Probably no people left who would not have heard of offshore. This topic has often been raised
in the media over recent years. A special information surge triggered the release of confidential
information about the offshore company Mossack Fonseca, more commonly known as
"Panamanian documents", or "Panamanian paper". To get an idea of the scale of offshore in the
world, you can quote a quote of a British journalist Nicholas Shakeson from his book: "More
than half of the world trade goes through offshore. More than half of the world's bank assets and
a third of foreign direct investment by multinational corporations have their roots in offshore ("
Treasury Islands, Tax havens and stolen people").
A bit of history
Offshore jurisdictions in their present form began to form at the end of the XIX century. A rather
interesting case took place in the United States. One lawyer persuaded the governor of New
Jersey to create on their territory a liberal business environment, in particular, to set low taxes.
For the possibility of registering business in this state, it was necessary to pay a small deductible
tax. The next state that went the same way was Delaware, in which by the beginning of the XX
century, there were registered nearly 1,500 companies. Registration fees and deductible taxes
gave these states considerable profits. At the same time, offshore jurisdictions in Luxembourg
and Panama were formed. In the 70s of the same century there was a real boom – more than 70
offshore centers around the world appeared, and already in the 90's, according to experts, about
half of foreign exchange operations were conducted through offshore.
Geography
Currently, the following dislocations are most distinguished:
1) Caribbean (Aruba, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Anguilla, etc.). Much of these offshore is the
former possessions of the British Empire.
2) African (Seychelles, Mauritius).
3) European (Malta, Cyprus, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Andorra and some others).
4) Asian (Singapore, Hong Kong, Nauru, Samoa, Tonga).
Types of offshore
In general, it is possible to distinguish two main types of offshore:
1) "Classic" offshore (BWI, Seychelles, Belize)
In these jurisdictions, an organization-legal form that used to create offshore is an international
company. There are no special requirements for a newly created company; as a rule, managers,
shareholders or secretaries may be physical persons and companies, residents of any country. As
a rule, there are no requirements for the amount of authorized capital. There are no taxes for such
companies, only a small registration fee is payable. Also, most of them are not accountable
(Although Seychelles, for example, introduced it in 2016 with the adoption of a new law act on
international companies).Mostly, the registered companies here under the legislation of these
countries don`t have the right to conduct business in their territory. Information about owners is
usually only available in local registers, which is beneficial to the latter, since as a rule most of
them want anonymity.
2) Jurisdictions with low tax rates (Malta, Cyprus, Andorra)
Some of them are on the offshore lists, some appear on the lists of states that refuse to cooperate
with the EU in the field of taxation, or in other lists that can be equated with offshore. Often, the
organizational form of such companies is limited liability company. Such forms as joint-stock
companies, cooperatives are possible to use. Tax rates in these countries are much lower than in
others, as well as numerous tax benefits such as exemptions from dividends, interest, and
foreign-earned profits used by businesses to minimize tax payments. This is negatively perceived
by the EU and the states in which the tax rates are higher, but these jurisdictions don`t hurry to
change anything. Owners of offshore companies can do business in the territory of these states.
Some have requirements for the amount of authorized capital, residence of founders,
shareholders or secretaries. But there are also advantages, such as the existence of a large
number of double taxation treaties, which allows offshore owners not to pay taxes in the state
they are tax resident.
Requirements for offshore companies.
But the requirements differ in each case. For example, in Singapore, it is imperative that the
company's director and secretary are residents of that state, to report each year, which is
approved by the local auditor, holding an annual meeting of shareholders of the company. And in
Belize it's very simple – there's just one person who can be both a director and a shareholder. In
addition, it does not matter which country she is a resident of. There are no requirements for
paying the authorized capital, but you must have an office in the territory of this country, as well
as keep a register of shareholders. If summed up, the requirements for company registration in
one or another offshore jurisdiction are generally rather liberal and registration of the company is
not a complicated task. But, of course, to create a company only on paper is not will not succeed
– it will be necessary to invest at least in the office and several employees (director, servictor).
How does it work?
The property, assets of the owner / owners are registreted on offshore company, and also one or
another business is did through it is. As a result, property, profits, dividends are taxed at a low
rate or are not taxed at all. Thus, the owner and the state in which the offshore is established
benefits, since the first minimizes taxes, and the latter receives the appropriate fee, in the form of
registration fees and taxes. And while the EU and other states are struggling to fight this
phenomenon, it's hard to call this a successful one.
The attorneys at law "Bachinsky, Kolomiets & Partners" will provide you with detailed advice
and assistance.]]>
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