matheson, an Irish law firm that specializes in ways companies can use Irish tax law.{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/dublin-moves-to-block-controversial-tax-gambit-1381890312|title=Dublin Moves to Block Controversial Tax Gambit|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|date=15 October 2013|access-date=30 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616203914/https://www.wsj.com/articles/dublin-moves-to-block-controversial-tax-gambit-1381890312|archive-date=16 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> issued a note to its clients confirming that the new German "Royalty Barrier" will have little effect on their Irish IP-based BEPS structures - despite them being the primary target of the law.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mnetax.com/germany-multinationals-faced-increasing-tax-compliance-obligations-2017-uncertainty-lies-ahead-25330|title=Germany: multinationals faced increasing tax compliance obligations in 2017, uncertainty lies ahead|publisher=MNE Tax|date=27 December 2017|access-date=30 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214083242/https://mnetax.com/germany-multinationals-faced-increasing-tax-compliance-obligations-2017-uncertainty-lies-ahead-25330|archive-date=14 December 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>  In fact, Matheson notes that that new law will further highlight Ireland's "robust solution".<ref name="math">{{cite web|url=http://www.mondaq.com/germany/x/644192/tax+authorities/Breaking+Down+The+German+Royalty+Barrier+A+View+From+Ireland|title=Germany: Breaking Down The German Royalty Barrier - A View From Ireland|publisher=Matheson|date=8 November 2017|access-date=30 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180503182248/http://www.mondaq.com/germany/x/644192/tax+authorities/Breaking+Down+The+German+Royalty+Barrier+A+View+From+Ireland|archive-date=3 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

{{quote|However, given the nature of the Irish tax regime, the [German] royalty barrier should not impact royalties paid to a principal licensor resident in Ireland.<br/>Ireland's BEPS-compliant tax regime offers taxpayers a competitive and robust solution in the context of such unilateral initiatives.|source=[[Matheson (law firm)|Matheson]], "Germany: Breaking Down The German Royalty Barrier - A View From Ireland", 8 November 2017<ref name="math"/>}}

The failure of the German "Royalty Barrier" approach is a familiar route for systems that attempt to curb corporate tax havens via an OECD-compliance type approach (see {{slink||Failure of OECD BEPS Project}}), which is what modern corporate tax havens are distinctive in maintaining.  It contrasts with the U.S. [[Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017]] (see {{slink||Failure of OECD BEPS Project}}), which ignores whether a jurisdiction is OECD compliant (or not), and instead focuses solely on "effective taxes paid", as its metric.  Had the German "Royalty Barrier" taken the U.S. approach, it would have been more onerous for havens.  Reasons for why the barrier was designed to fail is discussed in [[Ireland as a tax haven#Political compromises|complex agendas]].

===IP and post-tax margins===

The sectors most associated with IP (e.g., technology and life sciences) are generally some of the most profitable corporate sectors in the world.  By using IP-based BEPS tools, these profitable sectors have become even more profitable on an after-tax basis by artificially suppressing profitability in higher-tax jurisdictions, and profit shifting to low-tax locations.<ref name="zuc"/>

For example, Google Germany should be even more profitable than the already very profitable Google U.S.  This is because the marginal additional costs for firms like Google U.S. of expanding into Germany are very low (the core technology platform has been built).  In practice, however, Google Germany is actually unprofitable (for tax purposes), as it pays intergroup IP charges back to Google Ireland, who reroutes them to Google Bermuda, who is extremely profitable (more so than Google U.S.).<ref name="google1"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/11/tech-giants-taxes-apple-paradise-corporation-avoidance|title=The tech giants will never pay their fair share of taxes – unless we make them|newspaper=The Guardian|date=11 December 2017|access-date=21 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522041315/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/11/tech-giants-taxes-apple-paradise-corporation-avoidance|archive-date=22 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>  These intergroup IP charges (i.e. the IP-based BEPS tools), are artificial internal constructs.

Commentators have linked the cyclical peak in U.S. corporate profit margins, with the enhanced after-tax profitability of the biggest U.S. technology firms.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gabriel-zucman.eu/files/Zucman2014JEP.pdf|title=Tracking Personal Wealth and Corporate Profits|publisher=Journal of Economic Perspectives|date=2014|access-date=2018-05-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412225500/http://gabriel-zucman.eu/files/Zucman2014JEP.pdf|archive-date=2018-04-12|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/why-corporate-tax-shifting-bigger-you-think|title=Why Corporate Tax Avoidance Is Bigger Than You Think|publisher=Stanford Business|date=24 May 2016|access-date=21 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180512025739/https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/why-corporate-tax-shifting-bigger-you-think|archive-date=12 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ibm-earnings-beat-is-a-product-of-tax-avoidance-and-its-nothing-new-2017-10-18|title=IBM earnings beat is a product of tax avoidance, and it's nothing new|publisher=Marketwatch|date=October 2017|access-date=2018-05-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522041428/https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ibm-earnings-beat-is-a-product-of-tax-avoidance-and-its-nothing-new-2017-10-18|archive-date=2018-05-22|url-status=live}}</ref>

For example, the definitions of IP in corporate tax havens such as Ireland has been broadened to include "theoretical assets", such as types of general rights, general know-how, general goodwill, and the right to use software.<ref name="acox">{{Cite web|title = Ireland as a Location for Your Intellectual Property Trading Company|url = http://www.arthurcox.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Arthur-Cox-Ireland-as-a-location-for-your-IP-Trading-Company-April-20152.pdf|publisher = Arthur Cox Law|date = April 2015|access-date = 2018-05-13|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180323092245/http://www.arthurcox.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Arthur-Cox-Ireland-as-a-location-for-your-IP-Trading-Company-April-20152.pdf|archive-date = 2018-03-23|url-status = dead}}</ref>  Ireland's IP regime  includes types of "internally developed" intangible assets and intangible assets purchased from "connected parties".  The real control in Ireland is that the IP assets must be acceptable under GAAP (older 2004 Irish GAAP is accepted), and thus auditable by an Irish [[International Financial Services Centre, Dublin|International Financial Services Centre]] accounting firm.<ref name="rev1"/><ref>{{Cite web|title=Capital Allowances for Intangible Assets "Specified Assets"|url=https://www.revenue.ie/en/companies-and-charities/reliefs-and-exemptions/capital-allowances-for-intangible-assets/index.aspx|publisher=Irish Revenue|date=September 2017|access-date=2018-05-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180324101652/https://www.revenue.ie/en/companies-and-charities/reliefs-and-exemptions/capital-allowances-for-intangible-assets/index.aspx|archive-date=2018-03-24|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A broadening range of multinationals are abusing IP accounting to increase after-tax margins, via intergroup charge-outs of artificial IP assets for BEPS purposes, including:
{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
|Amazon, a retailer, used it in Luxembourg.<ref name="amzn"/>
|Starbucks, a coffee chain, also used it in Luxembourg.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-britain-starbucks-tax/special-report-how-starbucks-avoids-uk-taxes-idUSBRE89E0EX20121015|title=Special Report: How Starbucks avoids UK taxes|newspaper=The Guardian|date=15 October 2012|access-date=27 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180527201658/https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-britain-starbucks-tax/special-report-how-starbucks-avoids-uk-taxes-idUSBRE89E0EX20121015|archive-date=27 May 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
|Apple, a phone manufacturer, used it in Ireland.<ref name="rotten apple">{{Cite journal|title=The Rotten Apple: Tax Avoidance in Ireland|journal=The International Trade Journal|volume=32|pages=150–161|date=2 August 2017|doi=10.1080/08853908.2017.1356250|last1=Barrera|first1=Rita|last2=Bustamante|first2=Jessica|s2cid=158385468}}</ref>
|
}}

It has been noted that IP-based BEPS tools such as the "[[patent box]]" can be structured to create negative rates of taxation for IP-heavy corporates.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp13070.pdf| title=Intellectual Property Box Regimes: Effective Tax Rates and Tax Policy Considerations| publisher=ZEW Centre for European Economic Research| date=2014| access-date=2018-05-22| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304113437/http://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp13070.pdf| archive-date=2016-03-04| url-status=dead}}</ref>

==IP–based Tax inversions==
{{main|Corporate tax inversion|Leprechaun economics}}
[[File:Ireland Trade Good Discrepancy (1995-2017).png|thumb|Apple's Q1 2015 Irish "quasi-inversion" of its $300bn international IP (known as [[leprechaun economics]]) is the largest recorded individual BEPS action in history, and almost double the 2016 $160bn Pfizer-Allergan Irish inversion, which was blocked.<br/><br/>[[Brad Setser]] & Cole Frank<br/>(Council on Foreign Relations)<ref name="cofr"/>]]

===Apple vs. Pfizer–Allergan===

Modern corporate tax havens further leverage their IP-based BEPS toolbox to enable international corporates to execute quasi-tax inversions, which could otherwise be blocked by domestic anti-inversion rules.  The largest example was Apple's Q1 January 2015 restructuring of its Irish business, Apple Sales International, in a quasi-tax inversion, which led to the [[Paul Krugman]] labeled "[[leprechaun economics]]" affair in Ireland in July 2016 (see article).

In early 2016, the Obama Administration blocked the proposed $160 billion Pfizer-Allergan Irish corporate tax inversion,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/pfizer-pulls-out-of-140bn-irish-allergan-merger-34603518.html|title=Pfizer pulls out of €140bn Irish Allergan merger|newspaper=Irish Independent|date=6 April 2016|access-date=16 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180708104847/https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/pfizer-pulls-out-of-140bn-irish-allergan-merger-34603518.html|archive-date=8 July 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-04-06/big-pharma-ruined-tax-inversions-for-everybody|title=Big Pharma Murdered Tax Inversions|newspaper=Bloomberg.com|publisher=Bloomberg News|date=6 August 2016|access-date=16 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417030218/https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-04-06/big-pharma-ruined-tax-inversions-for-everybody|archive-date=17 April 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> the largest proposed corporate [[tax inversion]] in history,<ref>{{cite news|title = US issues new rules to clamp down on tax 'inversions'|url = https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/us-issues-new-rules-to-clamp-down-on-tax-inversions-1.2829090|newspaper = The Irish Times|date = 16 October 2016|access-date = 16 May 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180417022904/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/us-issues-new-rules-to-clamp-down-on-tax-inversions-1.2829090|archive-date = 17 April 2018|url-status = live|df = dmy-all}}</ref> a decision which the Trump Administration also upheld.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tax-inversions/trump-to-keep-obama-rule-curbing-corporate-tax-inversion-deals-idUSKBN1C92RQ|title=Trump to keep Obama rule curbing corporate tax inversion deals|work=Reuters|date=4 October 2017|access-date=16 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616054152/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tax-inversions/trump-to-keep-obama-rule-curbing-corporate-tax-inversion-deals-idUSKBN1C92RQ|archive-date=16 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/Report_on_recent_US_international_tax_developments_-_20_January_2017/$FILE/2017G_00259-171Gbl_Report%20on%20recent%20US%20international%20tax%20developments%20-%2020%20January%202017.pdf|title=Global Tax Aleart Corporate Inversions|publisher=Ernst & Young|date=20 January 2017|access-date=16 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180418225844/http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/Report_on_recent_US_international_tax_developments_-_20_January_2017/$FILE/2017G_00259-171Gbl_Report%20on%20recent%20US%20international%20tax%20developments%20-%2020%20January%202017.pdf|archive-date=18 April 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

However, both Administrations were silent when the Irish State announced in July 2016 that 2015 GDP has risen 26.3% in one quarter due to the "onshoring" of corporate IP, and it was rumoured to be Apple.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/apple-tax-affairs-changes-triggered-surge-in-irish-economy-419912.html|title=Apple tax affairs changes triggered a surge in Irish economy|newspaper=The Irish Examiner|date=18 September 2016|access-date=16 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330012241/https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/apple-tax-affairs-changes-triggered-surge-in-irish-economy-419912.html|archive-date=30 March 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>  It might have been due to the fact that the [[Central Statistics Office (Ireland)]] openly delayed and limited its normal data release to protect the confidentiality of the source of the growth.<ref name="cso"/> It was only in early 2018, almost three years after Apple's Q1 2015 $300 billion quasi-tax inversion to Ireland (the largest tax inversion in history), that enough Central Statistics Office (Ireland) data was released to prove it definitively was Apple.<ref name="brads">{{Cite web|title=Apple's Exports Aren't Missing: They Are in Ireland|url=https://www.cfr.org/blog/apples-exports-arent-missing-they-are-ireland|publisher=Council on Foreign Relations|date=30 October 2017|access-date=16 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180429025322/https://www.cfr.org/blog/apples-exports-arent-missing-they-are-ireland|archive-date=29 April 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="cofr"/><ref name="cffy">{{cite web|url=http://economic-incentives.blogspot.ie/2018/01/what-apple-did-next.html|title=What Apple did next|publisher=Seamus Coffey, University College Cork|date=24 January 2018|access-date=16 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330153810/http://economic-incentives.blogspot.ie/2018/01/what-apple-did-next.html|archive-date=30 March 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Financial commentators estimate Apple onshored circa $300 billion in IP to Ireland, effectively representing the balance sheet of Apple's non-U.S. business.<ref name="cofr"/>  Thus, Apple completed a quasi-inversion of its non-U.S. business, to itself, in Ireland, which was almost twice the scale of Pfizer-Allergan's $160 billion blocked inversion.

