Working Paper
17.06.2022
This paper provides evidence of the growing importance of real estate assets in offshore portfolios.
Our publications
The EU Tax Observatory conducts innovative research on taxation, with a focus on corporate taxation, tax avoidance, tax evasion, and potential solutions to these problems.
Publications
Search
Working Paper
17.06.2022
The 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act reduced the US corporate tax rate and introduced provisions to curb profit shifting. We combine survey data, tax data, and firm financial statements to study the evolution of the geographical allocation of US firms’ profits after the reform.
Working Paper
09.05.2022
Die Tatsache, dass einige multinationale Unternehmen Einkünfte in Steueroasenländer verlagern, was zu Ungleichheiten bei der Unternehmensbesteuerung führt, hat zunehmend an Aufmerksamkeit gewonnen. In diesem Artikel wird untersucht, wie Gewinnverschiebung mit Lohnungleichheit zusammenhängt.
Working Paper
02.05.2022
New data capturing the ownership of about 800,000 properties in Dubai offer a unique window into cross-border real estate investments.
16.03.2022
Dieser Vermerk enthält Daten zu Vermögensungleichheiten in Russland und plädiert für ein europäisches Vermögensregister. Ein europäisches Vermögensregister würde gezielte Sanktionen ermöglichen und wirksame Instrumente zur Bekämpfung von Geldwäsche und Steuerhinterziehung bereitstellen.
Report
07.11.2021
Dieser Bericht liefert eine empirische Analyse des Steuerwettbewerbs zwischen Privatpersonen und Unternehmen in der Europäischen Union, indem er eine Rangliste der schädlichsten Steuerregelungen aufstellt. Darüber hinaus werden mehrere Optionen vorgeschlagen, um diese Trends zu bekämpfen.
Research Note
25.10.2021
Im Oktober 2021 einigten sich 136 Länder und Rechtsordnungen auf die rasche Umsetzung einer umfassenden Reform des internationalen Körperschaftssteuersystems. In dieser Notiz präsentieren wir Simulationen der Einnahmeneffekte der in dieser Vereinbarung vorgesehenen globalen Mindeststeuer von 15 %.
07.10.2021
Um die Bedeutung der Pandora-Papiere umfassend zu verstehen, sollten sie im Zusammenhang mit den jüngsten Wirtschaftsforschungen, den internationalen Bemühungen zur Eindämmung des Offshore-Betrugs und künftigen Wegen zu einer größeren Steuertransparenz betrachtet werden.
Research Note
06.09.2021
132 Länder einigten sich auf einen Mindeststeuersatz von mindestens 15% auf die Gewinne ihrer multinationalen Unternehmen. Die gemeinsame Erklärung enthielt eine Bestimmung, die die Wirksamkeit dieser Politik erheblich einschränken könnte: die Befreiung für substanzbezogene Ausnahmeregelungen.
Report
01.07.2021
Die wichtigsten europäischen Banken verbuchen jedes Jahr 20 Mrd. EUR (oder 14 % ihrer Gesamtgewinne) in Steueroasen. Dieser Prozentsatz ist seit 2014 stabil geblieben.
Report
01.06.2021
Die Europäische Union könnte mit einer Mindeststeuer von 25 % die Einnahmen aus der Körperschaftsteuer um 170 Milliarden Euro erhöhen.
Publications
Search
Working Paper
10.07.2025
This paper characterizes profit shifting behavior across the size distribution of multinational enterprises (MNEs) to evaluate the targeting of the recently introduced Global Minimum Tax (GMT).
Working Paper
16.06.2025
This paper examines how the choice between book profits and taxable income affects profit shifting estimation.
Working Paper
13.06.2025
Over the past decade, more than 100 jurisdictions have signed AEoI in an effort to fight cross-border tax evasion. This paper studies the effectiveness and coverage of these agreements using account data leaked from an Isle of Man bank with a large customer base in countries participating to AEoI.
Report
12.06.2025
This report examines the evolution of harmful corporate tax practices in recent years, as well as the development of blacklists intended to identify such practices.
Report
28.05.2025
Our analysis reveals that the volume of data exchanged internationally has increased and improved substantially over recent years and that CRS-reported foreign wealth accounts for approximately 9% of household financial wealth.
Working Paper
26.05.2025
In this paper, we (i) present the growing body of social science research that relies on leaked data, (ii) discuss the ethical, legal and privacy hurdles faced by projects relying on such data and (iii) offer a practical roadmap for researchers looking to enter the space.
Working Paper
07.05.2025
The paper proposes a counterfactual approach to measure proportional treatment effects for staggered multiplicative difference-in-differences (DiD) models with Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood (PPML).
Note
06.05.2025
The effective tax rate of multinational companies declined by 2.7 percentage points in the European Union between 2014 and 2022, shows a new EU Tax Observatory analysis of a decade of corporate tax reforms. The decline was exacerbated by tax competition between Member States.
Working Paper
15.04.2025
This paper documents the rise of corporate tax-base narrowing measures in the EU using a novel dataset covering both tax rate and tax base reforms implemented between 2014 and 2022.
Note
26.03.2025
Preserving competitiveness does not require lowering environmental standards. Instead, well-designed policies can facilitate an alignment of both goals.
Working Paper
19.03.2025
Cryptocurrencies pose substantial challenges to tax enforcement due to their anonymous and decentralized properties, undermining conventional regulatory practices. We study the impact of an ambitious new enforcement initiative aimed at addressing these challenges...
Note
17.03.2025
This policy note provides a revenue estimate of how much European Member States could raise with a minimum tax of 2% or 3% on the wealth of people owning more than €100 million or €1 billion in wealth – the scenarios considered in the report commissioned by the G20 presidency.
