Iceland Loses Large Amounts to Tax Havens

Photo/Golli / Kjartan Þorbjörnsson

Vala Hafstað

A recent  report, published on the website missingprofits.world, shows that Iceland loses 15 percent of its corporate tax revenue to tax havens.

By the researchers’ estimate, Iceland loses USD 384 million in corporate profits to tax havens, representing USD 77 million lost in tax revenue, or 15 percent.

Of the USD 384 million lost in corporate profits, USD 284 million goes to tax havens within the European Union and USD 100 million to havens outside the EU. Within the EU, the largest part of the profits goes to Luxembourg (USD 104 million), followed by Ireland (USD 79 million), and the Netherlands (USD 70 million). Belgium ranks fourth, receiving USD 29 million in profits, and Malta fifth, with USD 1 million.

Outside the EU, USD 4 million goes to Switzerland, and a total of USD 96 million goes to the following countries: Bermuda, the Caribbean, Purerto Rico, Hong Kong, Singapore, and others.

The research was done by experts from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Copenhagen. By developing a database, showing where corporations book their profits globally, they were able to estimate that close to 40 percent of multinational profits worldwide, or more than USD 650 billion in 2016, are shifted to tax havens each year. This reduces corporate income tax revenue by nearly USD 200 billion, or 10 percent of global corporate tax revenue.

For more information, visit missingprofits.world, where you can look up statistics on every country.

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