===Apple's IP–based BEPS inversion===

Apple used Ireland's new BEPS tool, and "[[double Irish]]" replacement, the "[[double Irish arrangement#Backstop of capital allowances|capital allowances for intangible assets]]" scheme.<ref name="cffy"/>  This BEPS tool enables corporates to write-off the "arm's length" (to be OECD-compliant), intergroup acquisition of offshored IP, against all Irish corporate taxes.  The "arm's length" criteria are achieved by getting a major accounting firm in Ireland's [[International Financial Services Centre, Dublin|International Financial Services Centre]] to conduct a valuation, and Irish GAAP audit, of the IP.  The range of IP acceptable by the Irish [[Revenue Commissioners]] is very broad.  This BEPS tool can be continually replenished by acquiring new offshore IP with each new "product cycle".<ref name="maples">{{cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/377485537/Maples-and-Calder-Ireland-Intellectual-Property-2018|title=Maples and Calder Irish Intellectual Property Tax Regime - 2.5% Effective Tax|publisher=[[Maples and Calder]] Law Firm|date=February 2018|access-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180516033549/https://www.scribd.com/document/377485537/Maples-and-Calder-Ireland-Intellectual-Property-2018|archive-date=2018-05-16|url-status=live}}</ref>

In addition, Ireland's 2015 Finance Act removed the 80% cap on this tool (which forced a minimum 2.5% [[Corporation tax in the Republic of Ireland#Effective tax rate (ETR)|effective tax rate]]), thus giving Apple a 0% effective tax rate on the "onshored" IP.  Ireland then restored the 80% cap in 2016 (and a return to a minimum 2.5% effective tax rate), but only for new schemes.<ref name="app2">{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.ie/business/budget/tax-break-for-ip-transfers-is-cut-to-80pc-36215540.html|title=Tax break for IP transfers is cut to 80pc|work=Irish Independent|date=11 October 2017|access-date=16 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322015127/https://www.independent.ie/business/budget/tax-break-for-ip-transfers-is-cut-to-80pc-36215540.html|archive-date=22 March 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="app1">{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/cliff-taylor-noonan-and-donohoe-rule-switching-could-cost-1bn-next-year-1.3283383?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Feconomy%2Fcliff-taylor-noonan-and-donohoe-rule-switching-could-cost-1bn-next-year-1.3283383|title=Change in tax treatment of intellectual property and subsequent and reversal hard to fathom|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=8 November 2017|access-date=16 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180321151140/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/cliff-taylor-noonan-and-donohoe-rule-switching-could-cost-1bn-next-year-1.3283383?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Feconomy%2Fcliff-taylor-noonan-and-donohoe-rule-switching-could-cost-1bn-next-year-1.3283383|archive-date=21 March 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Thus, Apple was able to achieve what Pfizer-Allergan could not, by making use of Ireland's advanced IP-based BEPS tools. Apple avoided any U.S regulatory scrutiny/blocking of its actions, as well as any wider U.S. public outcry, as Pfizer-Allergan incurred.  Apple structured an Irish corporate effective tax rate of close to zero on its non-U.S. business, at twice the scale of the Pfizer-Allergan inversion.

{{quote|I cannot see a justification for giving full Irish tax relief to the intragroup acquisition of a virtual asset, except that it is for the purposes of facilitating corporate tax avoidance.|source=Professor Jim Stewart, Trinity College Dublin, "MNE Tax Strategies in Ireland", 2016<ref>{{Cite web|title=MNE Tax Strategies in Ireland|url=https://www.tcd.ie/business/assets/pdf/MNE-tax-strategies-and-ireland.pdf|publisher=Trinity College Dublin|date=2016|access-date=2018-05-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180426215449/https://www.tcd.ie/business/assets/pdf/MNE-tax-strategies-and-ireland.pdf|archive-date=2018-04-26|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

==Debt–based BEPS tools{{anchor|Debt-based BEPS tools}}==
{{see also|Irish Section 110 Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)}}

===Dutch "Double Dip"===
[[Image:JoopWijn.jpg|thumb|right|'''Ex. Dutch Minister [[Joop Wijn]]''' credited with introducing the [[Dutch Sandwich]] IP-based BEPS tool (which is often used with the [[Double Irish]] BEPS tool), and the "Dutch Double Dip" Debt-based BEPS tool]]
While the focus of corporate tax havens continues to be on developing new IP-based BEPS tools (such as OECD-compliant knowledge/patent boxes), Ireland has developed new BEPS tools leveraging traditional [[securitisation]] SPVs, called [[Irish Section 110 Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)|Section 110 SPVs]].  Use of intercompany loans and loan interest was one of the original BEPS tools and was used in many of the early U.S. corporate [[tax inversion]]s (was known as [[Corporate inversion#Mechanics|"earnings-stripping"]]).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/tax-inversion|title=Bloomberg Special TAX INVERSION|newspaper=Bloomberg.com|publisher=Bloomberg|date=2 May 2017|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413010306/https://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/tax-inversion|archive-date=13 April 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The Netherlands has been a leader in this area, using specifically worded legislation to enable IP-light companies further amplify "earnings-stripping".  This is used by mining and resource extraction companies, who have little or no IP, but who use high levels of leverage and asset financing.<ref name="neth">{{cite web|url=https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/file_attachments/netherlands-taxhaven.pdf|title=The Netherlands: a tax haven continuing its contribution to the corporate tax race to the bottom (translated)|publisher=Oxfam Novib|date=May 2016|access-date=2018-05-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623212542/https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/file_attachments/netherlands-taxhaven.pdf|archive-date=2018-06-23|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="dut2"/>  Dutch tax law enables IP-light companies to "overcharge" their subsidiaries for asset financing (i.e. reroute all untaxed profits back to the Netherlands), which is treated as tax-free in the Netherlands.  The technique of getting full tax-relief for an artificially high-interest rate in a foreign subsidiary, while getting additional tax relief on this income back home in the Netherlands, became known by the term, "double dipping".<ref name="dut10"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://home.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/pdf/2014/05/netherlands-2014.pdf|title=The Netherlands: Taxation of Cross-Border Mergers|publisher=KPMG|date=April 2014|access-date=2018-05-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210083939/https://home.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/pdf/2014/05/netherlands-2014.pdf|archive-date=2015-12-10|url-status=live}}</ref>   As with the [[Dutch sandwich]], ex. Dutch Minister [[Joop Wijn]] is credited as its creator.

{{quote|In 2006 he [ [[Joop Wijn]] ] abolished another provision meant to prevent abuse, this one pertaining to hybrid loans. Some revenue services classify those as loans, while others classify those as capital, so some qualify payments as interest, others as profits. This means that if a Dutch company provides such a hybrid [and very high interest] loan to a foreign company, the foreign company could use the payments as a tax deduction, while the Dutch company can classify it as profit from capital, which is exempt from taxes in the Netherlands [called "double dipping"]. This way no taxes are paid in either country.|source=[[Oxfam]]/''[[De Correspondent]]'', "How the Netherlands became a Tax Haven", 31 May 2017.<ref name="oxf"/><ref name="dec"/>}}

===Irish Section 110 SPV===
The [[Irish Section 110 Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)|Irish Section 110 SPV]] uses complex securitisation loan structuring (including [[Orphan structure|"orphaning"]] which adds confidentiality), to enable the profit shifting.  This tool is so powerful, it inadvertently enabled US [[distressed debt]] funds avoid billions in Irish taxes on circa €80 billion of Irish investments they made in 2012-2016 (see [[Irish Section 110 Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)#Abuses|Section 110 abuse]]).<ref name="l1">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37287182|title=Forget Apple: Ireland's other taxing issue|work=BBC News|date=6 September 2016|access-date=21 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627125139/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37287182|archive-date=27 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="l2">{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/619c9bde-74f3-11e6-bf48-b372cdb1043a|title=Ireland confronts another tax scandal closer to home|newspaper=Financial Times|date=11 September 2016|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612143047/https://www.ft.com/content/619c9bde-74f3-11e6-bf48-b372cdb1043a|archive-date=12 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="nnn">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/how-did-the-government-shaft-mortgage-holders-and-taxpayers-in-one-fell-swoop-34870748.html|title=How did the Government shaft mortgage holders and taxpayers in one fell swoop?|newspaper=Irish Independent|date=10 July 2016|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428093455/https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/how-did-the-government-shaft-mortgage-holders-and-taxpayers-in-one-fell-swoop-34870748.html|archive-date=28 April 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="nna">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/colette-browne/vulture-funds-are-feasting-taxfree-on-carcass-of-our-property-crash-35005936.html|title=Vulture funds are feasting tax-free on carcass of our property crash|newspaper=Irish Independent|date=30 August 2016|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428093528/https://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/colette-browne/vulture-funds-are-feasting-taxfree-on-carcass-of-our-property-crash-35005936.html|archive-date=28 April 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>  This was despite the fact that the seller of the circa €80 billion was mostly the Irish State's own [[National Asset Management Agency]].

The global securitisation market is circa $10 trillion in size,<ref name="jpm">{{cite web|url=https://www.morganstanley.com/im/publication/insights/investment-insights/ii_overviewofglobalsecuritizedassets_en.pdf|title=Global Securitisation Market|publisher=Morgan Stanley|date=2017|access-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317162303/https://www.morganstanley.com/im/publication/insights/investment-insights/ii_overviewofglobalsecuritizedassets_en.pdf|archive-date=2018-03-17|url-status=dead}}</ref> and involves an array of complex financial loan instruments, structured on assets all over the world, using established securitization vehicles that are accepted globally (and whitelisted by the OECD).  This is also helpful for concealing corporate BEPS activities, as demonstrated by sanctioned Russian banks using Irish Section 110 SPVs.<ref name="rus2"/><ref name="rus3"/>

This area is therefore an important new BEPS tool for EU corporate tax havens, Ireland and Luxembourg,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/ireland-is-top-eurozone-jurisdiction-for-secretive-spvs-36047198.html|title=Ireland is top Eurozone jurisdiction for SPVs|newspaper=Irish Independent|date=19 August 2017|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180628235612/https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/ireland-is-top-eurozone-jurisdiction-for-secretive-spvs-36047198.html|archive-date=28 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> who are also the EU's leading securitisation hubs.  Particularly so, given the new anti-IP-based BEPS tool taxes of the U.S. [[Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017]] (TCJA), (i.e. the new GILTI tax regime and BEAT tax regime), and proposed EU Digital Services Tax (DST) regimes.<ref name="carrot">{{cite web|url=https://taxfoundation.org/inversions-new-tax-law/|title=Inversions under the New Tax Law: Carrot and Stick|publisher=Tax Foundation|date=13 March 2018|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415120425/https://taxfoundation.org/inversions-new-tax-law/|archive-date=15 April 2019|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="Irish Times">{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/donald-trump-singles-out-ireland-in-tax-speech-1.3310149?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Fdonald-trump-singles-out-ireland-in-tax-speech-1.3310149|title=Donald Trump singles out Ireland in tax speech|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=29 November 2017|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180403112427/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/donald-trump-singles-out-ireland-in-tax-speech-1.3310149?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Fdonald-trump-singles-out-ireland-in-tax-speech-1.3310149|archive-date=3 April 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="gnx2">{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/europe-points-finger-at-ireland-over-tax-avoidance-1.3417948|title=Europe points finger at Ireland over tax avoidance|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=7 March 2018|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180307095256/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/europe-points-finger-at-ireland-over-tax-avoidance-1.3417948|archive-date=7 March 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The U.S. TCJA anticipates a return to debt-based BEPS tools, as it limits interest deductibility to 30% of EBITDA (moving to 30% of EBIT post 2021).<ref name="lexology">{{cite web|url=https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=04adc5c2-639a-45ce-8680-e080b5dacdbf|title=Tax Reform - Considerations for U.S. Multinationals|publisher=Lexology|date=9 March 2018|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180424202538/https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=04adc5c2-639a-45ce-8680-e080b5dacdbf|archive-date=24 April 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jpmorgan.com/jpmpdf/1320744529831.pdf|title=U.S. TCJA JPMorgan|publisher=JPMorgan|date=January 2018|access-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514064646/https://www.jpmorgan.com/jpmpdf/1320744529831.pdf|archive-date=2018-05-14|url-status=live}}</ref>

