Harry Potter star Emma Watson denies tax dodging after offshore account revealed
The actress, currently taking a break from acting to campaign for feminism, is listed as a beneficiary of a company based in the British Virgin Islands.
But Watson said the account was set up for the sole purpose of "protecting her anonymity and safety".
A spokesman for the 26-year-old Harry Potter star said: "Emma receives absolutely no tax or monetary advantages from this offshore company whatsoever, only privacy."
Emma Watson made the bulk of her £35 million ($68.6 million) fortune from playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series.
Her account came to light after data collated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) was published online for the first time. More than 200,000 offshore account details from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm, are now available.
"UK companies are required to publicly publish details of their shareholders and therefore do not give her the necessary anonymity required to protect her personal safety, which has been jeopardised in the past owing to such information being publicly available," Watson's spokesman said.
"Offshore companies do not publish these shareholder details."
Other famous names listed in the papers include the Duchess of York, The X Factor's Simon Cowell and Paul Burrell, the former butler to the late Diana, Princess of Wales.
Watson, who is worth £35 million ($68.6 million), according to The Sunday Times, appears in two films this year, alongside Tom Hanks in The Circle, and in a new Disney version of Beauty and the Beast.
Telegraph, London
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