Drawing the boundary between cross-border tax planning & evasion

IN MID-September last year, senior revenue department officials spent two days in Seoul with their counterparts from 34 countries brainstorming on how to counter cross-border tax evasion, including outright tax frauds. As a taxman will admit, when it comes to curbing the rising trend among individuals and businesses to use off-shore accounts to launder money, there is no quick fix solution. Tax authorities worldwide are trying to address the challenges arising from firms establishing shell companies or off-shore trusts in tax havens to escape paying tax on their income or assets.