The Most Popular Tax Havens In The Panama Papers

A massive leak of eleven million documents has revealed how the rich and powerful are hiding their wealth in tax havens around the world. Spanning 40 years, the 2.6 terabyte data trove shows how Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca has helped its clients evade tax and launder money. The Panama Papers include information on over 210,000 companies in 21 offshore jurisdictions and show that 142 politicians, their families and close associates have been using offshore tax havens. Twelve current or former national heads of state are also counted within the data.

The British Virgin Islands proved the most popular tax haven in Mossack Fonseca’s files. One out of every two companies incorporated by the law firm was in that jurisdiction, over 113,000 in total. Panama was the second most popular jurisdiction with just over 48,000 companies incorporated there while the Bahamas rounded off the top three with just under 16,000.