Tax evasion

== By continent ==
===Asia===
====India====
{{excerpt|Taxation in India|Tax evasion}}
====United Arab Emirates====
In early October 2021, 11.9 million leaked financial records in addition to 2.9 TB of data was released in the name of [[Pandora Papers]] by the [[International Consortium of Investigative Journalists]] (ICIJ), exposing the secret offshore accounts of around 35 world leaders in [[tax haven]]s to evade taxes. One of the many leaders to be exposed was the ruler of Dubai and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh [[Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum]]. Sheikh Mohammed was identified as the shareholder of three firms that were registered in the tax havens of [[Bahamas]] and [[British Virgin Islands]] through an Emirati company, partially owned by an investment conglomerate, Dubai Holding and Axiom Limited, major shares of which were owned by the ruler.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://themedialine.org/headlines/world-leaders-including-jordans-abdullah-uaes-sheikh-mohammed-found-in-pandora-papers/|title=World Leaders, Including Jordan's Abdullah, UAE's Sheikh Mohammed Found in Pandora Papers|accessdate=4 October 2021|website=The Media Line|date=4 October 2021 }}</ref>

As per the leaked records, the Dubai ruler owned a massive number of upmarket and luxurious real estate across Europe via the cited offshore entities registered in tax havens.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/pandora-papers-uae-dubai-ruler-sheikh-mohammed-offshore-companies|title=Pandora Papers: The offshore companies of UAE's Sheikh Mohammed|accessdate=4 October 2021|website=Middle East Eye}}</ref>

Additionally, the Pandora Papers also cites that the former Managing Director of [[IMF]] and French finance minister, [[Dominique Strauss-Kahn]] was permitted to create a consulting firm in the United Arab Emirates in 2018 after the expiry of tax exemptions of his Moroccan company, which he used for receiving millions of dollars worth of tax free consulting fees.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.eu/article/pandora-papers-europe-tony-blair-andrej-babis-milo-dukanovic-volodymyr-zelenskiy-wopke-hoekstra-john-dalli-dominique-strauss-kahn/|title=Meet the European leaders named in the Pandora Papers|accessdate=4 October 2021|website=Politico|date=4 October 2021 }}</ref>

===Europe===
====Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, Belgium====
{{main|CumEx-Files}}
A network of banks, stock traders and top lawyers has obtained billions from the European treasuries through suspected fraud and speculation with dividend tax. The five hardest hit countries have lost together at least $62.9 billion.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cumex-files.com/en/|title=CORRECTIV - Investigative. Independent. Non-profit.|website=cumex-files.com|date=18 October 2018|language=en-US|access-date=2018-11-09|archive-date=2018-10-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181018094515/https://cumex-files.com/en/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Germany is the hardest hit country, with around €31 billion withdrawn from the German treasury.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40199259|title=Germany fears huge losses in massive tax scandal|last=Hill|first=Jenny|date=2017-06-09|work=BBC News|access-date=2018-11-09|language=en-GB}}</ref> Estimated losses for other countries include at least €17 billion for France, €4.5 billion in Italy, €1.7 billion in Denmark and €201 million for Belgium.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/penge/tema/skattesvindel|title=Kuppet mod Europa|website=DR|language=da|access-date=2018-11-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Vartdal|first=Ragnhild|title=Norge rammet av europeisk skatteskandale|language=nb-NO|trans-title=Norway affected by European tax scandal|work=NRK|url=https://www.nrk.no/urix/norge-rammet-av-europeisk-skatteskandale-1.14253588|access-date=2018-11-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=magazine|first=Le Point|date=2018-10-18|title="CumEx Files " : la fraude fiscale à 55 milliards d'euros|language=fr-FR|trans-title="CumEx Files": tax fraud at 55 billion euros|work=Le Point|url=https://www.lepoint.fr/economie/cumex-files-la-fraude-fiscale-a-55-milliards-d-euros-18-10-2018-2263950_28.php|access-date=2018-11-09}}</ref>

