Exploring international treaty-shopping routes using a multiplex network model

Abstract

there is no systematic way to regulate tax payment by MNEs. Therefore, exploring the treaty-shopping routes that MNEs use to avoid taxes would be helpful in developing regulation systems. This study attempts to identify these routes. We constructed the international tax treaty network by collecting data from 217 countries, identified optimal treaty-shopping routes of MNEs using a multiplex network framework (in which the type of income can change), and tested how to block treaty-shopping routes effectively in several scenarios. Political and country-related risks embedded in treaty-shopping routes were not reflected in the models of previous studies, but in this study, we investigated changes in network patterns when high-risk countries along various treaty-shopping routes were bypassed. When treaty-shopping routes are blocked or high-risk countries are bypassed, the benefits of tax avoidance are reduced or changed. In addition, the interests of developed and developing countries differ in terms of securing tax revenue. In this quantitative study, we present the results of both single-route analyses by income type (interest, dividends, and royalties) as well as a multiplex route analysis.

This study explores the tax avoidance pathways of multinational enterprises (MNEs). In order to minimize their tax burdens, MNEs seek to detour investment income to various countries within the global network using favorable tax treaties. Tax avoidance through treaty shopping has emerged as an international problem that reduces tax revenues in many countries and undermines tax equity