ABSTRACT

Offshore financial markets, also known as the tax havens, have been drawing great attention from all over the globe in the recent years, especially from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the G20 nations. They have been increasingly coming under the inspection lens and rightly so as they anchor a relatively large amount of the world’s foreign direct investment. In 1998, the OECD initiated a fight against the harmful tax practices by the tax havens. After the 2008 financial crisis, the initiative gained momentum, this time it was supported by the G20 countries and the OECD equally. Tax havens were asked to engage into at least 12 bilateral information exchange treaties. This paper attempts to assess the tax havens crackdown undertaken by the OECD and the G20 countries. The study finds that though considerable measures have been taken the question still remains who will bell the cat.

Key Words: Tax Havens, G20, OECD, Tax Competition, Offshore Financial Markets