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The common characteristics of an offshore companies are low or zero tax afforded by the jurisdictions with stronger privacy laws than their onshore counter part. Paradoxically the word “offshore” has also become associated with onshore tax havens and financial centres such as Dubai, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Panama and a cluster of jurisdictions in Caribbean.
Tax mitigation, although an important factor, should not be the main consideration as there are legal, administrative and fiscal reasons when structuring offshore. We recommend clients carry out extensive research and obtain independent tax advice in the country where the subject is resident. For example, the United Kingdom has the highest number of double taxation treaties in the world as well as the lowest corporation tax and some states in the United States, such as Delaware and Nevada offer some the world’s largest and most popular offshore financial centres. |
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