The UK Dominates the Most Damaging Tax Havens

New analysis by the Tax Justice Network has revealed the United Kingdom to be the biggest enabler of corporate tax dodging in the world. As this infographic shows, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies dominate the top eight roundup of places allowing multinationals to avoid paying tax on their profits. In total, this makes the UK responsible for about one third of global tax avoidance risk. 

EU countries are also responsible for a third of corporate tax abuse risk, whereas African nations are responsible for just four percent of corporate tax abuse risks and Latin America for only three percent. Among the countries to have performed worse than before are Brazil, Poland and Mexico.

Ireland entered the top ten list for the first time in 2024 with an index value of 1,622, ranking in ninth place. It is followed by Luxembourg (1,480) and then the Bahamas, the latter of which is an independent member of the British commonwealth but not an OT or CD. In position 12 comes the Isle of Man and in 13 comes Guernsey, both Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom places in 18th position with a value of 894. According to the Tax Justice Network, about half a trillion dollars are lost to tax havens per year.

The index evaluates jurisdiction laws and monitors the volume of corporate financial activity entering and leaving jurisdictions. A Haven Score is determined by more than 70 questions under 18 indicators to find the extent to which a jurisdiction’s laws and regulations allow for corporate tax abuse. The outcome of these indicators are then combined with global scale weights, which are based on IMF data on foreign direct investments. The final figure is a measure of the contribution of each jurisdiction to the global problem of corporate tax abuse.