Working Paper
12.03.2025
This paper studies the impact of beneficial ownership transparency in the British real estate market.
Working Paper
20.02.2025
The paper examines the political costs of taxation in early modern France. It focuses on efforts to enforce the salt tax, the rate of which varied across regions.
Working Paper
23.01.2025
This paper offers the first detailed characterization of the labor market in a tax paradise and the first assessment of how a reform aimed at discouraging tax avoidance affected workers.
Working Paper
23.01.2025
We develop a methodology to decompose the tax revenue impact of the global minimum tax introduced in 2024 into several components and quantify its potential impact on profit shifting.
Working Paper
23.01.2025
We propose a model of corporate tax avoidance that separates profits generated by real economic activities from paper profits shifted to tax havens. The model introduces ’triangle identities’ to estimate bilateral profit-shifting flows.
Working Paper
23.01.2025
The working paper studies the effects of automatic information exchange on tax compliance by analyzing the universe of information reports sent by foreign banks to Danish authorities, matched to population-wide micro-data on income, wealth, and cross-border bank transfers.
Note
23.01.2025
The note estimates that approximately 50% of large US companies and a significant portion of multinationals from countries like China, Japan, and Germany will potentially have to disclose information on their tax haven presence.
Report
23.01.2025
Les systèmes fiscaux actuels ne parviennent pas à taxer efficacement les particuliers très fortunés. Ce rapport présente une proposition visant à résoudre ce problème par le biais de la coopération internationale.
Note
23.01.2025
This note addresses the significant concerns associated with anonymous real estate ownership in the United States, highlighting how a considerable amount of property, including residential real estate, is held via corporate entities that conceal the true owners.
Report
23.01.2025
This report examines the current landscape of corporate tax transparency and evaluates how emerging transparency measures could shape future developments in this critical area.
Note
23.01.2025
This note presents new evidence on the scale of foreign investment in the Dubai residential property market. Using new data comprising the ownership of a large share of the Dubai property market, we present updated estimates of foreign-owned real estate for the years 2020 and 2022.
Working Paper
23.01.2025
In this paper, we study the extent to which “golden visas” impact real estate housing markets. Using the population of transactions records from 2007 to 2019, we analyse the introduction of the Golden Visa Program in Portugal in 2012.
Working Paper
23.01.2025
This paper investigates the determinants and consequences of the development of tax havens using a novel database that tracks the creation and development of offshore institutions in 48 tax havens.
Working Paper
23.01.2025
This paper provides causal evidence on how multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) presence in tax havens translates into job cuts in France following the 2006 European Court of Justice (ECJ) judgement on the Cadbury-Schweppes case, which weakened member States’ controlled foreign company rules (CFC).
Working Paper
23.01.2025
This paper provides causal evidence on how multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) presence in tax havens translates into job cuts in France following the 2006 European Court of Justice (ECJ) judgement on the Cadbury-Schweppes case, which weakened member States’ controlled foreign company rules (CFC).
Note
23.01.2025
This note examines the global prevalence and distribution of shell companies, which are often used for illicit financial activities like tax evasion.
Working Paper
23.01.2025
This working paper looks at the responses of corporations in the Greek Islands to an increase in the VAT rate from 16% to 24%. Declared profits decreased by 28% and corporate income taxes by 34%. Tax evasion opportunities offer a plausible explanation of the response.
Report
22.10.2023
An unprecedented research collaboration investigating the successes and failures of the fight against tax evasion over the last decade, building on the work of more than 100 researchers globally.
Note
13.07.2023
This note examines the impact of the recent introduction of minimum thresholds for the global implementation of the OECD/G20 Pillar One reform for key countries in the context of the negotiations.
Note
04.07.2023
This note discusses the perimeter and provides country-by-country revenue estimates for this new proposal.
Working Paper
15.06.2023
The Compliance Effects of the Automatic Exchange of Information: Evidence from the Swiss Tax Amnesty
This paper studies how the introduction of multilateral automatic exchange of information (AEOI) in 2017 affects tax compliance.
Working Paper
12.06.2023
This paper studies the consequences of multinational tax avoidance on the structure of government tax revenues.
Note
05.06.2023
Digital Service Taxes (DSTs) are a recently introduced fiscal tool designed to tax digital companies. This note collects all publicly available data to take stock of the first few years of DST implementation.
Working Paper
11.05.2023
In this paper, we conduct a benchmark analysis focusing on publicly available Country-by-Country Reports to assess the reliability of CbCR information compared to respective consolidated financial information.
Working Paper
10.05.2023
This paper investigates the influence of corporate tax avoidance (CTA) on firm-level sales, and its aggregate implications.
Working Paper
12.04.2023
Does the complexity of the ownership structure of multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) enable tax avoidance?
Working Paper
03.04.2023
This paper provides novel evidence on the relationship between firm size and effective corporate tax rates using full-population administrative tax data from 13 countries.
Working Paper
27.03.2023
This paper presents simulations of the tax revenue arising from the Pillar One Amount A proposal of the G20/OECD Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting.
Working Paper
13.03.2023
Like in many other countries, wealth inequality has increased in Switzerland over the last fifty years. By providing new evidence on cantonal top wealth shares for each of the 26 cantons since 1969, we show that the overall trend masks striking differences across cantons, both in levels and trends.
Data Documentation
28.02.2023
Dans cette note, nous présentons une base de données compilant les CbCRs publiées par des multinationales.
Note
23.02.2023
La déclaration pays par pays est une source de données clé pour comprendre les activités des multinationales. Cette note explore les rapports publics pays par pays publiés par les multinationales pour mettre en évidence plusieurs tendances importantes.
Working Paper
09.02.2023
We collect, digitize, and supplement Swiss rich lists published in the “BILANZ” business magazine since 1989, to gain new insights on the structure and dynamics of top wealth in Switzerland.
