Glossary

Tax and Investments: The relationship between taxation and investment activities, including how tax policies affect investment decisions, returns, and incentives.

Tax and Natural Resource Governance: The implementation of tax policies and frameworks for the extraction, management, and taxation of natural resources, aiming for transparency, fairness, and sustainable development.

Tax and International Financial Architecture: The governance of global financial systems in relation to taxation, including coordination among countries, addressing tax competition, combating evasion, and ensuring a fair and effective global tax regime for economic growth and stability.

Tax and Equity: Consideration of fairness in tax policies, aiming to distribute the tax burden equitably. Progressive taxation increases rates with higher income, regressive taxation burdens low-income earners more, while proportional taxation applies a constant rate regardless of income or wealth.

Tax Evasion: The illegal act of deliberately avoiding paying taxes owed to the government by manipulating financial information, misrepresenting income, or hiding assets.

Tax Avoidance: The legal act of minimizing tax liability through strategic planning, exploiting loopholes in tax laws, and using legitimate methods to reduce taxable income.

Transfer Pricing: The practice of setting prices for goods, services, or intellectual property transferred between related entities within a multinational corporation to minimize tax liability in different jurisdictions.

Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS): Strategies employed by multinational corporations to shift profits to low-tax jurisdictions and erode the tax base of higher-tax jurisdictions, often through complex intra-group transactions.

Double Taxation: The imposition of taxes on the same income or assets in multiple jurisdictions, typically resulting from conflicting tax laws or treaties.

Tax Havens: Countries or jurisdictions that offer favorable tax regulations, minimal transparency, and low or no tax rates, attracting individuals and businesses seeking to minimize their tax obligations.

Offshore Accounts: Financial accounts held in foreign countries or jurisdictions with the intention of hiding assets, evading taxes, or facilitating illicit financial activities.

Money Laundering: The process of disguising the origins of illegally obtained funds by making them appear legitimate, typically through a series of complex transactions involving multiple entities and jurisdictions.

Shell Companies: Non-operational entities created to hold assets, facilitate financial transactions, or obscure the true ownership of funds, often used for illicit purposes such as money laundering or tax evasion.

Beneficial Ownership: The ultimate ownership and control of an entity or asset, often concealed through the use of nominee directors or shareholders, trusts, or complex ownership structures.

Country-by-Country Reporting: A tax transparency measure requiring multinational corporations to provide detailed financial and tax information on a country-by-country basis, enabling tax authorities to assess transfer pricing and profit shifting risks.

Tax Treaties: Bilateral or multilateral agreements between countries to prevent double taxation, promote cooperation between tax authorities, and provide clarity on tax obligations for individuals and businesses operating across borders.