====Greece====
{{main|Tax evasion and corruption in Greece}}

====Scandinavia====
A paper by economists Annette Alstadsæter, Niels Johannesen and Gabriel Zucman, which used data from HSBC Switzerland ("[[Swiss Leaks|Swiss leaks]]") and [[Panama Papers|Mossack Fonseca]] ("[[Panama Papers]]"), found that "on average about 3% of personal taxes are evaded in Scandinavia, but this figure rises to about 30% in the top 0.01% of the wealth distribution... Taking tax evasion into account increases the rise in inequality seen in tax data since the 1970s markedly, highlighting the need to move beyond tax data to capture income and wealth at the top, even in countries where tax compliance is generally high. We also find that after reducing tax evasion—by using tax amnesties—tax evaders do not legally avoid taxes more. This result suggests that fighting tax evasion can be an effective way to collect more tax revenue from the ultra-wealthy."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://gabriel-zucman.eu/files/AJZ2017.pdf |title=Tax Evasion and Inequality|last1= Alstadsæter|first1=Annette|last2= Johannesen|first2= Niels |last3 = Zucman |first3 = Gabriel|date=23 October 2018|website=gabriel-zucman.eu}}</ref>

====United Kingdom====
[[File:HMRC offshore evasion poster February 2014.jpg|thumbnail|Propaganda poster issued by the British tax authorities to counter offshore tax evasion]]
[[HMRC]], the UK tax collection agency, estimated that in the tax year 2016–17, pure tax evasion (i.e. not including things like hidden economy or criminal activity) cost the government £5.3 billion. This compared to a wider tax gap (the difference between the amount of tax that should, in theory, be collected by HMRC, against what is actually collected) of £33 billion in the same year, an amount that represented 5.7% of liabilities. At the same time, [[tax avoidance]] was estimated at £1.7 billion (this does not include international tax arrangements that cannot be challenged under the UK law, including some forms of base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS)).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/715742/HMRC-measuring-tax-gaps-2018.pdf |title=Measuring tax gaps 2018 edition |publisher = HM Revenue & Customs |date = 14 June 2018}}</ref>

In 2013, the [[Cameron–Clegg coalition|Coalition government]] announced a crackdown on [[economic crime]]. It created a new criminal offence for aiding tax evasion and removed the requirement for tax investigation authorities to prove "intent to evade tax" to prosecute offenders.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-31961405|title=UK government announces corporate tax evasion clampdown|work=BBC News|date = 19 March 2015}}</ref>

In 2015, [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] [[George Osborne]] promised to collect £5 billion by "waging war" on tax evaders by announcing new powers for HMRC to target people with offshore bank accounts.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/news/george-osborne-budget-2015-tax-avoidance-general-elections|title=George Osborne wages war on tax evasion and avoidance|work=Channel 4 News|date = 19 March 2015}}</ref> The number of people prosecuted for tax evasion doubled in 2014/15 from the year before to 1,258.<ref>{{cite news |url =http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/money/tax/article4640191.ece |title=Lawyers and tradesmen caught in tax clampdown|last1= Ames |first1= Jonathan|last2= Gibb |first2= Frances|date = 14 December 2015|url-access=limited}}</ref>

===United States===
{{Further|Tax evasion in the United States}}
In the United States of America, Federal tax evasion is defined as the purposeful, illegal attempt to evade the assessment or the payment of a tax imposed by federal law. Conviction of tax evasion may result in fines and imprisonment.<ref>26 U.S.C. § 7201.</ref>

The [[Internal Revenue Service]] (IRS) has identified small businesses and sole proprietors as the largest contributors to the tax gap between what Americans owe in federal taxes and what the federal government receives. Small businesses and sole proprietorships contribute to the tax gap because there are few ways for the government to know about skimming or non-reporting of income without mounting significant investigations.

{{As of |2007}} the most common means of tax evasion was overstatement of charitable contributions, particularly church donations.<ref>{{cite news |first=Patricia |last=Sabatini |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |title=Tax Cheats Cost U.S. hundreds of billions |url= http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07084/772106-28.stm |date=25 March 2007}}</ref>

====Estimates of lost government revenue====
The IRS estimates that the 2001 tax gap was $345 billion and for 2006 it was $450 billion.<ref name="tax gap report">{{cite web|title=Tax Gap for Tax Year 2006 Overview Jan. 6, 2012|url=https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/06rastg12overvw.pdf|publisher=U.S. Internal Revenue Service|access-date=2012-06-14}}</ref> A study of the 2008 tax gap found a range of $450–$500 billion, and unreported income to be about $2 trillion, concluding that 18 to 19 percent of total reportable income was not being properly reported to the IRS.<ref name=Cebula/>