Offshore Affairs: Tax Havens Decoded

By just opening an offshore company in a tax haven you are not guaranteed not to pay taxes in any jurisdiction. This might have been a reality in the past when it was just as easy as opening an offshore company, and you knew you were guaranteed that you would not pay taxes. Nowadays tax havens have been forced by third-party jurisdictions and multilateral organizations to implement rules, instruments, and regulations to avoid or facilitate tax evasion, and money laundering. Despite the above, it is still 0% possible to avoid paying taxes at all, nonetheless, it is now a more complex procedure, which is why it is essential that you are aware of these rules, regulations, and legal instruments to be able to reduce your tax base and obtain tax freedom and tax optimization. There are several factors to take into consideration when assessing your local and international tax affairs, as not only your tax status plays a role, but also the tax status of the payor, if the jurisdiction is a black or gray-listed jurisdiction, instruments implemented by jurisdictions to avoid the artificial transfer of income or artificial tax base erosion, CFC Rules, Transfer Pricing Rules, and more. For example, if you live in a jurisdiction where you don’t pay income tax as an individual, let’s say Dubai, U.A.E, and open a company in the British Virgin Islands, and this company receives royalty payments from the U.S.A., the U.S.A. will tax your royalty profits at a 30% tax rate. In the opposite scenario, if you live in a high-tax country, let’s say the U.K. Canada, Japan, U.S.A, etc., and you open an Offshore Company in a tax haven, and this is a shell company with no office space or employees (substance) in the jurisdiction of formation, this would not be enough to legally not pay taxes or defer the payment of taxes in your country of individual tax residency as most likely the Controlled Foreign Company Rules (CFC Rules) would apply to you, and your country of tax residency will tax the income of the BVI company as if the net income of your offshore company was distributed and paid to you, even if you did not take the earnings out of the company. There are multiple ways to avoid paying these taxes, but first, you or your advisor must play by the rules and regulations to be able to find the loopholes or legally circumvent the regulations to legally avoid and not pay taxes. In this book we will provide insight so you understand these regulations and some ways to avoid paying taxes, as naturally, someone who is not an international tax lawyer generally is not well aware of all these instruments used by jurisdictions for individuals and companies to avoid paying taxes, especially if it is their first time opening an offshore company. Each type of tax has its own nature and ways to optimize/avoid it. That is when international tax planning comes into play, where we take into consideration all the possible aspects that might affect your tax situation, as just opening an offshore company in a random 0% tax jurisdiction will not suffice. Each concept will vary depending on jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and in some jurisdictions, some concepts might not even exist or not be implemented. This book focuses on providing you with ways to avoid, legally, these regulations and taxes. Herein we will mostly cover the following topics, which will include ways to legally circumvent or avoid them: Tax residency for companies and individuals. Worldwide and territorial tax systems. Offshore Companies and Tax Havens. Income and capital gains tax, and ways to reduce it or avoid it. Withholding tax Tax Information Exchange Agreements Exit tax. Controlled Foreign Companies (CFC Rules). Economic Substance Requirements (ESR) Transfer Pricing. Tax treaties and treaty shopping.