While [[securitisation]] SPVs are important new BEPS tools, and acceptable under global tax-treaties, they suffer from "substance" tests (i.e. challenges by tax authorities that the loans are artificial).  Irish Section 110 SPV's use of "[[Irish Section 110 Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)#Features|Profit Participation Notes]]" (i.e. artificial internal intergroup loans), is an impediment to corporates using these structures versus established IP-based BEPS tools.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arthurcox.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Arthur-Cox-Establishing-SPVs-in-Ireland-for-Structured-Finance-Transactions-May-2014.pdf|title=Ireland as a Domicile for Structured Finance|publisher=Arthur Cox Law|date=2014|access-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316023100/http://www.arthurcox.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Arthur-Cox-Establishing-SPVs-in-Ireland-for-Structured-Finance-Transactions-May-2014.pdf|archive-date=2018-03-16|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.internationaltaxreview.com/Article/3439735/Irish-tax-regime-for-securitisation-vehicles.html|title=Irish Securitisation Section 110 Vehicles|publisher=International Tax Review|date=15 March 2015|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612140504/http://www.internationaltaxreview.com/Article/3439735/Irish-tax-regime-for-securitisation-vehicles.html|archive-date=12 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>  Solutions such as the [[Irish Section 110 Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)#Evolution|Orphaned Super-QIAIF]] have been created in the Irish tax code to resolve this.

However, while Debt-based BEPS tools may not feature with U.S. multinational technology companies, they have become attractive to global financial institutions (who do not need to meet the same "substance" tests on their financial transactions).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/strong-evidence-ireland-aiding-eu-banks-taxavoidance-schemes-35569517.html|title='Strong evidence' Ireland aiding EU banks' tax-avoidance schemes|newspaper=Irish Independent|date=25 March 2017|access-date=19 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180519205108/https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/strong-evidence-ireland-aiding-eu-banks-taxavoidance-schemes-35569517.html|archive-date=19 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/ireland-accused-of-facilitating-tax-avoidance-by-european-banks-1.3026167|title=Ireland accused of facilitating tax avoidance by European banks|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=17 March 2017|access-date=19 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180705152320/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/ireland-accused-of-facilitating-tax-avoidance-by-european-banks-1.3026167|archive-date=5 July 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

In February 2018, the [[Central Bank of Ireland]] upgraded the little-used Irish [[Qualifying investor alternative investment fund (QIAIF)#L-QIAIF rationale|L-QIAIF]] regime to offer the same tax benefits as Section 110 SPVs but without the need for Profit Participation Notes and without the need to file public accounts with the Irish [[Companies Registration Office (Ireland)|CRO]] (which had exposed the scale of Irish domestic taxes Section 110 SPVs had been used to avoid, see [[Irish Section 110 Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)#Abuses|abuses]]).

==Ranking corporate tax havens==

===Proxy tests===
{{see also|Corporate tax inversion}}

The study and identification of modern corporate tax havens are still developing.  Traditional qualitative-driven IMF-OECD-[[Financial Secrecy Index]] type tax haven screens, which focus on assessing legal and tax structures, are less effective given the high levels of transparency and OECD-compliance in modern corporate tax havens (i.e. most of their BEPS tools are OECD-whitelisted).
{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
|A proposed test of a modern corporate tax haven is the existence of regional headquarters of major U.S. technology multinationals (largest IP-based BEPS tool users) such as Apple, Google or Facebook.<ref name="zucc">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/08/tax-havens-dodging-theft-multinationals-avoiding-tax|title=The desperate inequality behind global tax dodging|newspaper=The Guardian|date=8 November 2017|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308142032/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/08/tax-havens-dodging-theft-multinationals-avoiding-tax|archive-date=8 March 2019|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>    The main EMEA jurisdictions for headquarters are Ireland,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/tech-giants-eating-up-dublin-s-office-market-1.3455742|title=Tech giants eating up Dublin's office market|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=18 April 2018|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180513224039/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/tech-giants-eating-up-dublin-s-office-market-1.3455742|archive-date=13 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and the United Kingdom,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/revealed-apple-to-create-stunning-new-hq-at-battersea-power-station-a3356201.html|title=Apple to create stunning new London HQ at Battersea Power Station|newspaper=The Standard|date=28 September 2016|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514064900/https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/revealed-apple-to-create-stunning-new-hq-at-battersea-power-station-a3356201.html|archive-date=14 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/ebe08914-d6bc-11e7-8c9a-d9c0a5c8d5c9|title=Facebook to recruit 800 more staff for new London HQ|newspaper=Financial Times|date=4 December 2017|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514064709/https://www.ft.com/content/ebe08914-d6bc-11e7-8c9a-d9c0a5c8d5c9|archive-date=14 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> while the main APAC jurisdictions for headquarters is Singapore.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/10/googles-new-apac-headquarters-in-singapore-is-a-blend-of-office-building-and-tech-campus.html|title=Google's new APAC headquarters in Singapore is a blend of office building and tech campus|publisher=CNBC|date=November 2016|access-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710003456/https://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/10/googles-new-apac-headquarters-in-singapore-is-a-blend-of-office-building-and-tech-campus.html|archive-date=2018-07-10|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/facebook-s-singapore-office-will-make-you-want-to-quit-your-job-a6675511.html|title=Facebook's Singapore APAC Headquarters|newspaper=The Independent|date=October 2015|access-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629160620/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/facebook-s-singapore-office-will-make-you-want-to-quit-your-job-a6675511.html|archive-date=2018-06-29|url-status=live}}</ref>

|A proposed proxy are jurisdictions to which U.S. corporates execute [[tax inversion]]s (see {{slink||Bloomberg Corporate tax inversions}}).  Since the first U.S. corporate tax inversion in 1982, Ireland has received the most U.S. inversions, with Bermuda second, the United Kingdom third and the Netherlands fourth.  Since 2009, Ireland and the United Kingdom have dominated.<ref name="bbb"/>|

|The 2017 report by the [[Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy]] on offshore activities of U.S. Fortune 500 companies, lists the Netherlands, Singapore, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Ireland and the Caribbean triad (the Cayman-Bermuda-BVI), as the places where Fortune 500 companies have the most subsidiaries (note: this does not estimate the scale of their activities).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://itep.org/offshoreshellgames2017/|title=Offshore Shell Games: 2017|publisher=Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)|page=11|date=October 2017|access-date=2018-05-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180517223640/https://itep.org/offshoreshellgames2017/|archive-date=2018-05-17|url-status=live}}</ref>

|Zucman, Tørsløv, and Wier advocate profitability of U.S. corporates in the haven as a proxy.  This is particularly useful for havens that use the {{slink||Employment tax}} system and require corporates to maintain a "substantive" presence in the haven for respectability.  Ireland is the most profitable location, followed by the Caribbean (incl. Bermuda), Luxembourg, Switzerland and the Netherlands.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gabriel-zucman.eu/files/TWZ2018Slides.pdf|title=The Missing Profits of Nations|page=26|publisher=Gabriel Zucman, Thomas Tørsløv, Ludvig Wier|date=June 2018|access-date=2018-05-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141342/http://gabriel-zucman.eu/files/TWZ2018Slides.pdf|archive-date=2018-06-12|url-status=live}}</ref>

|The distortion of national accounts by the accounting flows of particular IP-based BEPS tools is a proxy.<ref name="imfx"/><ref name="qqtz"/><ref name="ber">{{cite web|url=https://www.socialeurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/p_imk_wp_175_2017.pdf|title=CRISIS RECOVERY IN A COUNTRY WITH A HIGH PRESENCE OF FOREIGN OWNED COMPANIES|publisher=IMK Institute, Berlin|date=January 2017|access-date=2018-05-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412082814/https://www.socialeurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/p_imk_wp_175_2017.pdf|archive-date=2019-04-12|url-status=dead}}</ref>  This was spectacularly shown in Q1 2015 during Apple's [[leprechaun economics]].  The non-Oil & Gas nations in the top 15 [[List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita]] are tax havens led by Luxembourg, Singapore and Ireland (see {{slink||GDP-per-capita tax haven proxy}}).

|A related but similar test is the ratio of GNI to GDP, as GNI is less prone to distortion by IP-based BEPS tools.  Countries with low GNI/GDP ratios (e.g., Luxembourg, Ireland, and Singapore) are almost always tax havens. However, not all havens have low GNI/GDP ratios.  An example is the Netherlands, whose [[dutch sandwich]] BEPS tool impacts their national accounts in a different way.<ref name="seamuscoffey">{{cite web|url=http://economic-incentives.blogspot.ie/2013/04/gdp-and-international-comparisons.html|title=International GNI to GDP Comparisons|author=Seamus Coffey [[Irish Fiscal Advisory Council]]|publisher=University College Cork|date=29 April 2013|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180319213831/http://economic-incentives.blogspot.ie/2013/04/gdp-and-international-comparisons.html|archive-date=19 March 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="ber"/>

|The use of "[[common law]]" legal systems, whose structure gives greater legal protection to the construction of corporate tax "loopholes" by the jurisdiction (e.g. the [[double Irish]], or [[trusts]]), is sometimes proposed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.taxjustice.net/2017/12/19/trusts-uk-half-step-forward-three-steps-backwards/|title=Common Law Trusts|publisher=[[Tax Justice Network]]|date=19 December 2017|access-date=29 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180530040355/https://www.taxjustice.net/2017/12/19/trusts-uk-half-step-forward-three-steps-backwards/|archive-date=30 May 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>  There is a disproportionate concentration of [[common law]] systems amongst corporate tax havens, including Ireland, the U.K., Singapore, Hong Kong, most Caribbean (e.g. the Caymans, Bermuda, and the BVI).  However, it is not conclusive, as major havens, Luxembourg and the Netherlands run "[[Civil law (legal system)|civil law]]" systems.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2100.html|title=Country Legal Systems|publisher=CIA Factbook|access-date=2018-05-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140518174611/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2100.html|archive-date=2014-05-18|url-status=dead}}</ref>  Many havens are current, or past U.K. dependencies.
}}

