Key findings

• Countries are losing US$492 billion in tax a year to multinational corporations and wealthy individuals using tax havens to underpay tax.

• Of the US$492 billion lost to global tax abuse a year, two-thirds (US$347.6 billion) is lost to multinational corporations shifting profit offshore to underpay tax. The remaining third (US$144.8 billion) is lost to wealthy individuals hiding their wealth offshore.

• Nearly half the losses (43%) are enabled by the eight countries that remain opposed to a UN tax convention: Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the UK and the US.

• The biggest enablers of global tax abuse are also some of the biggest losers: US$177 billion lost by the 8 countries that voted against UN tax convention terms in August 2024; US$189 billion lost by 44 those that abstained; US$123 billion lost by 110 countries voting for.

• Multinational corporations are shifting more profit into tax havens and underpaying more on tax, evidencing failure of OECD’s tax reform attempts.

• Multinational corporations cheated more after tax rate cuts, disproving “tax appeasement” thinking popular with lobbyists and some politicians.

• Offshore tax evasion by wealthy individuals dropped, but by far less than claimed. Majority of wealth offshore still hidden from tax authorities.