“Hyperbole” surrounding the Panama Papers disclosure may be obscuring the main issue of multinational corporations’ tax arrangements, a financial regulation QC has said.
“Given that hundreds of journalists have had 12 months to consider 11 million confidential financial documents there have been remarkably few disclosures of note,” said Philip Hackett QC, of 4-5 Gray's Inn Square.
“Apart from the use of the bearer share corporations it is difficult to see how the current furore gives rise to any particular reporting or due diligence obligations over and above those that already existed or are appropriate and other similar offshore low tax jurisdictions such as those regulated under UK supervision.”
Hackett thinks it likely that HMRC will consider some sort of disclosure facility such as those that have followed other offshore whistleblowing exercises, and the recently altered disclosure agreements in relation to the Channel Islands and Isle of Man may be of more significance to UK taxpayers than the Panama Papers.
“The focus on high profile or political figures arising from the recent publicity maybe actually be distracting attention from the main issue, which is whether the rules concerning the tax domicile and attribution of profits by multinational corporations needs to be reformed,” he said.
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