Working Paper
08.12.2022
In this paper, we analyse a hand-collected sample of voluntarily published country-by-country reports(CbCRs) of ten multinational enterprises (MNEs).
Working Paper
05.12.2022
Cet article explore l’optimisation fiscale des banques européennes à travers une nouvelle source de données. Depuis 2014, les institutions financières ont commencé à divulguer leur activité dans chaque pays, conformément à la directive européenne CRD IV.
Working Paper
02.12.2022
This paper is the first to estimate the full extent of foreign-owned commercial and residential real estate in a country, including both direct and indirect ownership.
Working Paper
01.12.2022
Cet article construit des séries temporelles de transfert de bénéfices mondiaux couvrant la période 2015-19, durant laquelle d'importants efforts internationaux ont été mis en œuvre pour freiner le transfert de bénéfices.
Note
14.11.2022
Cette note présente une nouvelle façon d'imposer les bénéfices extraordinaires des entreprises ayant bénéficié de circonstances exceptionnelles depuis l'invasion de l'Ukraine, comme le secteur énergétique, en taxant la hausse de la capitalisation boursière de ces entreprises.
Working Paper
17.10.2022
Ce document étudie l'efficacité des amnisties fiscales et leurs impacts sur l'imposition du capital et les dépenses publiques. Nous tirons parti de la grande variabilité des politiques de l'Argentine, qui a mis en œuvre le programme le plus réussi au monde, révélant des actifs d'une valeur de 21 %.
Working Paper
28.09.2022
This paper presents a new way to tax excess profits. We propose to tax the rise in the stock market capitalization of companies that benefit from extraordinary circumstances, such as energy firms following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Proceedings
12.07.2022
Événement annuel de référence dans la lutte contre l'évasion fiscale, la conférence visait à faire le point sur les développements passés, à étudier de nouvelles pistes et à projeter des politiques pour l'avenir.
Working Paper
17.06.2022
This paper provides evidence of the growing importance of real estate assets in offshore portfolios.
Working Paper
17.06.2022
Nous combinons des données d'enquête, des données fiscales et les déclarations financières des entreprises pour étudier l'évolution de l'allocation géographique des bénéfices des entreprises américaines après la réforme.
Working Paper
09.05.2022
Notre société accorde une attention croissante au fait que certaines multinationales déplacent leurs revenus vers des paradis fiscaux, une activité qui génère une inégalité dans l'imposition des sociétés.
Cet article examine le lien entre le transfert de bénéfices et l'inégalité des salaires.
Cet article examine le lien entre le transfert de bénéfices et l'inégalité des salaires.
Working Paper
02.05.2022
De nouvelles données sur la propriété d'environ 800 000 biens immobiliers à Dubaï offrent une fenêtre unique sur les investissements immobiliers transfrontaliers.
Note
16.03.2022
Cette note porte sur les inégalités de patrimoine en Russie et plaide en faveur d'un registre européen des actifs. Un tel registre permettrait de cibler les sanctions et de disposer d'outils efficaces pour lutter contre le blanchiment d'argent et l'évasion fiscale.
Report
07.11.2021
Ce rapport fournit une analyse empirique de la concurrence fiscale entre les particuliers et les entreprises au sein de l’Union européenne, au travers d'un classement des régimes fiscaux les plus néfastes. Il propose également plusieurs options pour faire face à ces tendances.
Note
25.10.2021
En octobre 2021, 136 pays et juridictions ont convenu de la mise en œuvre rapide d'une réforme majeure du système international d'imposition des sociétés. Dans cette note, nous présentons des simulations des effets sur les recettes de l'impôt minimum mondial de 15 % prévu par cet accord.
Note
07.10.2021
Pour bien comprendre l'importance des Pandora Papers, il est utile de les mettre en perspective, sur la base des recherches économiques les plus récentes, les efforts internationaux en place afin de réduire la fraude extraterritoriale, et les pistes futures pour parvenir à la transparence fiscale.
Report
07.09.2021
Les principales banques européennes comptabilisent chaque année 20 milliards d'euros (soit 14 % de leurs bénéfices totaux) dans les paradis fiscaux. Ce pourcentage est stable depuis 2014.
Note
21.07.2021
132 pays ont convenu d'un taux d'imposition minimal d'au moins 15 % sur les bénéfices de leurs multinationales. Cependant, la déclaration commune comprend une disposition qui pourrait réduire considérablement l'efficacité de cette politique : l'exemption des exemptions fondées sur la substance.
Report
01.06.2021
L'Union européenne pourrait augmenter les recettes de l'impôt sur les sociétés de 170 milliards d'euros avec un impôt minimum de 25 %.
Publications
Search
Working Paper
17.06.2022
This paper provides evidence of the growing importance of real estate assets in offshore portfolios.
Working Paper
17.06.2022
The 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act reduced the US corporate tax rate and introduced provisions to curb profit shifting. We combine survey data, tax data, and firm financial statements to study the evolution of the geographical allocation of US firms’ profits after the reform.
Working Paper
02.05.2022
I nuovi dati sulla proprietà di circa 800.000 immobili a Dubai offrono una finestra unica sugli investimenti immobiliari transfrontalieri.
Working Paper
27.04.2022
Una crescente attenzione è stata data al fatto che alcune imprese multinazionali spostano il reddito in paesi paradiso fiscale, un'attività che genera ineguaglianza nella tassazione delle imprese. Questo articolo esamina come il trasferimento dei profitti sia collegato alla disuguaglianza salariale.
16.03.2022
Questa nota si concentra sulla disuguaglianza di ricchezza in Russia e sostiene la necessità di un registro europeo della ricchezza. Un registro patrimoniale europeo fornirebbe sanzioni mirate e strumenti efficaci per combattere il riciclaggio di denaro e l'evasione fiscale.
