In July, The Times of London published leaked data about a scheme called “Liberty” deployed by 1,600 people, including celebrities like George Michael and the band Arctic Monkeys. The newspaper reported that they had sheltered money through a company in Leeds, England, that created offshore companies to generate paper losses.

Another example is the bribery trial in Germany of Bernie Ecclestone, 83, a billionaire and Formula One tycoon considered one of the richest men in Britain. Mr. Ecclestone is accused of bribing a German banker, Gerhard Gribkowsky, with $44 million, for a favorable business deal. His defense is that he lavished the money to prevent the banker from alerting British tax authorities that it was he, and not his former wife, Slavica, who controlled a family trust set up in Liechtenstein, another famous tax haven.

Mr. Ecclestone denies that he controlled the trust, and says the $44 million was extorted by the banker, to keep him from making false claims.

The finances of the trust are so complicated, according to a document filed in the trial, that, under a 2009 divorce agreement, Mr. Ecclestone’s former wife agreed to pay him about $100 million a year. In effect, the authorities say, it is a kind of alimony “inversion.” Mr. Ecclestone keeps a home in Gstaad, Switzerland, which offers a shield because the Swiss authorities do not disclose any account information about legal residents. And his ex-wife is a Croatian who is not a British resident, which has also allowed Mr. Ecclestone to keep the money out of the reach of British tax authorities.

“This kind of multi-jurisdictional trust shows how difficult it is to break open these structures,” said Markus Meinzer, a senior analyst based in Germany for Tax Justice Network which lobbies for transparency on tax issues. “They are basically impossible to penetrate without a whole array of lawyers and public prosecutors.”

The British-Swiss deal was always contentious, with critics arguing that it amounted to an amnesty to tax evaders. The German government abandoned efforts to sign a similar agreement with Switzerland.

Under the deal with Switzerland about 18,000 Britons disclosed their names to the British authorities. Those who did not want to be identified paid a one-time levy of up to 34 percent to settle past taxes. Then last year, the Swiss started deducting a regular “withholding tax” on the interest on behalf of the British authorities.