Getty Images
How can countries clamp down on tax avoidance?
If we needed reminding, the Paradise Papers have shown how attractive it can be to keep money offshore.
Wealthy individuals do it, companies do it. So can the government do anything about it?
Can they get the big firms and the rich to pay as much as their fair share of tax?
In some cases the appeal of going offshore is to hide illegal behavior from the gaze of law enforcement authorities.
In many cases it is about avoiding tax, which is legal, though it involves gaining a tax advantage in a way (19459012)
What is the government doing it? Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an international agency whose members are mainly the rich countries.
An important part of this initiative involves the exchange of information between tax authorities. The OECD initiative has two systems.
Image copyright
Getty Images
The Cayman Islands are a popular offshore financial center
Under one a tax authority giving information about an individual's finances if the person's home tax authority asks. The drawback is they need to know who to ask about.
There is also a system, which is more recent and has fewer countries involved so far, of automatic exchange of information. That might catch more cases, but it can also create a volume of information that the tax authorities might struggle to assess.
Countries can also check schemes that wealthy people use more thoroughly to assess if they conform with the law.
There have also been initiatives on the raft of tax advisers. The UK, for example, has legislation that means advisers can end up paying hefty financial penalties if they recommend schemes that are subsequently ruled against.
There is another initiative in the OECD, designed to address some types of tax avoidance that are used by multinational corporations.
How do multinationals limit their tax?
One technique for minimizing tax bills has a very long history and goes by the name of transfer pricing. Different subsidiaries of multinational companies located in different countries buy and sell things to one another.
Image copyright
Getty Images
Starbucks agreed to pay more tax in the UK
It may be components, raw materials or sometimes intangible things such as the right to use a trademark, a patent or copyright - known as intellectual property.
The choice of what the price to charge affects the amount of profit each subscribes makes, and companies can set the prices with a view to ensuring that the profits appear to be made in the country with the most favorable tax regime.
Another technique is for the low-tax country to lend money to one facing business taxes, which can use the interest payments to reduce its tax liability.
The OECD's latest plans
The OECD's latest plans
and is monitoring the implementation by its members.
It's quite a technical initiative , but there are some broad principles involved. One is the idea that tax should reflect where the economic activity really takes place.
Another is the idea of arm's length transactions. That is the notion that transactions between a multinational's subsidiaries should be entirely separate businesses.
Many campaigners and experts say that the work being done in the OECD is useful.
The Tax Justice Network described the OECD's work on corporate tax as a huge step forward. But it also said: "[processor]
Professor Rita de la Feria, a tax expert at Leeds University, says that much of the action .
There is a state of affairs that can be used to make the scope for avoidance.
Image copyright
Getty Images
Google's tax affairs in Ireland have been criticized
It would work better if all countries agreed that approach, she argues, but small groups or even individual states could do it.
What we have now though, says Prof de la Feria, is more modest reforms undertaken by countries - with help from the OECD framework - and some incentives on companies, such as "naming and shaming ... and fear of a reputational impact ".
Inside the famous case that led to the coffee shop business Starbucks agreeing to pay more corporation tax in the UK.
The Paradise Papers are potentially another example.
Prof de la Feria says: "Until we have a global tax reform slightly differently. "
In Europe some companies have been ordered to pay taxes following investigations by the European Commission, and Apple was on the receiving end of this type of action over its tax affairs in the Republic of Ireland.
EU countries concerned is concerned with the EU country concerned.
The EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager put it like this: "The whole majority of businesses, which pay their fair share of taxes, should not have to compete with rivals that get special favors from government . "
Still it's easy to believe that it's not worth the taxes, that it is also motivated by a more general desire to see large firms pay their share.
words and phrases found in the Paradise Papers . Find out more about the
The papers are a large batch of leaked documents mostly from offshore law firm Appleby, along with corporate registries in 19 tax jurisdictions, which reveal the financial dealings of politicians, celebrities, corporate giants and business leaders.
Süddeutsche Zeitung and then shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Panorama has led research for nearly 100 other media organizations, including the Guardian in 67 countries. The BBC does not know the identity of the source.
Paradise Papers: Full coverage ; follow reaction on Twitter using #ParadisePapers; in the BBC News app, follow the tag "Paradise Papers"
Watch Panorama on the BBC iPlayer (UK viewers only)
