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The Tax Justice Network (TJN) published a “financial secrecy index” in 2013, to “shine light into dark places”to expose jurisdictions that support clandestine financial operations and tax avoidance. In supporting its efforts, TJN attacks the OECD’s report on tax co-operation, which it claims to be too “lenient”in measuring secrecy and tax-evasion.

For a few years we have been experiencing an increased scrutiny in our business – driven by global attempts by countries around the world to improve their tax collection capability.

On June 2nd, the IRS released its first list of foreign financial institutions (FFIs) that have registered via the FATCA portal and been issued a Global Intermediary Identification Number.

Centralised registers that identify the beneficial owners of offshore structures – whether publicly accessible or not – sound great in theory but they are problematic in practice. The model proposed by the UK is inferior to private sector-led systems already operational in jurisdictions such as the BVI and Cayman.

We get bombarded everyday with examples of companies that are legally avoiding taxes and may have abused the system. We get brainwashed with the politically convenient fantasy there is money sitting somewhere that can be used by countries like the US to resolve their fiscal challenges without imposing additional cost on their citizens.