===Quantitative measures===
{{main|Conduit and Sink OFCs}}

More scientific, are the quantitative-driven studies (focused on empirical outcomes), such as the work by the University of Amsterdam's CORPNET in [[Conduit and Sink OFCs]],<ref name="xxxx">{{cite journal|title=Uncovering Offshore Financial Centers: Conduits and Sinks in the Global Corporate Ownership Network|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |date=24 July 2017|doi=10.1038/s41598-017-06322-9|df=dmy-all|last1=Garcia-Bernardo|first1=Javier|last2=Fichtner|first2=Jan|last3=Takes|first3=Frank W.|last4=Heemskerk|first4=Eelke M.|volume=7|issue=1|page=6246|pmid=28740120|pmc=5524793|arxiv=1703.03016|bibcode=2017NatSR...7.6246G}}</ref> and by University of Berkley's [[Gabriel Zucman]].<ref name="zuc"/>  They highlight the following modern corporate tax havens, also called [[Conduit and Sink OFCs|Conduit OFCs]], and also highlight their "partnerships" with key traditional [[tax haven]]s, called [[Conduit and Sink OFCs|Sink OFCs]]:
{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
| {{flagcountry|NLD|1912}} - the "mega" Conduit OFC, and focused on moving funds from the EU (via the "[[dutch sandwich]]" BEPS tool) to Luxembourg and the "triad" of Bermuda/BVI/Cayman.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2017/07/the-netherlands-is-worlds-biggest-conduit-to-offshore-tax-havens-research/| title=The Netherlands is world's biggest conduit to offshore tax havens: research| publisher=Dutch News NL| date=24 July 2017| access-date=11 May 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180214160801/http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2017/07/the-netherlands-is-worlds-biggest-conduit-to-offshore-tax-havens-research| archive-date=14 February 2018| url-status=dead| df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine| url=https://www.complianceweek.com/blogs/global-glimpses/netherlands-not-bermuda-is-the-tax-evasion-capital-of-the-world#.WsIZdojwZPY| title=Netherlands, not Bermuda, is the tax evasion capital of the world| magazine=[[Compliance Week]]| date=30 July 2017| access-date=13 May 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180403001737/https://www.complianceweek.com/blogs/global-glimpses/netherlands-not-bermuda-is-the-tax-evasion-capital-of-the-world#.WsIZdojwZPY| archive-date=3 April 2018| url-status=dead| df=dmy-all}}</ref>
| {{flagcountry|GBR|1912}} - 2nd largest Conduit OFC and the link from Europe to Asia; 18 of the 24 Sink OFCs are current, or past, dependencies of the U.K.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.accountancydaily.co/uk-second-largest-conduit-tax-havens| title=UK second largest conduit for tax havens| publisher=Accountancy Weekly| date=27 July 2017| access-date=11 May 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180403051452/https://www.accountancydaily.co/uk-second-largest-conduit-tax-havens| archive-date=3 April 2018| url-status=dead| df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-eu-chancellor-philip-hammond-welt-am-sonntag-uk-tax-haven-europe-a7527961.html| title=UK could become 'tax haven' of Europe if it is shut out of single market after Brexit, Chancellor suggests| newspaper=Independent| date=15 January 2017| access-date=11 May 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180402225714/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-eu-chancellor-philip-hammond-welt-am-sonntag-uk-tax-haven-europe-a7527961.html| archive-date=2 April 2018| url-status=live| df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="tjn1"/>
| {{flagcountry|CHE|1912}} - long-established corporate tax haven and a major Conduit OFC for Jersey, one of the largest established offshore tax havens.
| {{flagcountry|SGP|1912}} - the main Conduit OFC for Asia, and the link to the two major Asian Sink OFCs of Hong Kong and Taiwan (Taiwan is described as the Switzerland of Asia<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.taxjustice.net/2016/02/10/taiwan-the-un-noticed-asian-tax-haven/|title=Taiwan, the un-noticed Asian tax haven?|publisher=Tax Justice Network|date=10 February 2016}}</ref>).
| {{flagcountry|IRE|1912}} - the main Conduit OFC for U.S. links (see [[Ireland as a tax haven]]), who make heavy use of Sink OFC Luxembourg as a backdoor out of the Irish corporate tax system.<ref name="llux"/>
}}

The only jurisdiction from the above list of major global corporate tax havens that makes an occasional appearance in OECD-IMF tax haven lists is Switzerland.  These jurisdictions are the leaders in IP-based BEPS tools and use of intergroup IP charging and have the most sophisticated IP legislation.  They have the largest tax treaty networks and all follow the {{slink||Employment tax}} approach.

The analysis highlights the difference between "suspected" onshore tax havens (i.e. major Sink OFCs Luxembourg and Hong Kong), which because of their suspicion, have limited/restricted bilateral tax treaties (as countries are wary of them), and the Conduit OFCs, which have less "suspicion" and therefore the most extensive bilateral tax treaties.<ref name="ukx"/><ref name="dut2"/>  Corporates need the broadest tax treaties for their [[BEPS]] tools, and therefore prefer to base themselves in Conduit OFCs (Ireland and Singapore), which can then route the corporate's funds to the Sink OFCs (Luxembourg and Hong Kong).<ref name="fordam"/>
[[File:List of sink-OFCs, ordered by sink centrality value.png|thumb|"Uncovering Offshore Financial Centers": List of Sink OFCs by value (highlighting the current and ex. U.K. dependencies, in light blue)]]
Of the major Sink OFCs, they span a range between traditional tax havens (with very limited tax treaty networks) and near-corporate tax havens:
{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
| {{flagcountry|BVI|1912}} {{flagcountry|BER|1912}} {{flagcountry|CYM|1912}} - The Caribbean "triad" of Bermuda/BVI/Cayman are classic major tax havens, and therefore with limited access to full global tax treaty networks, thus relying on Conduit OFCs for access; heavily used by U.S. multinationals.
| {{flagcountry|LUX|1912}} - noted by CORPNET as being close to a Conduit, however, U.S. firms are more likely to use Ireland/U.K. as their Conduit OFC to Luxembourg.
| {{flagcountry|HKG|1912}} - often described as the "Luxembourg of Asia";<ref>{{cite web|url=https://citi.com/mss/docs/hk_luxembourg.pdf|title=Hong Kong; The next Luxembourg|publisher=Citibank Asia|date=April 2013|access-date=2018-05-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180524004123/https://citi.com/mss/docs/hk_luxembourg.pdf|archive-date=2018-05-24|url-status=dead}}</ref> U.S. firms are more likely to use Singapore as their Conduit OFC to route to Hong Kong.
}}

The above five corporate tax haven Conduit OFCs, plus the three general tax haven Sink OFCs (counting the Caribbean "triad" as one major Sink OFC), are replicated at the top 8-10 corporate tax havens of many independent lists, including the [[Oxfam]] list,<ref name="oxf1">{{cite web |url=https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/tax-battles-dangerous-global-race-bottom-corporate-tax |title=Tax Battles: the dangerous global race to the bottom on corporate tax |publisher=Oxfam |date=December 2016 |access-date=2018-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617142230/https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/tax-battles-dangerous-global-race-bottom-corporate-tax |archive-date=2018-06-17 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="oxf2">{{cite web |url=https://d1tn3vj7xz9fdh.cloudfront.net/s3fs-public/bp-race-to-bottom-corporate-tax-121216-en.pdf |title=TAX BATTLES The dangerous global Race to the Bottom on Corporate Tax |publisher=Oxfam |date=December 2016 |access-date=2018-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180331040012/https://d1tn3vj7xz9fdh.cloudfront.net/s3fs-public/bp-race-to-bottom-corporate-tax-121216-en.pdf |archive-date=2018-03-31 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the [[Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy|ITEP]] list.<ref name="ITEP">{{cite web|url=https://itep.org/wp-content/uploads/offshoreshellgames2017.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://itep.org/wp-content/uploads/offshoreshellgames2017.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Offshore Shell Games 2017|page=17|publisher=Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy|date=2017}}</ref>  (see {{slink||Corporate tax haven lists}}).

===Ireland as global leader===

[[Gabriel Zucman]]'s analysis differs from most other works in that it focuses on the total quantum of taxes shielded.  He shows that many of Ireland's U.S. multinationals, like Facebook, do not appear on Orbis (the source for quantitative studies, including CORPNET's) or have a small fraction of their data on Orbis (Google and Apple).

Analysed using a "quantum of funds" method (not an "Orbis corporate connections" method), Zucman shows Ireland as the largest EU-28 corporate tax haven, and the major route for Zucman's estimated annual loss of 20% in EU-28 corporate tax revenues.<ref name="zuc">{{cite web|url=http://gabriel-zucman.eu/files/TWZ2018Slides.pdf|page=68|title=The Missing Profits of Nations|publisher=Gabriel Zucman (University of Berkley)|date=April 2018|access-date=2018-05-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141342/http://gabriel-zucman.eu/files/TWZ2018Slides.pdf|archive-date=2018-06-12|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="zucc"/>  Ireland exceeds the Netherlands in terms of "quantum" of taxes shielded, which would arguably make Ireland the largest global corporate tax haven (it even matches the combined Caribbean triad of Bermuda-British Virgin Islands-the Cayman Islands).<ref name="irishtimes.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/ireland-is-the-world-s-biggest-corporate-tax-haven-say-academics-1.3528401?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Feconomy%2Fireland-is-the-world-s-biggest-corporate-tax-haven-say-academics-1.3528401|title=Ireland is the world's biggest corporate 'tax haven', say academics|quote=Study claims State shelters more multinational profits than the entire Caribbean|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=13 June 2018|access-date=13 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180824044322/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/ireland-is-the-world-s-biggest-corporate-tax-haven-say-academics-1.3528401?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Feconomy%2Fireland-is-the-world-s-biggest-corporate-tax-haven-say-academics-1.3528401|archive-date=24 August 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="zuc10"/> See {{slink||Zucman Corporate tax havens}}.

==Failure of OECD BEPS Project==
{{see also|Base erosion and profit shifting (OECD project)}}

===Reasons for the failure===
{{quote box
|width=19em|border=1px|align=right|bgcolor=#c6dbf7|qalign=left
|quote = Of the wider tax environment, O'Rourke thinks the OECD base-erosion and profit-shifting (BEPS) process is "very good" for Ireland.  "If BEPS sees itself to a conclusion, it will be good for Ireland."
|salign=left
|source=[[Feargal O'Rourke]] CEO PwC (Ireland).<br/>"Architect" of the famous [[Double Irish]] IP-based BEPS tool.<ref name="for0">{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-10-28/man-making-ireland-tax-avoidance-hub-globally-proves-local-hero|title=Man Making Ireland Tax Avoidance Hub Proves Local Hero|newspaper=Bloomberg.com|publisher=Bloomberg News|date=28 October 2013|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612234526/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-10-28/man-making-ireland-tax-avoidance-hub-globally-proves-local-hero|archive-date=12 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="for1">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/controversial-tax-strategies-brainchild-of-orourkes-son-29721835.html|title=Controversial tax strategies brainchild of O'Rourke's son|newspaper=Irish Independent|date=3 November 2013|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180920120538/https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/controversial-tax-strategies-brainchild-of-orourkes-son-29721835.html|archive-date=20 September 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><br/>''The Irish Times'', May 2015.<ref name="fer">{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/scion-of-a-prominent-political-dynasty-who-gave-his-vote-to-accountancy-1.2203820?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Ffinancial-services%2Fscion-of-a-prominent-political-dynasty-who-gave-his-vote-to-accountancy-1.2203820|title=Scion of a prominent political dynasty who gave his vote to accountancy|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=8 May 2015|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612152414/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/scion-of-a-prominent-political-dynasty-who-gave-his-vote-to-accountancy-1.2203820?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fbusiness%2Ffinancial-services%2Fscion-of-a-prominent-political-dynasty-who-gave-his-vote-to-accountancy-1.2203820|archive-date=12 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
}}
The rise of modern corporate tax havens, like the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Ireland and Singapore, contrasts with the failure of OECD initiatives to combat global corporate tax avoidance and BEPS activities.  There are many reasons advocated for the OECD's failure, the most common being:<ref name="un1">{{cite web|url=https://www.taxjustice.net/2017/09/11/new-un-tax-handbook-sets-lower-income-countries-oecd-beps/|title=New UN tax handbook: Lower-income countries vs OECD BEPS failure|publisher=Tax Justice Network|date=11 September 2017|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180529020446/https://www.taxjustice.net/2017/09/11/new-un-tax-handbook-sets-lower-income-countries-oecd-beps/|archive-date=29 May 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
[[File:Pierre Moscovici - P027634000101-313948.jpg|thumb|'''[[Pierre Moscovici]]''', EU Commissioner for Taxes, whose Digital Services Tax aims to force a minimum level of EU taxation on technology multinationals operating in the EU-28]]
{{ordered list
| type = lower-roman|Slowness and predictability.  OECD works in 5-10 year cycles, giving havens time to plan new OECD-compliant BEPS tools (i.e. replacement of [[double Irish]]), and corporates the degree of near-term predictability that they need to manage their affairs and not panic (i.e. double Irish only closes in 2020).<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.ft.com/content/ba95cff0-4fcd-11e4-a0a4-00144feab7de| title=Brussels in crackdown on 'double Irish' tax loophole| newspaper=Financial Times| date=October 2014| access-date=2018-05-13| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722112759/https://www.ft.com/content/ba95cff0-4fcd-11e4-a0a4-00144feab7de| archive-date=2018-07-22| url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="guardian">{{cite news| url=https://theconversation.com/irelands-move-to-close-the-double-irish-tax-loophole-unlikely-to-bother-apple-google-33011| title=Ireland's move to close the 'double Irish' tax loophole unlikely to bother Apple, Google| newspaper=The Guardian| date=October 2014| access-date=2018-05-13| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722114227/http://theconversation.com/irelands-move-to-close-the-double-irish-tax-loophole-unlikely-to-bother-apple-google-33011| archive-date=2018-07-22| url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="econ">{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/business/21672232-europes-corporate-tax-havens-say-they-are-reforming-up-point-still-slipping-net|title=Still slipping the net: Europe's corporate-tax havens say they are reforming. Up to a point|newspaper=The Economist|date=8 October 2015|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514065615/https://www.economist.com/news/business/21672232-europes-corporate-tax-havens-say-they-are-reforming-up-point-still-slipping-net|archive-date=14 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

