Tax havens to be 'unacceptable' soon: PwC

CAIRO - 5 November 2017: Using tax havens as a tool to avoid paying taxes will soon become "unacceptable," global audit and assurance, tax and consulting services company PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) expected.

In a report published last week on asset and wealth management, PwC said the move will come as people, especially the millennial generation, will no longer accept companies’ avoidance of paying their “fair share of tax.”

"As tax information becomes publicly available, and strong populist sentiment continues, so the public will judge whether companies are paying their ‘fair share’ of taxes in an emotionally charged environment," the report stated.

Investment firms will be equipped with tax technology and data analytics to make tax-informed decisions and to provide tax authorities with the demanded transparency. "It will also minimize uncertainty about tax liabilities," he said.

Tax havens are legal and sometimes secret offshore financial centers that are used by companies to reduce their tax bill by moving their capital out of countries through loopholes in national laws.

Member states of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) were estimated to have lost over $400 billion because of tax havens, while lower-income countries were said to have lost $200 billion, according to researchers at the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department.

Meanwhile, the Tax Justice Network researchers' data indicated higher revenue loss at $500 billion in OECD countries.

In April 2016, more than 11 million documents were leaked from the world’s fourth biggest law firm Mossack Fonseca, unveiling names of international politicians and public figures that hide their wealth in tax havens, in what is known as 'The Panama Papers.'