07.09.2021
Per comprendere appieno il significato dei Pandora Papers, è utile metterli in prospettiva sulla base della più recente ricerca economica, gli sforzi internazionali in atto per ridurre la frode offshore, e le strade future per raggiungere una maggiore trasparenza fiscale.
Research Note
06.09.2021
132 paesi si sono accordati su un'aliquota fiscale minima del 15% sui profitti delle loro multinazionali. Tuttavia, la dichiarazione congiunta includeva una disposizione che potrebbe ridurre sostanzialmente l'efficacia di questa politica: l'esenzione dei carve-out basati sulla sostanza.
Report
01.07.2021
Le principali banche europee registrano ogni anno 20 miliardi di euro (o il 14% dei loro profitti totali) nei paradisi fiscali. Questa percentuale è stabile dal 2014.
Report
01.06.2021
L'Unione europea potrebbe aumentare le entrate fiscali delle imprese di 170 miliardi di euro con una tassa minima del 25%.
Research Note
01.06.2021
Nell'ottobre 2021, 136 paesi e giurisdizioni hanno concordato la rapida attuazione di una grande riforma del sistema internazionale di tassazione delle imprese. In questa nota, presentiamo delle simulazioni degli effetti sulle entrate della tassa minima globale del 15% prevista da questo accordo.
Publications
Search
Working Paper
10.07.2025
This paper characterizes profit shifting behavior across the size distribution of multinational enterprises (MNEs) to evaluate the targeting of the recently introduced Global Minimum Tax (GMT).
Working Paper
16.06.2025
This paper examines how the choice between book profits and taxable income affects profit shifting estimation.
Working Paper
13.06.2025
Over the past decade, more than 100 jurisdictions have signed AEoI in an effort to fight cross-border tax evasion. This paper studies the effectiveness and coverage of these agreements using account data leaked from an Isle of Man bank with a large customer base in countries participating to AEoI.
Report
12.06.2025
This report examines the evolution of harmful corporate tax practices in recent years, as well as the development of blacklists intended to identify such practices.
Report
28.05.2025
Our analysis reveals that the volume of data exchanged internationally has increased and improved substantially over recent years and that CRS-reported foreign wealth accounts for approximately 9% of household financial wealth.
Working Paper
26.05.2025
In this paper, we (i) present the growing body of social science research that relies on leaked data, (ii) discuss the ethical, legal and privacy hurdles faced by projects relying on such data and (iii) offer a practical roadmap for researchers looking to enter the space.
Working Paper
07.05.2025
The paper proposes a counterfactual approach to measure proportional treatment effects for staggered multiplicative difference-in-differences (DiD) models with Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood (PPML).
Note
06.05.2025
The effective tax rate of multinational companies declined by 2.7 percentage points in the European Union between 2014 and 2022, shows a new EU Tax Observatory analysis of a decade of corporate tax reforms. The decline was exacerbated by tax competition between Member States.
Working Paper
15.04.2025
This paper documents the rise of corporate tax-base narrowing measures in the EU using a novel dataset covering both tax rate and tax base reforms implemented between 2014 and 2022.
Note
26.03.2025
Preserving competitiveness does not require lowering environmental standards. Instead, well-designed policies can facilitate an alignment of both goals.
Working Paper
19.03.2025
Cryptocurrencies pose substantial challenges to tax enforcement due to their anonymous and decentralized properties, undermining conventional regulatory practices. We study the impact of an ambitious new enforcement initiative aimed at addressing these challenges.
Note
14.03.2025
This policy note provides a revenue estimate of how much European Member States could raise with a minimum tax of 2% or 3% on the wealth of people owning more than €100 million or €1 billion in wealth – the scenarios considered in the report commissioned by the G20 presidency.
Working Paper
12.03.2025
This paper studies the impact of beneficial ownership transparency in the British real estate market.
Working Paper
20.02.2025
The paper examines the political costs of taxation in early modern France. It focuses on efforts to enforce the salt tax, the rate of which varied across regions.
Working Paper
10.01.2025
This paper offers the first detailed characterization of the labor market in a tax paradise and the first assessment of how a reform aimed at discouraging tax avoidance affected workers.
Working Paper
08.01.2025
We develop a methodology to decompose the tax revenue impact of the global minimum tax introduced in 2024 into several components and quantify its potential impact on profit shifting.
Working Paper
19.12.2024
We propose a model of corporate tax avoidance that separates profits generated by real economic activities from paper profits shifted to tax havens. The model introduces ’triangle identities’ to estimate bilateral profit-shifting flows.
Working Paper
24.07.2024
The working paper studies the effects of automatic information exchange on tax compliance by analyzing the universe of information reports sent by foreign banks to Danish authorities, matched to population-wide micro-data on income, wealth, and cross-border bank transfers.
Note
18.07.2024
The note estimates that approximately 50% of large US companies and a significant portion of multinationals from countries like China, Japan, and Germany will potentially have to disclose information on their tax haven presence.
Report
25.06.2024
This report presents a proposal for an internationally coordinated standard ensuring an effective taxation of ultra-high-net-worth individuals.
Note
13.06.2024
This note addresses the significant concerns associated with anonymous real estate ownership in the United States, highlighting how a considerable amount of property, including residential real estate, is held via corporate entities that conceal the true owners.
Report
06.06.2024
This report examines the current landscape of corporate tax transparency and evaluates how emerging transparency measures could shape future developments in this critical area.
Note
15.05.2024
This note presents new evidence on the scale of foreign investment in the Dubai residential property market. Using new data comprising the ownership of a large share of the Dubai property market, we present updated estimates of foreign-owned real estate for the years 2020 and 2022.
