Hidden Treasure: The Impact of Automatic Exchange of Information on Cross-Border Tax Evasion

Sebastian Beer, Maria Coelho and Sebastien Leduc

No 2019/286, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: We analyze the impact of exchange of information in tax matters in reducing international tax evasion between 1995 and 2018. Based on bilateral deposit data for 39 reporting countries and more than 200 counterparty jurisdictions, we find that recent automatic exchange of information frameworks reduced foreign-owned deposits in offshore jurisdictions by an average of 25 percent. This effect is statistically significant and, as expected, much larger than the effect of information exchange upon request, which is not significant. Furthermore, to test the sensitivity of our findings, we estimate countries’ offshore status and the impact of information exchange simultaneously using a finite mixture model. The results confirm that automatic (and not upon request) exchange of information impacts cross-border deposits in offshore jurisdictions, which are characterized by low income tax rates and strong financial secrecy.

Keywords: WP; bank deposit; EOI agreement; tax evasion; exchange of information; cross-border deposits; treatment effect; offshore center; biases result; standard error; Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT); Offshore financial centers; Double taxation; Personal income tax; Global (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32
Date: 2019-12-20
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-iue
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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