{{quote|Figures released in April 2017 show that since 2015 [when the double Irish was closed to new schemes] there has been a dramatic increase in companies using Ireland as a low-tax or no-tax jurisdiction for intellectual property (IP) and the income accruing to it, via a nearly 1000% increase in the uptake of a tax break expanded between 2014 and 2017 [the [[double Irish arrangement#Backstop of capital allowances|capital allowances for intangible assets]] BEPS tool].|source=[[Christian Aid]], "Impossible Structures: tax structures overlooked in the 2015 spillover analysis", 2017<ref name="caid"/>}}|Bias to modern havens.  The OECD's June 2017 [[Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting|MLI]] was signed by 70 jurisdictions.<ref name="mli">{{cite web|url=https://www.squirepattonboggs.com/~/media/files/insights/publications/2017/07/turning-the-tide-oecds-multilateral-instrument-has-been-signed/27380--oecds-multilateral-instrument-has-been-signed-client-alert.pdf|title=Turning the Tide: The OECD's Multilateral Instrument Has Been Signed|publisher=SquirePattonBoggs|date=July 2017|access-date=2018-05-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522041332/https://www.squirepattonboggs.com/~/media/files/insights/publications/2017/07/turning-the-tide-oecds-multilateral-instrument-has-been-signed/27380--oecds-multilateral-instrument-has-been-signed-client-alert.pdf|archive-date=2018-05-22|url-status=dead}}</ref>  The corporate tax havens opted out of the key articles (i.e. Article 12),<ref name="itm"/> while emphasising their endorsement of others (especially Article 5 which benefits corporate havens using the {{slink||Employment tax}} BEPS system).  Modern corporate tax havens like Ireland and Singapore used the OECD to diminish other corporate tax havens like Luxembourg and Hong Kong.<ref name="ey">{{cite web|url=http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/Signing_by_68_jurisdictions_of_the_Multilateral_Convention_to_Implement_Tax_Treaty_Related_Measures_to_Prevent_BEPS_highlights_impacts_for_business_to_consider/$FILE/2017G_03818-171Gbl_Signing%20by%2068%20jurisdictions%20of%20the%20MC%20to%20Implement%20Tax%20Treaty%20Related%20Measures%20to%20Prevent%20BEPS%20highlights.pdf|title=Signing by 68 jurisdictions of the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent BEPS highlights impacts for business to consider|publisher=Ernst & Young|date=14 June 2017|access-date=19 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180519204939/http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/Signing_by_68_jurisdictions_of_the_Multilateral_Convention_to_Implement_Tax_Treaty_Related_Measures_to_Prevent_BEPS_highlights_impacts_for_business_to_consider/$FILE/2017G_03818-171Gbl_Signing%20by%2068%20jurisdictions%20of%20the%20MC%20to%20Implement%20Tax%20Treaty%20Related%20Measures%20to%20Prevent%20BEPS%20highlights.pdf|archive-date=19 May 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

{{quote|The global legal firm [[Baker McKenzie]], representing a coalition of 24 multinational US software firms, including Microsoft, lobbied [[Michael Noonan (Fine Gael politician)|Michael Noonan]], as [Irish] minister for finance, to resist the [OECD MLI] proposals in January 2017.<br/>In a letter to him the group recommended Ireland not adopt article 12, as the changes "will have effects lasting decades" and could "hamper global investment and growth due to uncertainty around taxation". The letter said that "keeping the current standard will make Ireland a more attractive location for a regional headquarters by reducing the level of uncertainty in the tax relationship with Ireland's trading partners".|source=''[[The Irish Times]]''. "Ireland resists closing corporation tax 'loophole'", 10 November 2017.<ref name="itm">{{cite news|title=Ireland resists closing corporation tax 'loophole'|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/ireland-resists-closing-corporation-tax-loophole-1.3286199|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=10 November 2017|access-date=19 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181204122054/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/ireland-resists-closing-corporation-tax-loophole-1.3286199|archive-date=4 December 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>}}|Focus on transparency and compliance vs. net tax paid.  Most of the OECD's work focuses on traditional tax havens where secrecy (and criminality) are issues.  The OECD defends modern corporate tax havens to confirm that they are "not tax havens" due to their OECD-compliance and  transparency.<ref name="ced"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oxfam.org.nz/news/oxfam-disputes-opaque-oecd-failing-just-one-tax-haven-transparency|title=Oxfam disputes opaque OECD failing that just one tax haven fails on transparency|publisher=Oxfam|date=30 June 2017|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620124739/https://www.oxfam.org.nz/news/oxfam-disputes-opaque-oecd-failing-just-one-tax-haven-transparency|archive-date=20 June 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="xyz">{{cite web|url=https://www.esr.ie/article/view/78/68|title=What Makes a Country a Tax Haven? An Assessment of International Standards Shows Why Ireland Is Not a Tax Haven|publisher=Irish Department of Finance and Revenue Commissioners|date=September 2013|access-date=2018-05-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515184433/https://www.esr.ie/article/view/78/68|archive-date=2018-05-15|url-status=dead}}</ref>  The almost immediate failure of the 2017 German "Royalty Barrier" anti-IP legislation (see {{slink||German "Royalty Barrier" failure}}), is a notable example of this:

{{quote|However, given the nature of the Irish tax regime, the royalty barrier should not impact royalties paid to a principal licensor resident in Ireland.<br/>Ireland's [OECD] BEPS-compliant tax regime offers taxpayers a competitive and robust solution in the context of such unilateral initiatives.|source=[[Matheson (law firm)|Matheson]], "Germany: Breaking Down The German Royalty Barrier - A View From Ireland", 8 November 2017<ref name="math"/>}}|Defence of [[intellectual property]] as an intergroup charge.  The OECD spent decades developing IP as a legal and accounting concept.<ref name="lx">{{cite web | url=https://www2.deloitte.com/lu/en/pages/tax/articles/new_beps-compliant-ip-regime.html | title=New OECD BEPS-compliant IP regime open opportunities | publisher=Deloitte (Luxembourg) | date=August 2017 | access-date=2018-05-16 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180516174245/https://www2.deloitte.com/lu/en/pages/tax/articles/new_beps-compliant-ip-regime.html | archive-date=2018-05-16 | url-status=dead }}</ref>  The rise in IP, and particularly intergroup IP charging,<ref name="conv"/> as the main BEPS tool is incompatible with this position.<ref name="raw"/>  Ireland has created the first OECD-nexus compliant "[[Corporation tax in the Republic of Ireland#Knowledge Development Box|knowledge box]]" (or KDB), which will be amended, as Ireland did with other OECD-whitelist structures (e.g. [[Irish Section 110 Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)|Section 110 SPV]]), to become a BEPS tool.<ref name="oecdx">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/oecd-gives-cautious-welcome-to-knowledge-box-tax-scheme-30685281.html|title=OECD gives cautious welcome to Irish Knowledge Box tax scheme|newspaper=Irish Independent|date=23 October 2014|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180513224146/https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/oecd-gives-cautious-welcome-to-knowledge-box-tax-scheme-30685281.html|archive-date=13 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

{{quote|IP-related tax benefits are not about to disappear. In fact, [the OECD] BEPS [Project] will help to regularise some of them, albeit in diluted form. Perversely, this is encouraging countries that previously shunned them to give them a try.|source=''[[The Economist]]'', "Patently problematic", August 2015<ref name="lux">{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/business/2015/08/27/patently-problematic|title=Patently problematic|newspaper=The Economist|date=August 2015|access-date=2018-05-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180516174621/https://www.economist.com/business/2015/08/27/patently-problematic|archive-date=2018-05-16|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
}}

It has been noted in the OECD's defence, that G8 economies like the U.S. were strong supporters of the OECD's IP work, as they saw it as a tool for their domestic corporates (especially IP-heavy technology and life sciences firms), to charge-out US-based IP to international markets and thus, under U.S. bilateral tax treaties, remit untaxed profits back to the U.S.  However, when U.S. multinationals perfected these IP-based BEPS tools and worked out how to relocate them to zero-tax places such as the Caribbean or Ireland, the U.S. became less supportive (i.e. U.S. 2013 Senate investigation into Apple in Bermuda).<ref name="un1"/>

However, the U.S. lost further control when corporate havens such as Ireland, developed "closed-loop" IP-based BEPS systems, like the [[double Irish arrangement#Backstop of capital allowances|capital allowances for intangibles]] tool, which by-pass U.S. anti-Corporate [[tax inversion]] controls, to enable any U.S. firm (even IP-light firms) create a synthetic corporate tax inversion (and achieve 0-3% Irish [[Corporation tax in the Republic of Ireland#Effective tax rate (ETR)|effective tax rates]]), without ever leaving the U.S.<ref name="kpmg"/><ref name="acox"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/377485537/Maples-and-Calder-Ireland-Intellectual-Property-2018|title=Maples and Calder Irish Intellectual Property Tax Regime - 2.5% Effective Tax|publisher=Maples and Calder Law Firm|date=February 2018|access-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180516033549/https://www.scribd.com/document/377485537/Maples-and-Calder-Ireland-Intellectual-Property-2018|archive-date=2018-05-16|url-status=live}}</ref>  Apple's successful $300 Q1 2015 billion IP-based Irish tax inversion (which came to be known as [[leprechaun economics]]), compares with the blocked $160 billion Pfizer-Allergan Irish tax inversion.

[[File:Conversation with Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition (17222242662).jpg|thumb|'''[[Margrethe Vestager]]''', EU Competition Commissioner, levied the largest corporate tax fine in history on Apple Inc. on the 29 August 2016, for €13 billion (plus interest) in Irish taxes avoided for the period 2004–2014.]]

The "closed-loop" element refers to the fact that the creation of the artificial internal [[intangible asset]] (which is critical to the [[BEPS]] tool), can be done within the confines of the Irish-office of a global accounting firm, and an Irish law firm, as well as the Irish [[Revenue Commissioners]].<ref>{{cite web|author1=Pricewaterhousecoopers |url=https://www.pwc.com/ca/en/services/tax/corporate-tax/transfer-pricing/base-erosion-profit-sharing-tax-diagnostic-toolkit.html|title=Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) tax diagnostic toolkit|work=PwC |publisher=PriceWaterhouseCoopers|date=2016|access-date=2018-05-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180517005518/https://www.pwc.com/ca/en/services/tax/corporate-tax/transfer-pricing/base-erosion-profit-sharing-tax-diagnostic-toolkit.html|archive-date=2018-05-17|url-status=live}}</ref>  No outside consent is needed to execute the BEPS tool (and use via Ireland's global tax-treaties), save for two situations:
{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
| EU Commission State aid investigations, such as the [[EU illegal State aid case against Apple in Ireland]] for €13bn in Irish taxes avoided from 2004-2014;
| U.S. IRS investigation, such as Facebook's transfer of U.S. IP to Facebook Ireland, which was revalued much higher to create an IP BEPS tool.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-crypto-currencies-exchanges/crypto-trading-tumbles-as-investment-scramble-unwinds-idUSKBN1HR1PJ|title=Facebook must give judge documents for U.S. tax probe of Irish unit|work=Reuters|date=28 March 2018|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180502234122/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-crypto-currencies-exchanges/crypto-trading-tumbles-as-investment-scramble-unwinds-idUSKBN1HR1PJ|archive-date=2 May 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.businesspost.ie/news/facebooks-dublin-hq-central-5bn-us-tax-probe-413079|title=Facebook's Dublin HQ central to $5bn US tax probe|publisher=Sunday Business Post|date=1 April 2018|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180421094412/https://www.businesspost.ie/news/facebooks-dublin-hq-central-5bn-us-tax-probe-413079|archive-date=21 April 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-28/facebook-ordered-to-comply-with-u-s-tax-probe-of-irish-unit|title=Facebook Ordered to Comply With U.S. Tax Probe of Irish Unit|newspaper=Bloomberg.com|publisher=Bloomberg News|date=28 March 2018|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180426013754/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-28/facebook-ordered-to-comply-with-u-s-tax-probe-of-irish-unit|archive-date=26 April 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> 
}}