Working Paper
22.03.2024
In this paper, we study the extent to which “golden visas” impact real estate housing markets. Using the population of transactions records from 2007 to 2019, we analyse the introduction of the Golden Visa Program in Portugal in 2012.
Working Paper
07.03.2024
This paper investigates the determinants and consequences of the development of tax havens using a novel database that tracks the creation and development of offshore institutions in 48 tax havens.
Working Paper
15.02.2024
This paper provides causal evidence on how multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) presence in tax havens translates into job cuts in France following the 2006 European Court of Justice (ECJ) judgement on the Cadbury-Schweppes case, which weakened member States’ controlled foreign company rules (CFC).
Note
21.12.2023
This note examines the global prevalence and distribution of shell companies, which are often used for illicit financial activities like tax evasion.
Working Paper
15.12.2023
This working paper looks at the responses of corporations in the Greek Islands to an increase in the VAT rate from 16% to 24%. Declared profits decreased by 28% and corporate income taxes by 34%. Tax evasion opportunities offer a plausible explanation of the response.
Report
22.10.2023
An unprecedented research collaboration investigating the successes and failures of the fight against tax evasion over the last decade, building on the work of more than 100 researchers globally.
Note
13.07.2023
This note examines the impact of the recent introduction of minimum thresholds for the global implementation of the OECD/G20 Pillar One reform for key countries in the context of the negotiations.
Note
04.07.2023
This note discusses the perimeter and provides country-by-country revenue estimates for this new proposal.
Working Paper
15.06.2023
The Compliance Effects of the Automatic Exchange of Information: Evidence from the Swiss Tax Amnesty
This paper studies how the introduction of multilateral automatic exchange of information (AEOI) in 2017 affects tax compliance.
Working Paper
12.06.2023
This paper studies the consequences of multinational tax avoidance on the structure of government tax revenues.
Note
05.06.2023
Digital Service Taxes (DSTs) are a recently introduced fiscal tool designed to tax digital companies. This note collects all publicly available data to take stock of the first few years of DST implementation.
Working Paper
11.05.2023
In this paper, we conduct a benchmark analysis focusing on publicly available Country-by-Country Reports to assess the reliability of CbCR information compared to respective consolidated financial information.
Working Paper
10.05.2023
This paper investigates the influence of corporate tax avoidance (CTA) on firm-level sales, and its aggregate implications.
Working Paper
12.04.2023
Does the complexity of the ownership structure of multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) enable tax avoidance?
Working Paper
03.04.2023
This paper provides novel evidence on the relationship between firm size and effective corporate tax rates using full-population administrative tax data from 13 countries.
Working Paper
27.03.2023
This paper presents simulations of the tax revenue arising from the Pillar One Amount A proposal of the G20/OECD Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting.
Working Paper
13.03.2023
Like in many other countries, wealth inequality has increased in Switzerland over the last fifty years. By providing new evidence on cantonal top wealth shares for each of the 26 cantons since 1969, we show that the overall trend masks striking differences across cantons, both in levels and trends.
Data Documentation
28.02.2023
In this note, we introduce the Public CbCRs database, a novel dataset comprising information on the country-level distribution of key tax-related financial items such as profit, taxes, and activities of over 100 large multinationals.
Note
23.02.2023
Country-by-Country Reporting is a key data source for understanding the activities of multinational firms. This note explores public Country-by-Country Reports (CbCRs) published by multinational companies to highlight several important trends.
Working Paper
09.02.2023
We collect, digitize, and supplement Swiss rich lists published in the “BILANZ” business magazine since 1989, to gain new insights on the structure and dynamics of top wealth in Switzerland.
Working Paper
08.12.2022
In this paper, we analyse a sample of voluntarily published country-by-country reports (CbCRs) of 35 multinational enterprises (MNEs).
Working Paper
05.12.2022
This paper explores profit shifting behaviour by European banks through a newly available data source. Financial institutions as of 2014 started disclosing their activity on a country-by-country level following the CRDIV EU Directive.
Working Paper
02.12.2022
This paper is the first to estimate the full extent of foreign-owned commercial and residential real estate in a country, including both direct and indirect ownership.
Working Paper
01.12.2022
This paper constructs time series of global profit shifting covering the 2015–19 period, during which major international efforts were implemented to curb profit shifting.
Note
14.11.2022
This note presents a new way to tax excess profits. We propose to tax the rise in the stock market capitalization of companies that benefit from extraordinary circumstances, such as energy firms following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Working Paper
17.10.2022
The paper studies the effectiveness of tax amnesties and their impacts on capital taxation and public spending. We leverage rich policy variation from Argentina, which implemented the world’s most successful program, reportedly revealing assets worth 21% of GDP.
Working Paper
28.09.2022
This paper presents a new way to tax excess profits. We propose to tax the rise in the stock market capitalization of companies that benefit from extraordinary circumstances, such as energy firms following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Proceedings
12.07.2022
A landmark annual event in tax evasion and tax avoidance policy, the event sought to review past developments, study new evidence, and project policy to the future.
Working Paper
17.06.2022
This paper provides evidence of the growing importance of real estate assets in offshore portfolios.
Working Paper
17.06.2022
The 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act reduced the US corporate tax rate and introduced provisions to curb profit shifting. We combine survey data, tax data, and firm financial statements to study the evolution of the geographical allocation of US firms’ profits after the reform.
Working Paper
09.05.2022
Increasing attention has been given to the fact that some multinational enterprises shift income to tax haven countries, an activity that generates inequality in corporate taxation. This article examines how profit shifting relates to wage inequality.
Working Paper
02.05.2022
New data capturing the ownership of about 800,000 properties in Dubai offer a unique window into cross-border real estate investments.
