On Monday, tax authorities in Australia and New Zealand said they are looking into possible tax evasion by hundreds of wealthy taxpayers named in the massive leak of offshore banking documents reported Sunday. The Panama Papers, so named because they originated at Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, cover the use of offshore shell companies by 14,153 clients, reportedly to hide vast sums of wealth, between 1977 and last December.
"Currently we have identified over 800 individual taxpayers and we have now linked over 120 of them to an associate offshore service provider located in Hong Kong," the Australian Tax Office told Reuters. Some of those 800 have already voluntarily reported their offshore holdings under a now-ended amnesty program, and others have already been investigated, but a large number of the people under scrutiny have not disclosed their holdings and may face criminal charges, ATO said. New Zealand's tax agency said it is also looking through the Mossack Fonseca reports to find if anyone has cheated on their taxes.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Amazon's 'James Bond' deal could mean a new future for 007In the Spotlight The franchise was previously owned by the Broccoli family
-
Why are Republicans suddenly panicking about DOGE?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As Trump and Musk take a chainsaw to the federal government, a growing number of Republicans worry that the massive cuts are hitting a little too close to home
-
What is JD Vance's Net Worth?In Depth The vice president is rich, but not nearly as wealthy as his boss and many of his boss' appointees
-
Trump's China tariffs start after Canada, Mexico pausesSpeed Read The president paused his tariffs on America's closest neighbors after speaking to their leaders, but his import tax on Chinese goods has taken effect
-
Chinese AI chatbot's rise slams US tech stocksSpeed Read The sudden popularity of a new AI chatbot from Chinese startup DeepSeek has sent U.S. tech stocks tumbling
-
US port strike averted with tentative labor dealSpeed Read The strike could have shut down major ports from Texas to Maine
-
Biden expected to block Japanese bid for US SteelSpeed Read The president is blocking the $14 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan's Nippon Steel, citing national security concerns
-
Judges block $25B Kroger-Albertsons mergerSpeed Read The proposed merger between the supermarket giants was stalled when judges overseeing two separate cases blocked the deal
-
Rupert Murdoch loses 'Succession' court battleSpeed Read Murdoch wanted to give full control of his empire to son Lachlan, ensuring Fox News' right-wing editorial slant
-
Bitcoin surges above $100k in post-election rallySpeed Read Investors are betting that the incoming Trump administration will embrace crypto
-
Enron mystery: 'sick joke' or serious revival?Speed Read 23 years after its bankruptcy filing, the Texas energy firm has announced its resurrection
