A total of 20 countries and territories in Europe, including Isle of Man, Gibraltar and Montserrat, have agreed to share data on the ownership of companies, trusts and foundations to clamp down on offshore tax evasion.
The other countries joining the crackdown on tax evasion include Sweden, Romania, The Netherlands, Finland, Slovakia, Latvia, Croatia, Belgium, Ireland, Slovenia , Denmark, Malta, Lithuania, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Portugal, Estonia, Greece and Czech Republic.
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Last week, top five European nations agreed to create a register that will detail the beneficial owners of companies, trusts, foundations, and shell companies.
The countries also committed to share the data with tax and law-enforcement bodies.
UK chancellor George Osborne said: "Only a week after Britain launched this initiative with some of our closest European partners, it’s gaining the international support that will be vital to make it truly effective.
"I welcome the early commitment made by Gibraltar, Isle of Man and Montserrat to participate and call on all of the remaining Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to do likewise."
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By GlobalDataThe data exchange agreement follows the Panama Papers leak, which exposed how the world’s affluent hide their wealth from the taxman. The exposure, which was the result of over 11 million files being leaked from the Panama-based offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca, revealed many illustrious names.
