Tax Havens: Toward An Optimal Selection Approach Based On Multicriteria Analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to demystify the concept of tax havens. After defining tax havens in a tax-planning framework, the paper introduces a tax haven selection methodology based on a variant of Gibson and Black multicriteria analysis to identify the most suitable tax haven for a given entity. The study shows the importance of subjective variables and how to incorporate them into a tax haven selection process. While tax advantages remain the key factor when searching for a tax haven solution, our study shows that non-quantifiable factors are also crucial in determining the most suitable tax haven for a given entity.