$11 trillion parked in tax havens: OECD

4 Apr 2009,


LONDON: OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) a group of rich countries said that according to its estimate, $11 trillion is parked in tax havens, which is more than 10 times the total amount committed by the G-20 leaders to revive the global economy.

It named four countries Philippines, Costa Rica, Malaysia and Uruguay as non-cooperative tax havens. The OECD also named as many as 39 countries, including Switzerland and Luxembourg, which are not fully-compliant with the international tax standards. The list has been published after the leaders of G-20 nations on Thursday decided to crack down on tax havens and agreed to exchange informations on tax upon request.

According to OECD, the four countries Costa Rica, Malaysia, Philippines and Uruguay have not committed to internationally agreed tax standards, while the rest have committed but not "substantially" implemented the same.

Apart from Switzerland and Luxembourg, other names in the list include Liechtenstein, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Brunei, Guatemala, Singapore, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Netherlands, Liberia, Bahrain and Bahamas.

The grouping of developed nations has also named 40 countries, which have substantially implemented the international tax standards. The list includes Mauritius, the country from where large amount of investments are routed into India.

The OECD takes into account many factors to determine a jurisdiction as a tax haven, including whether the country imposes "no or only nominal taxes". Other criteria includes lack of transparency and whether laws prevent exchange of information related to tax with other governments.

Other nations which have not substantially implemented international tax standards are Andorra, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cook Islands, Dominica, Gibraltar, Grenada, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Montserrat, Nauru, Antilles and Niue.

The list also has names of Panama, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Turks and Caicos Islands and Vanuatu.