Statistical Measurement of Illicit Financial Flows in Sustainable Development Goals: Tax Avoidance by Multinational Corporations

Arbeitspapier

Illicit financial flows (IFFs) threaten countries' ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Progressing on the IFFs target is thus crucial, as is the ability to measure achieved progress. In this paper we explore how to best statistically measure tax avoidance by multinational corporations (MNCs) as the SDGs IFFs target. Our main research question is how the best available methods for the statistical measurement of tax avoidance by MNCs reconcile with the Balance of Payments (BoP) statistics. We answer the research question using a combination of approaches, arriving at three main findings. First, we show that the three leading methods for estimating tax avoidance by MNCs are closely related to each other, theoretically as well as empirically. Second, the profit misalignment method applied to the country-by-country reporting (CBCR) data of large MNCs emerges as the most suitable method from a critical review of existing approaches and a range of available statistical data sources. Third, in their current state the BoP statistics are not suitable for estimating tax avoidance by MNCs for many countries due lacking country coverage and missing data. On the basis of our findings, we recommend piloting the use of confidential MNC-level CBCR data to estimate tax avoidance by MNCs as the SDGs IFFs target.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: IES Working Paper ; No. 24/2021

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Business Taxes and Subsidies including sales and value-added (VAT) ; Tax Evasion and Avoidance ; Fiscal and Monetary Policy in Development ; Development Planning and Policy: Trade Policy; Factor Movement; Foreign Exchange Policy
• Thema: illicit financial flows ; multinational corporations ; tax avoidance ; balance of payments ; country-by-country reporting ; Sustainable Development Goals

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Cobham, Alex ; Garcia-Bernardo, Javier ; Jansky, Petr ; Palansky, Miroslav
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Charles University in Prague, Institute of Economic Studies (IES)
• (wo): Prague
• (wann): 2021

Weitere Informationen

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/247391
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:44 MEZ