Finance & Control

In the wake of major tax scandals, such as the Lux Leaks and the Panama Papers, multinationals’ tax avoidance and Profit Shifting have drawn the attention of policymakers, the media, the public and investors. Despite the global downward trend of Corporate Tax rates over the past two decades (OECD, 2011), anecdotal evidence suggests that multinational firms still exploit tax code loopholes to shift profits to low-tax countries with the ultimate goal to avoid taxes. By now, tax avoidance and income shifting have reached a global scale, such that the OECD with its Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project has estimated that countries could lose as much as US$240 billion annually in tax revenues (OECD 2013, 2015).