Finance Minister Chang Sheng-ford says Taiwan may launch an investigation into the Panama Papers for signs of tax evasion by Taiwanese nationals and organizations.
The leak of the 11 million plus documents has made global headlines. A keyword search of the leaked documents revealed 16,000 results for the word “Taiwan”. But Chang said that not all of these results indicate cases of tax evasion.
"Even our National Development Fund appears in the results. This is not a taxable organization, so there would be no need for them to evade taxes. The 16,000 results do not signify 16,000 cases of tax evasion. That’s just not the way to look at it," said Chang.
Chang said the finance ministry will contact the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the organization that published the leaked documents, to see if it needs any help in investigations. He said that if necessary, Taiwan will establish a Panama Papers working group and start investigating the most high risk people and agencies for tax evasion.
But Chang said that in order to investigate cases of tax evasion, Taiwan must have a tax treaty with the countries involved. Taiwan does not have such a treaty with Panama. Taiwan’s own laws must also support this move, and Taiwan’s anti-tax evasion law has not yet been passed.