Note
16.03.2022
This note provides data on wealth inequality in Russia and advocates for a European Asset Registry. A European Asset Registry would change the state of play, resulting in better-targeted sanctions and effective tools to curb money laundering, corruption and tax evasion.
16.03.2022
Dieser Vermerk enthält Daten zu Vermögensungleichheiten in Russland und plädiert für ein europäisches Vermögensregister. Ein europäisches Vermögensregister würde gezielte Sanktionen ermöglichen und wirksame Instrumente zur Bekämpfung von Geldwäsche und Steuerhinterziehung bereitstellen.
16.03.2022
Questa nota si concentra sulla disuguaglianza di ricchezza in Russia e sostiene la necessità di un registro europeo della ricchezza. Un registro patrimoniale europeo fornirebbe sanzioni mirate e strumenti efficaci per combattere il riciclaggio di denaro e l'evasione fiscale.
Report
07.11.2021
This report provides an empirical analysis of tax competition between individuals and companies in the European Union, by ranking the most harmful tax regimes. It also proposes several options to address these trends.
Note
25.10.2021
In October 2021, 136 countries and jurisdictions agreed on the swift implementation of a major reform of the international corporate tax system. In this note, we present simulations of the revenue effects of the global minimum tax of 15% laid out in this agreement.
Research Note
25.10.2021
Im Oktober 2021 einigten sich 136 Länder und Rechtsordnungen auf die rasche Umsetzung einer umfassenden Reform des internationalen Körperschaftssteuersystems. In dieser Notiz präsentieren wir Simulationen der Einnahmeneffekte der in dieser Vereinbarung vorgesehenen globalen Mindeststeuer von 15 %.
07.10.2021
Um die Bedeutung der Pandora-Papiere umfassend zu verstehen, sollten sie im Zusammenhang mit den jüngsten Wirtschaftsforschungen, den internationalen Bemühungen zur Eindämmung des Offshore-Betrugs und künftigen Wegen zu einer größeren Steuertransparenz betrachtet werden.
Note
07.10.2021
To fully understand the significance of the Pandora Papers, it is useful to put them into perspective based on the most recent economic research, the international efforts in place to reduce offshore fraud, and future avenues to achieve greater fiscal transparency.
07.09.2021
Per comprendere appieno il significato dei Pandora Papers, è utile metterli in prospettiva sulla base della più recente ricerca economica, gli sforzi internazionali in atto per ridurre la frode offshore, e le strade future per raggiungere una maggiore trasparenza fiscale.
Research Note
06.09.2021
132 Länder einigten sich auf einen Mindeststeuersatz von mindestens 15% auf die Gewinne ihrer multinationalen Unternehmen. Die gemeinsame Erklärung enthielt eine Bestimmung, die die Wirksamkeit dieser Politik erheblich einschränken könnte: die Befreiung für substanzbezogene Ausnahmeregelungen.
Report
06.09.2021
The main European banks book EUR 20 billion (or 14% of their total profits) in tax havens each year. This percentage has been stable since 2014.
Note
21.07.2021
In July 2021, 132 countries agreed to a minimum tax rate of at least 15% on their multinationals’ profits. However, the joint statement included a provision that could substantially reduce the effectiveness of this policy : the exemption of substance-based carve-outs.
Report
01.07.2021
Die wichtigsten europäischen Banken verbuchen jedes Jahr 20 Mrd. EUR (oder 14 % ihrer Gesamtgewinne) in Steueroasen. Dieser Prozentsatz ist seit 2014 stabil geblieben.
Report
01.07.2021
Le principali banche europee registrano ogni anno 20 miliardi di euro (o il 14% dei loro profitti totali) nei paradisi fiscali. Questa percentuale è stabile dal 2014.
Report
01.07.2021
Los principales bancos europeos contabilizan cada año 20.000 millones de euros (el 14% de sus beneficios totales) en paraísos fiscales. Este porcentaje se ha mantenido estable desde 2014.
Report
01.06.2021
Die Europäische Union könnte mit einer Mindeststeuer von 25 % die Einnahmen aus der Körperschaftsteuer um 170 Milliarden Euro erhöhen.
Report
01.06.2021
The European Union could increase corporate tax revenues by €170 billion with a 25% minimum tax.
Research Note
01.06.2021
Nell'ottobre 2021, 136 paesi e giurisdizioni hanno concordato la rapida attuazione di una grande riforma del sistema internazionale di tassazione delle imprese. In questa nota, presentiamo delle simulazioni degli effetti sulle entrate della tassa minima globale del 15% prevista da questo accordo.
Publications
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Working Paper
10.07.2025
This paper characterizes profit shifting behavior across the size distribution of multinational enterprises (MNEs) to evaluate the targeting of the recently introduced Global Minimum Tax (GMT).
Working Paper
16.06.2025
This paper examines how the choice between book profits and taxable income affects profit shifting estimation.
Working Paper
13.06.2025
Over the past decade, more than 100 jurisdictions have signed AEoI in an effort to fight cross-border tax evasion. This paper studies the effectiveness and coverage of these agreements using account data leaked from an Isle of Man bank with a large customer base in countries participating to AEoI.
Report
12.06.2025
This report examines the evolution of harmful corporate tax practices in recent years, as well as the development of blacklists intended to identify such practices.
Report
28.05.2025
Our analysis reveals that the volume of data exchanged internationally has increased and improved substantially over recent years and that CRS-reported foreign wealth accounts for approximately 9% of household financial wealth.
Working Paper
26.05.2025
In this paper, we (i) present the growing body of social science research that relies on leaked data, (ii) discuss the ethical, legal and privacy hurdles faced by projects relying on such data and (iii) offer a practical roadmap for researchers looking to enter the space.
