Closing the gaps in tax enforcement

High-profile investigations and stringent new laws are part of a focus by governments across the world on tax evasion. Reforms to corporation tax and international information-sharing agreements promise to hit tax-evading companies - but the reforms have problems of their own. Nick Kochan reports

Too many companies have been looking at their tax liability in the wrong way - and that has to change, regulators say. Pascal Saint-Amans, head of tax at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), says tax should not be treated as just another line in the profit and loss account that can be managed to fit in with the best interests of the financial statement.

"The behaviour of some multinationals has become too aggressive. This is important and shouldn't be avoided. It is