Legal mechanism for blowing the whistle against incidence of tax haven in Nigeria

Abstract

Tax havens are jurisdictions with little or no direct tax imposition. The manifestation of the activities of tax haven is tax evasion and avoidance in high taxing jurisdictions. This often leads to capital flight to tax havens at the risk of economic misfortunes for the high tax jurisdictions. Tax haven has become a matter of global concern which has warranted several international responses especially from the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development. Nigeria has not been proactive with the global move. Our tax system is not fully developed to tackle tax avoidance and evasion from tax payers. At the level of international cooperation, Nigeria needs to enter into bilateral and multilateral treaties in this regard. At the domestic level, this paper reckons with the important role the use of whistle-blowers could have on information gathering by the tax authorities. Regrettably, Nigeria only has pockets of policies and codes which lack legal force to adequately guarantee the protection of whistleblowers. This, of course, limits the information gathering potentials from whistleblowers. This paper suggests the overhaul of existing tax codes and more visibility of Nigeria in the international scene in the battle against the incidence of tax havens.