European finance ministers are meeting this lunchtime to discuss enforcing a blacklist of tax havens.

The meeting has been brought forward because of the release of the Paradise Papers.

Estonian finance minister Toomas Toniste said, "Paradise Papers have made it clear again how seriously we need to tackle with transparency and fight against fraud."

His Luxembourg counterpart Pierre Gramegna said: "It's an EU initiative that we have to agree together and we stand behind this idea.This blacklist is always a difficult exercise and I can tell you more later."

The Isle of Man's Finance Minister says the dependency is working to improve banking standards and stop tax avoidance.

The Paradise Papers revealed that Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton used the country to avoid paying tax on his plane.

Alfred Cannan told the BBC: "We signed up to the UK's initiative to have a proper and full extensive register of beneficial ownership."

He added they were also "automatically exchanging information with not only the UK, but other international countries around people's offshore finances".

Image source, Getty Images

French finance minister Bruno Le Maire is calling on the European Union to enforce a blacklist of tax havens, after talks on the subject were brought forward to Tuesday.

"France will propose that states that do not take the necessary steps to combat tax evasion, should no longer have access to funding from major international organisations such as IMF or the World Bank," he said.

"I hope we can make this proposal to the IMF and the World Bank."

Ryan Morrison
BBC News Online

Senator Ian Gorst, Chief Minister of Jersey says if there is evidence of Jersey being used for abusive or aggressive tax avoidance then laws could be changed to prevent it happening in future.

"If we need to change our processes, our monitoring or even our legislation to ensure that is the case in the future then I will take action to do so," Mr Gorst told the BBC.

His comments has followed revelations from leaked data that found Apple became tax resident in Jersey after a law change in Ireland.

Image source, PA

He has defended the island's reputation and said he had already told finance and law firms that Jersey "did not want" firms using the island to aggressively avoid tax elsewhere.

Senator Gorst said: "I do not believe there is any room in Jersey today or in the future for companies or firms that cannot show meaningful economic value or have any potential to harm our excellent reputation."

He said he has asked the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists for a copy of the full documentation surrounding the Apple deal.

The papers reveal how Apple sidestepped a 2013 crackdown on its controversial Irish tax practices by actively shopping around for a tax haven. It then moved the firm holding most of its untaxed offshore cash, now $252bn, to the Channel Island of Jersey. Apple said the new structure had not lowered its taxes.

The Kremlin has withheld comment on alleged links between US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Russian gas firm Sibur which feature in the Paradise Papers, reports BBC Monitoring.

"It (Sibur) is not a state corporation, but a private company.We have indeed seen these media reports. But we do not know any of the details," spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti news agency.

Sibur previously commented that it "is surprised by the politically-motivated interpretation the media are giving to an offshore file of what is normal commercial activity".

Image source, AFP

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has said he will probably not keep his investments in shipping company Navigator Holdings.

The firm earns millions of dollars a year transporting oil and gas for Sibur, in which President Putin's son-in-law has shares.

Two other major Sibur shareholders have been sanctioned by the US.

The Kremlin links were revealed in the Paradise Papers, but Mr Ross said: "I've been actually selling it anyway, but that isn't because of this."

Image source, Oxfam

Oxfam says that large corporations typically invest in government lobbying, because of the potential returns in tax breaks - a practice that the UK has the power to stop.

"Corporations such as Apple, Nike and Glencore spend millions lobbying governments to water down tax reforms," said Rebecca Gowland, Oxfam's Head of Inequality.

"The 50 biggest US companies, including Apple, spent an estimated $352m (£268m) lobbying on tax issues in the country between 2009 and 2015 while receiving more than $423bn in tax breaks.

"For every $1 they spent lobbying on tax issues they received an estimated $1200 in tax breaks."

Oxfam says that a third of the $100bn tax that companies dodge in poor countries annually is enough to cover the bill for essential healthcare, external, that could prevent the needless deaths of eight million mothers, babies and children.

Richard Bilton asks Mrs Brown’s Boys star Fiona Delany about the offshore scheme.

The Paradise Papers have revealed that Apple has a secretive new structure that would enable it to continue avoiding billions in taxes.

Apple said the new structure had not lowered its taxes.

Image source, Getty Images

Charity Christian Aid has spoken out about the Paradise Papers, saying that the schemes employed by companies and the rich to avoid taxes have a severe impact on poor and vulnerable people, and has damaged the UK's reputation abroad.

"It has been estimated by organisations such as the UN and the IMF that developing countries lose billions of dollars every year through corporate avoidance involving tax havens," said Toby Quantrill, Head of Economic Development at Christian Aid.

"This is money that could be spent on the social and economic development of some of the poorest and most vulnerable people. We need to see full public transparency.

"Measures already instigated by the OECD, the G20 and under discussion in the EU are positive - but do not go far enough. There remain huge loopholes which continue to be exploited.

"It is now down to the UK government to show proper leadership both unilaterally and internationally to ensure the system by which wealthy corporations can avoid paying their fair share of tax can finally be brought to an end."

BBC Radio 5 live

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Chas Roy-Chowdhury, Head of Taxation at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) tells BBC Radio Five Live that there is a "fine line between tax planning and tax avoidance".

"We don't want to stifle business," he says.

Mr Roy-Chowdhury adds: "As an accountant I think we should not be setting up structures that are there for tax avoidance reasons only, they [tax structures] should be there for commercial reasons.

"Some of the complex structures that we have seen, we have to combat them."