Overseas UK territories are the ‘biggest enablers of corporate tax abuse,’ tax advocacy group says

British overseas territories are the world's top enablers of corporate tax abuse, according to a ranking by tax advocacy group Tax Justice Network. 

The British Virgin Islands is the territory "most complicit" in helping multinational corporations underpay corporate income tax, followed by the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, according to the latest update to TJN's Corporate Tax Haven Index earlier this month. 

"The UK and its network of British tax havens, often referred to as the UK's 'second empire,' are now responsible for a third (33%) of all corporate tax abuse risks measured by the index," a spokesperson for TJN told CNBC. 

Switzerland ranked number four, followed by Singapore, Hong Kong and the Netherlands. Number eight on the list is the self-governing dependency of the United Kingdom, Jersey, while the UK itself came in at number 18. 

TJN estimates that the UK and its British tax havens cost other countries an estimated $84 billion in corporate taxes annually.

Defending themselves against the charges made by the advocacy group, spokespersons from some of the governments said they were in full compliance with international tax standards set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 

The British government's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told CNBC that the UK has been abiding by the Common Reporting Standard approved by the OECD in 2014. 

CRS is designed to increase transparency about tax matters on a global scale and allow tax authorities to uncover income and assets held overseas by their taxpayers. 

FCDO told CNBC it had more than 100 countries sharing CRS information with them, with over 9.2 million accounts reported in total, as of the end of 2022.

The agency added that the Crown