===Departure of U.S. and EU===

The 2017-18 U.S. and EU Commission taxation initiatives, deliberately depart from the [[Base erosion and profit shifting (OECD project)|OECD BEPS Project]], and have their own explicit anti-IP BEPS tax regimes (as opposed to waiting for the OECD).  The U.S. GILTI and BEAT tax regimes are targeted at U.S. multinationals in Ireland,<ref name="carrot"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/trump-s-us-tax-reform-a-significant-challenge-for-ireland-1.3310866|title=Trump's US tax reform a significant challenge for Ireland|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=30 November 2017|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625213509/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/trump-s-us-tax-reform-a-significant-challenge-for-ireland-1.3310866|archive-date=25 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="Irish Times"/> while the EU's Digital Services Tax is also directed at perceived abuses by Ireland of the EU's transfer pricing systems (particularly in regard to IP-based [[royalty payment]] charges).<ref name="gnx2"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.ie/business/brexit/shakeup-of-eu-tax-rules-a-more-serious-threat-to-ireland-than-brexit-36130545.html |title=Shake-up of EU tax rules a 'more serious threat' to Ireland than Brexit |newspaper=Irish Independent |date=14 September 2017 |access-date=13 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141253/https://www.independent.ie/business/brexit/shakeup-of-eu-tax-rules-a-more-serious-threat-to-ireland-than-brexit-36130545.html |archive-date=12 June 2018 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/why-ireland-faces-a-fight-on-the-corporate-tax-front-1.3426080|title=Why Ireland faces a fight on the corporate tax front|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=14 March 2018|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180402230923/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/why-ireland-faces-a-fight-on-the-corporate-tax-front-1.3426080|archive-date=2 April 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

For example, the new U.S. GILTI regime forces U.S. multinationals in Ireland to pay an effective corporate tax rate of over 12%, even with a full Irish IP BEPS tool (i.e. "single malt", whose effective Irish tax rate is circa 0%).  If they pay full Irish "headline" 12.5% corporate tax rate, the effective corporate tax rate rises to over 14%.  This is compared to a new U.S. FDII tax regime of 13.125% for U.S.-based IP, which reduces to circa 12% after the higher U.S. tax relief.<ref name="example">{{cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/379498913/Double-Irish-vs-Single-Irish-Post-the-Tax-Cuts-and-Jobs-Act-GILTI-leglislation|title=Reassessing the Beloved Double Irish Structure (as Single Malt) in Light of GILTI|publisher=Taxnotes|date=23 April 2018|access-date=17 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190326121702/https://www.scribd.com/document/379498913/Double-Irish-vs-Single-Irish-Post-the-Tax-Cuts-and-Jobs-Act-GILTI-leglislation|archive-date=26 March 2019|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

U.S. multinationals like Pfizer announced in Q1 2018, a post-TCJA global tax rate for 2019 of circa 17%, which is very similar to the circa 16% expected by past U.S. multinational Irish [[tax inversion]]s, Eaton, Allergan, and Medtronic.  This is the effect of Pfizer being able to use the new U.S. 13.125% FDII regime, as well as the new U.S. BEAT regime penalising non-U.S. multinationals (and past tax inversions) by taxing income leaving the U.S. to go to low-tax [[corporate tax haven]]s like Ireland.<ref name="example2">{{cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/379507225/TCJA-US-Multinationals-Winners-and-Losers|title=U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: Winners and Losers|page=1235|publisher=Taxnotes|date=19 March 2018|access-date=17 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415115353/https://www.scribd.com/document/379507225/TCJA-US-Multinationals-Winners-and-Losers|archive-date=15 April 2019|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

{{quote|Now that [U.S.] corporate tax reform has passed, the advantages of being an inverted company are less obvious|source=Jami Rubin, [[Goldman Sachs]], March 2018,<ref name="example2"/>}}

Other jurisdictions, such as Japan, are also realising the extent to which IP-based BEPS tools are being used to manage global corporate taxes.<ref name="tokyo">{{cite web|url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Tokyo-targets-tax-avoidance-on-intellectual-property|title=Tokyo targets tax avoidance on intellectual property|publisher=Nikkei Asian Review|date=10 March 2017|access-date=18 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180518200542/https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Tokyo-targets-tax-avoidance-on-intellectual-property|archive-date=18 May 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

===U.S. as BEPS winner===

While the [[IRS]] has traditionally been seen as the main loser to global corporate tax havens,<ref name="zucc"/> the 15.5% repatriation rate of the [[First presidency of Donald Trump|Trump administration]] [[Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017]] changes this calculus.{{cn|date=January 2021}}

IP-heavy American corporations are the main users of BEPS tools.  Studies show that as most other major economies run "territorial" tax systems, their corporates did not need to profit shift.  They could just sell their IP to foreign markets from their home jurisdiction at low tax rates (e.g. 5% in Germany for German corporations).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2831&context=articles|title=Multinational Firms and Tax Havens|page=714|publisher=University of Michigan Law School|date=2016|access-date=2018-05-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417133943/https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2831&context=articles|archive-date=2019-04-17|url-status=dead}}</ref>  For example, there are no non-U.S./non-U.K. foreign corporates in Ireland's top 50 firms by revenues, and only one by employees, German retailer [[Lidl]] (whereas 14 of Ireland's top 20 firms are American multinationals).<ref name="itb"/>  The British firms are mainly pre {{slink||U.K. transformation}}.  (discussed in {{Section link|Corporation tax in the Republic of Ireland|Multinational tax schemes}}).

Had American multinationals not used IP-based BEPS tools in corporate tax havens, and paid the circa 25% corporation tax (average OECD rate)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://taxfoundation.org/us-has-highest-corporate-income-tax-rate-oecd/|title=The U.S. Has the Highest Corporate Income Tax Rate in the OECD|publisher=Tax Foundation|date=27 October 2014|access-date=15 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180325042300/https://taxfoundation.org/us-has-highest-corporate-income-tax-rate-oecd|archive-date=25 March 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> abroad, the IRS would have only received an additional 10% in tax, to bring the total effective American worldwide tax rate to 35%. However, after the [[Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017|TCJA]], the IRS is now getting more tax, at the higher 15.5% rate, and American corporations have avoided the 25% foreign taxes and therefore will have brought more capital back to America as a result.

This is at the expense of higher-tax Europe and Asian countries, who received no taxes from American corporations, as the corporations used IP-based BEPS tools from bases in corporate tax havens, while German corporations are charged 5% tax by their regulator.

President Trump did not sign the OECD's June 2017 [[Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting]], as it felt that it had low exposure to profit shifting. An American official said at a transfer pricing conference that they did not sign the tax treaty inked by 68 [later 70] countries in Paris 7 June 2017 "because the U.S. tax treaty network has a low degree of exposure to base erosion and profit shifting issues."<ref name=bmbbg>{{cite web | url=https://www.bna.com/treasury-official-explains-n73014453413/ | title=Treasury Official Explains Why U.S. Didn't Sign OECD Super-Treaty | publisher=Bloomberg BNA | date=8 June 2017 | access-date=21 May 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180522042953/https://www.bna.com/treasury-official-explains-n73014453413/ | archive-date=22 May 2018 | url-status=dead | df=dmy-all }}</ref> This beneficial effect of global tax havens to the IRS was predicted by Hines and Rice in 1994 in which the authors said:<ref name="h3"/> "some American business operations are drawn offshore by the lure of low tax rates in tax havens; nevertheless, the policies of tax havens may, on net, enhance the U.S. Treasury's ability to collect tax revenue from American corporations."<ref name="h3"/>

