Christian Wenande
November 7th, 2017

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More simple rules the way forward, report contends (photo: Pixabay)

The Danish tax authority is adamant it will uncover the tax cheats revealed by tax haven leaks such as the ‘Panama Papers’ and ‘Paradise Papers’.

And there’s a pretty good reason for that. We are talking about a considerable amount of money – in fact a new report suggests that Denmark misses out on 5 billion kroner per year from money being sent to tax havens.

“We see some clear patterns in which some tax havens stand out because they have some absolutely massive transactions in the form of services that are really difficult for the tax authorities to monitor,” Ludvig Wier, a UN consultant in international taxation with a PhD in economics who is the co-author of the report, told TV2 News.

“Our great fear is that we are actually underestimating this.”

READ MORE: Danish connection unearthed in latest tax haven leak

EU are the biggest loser!
The report estimates that multinational companies shift about 5 trillion kroner to tax havens globally, resulting in a taxation loss of 1.5 trillion kroner annually.

The new report, which has been produced by the University of Copenhagen in co-operation with the University of California – Berkeley, is expected to be published sometime in the next month.

According to the report, the EU is the biggest loser in terms of lost tax revenue – particularly due to Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands being significant tax havens for multinational corporations. The authors of the report argue for much more simplified rules for international taxation.

“If you sell 5 percent of your goods in Denmark, then Denmark should get 5 percent of the tax revenue. That would be a simple system that everyone can comprehend and it would make a lot more sense,” said Wier.