Dozens of US corporate executives and 33 companies have admitted using abusive tax shelters to under-report hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation as part of a settlement with the Internal Revenue Service.

The IRS said yesterday 80 out of 114 executives accused by the tax regulator of using the scheme - involving the transfer of stock options to family-controlled partnerships - have agreed to pay taxes on $500m (£285m) in under-reported income plus a 10 per cent penalty.