The British Virgin Islands has topped Tax Justice Network's latest Corporate Tax Haven Index, ranking ahead of the Cayman Islands and Bermuda as the jurisdiction where multinational companies can most easily use tax laws to shift profits and reduce their global tax bills.
The Cayman Islands placed second in the index, with Bermuda third. Other British-linked jurisdictions clustered near the top: Jersey ranked eighth, Guernsey 12th, and the Isle of Man 13th. The United Kingdom itself came in 19th.
In the wider Caribbean, the Bahamas ranked 11th, Curaçao 29th and Aruba 52nd. Gibraltar, Anguilla, Turks and Caicos Islands and Montserrat also appeared in the rankings.
Tax Justice Network clarified that its index does not identify illegal conduct. Instead, it measures the structural ease with which companies operating across borders can exploit a jurisdiction's tax framework to minimise their obligations in other countries.
The watchdog estimated that Britain and its network of offshore financial centres together create 31 percent of global corporate tax abuse risks, costing the European Union roughly €8 billion per year.
The BVI's top ranking coincides with mounting pressure from the UK government on its Overseas Territories to strengthen financial transparency. In April 2026, the territory implemented a legitimate-interest access system that lets eligible parties request company ownership details, rather than publishing the full register publicly.
BVI officials have justified this limited approach on grounds of privacy, security and constitutional protections.
Simultaneously, the territory's government has pursued diversification of its financial services sector, expanding into digital assets and cultivating business relationships in Latin America and India.
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