==Corporate tax haven lists==

===Types of corporate tax haven lists===

Before 2015, many lists are of general tax havens (i.e. individual and corporate).  Post 2015, quantitative studies (e.g. CORPNET and [[Gabriel Zucman]]), have highlighted the greater scale of corporate tax haven activity.<ref name="zuc10"/>  The OECD, who only list one jurisdiction in the world as a tax haven, Trinidad and Tobago, note the scale of corporate tax haven activity.<ref name="BEPS Background"/>  Note that the IMF list of [[offshore financial centres]] ("OFC") is often cited as the first list to include the main corporate tax havens and the term OFC and corporate tax haven are often used interchangeably.<ref name="x1">{{cite web|url=http://www.academic-foresights.com/Tax_Havens.pdf|quote=Some experts see no difference between tax havens and OFCs, and employ the terms interchangeably.|title=Ronen Palen: Tax Havens and Offshore Financial Centres|publisher=University of Birmingham|date=4 April 2012|access-date=27 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412230116/http://www.academic-foresights.com/Tax_Havens.pdf|archive-date=12 April 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
  | Intergovernmental lists.  These lists can have a political dimension and have never named member states as tax havens: {{ordered list
       | OECD lists.  First produced in 2000, but has never contained one of the 35 OECD members, and currently only contains Trinidad and Tobago;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oecd.org/tax/transparency/about-the-global-forum/publications/towards-global-tax-cooperation-progress.pdf|title=Towards Global Tax Co-Operation|publisher=OECD|date=2000|access-date=2018-06-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150918234252/http://www.oecd.org/tax/transparency/about-the-global-forum/publications/towards-global-tax-cooperation-progress.pdf|archive-date=2015-09-18|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/94d84054-5bf0-11e7-b553-e2df1b0c3220|title=Trinidad & Tobago left as the last blacklisted tax haven|newspaper=Financial Times|quote=Alex Cobham of the [[Tax Justice Network]] said: It's disheartening to see the OECD fall back into the old pattern of creating 'tax haven' blacklists on the basis of criteria that are so weak as to be near enough meaningless, and then declaring success when the list is empty."|date=September 2013|access-date=2018-06-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215124710/https://www.ft.com/content/94d84054-5bf0-11e7-b553-e2df1b0c3220|archive-date=2018-12-15|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oxfam.org.nz/news/oxfam-disputes-opaque-oecd-failing-just-one-tax-haven-transparency|title=Oxfam disputes opaque OECD failing just one tax haven on transparency|publisher=Oxfam|date=30 June 2017|access-date=13 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620124739/https://www.oxfam.org.nz/news/oxfam-disputes-opaque-oecd-failing-just-one-tax-haven-transparency|archive-date=20 June 2018|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> 
        | [[European Union tax haven blacklist]].  First produced in 2017 but does not contain any EU-28 members, contained 17 blacklisted and 47 greylisted jurisdictions;<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/dec/05/eu-blacklist-names-17-tax-havens-and-puts-caymans-and-jersey-on-notice|title=EU blacklist names 17 tax havens and puts Caymans and Jersey on notice|newspaper=The Guardian|date=5 December 2017|access-date=27 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407180336/https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/dec/05/eu-blacklist-names-17-tax-havens-and-puts-caymans-and-jersey-on-notice|archive-date=7 April 2019|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/outbreak-of-so-whatery-over-eu-tax-haven-blacklist-1.3318149|title=Outbreak of 'so whatery' over EU tax haven blacklist|newspaper=The Irish Times|quote=It was certainly an improvement on the list recently published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which featured only one name – Trinidad & Tobago – but campaigners believe the European Union has much more to do if it is to prove it is serious about addressing tax havens.|date=7 December 2017|access-date=27 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207132025/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/outbreak-of-so-whatery-over-eu-tax-haven-blacklist-1.3318149|archive-date=7 December 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/c4d721dc-d9cf-11e7-a039-c64b1c09b482|title=EU puts 17 countries on tax haven blacklist|quote=EU members were not screened but Oxfam said that if the criteria were applied to publicly available information the list should feature 35 countries including EU members Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Malta|newspaper=Financial Times|date=8 December 2017|access-date=27 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330160534/https://www.ft.com/content/c4d721dc-d9cf-11e7-a039-c64b1c09b482|archive-date=30 March 2019|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
        | IMF lists.  First produced in 2000 but used the term [[offshore financial centre]], which enabled them to list member states, but have become known as corporate tax havens.<ref name="x1"/><ref name="TJN1">{{cite web|url=https://www.taxjustice.net/cms/upload/pdf/Identifying_Tax_Havens_Jul_07.pdf|title=Identifying Tax Havens and Offshore Finance Centres: Various attempts have been made to identify and list tax havens and offshore finance centres (OFCs). This Briefing Paper aims to compare these lists and clarify the criteria used in preparing them.|publisher=[[Tax Justice Network]]|date=July 2017|access-date=2018-06-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207183024/https://www.taxjustice.net/cms/upload/pdf/Identifying_Tax_Havens_Jul_07.pdf|archive-date=2017-12-07|url-status=dead}}</ref>
    }}
  | Non-governmental lists.  These are less prone to the political dimension and use a range of qualitative and quantitative techniques:{{ordered list
       | [[Tax Justice Network]].  One of the most quoted lists but focused on general tax havens; they produce rankings of secrecy jurisdictions ([[Financial Secrecy Index]]) and corporate tax havens ([[Corporate Tax Haven Index]]);<ref name="TJN1"/>
       | [[Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy]].  Sponsor the "Offshore Shell Games" reports which are mainly corporate tax havens (see {{slink||ITEP Corporate tax havens}});<ref name="ITEP">{{cite web|url=https://itep.org/wp-content/uploads/offshoreshellgames2017.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://itep.org/wp-content/uploads/offshoreshellgames2017.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Offshore Shell Games 2017|page=17|publisher=Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy|date=2017}}</ref>
    }}
  | Leading academic lists.  The first major academic studies were for all classes of tax havens, however, later lists focus on corporate tax havens:<ref name="eup">{{cite web|url=https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/dp_055_en.pdf|title=Banks in Tax Havens: First Evidence based on Country-by-Country Reporting|page=50|quote=Figure D: Tax Haven Literature Review: A Typology|publisher=EU Commission|date=July 2017|access-date=2018-06-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623170004/https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/dp_055_en.pdf|archive-date=2018-06-23|url-status=live}}</ref>{{ordered list
       | [[James R. Hines Jr.]]  Cited as the first coherent academic paper on tax havens; created the first list in 1994 of 41, which he expanded to 55 in 2010;<ref name="h1">{{cite web|url=https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.ie/&httpsredir=1&article=1716&context=articles|title=Treasure Islands|publisher=University of Michigan|date=2010}}</ref><ref name="h2">{{cite web|url=http://www.bus.umich.edu/otpr/WP2007-3.pdf|title=Tax Havens|publisher=University of Michigan|date=2007|access-date=2018-06-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924214243/http://www.bus.umich.edu/otpr/WP2007-3.pdf|archive-date=2016-09-24|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="h3">{{cite web|url=http://taxdoctoralseminar.web.unc.edu/files/2016/02/Hines-Rice.pdf|title=John Hines and Eric Rice. FISCAL PARADISE: FOREIGN TAX HAVENS AND AMERICAN BUSINESS|publisher=Quarterly Journal of Economics (Harvard/MIT)|date=February 1994|access-date=2018-06-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825172644/http://taxdoctoralseminar.web.unc.edu/files/2016/02/Hines-Rice.pdf|archive-date=2017-08-25|url-status=dead}}</ref>
       | Dharmapala.  Built on Hines material and expanded the lists of general tax havens in 2006 and 2009;<ref name="d1">{{cite web|url=http://faculty.smu.edu/millimet/classes/eco6375/papers/dharmapala%20hines.pdf|title=Which countries become tax havens?|publisher=Journal of Public Economics|date=2009|access-date=2018-06-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808070113/http://faculty.smu.edu/millimet/classes/eco6375/papers/dharmapala%20hines.pdf|archive-date=2017-08-08|url-status=dead}}</ref>
       | [[Gabriel Zucman]].  Current leading academic researcher into tax havens who explicitly uses the term corporate tax havens (see {{slink||Zucman Corporate tax havens}}).  
    }}
  | Other notable lists.  Other noted and influential studies that produced lists are:{{ordered list
       | CORPNET.  Their 2017 quantitative analysis of [[Conduit and Sink OFCs]] explained the link between corporate tax havens and traditional tax havens (see {{slink||CORPNET Corporate tax havens}});
       | IMF Papers.  An important 2018 paper highlighted a small group of major corporate tax haven that are 85% of all corporate haven activity;<ref name="imfx"/>
       | DIW Berlin.  The respected [[German Institute for Economic Research]] have produced tax haven lists in 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.574066.de/dp1711.pdf|title=German Institute for Economic Research: Dirty Money Coming Home: Capital Flows into and out of Tax Havens|publisher=DIW Berlin|page=41|quote=Table A1: Tax havens full list|date=2017|access-date=2018-06-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180419193045/http://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.574066.de/dp1711.pdf|archive-date=2018-04-19|url-status=dead}}</ref>
       | U.S. Congress.  The [[Government Accountability Office]] in 2008,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gao.gov/assets/290/284522.pdf|title=International Taxation: Large U.S. Corporations and Federal Contractors with Subsidiaries in Jurisdictions Listed as Tax Havens or Financial Privacy Jurisdictions|quote=Table 1: Jurisdictions Listed as Tax Havens or Financial Privacy Jurisdictions and the Sources of Those Jurisdictions|publisher=U.S. GAO|page=12|date=December 2018|access-date=2018-06-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820194211/https://www.gao.gov/assets/290/284522.pdf|archive-date=2018-08-20|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the [[Congressional Research Service]] in 2015,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2387&context=key_workplace|title=Tax Havens: International Tax Avoidance and Evasion |author=Jane Gravelle|publisher=Cornell University | page=4 | quote=Table 1. Countries Listed on Various Tax Haven Lists |date=15 January 2015}}</ref> mostly focus on activities by U.S. corporations.  
    }}
}}

===Ten major corporate tax havens===

Regardless of method, most corporate tax haven lists consistently repeat ten jurisdictions (sometimes the Caribbean "triad" is one group), which comprise: {{cn|date=November 2023}}
{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
|Four modern corporate tax havens (have non-zero "headline" tax rates; require "substance"/{{slink||Employment tax}}; have broad tax treaty networks):{{ordered list|start=1 |Ireland;|the Netherlands;|United Kingdom (top 10 2017 global financial centre);|Singapore (top 10 2017 global financial centre).}}
|Three general corporate tax havens (offer some traditional tax-haven type services; often have restricted bilateral tax treaties):{{ordered list |start=5|Luxembourg (top 15 2017 global financial centre);|Hong Kong (top 10 2017 global financial centre);|Switzerland (top 10 2017 global financial centre).}}
|Three very traditional corporate tax havens (open on zero-tax status; no requirement for {{slink||Employment tax}}/"substance"; limited tax treaties):{{ordered list |start=8|Bermuda;| the Cayman Islands;|and the British Virgin Islands. (Caribbean "triad", all three are also [[British Overseas Territories]]).}} 
}}

Note four of these ten jurisdictions have [[financial centres]] that appear in 2017 top 10 [[Global Financial Centres Index]]: London, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Zurich.  Luxembourg was in the top 15.

Note also from [[Conduit and Sink OFCs]], that the latter groups (ii ex. Switzerland, and iii), rely on the first group (i), to act as a conduit in rerouting corporate untaxed income.  In this regard, Ireland, the Netherlands, Singapore and the U.K., are considered the most important corporate tax havens, and the "source" of most global corporate tax avoidance.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://theconversation.com/these-five-countries-are-conduits-for-the-worlds-biggest-tax-havens-79555|title=These five countries are conduits for the world's biggest tax havens|publisher=[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]]|date=25 July 2017|access-date=3 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180706162001/http://theconversation.com/these-five-countries-are-conduits-for-the-worlds-biggest-tax-havens-79555|archive-date=6 July 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Because of their larger size, it is not uncommon to see Switzerland and the United Kingdom dropped from more informal references to the main tax havens, for example:

{{quote|The eight major pass-through economies—the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Hong Kong SAR, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Ireland, and Singapore—host more than 85 percent of the world's investment in special purpose entities, which are often set up for tax reasons.|source="Piercing the Veil", [[International Monetary Fund]], June 2018<ref name="imfx">{{cite web|url=http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2018/06/inside-the-world-of-global-tax-havens-and-offshore-banking/damgaard.htm|title=Piercing the Veil of Tax Havens VOL. 55, NO. 2|publisher=International Monetary Fund: Finance & Development Quarterly|quote=The eight major pass-through economies—the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Hong Kong SAR, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Ireland, and Singapore—host more than 85 percent of the world's investment in special purpose entities, which are often set up for tax reasons.|date=June 2018|access-date=2018-06-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612142524/http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2018/06/inside-the-world-of-global-tax-havens-and-offshore-banking/damgaard.htm|archive-date=2018-06-12|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

===Hines Corporate tax havens===

[[James R. Hines Jr.]] is a founder of research into tax havens.  His area of expertise is the U.S. corporate taxation system, and much of his research is on U.S. multinational use of tax havens.  In 2010, Hines produced a table of U.S. multinational investment in havens, and produced the following ranking of the ten largest U.S. corporate tax havens:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.ie/&httpsredir=1&article=1716&context=articles|title=Treasure Islands|author=James Hines|quote=Table 2: International Portfolio Investment|page=106|publisher=University of Michigan|date=2010}}</ref>

{{ordered list|type=lower-roman

|Luxembourg  
|Cayman Islands  
|Ireland  
|Switzerland  
|Bermuda  
|Hong Kong 
|Jersey  
|Netherlands  
|Singapore  
|British Virgin Islands}}

===Zucman Corporate tax havens===
{{see also|#Financial impact}}
Tax haven academic [[Gabriel Zucman]]'s (et alia) June 2018 list calculates the actual quantum of actual taxes shielded (versus counting legal Orbis database connections, or company subsidiaries) by profit shifting.  Ireland now exceeds the aggregate Caribbean complex (ex. Bermuda), in terms of being the largest overall global corporate tax haven (see {{slink||Financial impact}}).<ref name="gabrielzucman"/>  Ireland is also the largest EU-28 corporate tax haven.  The study estimates Ireland's effective tax rate is really 4%. The U.K. is a notable absence. (slide 68).<ref name="zuc"/><ref name="irishtimes.com"/><ref name="zuc10">{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/corporations-push-profits-into-tax-havens-as-countries-struggle-in-pursuit-study-says-1528634659|title=Zucman:Corporations Push Profits Into Corporate Tax Havens as Countries Struggle in Pursuit, Gabrial Zucman Study Says|quote=Such profit shifting leads to a total annual revenue loss of $200 billion globally|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|date=10 June 2018|access-date=13 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404203053/https://www.wsj.com/articles/corporations-push-profits-into-tax-havens-as-countries-struggle-in-pursuit-study-says-1528634659|archive-date=4 April 2019|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:left"
|+ style="text-align: left;" | Missing Profits of Nations. Table 2: Shifted Profits: Country-by-Country Estimates (2015)<ref name="gabrielzucman"/>
|-
!style="width:95px;text-align:left"|Zucman (et al.)<br/> Tax Haven<br/>
!style="width:95px;text-align:left"|Rank by<br/>Profit Shifted
!style="width:120px;text-align:left"|Corporate<br/>Profits ($bn)
!style="width:120px;text-align:left"|''Of Which:''<br/>Local ($bn)
!style="width:120px;text-align:left"|''Of Which:''<br/>Foreign ($bn)
!style="width:120px;text-align:left"|Profits<br/>Shifted ($bn)
!style="width:95px;text-align:left"|Effective<br/>Tax Rate (%)
!style="width:95px;text-align:left"|Corp. Tax<br/>Gain/Loss (%)
|-
|Belgium||10||80||48||32||-13||19%||16%
|-
|Ireland||1||174||58||116||-106||4%||58%
|-
|Luxembourg||6||91||40||51||-47||3%||50%
|-
|Malta||11||14||1||13||-12||5%||90%
|-
|Netherlands||5||195||106||89||-57||10%||32%
|-
|Caribbean||2||102||4||98||-97||2%||100%
|-
|Bermuda||9||25||1||25||-24||0%||n.a
|-
|Singapore||3||120||30||90||-70||8%||41%
|-
|Puerto Rico||7||53||10||43||-42||3%||79%
|-
|Hong Kong||8||95||45||50||-39||18%||33%
|-
|Switzerland||4||95||35||60||-58||21%||20%
|-
|All Others||12||||||||-51||||
|}