Working Paper
07.05.2025
The paper proposes a counterfactual approach to measure proportional treatment effects for staggered multiplicative difference-in-differences (DiD) models with Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood (PPML).
Note
06.05.2025
The effective tax rate of multinational companies declined by 2.7 percentage points in the European Union between 2014 and 2022, shows a new EU Tax Observatory analysis of a decade of corporate tax reforms. The decline was exacerbated by tax competition between Member States.
Working Paper
15.04.2025
This paper documents the rise of corporate tax-base narrowing measures in the EU using a novel dataset covering both tax rate and tax base reforms implemented between 2014 and 2022.
Note
26.03.2025
Preserving competitiveness does not require lowering environmental standards. Instead, well-designed policies can facilitate an alignment of both goals.
Working Paper
19.03.2025
Cryptocurrencies pose substantial challenges to tax enforcement due to their anonymous and decentralized properties, undermining conventional regulatory practices. We study the impact of an ambitious new enforcement initiative aimed at addressing these challenges.
Note
14.03.2025
This policy note provides a revenue estimate of how much European Member States could raise with a minimum tax of 2% or 3% on the wealth of people owning more than €100 million or €1 billion in wealth – the scenarios considered in the report commissioned by the G20 presidency.
Working Paper
12.03.2025
This paper studies the impact of beneficial ownership transparency in the British real estate market.
Working Paper
20.02.2025
The paper examines the political costs of taxation in early modern France. It focuses on efforts to enforce the salt tax, the rate of which varied across regions.
Working Paper
10.01.2025
This paper offers the first detailed characterization of the labor market in a tax paradise and the first assessment of how a reform aimed at discouraging tax avoidance affected workers.
Working Paper
08.01.2025
We develop a methodology to decompose the tax revenue impact of the global minimum tax introduced in 2024 into several components and quantify its potential impact on profit shifting.
Working Paper
19.12.2024
We propose a model of corporate tax avoidance that separates profits generated by real economic activities from paper profits shifted to tax havens. The model introduces ’triangle identities’ to estimate bilateral profit-shifting flows.
Working Paper
24.07.2024
The working paper studies the effects of automatic information exchange on tax compliance by analyzing the universe of information reports sent by foreign banks to Danish authorities, matched to population-wide micro-data on income, wealth, and cross-border bank transfers.
Note
18.07.2024
The note estimates that approximately 50% of large US companies and a significant portion of multinationals from countries like China, Japan, and Germany will potentially have to disclose information on their tax haven presence.
Report
25.06.2024
This report presents a proposal for an internationally coordinated standard ensuring an effective taxation of ultra-high-net-worth individuals.
Note
13.06.2024
This note addresses the significant concerns associated with anonymous real estate ownership in the United States, highlighting how a considerable amount of property, including residential real estate, is held via corporate entities that conceal the true owners.
Report
06.06.2024
This report examines the current landscape of corporate tax transparency and evaluates how emerging transparency measures could shape future developments in this critical area.
Note
15.05.2024
This note presents new evidence on the scale of foreign investment in the Dubai residential property market. Using new data comprising the ownership of a large share of the Dubai property market, we present updated estimates of foreign-owned real estate for the years 2020 and 2022.
Working Paper
22.03.2024
In this paper, we study the extent to which “golden visas” impact real estate housing markets. Using the population of transactions records from 2007 to 2019, we analyse the introduction of the Golden Visa Program in Portugal in 2012.
Working Paper
07.03.2024
This paper investigates the determinants and consequences of the development of tax havens using a novel database that tracks the creation and development of offshore institutions in 48 tax havens.
Working Paper
15.02.2024
This paper provides causal evidence on how multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) presence in tax havens translates into job cuts in France following the 2006 European Court of Justice (ECJ) judgement on the Cadbury-Schweppes case, which weakened member States’ controlled foreign company rules (CFC).
Note
21.12.2023
This note examines the global prevalence and distribution of shell companies, which are often used for illicit financial activities like tax evasion.
Working Paper
15.12.2023
This working paper looks at the responses of corporations in the Greek Islands to an increase in the VAT rate from 16% to 24%. Declared profits decreased by 28% and corporate income taxes by 34%. Tax evasion opportunities offer a plausible explanation of the response.
Report
22.10.2023
An unprecedented research collaboration investigating the successes and failures of the fight against tax evasion over the last decade, building on the work of more than 100 researchers globally.
Note
13.07.2023
This note examines the impact of the recent introduction of minimum thresholds for the global implementation of the OECD/G20 Pillar One reform for key countries in the context of the negotiations.
Note
04.07.2023
This note discusses the perimeter and provides country-by-country revenue estimates for this new proposal.
Working Paper
15.06.2023
The Compliance Effects of the Automatic Exchange of Information: Evidence from the Swiss Tax Amnesty
This paper studies how the introduction of multilateral automatic exchange of information (AEOI) in 2017 affects tax compliance.
Working Paper
12.06.2023
This paper studies the consequences of multinational tax avoidance on the structure of government tax revenues.
Note
05.06.2023
Digital Service Taxes (DSTs) are a recently introduced fiscal tool designed to tax digital companies. This note collects all publicly available data to take stock of the first few years of DST implementation.
Working Paper
11.05.2023
In this paper, we conduct a benchmark analysis focusing on publicly available Country-by-Country Reports to assess the reliability of CbCR information compared to respective consolidated financial information.
Working Paper
10.05.2023
This paper investigates the influence of corporate tax avoidance (CTA) on firm-level sales, and its aggregate implications.
Working Paper
12.04.2023
Does the complexity of the ownership structure of multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) enable tax avoidance?
