Offshore Registration

WHY GO OFFSHORE?

Individuals and corporations use offshore companies and offshore planning to gain a range of benefits, including:

Asset protection, through tested legal systems, the sanctity of contracts and political stability
Fewer restrictions, less bureaucracy and fairer treatment
Foreign investment inducements

Tax reduction, including customs and duty exemptions, and in some cases zero taxation
Asset enhancement, higher yields and returns and improved exchange convertibility

Increased or maintained rights to privacy, in banking and elsewhere
Reducing costs, through access to low cost areas, or free remittance of profits and capital, reducing overall costs

Improved risk management, such as greater security of property rights and access to foreign insurance and reinsurance.
The availability of sophisticated banking facilities and offshore experts

Offshore companies are principally used for:

Trade, including online trading

Financing & Ship management and yacht ownership

Investment holding

Professional consultancy and services

Patent, copyright and royalty holding

Personal and corporate tax planning

STAYING “ONSHORE”:

COMPANIES USING TAX ADVANTAGEOUS “ONSHORE” JURISDICTIONS

Nearly all countries offer tax regulations that encourage inward investment from international companies and individuals, through different combinations of tax planning regulations and other related opportunities making it advantageous for tax purposes.

These measures include:

Personal and family wealth management and tax planning

Double tax treaty planning in relation to dividends, interest and royalty payment

Establishing holding, international headquarter for treasury and finance operations

In recent years, tax collectors have become more heavily armed with international exchange of information treaties and provisions.

Right now the offshore world is shaped most by the careful implementation of tax advantageous structures domiciled in diverse high tax onshore countries, including the UK, Spain,Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Singapore.

Businesses successfully use low tax regimes and legal opportunities to minimize taxes in high tax countries. The success of such structures depends heavily on a number of aspects relating to the existence of double tax avoidance provisions, controlled foreign company and management, thin capitalisation, transfer pricing, capital gains tax, participation exemptions, and a multitude of ever-evolving tax regulations.