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Dividend stripping is a type of fraud that is committed through a complex mechanism of trading, selling and repurchasing shares over a certain period to unlawfully avoid payment of dividend taxes, or to claim unjustified tax reimbursements. Dividend stripping in its many forms poses a great challenge to the tax bases of numerous jurisdictions and may create market distortions that corrode the integrity of the financial system. This report is intended to raise awareness of dividend stripping frauds and provides a number of recommendations for countries around recognising the risk, improving domestic co-ordination and expanding international co-operation. In particular, tackling dividend stripping requires strong domestic inter-agency co-ordination and international co-operation, as well as the sharing of information between jurisdictions. Countries may therefore wish to prepare targeted actions and comprehensive strategies against this phenomenon, including not only tax administrations and law enforcement, but also financial regulators and supervisory authorities, as well as anti-money laundering competent authorities. Legislative changes may also be required in some cases.

Citizenship and residency by investment (CBI/RBI) programmes are government-administered programmes that grant citizenship or residency to foreign investors by expediting or bypassing normal migration processes. These programmes can help spur economic growth through foreign direct investment, but they are also attractive to criminals and corrupt officials seeking to evade justice and launder the proceeds of crime reaching into the billions of dollars. This report highlights how CBI programmes can allow criminals more global mobility and help them hide their identity and criminal activities behind shell companies in other jurisdictions. It highlights the vulnerabilities of these complex and international investment migration programmes, including the frequent use of intermediaries, involvement of multiple government agencies, abuse by professional enablers and lack of proper governance of the CBI/RBI programmes. The report proposes measures and examples of good practice, that can help policy makers and those responsible for managing the investment migration programmes address these risks. These include an in-depth analysis and understanding of how criminals can exploit CBI or RBI programmes and incorporating risk mitigation measures, such as multi-layer due diligence, in the design of the investment migration programme.

This Policy Guidance is a product of the Development Assistance Committee’s multi-year programme of work on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) in oil commodity trading. It proposes a set of relevant, feasible actions for providers of official development assistance (ODA) to respond to IFFs in oil commodity trading. The aim is to enhance the mobilisation of domestic resources for the benefit of populations living in oil-producing developing countries, and enable integrity in their energy transition, particularly in carbon trade.