Working Paper
03.04.2023
This paper provides novel evidence on the relationship between firm size and effective corporate tax rates using full-population administrative tax data from 13 countries.
Working Paper
27.03.2023
This paper presents simulations of the tax revenue arising from the Pillar One Amount A proposal of the G20/OECD Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting.
Working Paper
13.03.2023
Like in many other countries, wealth inequality has increased in Switzerland over the last fifty years. By providing new evidence on cantonal top wealth shares for each of the 26 cantons since 1969, we show that the overall trend masks striking differences across cantons, both in levels and trends.
Data Documentation
28.02.2023
In this note, we introduce the Public CbCRs database, a novel dataset comprising information on the country-level distribution of key tax-related financial items such as profit, taxes, and activities of over 100 large multinationals.
Note
23.02.2023
Country-by-Country Reporting is a key data source for understanding the activities of multinational firms. This note explores public Country-by-Country Reports (CbCRs) published by multinational companies to highlight several important trends.
Working Paper
09.02.2023
We collect, digitize, and supplement Swiss rich lists published in the “BILANZ” business magazine since 1989, to gain new insights on the structure and dynamics of top wealth in Switzerland.
Working Paper
08.12.2022
In this paper, we analyse a sample of voluntarily published country-by-country reports (CbCRs) of 35 multinational enterprises (MNEs).
Working Paper
05.12.2022
This paper explores profit shifting behaviour by European banks through a newly available data source. Financial institutions as of 2014 started disclosing their activity on a country-by-country level following the CRDIV EU Directive.
Working Paper
02.12.2022
This paper is the first to estimate the full extent of foreign-owned commercial and residential real estate in a country, including both direct and indirect ownership.
Working Paper
01.12.2022
This paper constructs time series of global profit shifting covering the 2015–19 period, during which major international efforts were implemented to curb profit shifting.
Note
14.11.2022
This note presents a new way to tax excess profits. We propose to tax the rise in the stock market capitalization of companies that benefit from extraordinary circumstances, such as energy firms following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Working Paper
17.10.2022
The paper studies the effectiveness of tax amnesties and their impacts on capital taxation and public spending. We leverage rich policy variation from Argentina, which implemented the world’s most successful program, reportedly revealing assets worth 21% of GDP.
Working Paper
28.09.2022
This paper presents a new way to tax excess profits. We propose to tax the rise in the stock market capitalization of companies that benefit from extraordinary circumstances, such as energy firms following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Proceedings
12.07.2022
A landmark annual event in tax evasion and tax avoidance policy, the event sought to review past developments, study new evidence, and project policy to the future.
Working Paper
17.06.2022
This paper provides evidence of the growing importance of real estate assets in offshore portfolios.
Working Paper
17.06.2022
The 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act reduced the US corporate tax rate and introduced provisions to curb profit shifting. We combine survey data, tax data, and firm financial statements to study the evolution of the geographical allocation of US firms’ profits after the reform.
Working Paper
09.05.2022
Se ha prestado cada vez más atención al hecho de que algunas empresas multinacionales trasladan sus ingresos a países con paraísos fiscales, una actividad que genera desigualdad en el impuesto de sociedades. Este artículo examina la relación entre el traslado de beneficios y la desigualdad salarial.
Working Paper
02.05.2022
Los nuevos datos que recogen la propiedad de unos 800.000 inmuebles en Dubai ofrecen una ventana única a las inversiones inmobiliarias transfronterizas.
Note
16.03.2022
Esta nota proporciona datos sobre la desigualdad de la riqueza en Rusia y aboga por un Registro Europeo de Activos. Un registro europeo de activos cambiaría la situación, lo que daría lugar a sanciones mejor orientadas y a herramientas eficaces para frenar el blanqueo de capitales y la corrupción.
Note
07.09.2021
Para comprender plenamente la importancia de los Papeles de Pandora, es útil ponerlos en perspectiva a partir de las investigaciones económicas más recientes, los esfuerzos internacionales en marcha para reducir el fraude en el extranjero y las futuras vías para lograr una mayor transparencia fiscal
Note
06.09.2021
132 países acordaron un tipo impositivo mínimo de al menos el 15% sobre los beneficios de sus multinacionales. Sin embargo, la declaración conjunta incluía una disposición que podría reducir sustancialmente la eficacia de esta política: la exención de las excepciones por razón de la sustancia.
Report
01.07.2021
Los principales bancos europeos contabilizan cada año 20.000 millones de euros (el 14% de sus beneficios totales) en paraísos fiscales. Este porcentaje se ha mantenido estable desde 2014.
Report
01.06.2021
La Unión Europea podría aumentar los ingresos del impuesto de sociedades en 170.000 millones de euros con un impuesto mínimo del 25%.
Note
01.06.2021
En octubre de 2021, 136 países y jurisdicciones acordaron la rápida aplicación de una importante reforma del sistema tributario internacional de las empresas. En esta nota, presentamos simulaciones de los efectos sobre los ingresos del impuesto mínimo global del 15% establecido en este acuerdo.
Working papers
Search
Working Paper
22.03.2024
In this paper, we study the extent to which “golden visas” impact real estate housing markets. Using the population of transactions records from 2007 to 2019, we analyse the introduction of the Golden Visa Program in Portugal in 2012.
Working Paper
15.02.2024
This paper provides causal evidence on how multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) presence in tax havens translates into job cuts in France following the 2006 European Court of Justice (ECJ) judgement on the Cadbury-Schweppes case, which weakened member States’ controlled foreign company rules (CFC).
Working Paper
15.12.2023
This working paper looks at the responses of corporations in the Greek Islands to an increase in the VAT rate from 16% to 24%. Declared profits decreased by 28% and corporate income taxes by 34%. Tax evasion opportunities offer a plausible explanation of the response.
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