===CORPNET Corporate tax havens===
{{main|Conduit and Sink OFCs}}
From the 2017 investigation, published in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'', into [[Conduit and Sink OFCs]], comes CORPNET's top 5 [[Conduit and Sink OFCs#Conduit OFC|Conduit OFCs]] (i.e. corporate tax haven proxy), and top 5 [[Conduit and Sink OFCs#Sink OFC|Sink OFCs]] (i.e. traditional tax haven proxy), as calculated by analysing over 71 million global corporate connections on the Orbis database (i.e. it is by number of connections, not specifically by quantum of taxes shielded).  Even though the method is different, CORPNET captures all of Zucman's list but separated into Conduits and Sinks (and breaks out the Caribbean), however, Zucman's list has a different ranking:
[[File:List of sink-OFCs, ordered by sink centrality value.png|thumb|"Uncovering Offshore Financial Centers": List of the 24 Sink OFCs by value (highlighting the current and ex. U.K. dependencies, in light blue)]]
[[Conduit and Sink OFCs#Conduit OFC|Conduit OFCs]] (by the number of corporate connections), 2017:
{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
|Netherlands
|United Kingdom
|Switzerland
|Singapore
|Ireland
}}

[[Conduit and Sink OFCs#Sink OFC|Sink OFCs]] (by the number of corporate connections), 2017:
{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
|British Virgin Islands
|Luxembourg
|Hong Kong
|Jersey
|Bermuda
}}

===ITEP Corporate tax havens===
The first [[Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy]] list (Figure 1, page 11), is based on the % of Fortune 500 companies with subsidiaries in the corporate tax haven in 2016.  The drawback of the list is that it is a  U.S. focused list, and focuses on the number of connections (i.e. or subsidiaries) rather than the scale of taxes shielded. Contains all of Zucman's list, but with Mauritius and Panama added as well.<ref name="ITEP"/>

Percentage of Fortune 500 companies with subsidiaries in the jurisdiction, 2016:
{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
|Netherlands
|Singapore
|Hong Kong
|Luxembourg
|Switzerland
|Ireland
|Bermuda
|The Caymans
|Mauritius
|Panama
}}

The second [[Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy]] list (Figure 4, page 16), is based on the reported profits of U.S. Fortune 500 controlled subsidiaries in 2013.  It tries to capture the scale of taxes shielded by looking at reported profits as a proxy.  Ireland now jumps to 2nd place, only just behind the Netherlands. The Netherlands-Ireland-Bermuda are usually the jurisdictions behind most "[[double Irish]] with a [[Dutch sandwich]]" BEPS schemes.<ref name="nyt"/>  Identical list to Zucman's list but with the Caribbean broken out into individual jurisdictions (the Caymans, Bermuda, Bahamas and the BVI).<ref name="ITEP"/>

Size of profits routed by Fortune 500 companies via subsidiaries in the jurisdiction, 2016:
{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
|Netherlands
|Ireland
|Bermuda
|Luxembourg
|The Caymans
|Switzerland
|Singapore
|The Bahamas
|Hong Kong
|British Virgin Islands
}}

===Bloomberg Corporate tax inversions===

A simple but effective proxy are the destinations to where U.S. multinationals execute [[tax inversion]]s (i.e. an important test of the attractiveness of a corporate tax haven).  However, cases like inversions to Canada could reflect more of a "relative-tax" view (i.e. Canada offers lower taxes than the U.S. and it is close by and less controversial), than an "absolute-tax" view on the best global locations for a corporate tax haven.  The list still captures much of Zucman's list, particularly for the EU and the Caribbean. It captures the popularity of Ireland and the rise of the U.K.

Destinations for the 85 U.S. corporate inversions, since the first inversion in 1982, to the most recent inversion in 2016:<ref name="bbb"/>
{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
|{{flagcountry|IRE|1912}} 21 inversions (last one was 2016)
| {{flagcountry|BER|1912}} 19 inversions (last one was 2015)
| {{flagcountry|GBR|1912}} 11 inversions (last one was 2016)
| {{flagcountry|CAN|1912}} 8 inversions (last one was 2016)
| {{flagcountry|NLD|1912}} 7 inversions (last one was 2016)
| {{flagcountry|CYM|1912}} 5 inversions (last one was 2014)
| {{flagcountry|LUX|1912}} 4 inversions (last one was 2010)
| {{flagcountry|CHE|1912}} 3 inversions (last one was 2007)
| {{flagcountry|AUS|1912}} 1 inversion (last one was 2012)
| {{flagcountry|ISR|1912}} 1 inversion (last one was 2012)
| {{flagcountry|DEN|1912}} 1 inversion (last one was 2009)
| {{flagcountry|JEY|1912}} 1 inversion (last one was 2009)
| {{flagcountry|BVI|1912}} 1 inversion (last one was 2003)
| {{flagcountry|SGP|1912}} 1 inversion (last one was 1990)
| {{flagcountry|PAN|1912}} 1 inversion (last one was 1982)
}}

==GDP-per-capita tax haven proxy==
{{see also|List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita}}

One of the simpler, but effective, methods proposed of identifying tax havens (both corporate and traditional) is by tracking the distortion that the tax-driven accounting flows make on national economic flows.<ref name="imfx"/>  This is an effect that is particularly pronounced for corporate tax havens due to the larger scale of accounting flows from the larger {{slink||IP-based BEPS tools}} and {{slink||Debt-based BEPS tools}}.<ref name="ber"/>  The following tables of the world's top 15 GDP-per-capita jurisdictions are taken from the [[List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita]] for 2017 (from the IMF) and 2016 (from the World Bank).
{{ordered list
| type = lower-roman|6 of the top 10 global tax havens from the {{slink||Ten major tax havens}} are represented;|3 of these top 10 global tax havens, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands are not ranked by the IMF or the World Bank in their GDP-per-capita tables.|The remaining top 10 global tax haven, the U.K., is ranked 21 and 26 (respectively); it is possible the U.K.'s transition is not complete (see {{slink||U.K. transformation}}).|4 of the 5 major [[Conduit and Sink OFCs#Conduit OFC|Conduit OFCs]] are represented (again, only the U.K. is missing).|The outliers in the table are jurisdictions whose economies are neither based on being a widely accepted tax haven or having oil & gas reserves.|The same table, but at GDP (Nominal) values, ranks the tax havens even higher (at the expense of the smaller resource nations).
}}

{| style="font-size:100%;"
|-
| width="50%" align="center" |'''[[International Monetary Fund]] (2017)'''
| width="50%" align="center" |'''[[World Bank]] (2016)'''<ref>[http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD?view=chart, PPP (current international $)", World Development Indicators database] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180505220646/https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD?view=chart, |date=2018-05-05 }}, World Bank. Database updated on 1 July 2017. Accessed on 2 July 2017.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD?year_high_desc=true|title=World Bank, International Comparison Program database.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180411025852/https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD?year_high_desc=true|archive-date=11 April 2018|url-status=live|access-date=10 April 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
|
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;text-align:left"
! data-sort-type="number" | Rank
! Country/Territory
! Type
|-
| 1 || align="left" | {{flag|Qatar}} || Oil & Gas
|-
| 1 || align="left" | ''{{flag|Macau}}'' || Tax haven (Sink OFC)
|-
| 2 || align="left" | {{flag|Luxembourg}} || Top 10 Tax haven (Sink OFC)
|-
| 3 || align="left" | {{flag|Singapore}} || Top 10 Tax haven (Conduit OFC)
|-
| 4 || align="left" | {{flag|Brunei}} || Oil & Gas
|-
| 5 || align="left" | {{flag|Ireland}} || Top 10 Tax haven (Conduit OFC)
|-
| 6 || align="left" | {{flag|Norway}} || Oil & Gas
|-
| 7 || align="left" | {{flag|Kuwait}} || Oil & Gas
|-
| 8 || align="left" | {{flag|United Arab Emirates}} || Oil & Gas
|-
| 9 || align="left" | {{flag|Switzerland}} || Top 10 Tax Haven (Conduit OFC)
|-
| 9 || align="left" | ''{{flag|Hong Kong}}'' || Top 10 Tax Haven (Sink OFC)
|-
| 10 || align="left" | {{flag|San Marino}} || Tax haven (Sink OFC)
|-
| 11 || align="left" | {{flag|United States}} || 59,495 (effective society)
|-
| 12 || align="left" | {{flag|Saudi Arabia}} || Oil & Gas
|-
| 13 || align="left" | {{flag|Netherlands}} || Top 10 Tax Haven (Conduit OFC)
|-
| 14 || align="left" | {{flag|Iceland}} || 52,150 (effective society)
|-
| 15 || align="left" | {{flag|Bahrain}} || Oil & Gas
|}
|
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;text-align: left"
! data-sort-type="number" | Rank
! Country/Territory
! Type
|-
| 1 || align="left" | {{flag|Qatar}} || Oil & Gas
|-
| 2 || align="left" | {{flag|Luxembourg}} || Top 10 Tax haven (Sink OFC)
|-
| 2 || align="left" | ''{{flag|Macau}}'' || Tax haven (Sink OFC)
|-
| 3 || align="left" | {{flag|Singapore}} ||  Top 10 Tax haven (Conduit OFC)
|-
| 4 || align="left" | {{flag|Brunei}} || Oil & Gas
|-
| 5 || align="left" | {{flag|United Arab Emirates}} || Oil & Gas
|-
| 6 || align="left" | {{flag|Ireland}} || Top 10 Tax haven (Conduit OFC)
|-
| 7 || align="left" | {{flag|Switzerland}} || Top 10 Tax haven (Conduit OFC)
|-
| 8 || align="left" | {{flag|Norway}} || Oil & Gas
|-
| 8 || align="left" | ''{{flag|Hong Kong}}'' || Top 10 Tax haven (Sink OFC)
|-
| 9 || align="left" | {{flag|United States}} || 57,467 (effective society)
|-
| 10 || align="left" | {{flag|Saudi Arabia}} || Oil & Gas
|-
| 11 || align="left" | {{flag|Iceland}} || 51,399 (effective society)
|-
| 12 || align="left" | {{flag|Netherlands}} || Top 10 Tax haven (Conduit OFC)
|-
| 13 || align="left" | {{flag|Austria}} || 50,078 (effective society)
|-
| 14 || align="left" | {{flag|Denmark}} || 49,496 (effective society)
|-
| 15 || align="left" | {{flag|Sweden}} || 49,175 (effective society)
|}
|
|- valign="top"
|}

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*[[Tax inversion]]
*[[Corporate tax in the Netherlands]]
*[[Corporation tax in the Republic of Ireland]]
*[[Double Irish arrangement]] IP-based BEPS tool
*[[Double Irish arrangement#Replacement by Single Malt|Single Malt]] IP-based BEPS tool
*[[Double Irish arrangement#Backstop of capital allowances|Capital Allowances for Intangible Assets]] IP-based BEPS tool
*[[Dutch Sandwich]] IP-based BEPS tool
*[[Ireland as a tax haven]]
*[[Irish Section 110 Special Purpose Vehicle]] (SPV) Debt-based BEPS tool
*[[List of corporate collapses and scandals]]
*[[Offshore financial centre]]
*[[Qualifying investor alternative investment fund]] (QIAIF) Tax-free shelters
*[[Taxation in Switzerland]]
*[[United Kingdom corporation tax]]
*[[Matheson (law firm)]] Ireland's largest U.S. tax advisor
*[[Feargal O'Rourke]] architect of Ireland's BEPS tools
*[[White-collar crime]]
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110410135132/http://www.ifcforum.org/ International Financial Centres Forum (IFC Forum)]
*[http://www.imf.org/external/np/ofca/ofca.aspx IMF Offshore Financial Centres]
*[https://www.taxjustice.net/topics/corporate-tax/taxing-corporations/ Taxing Corporations, the Tax Justice Network]
*[https://www.theguardian.com/world/tax-havens Corporate Tax Havens, the Guardian]

{{Aspects of corporations}}
{{Globalization}}

[[Category:International taxation]]
[[Category:Tax avoidance]]
[[Category:Business terms]]
[[Category:Corporate law]]
[[Category:Corporate tax avoidance]]
[[Category:Global issues]]