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Offshore company incorporation
We establish and manage offshore companies, trusts, foundations and other international business structures to meet our clients wealth protection and tax reduction objectives.
We have associate and representative offices around the world, handling our offshore formations in the most private and tax efficient jurisdictions. Our complete business packages ensure client confidentiality accompanied by tax efficiency and safe trading.
We are not tax experts and would request that you seek professional advice prior to setting up your offshore company to ensure it will meet the criteria required to obtain the best tax planning objective.
We have an outside consultant who may be able to assist with tax planning but they would require payment in advance for their advice.
- Reasons for going offshore
- Types of offshore companies
- Register an offshore company
- Offshore banking
- Offshore account opening procedures
- Due diligence
- Jurisdictions
Reasons for going offshore
Offshore companies may bring a number of benefits to individuals or companies.
Taxation
Business may be structured so that profits are managed in ways that minimize their overall tax liability.
Simplicity
Except for regulated businesses, such as banks or other financial institutions, some jurisdictions make it relatively simple to set up and maintain companies.
Reporting
The level of information required by the registrar of companies varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
Asset protection
It is possible to organise assets and transactions in such a way that assets are shielded from future liabilities.
Anonymity
By carrying out transactions in the name of a private company, the name of the underlying principal may be kept out of documentation. However current anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism regulations very often require banks and other professionals to properly look through structures and beneficial owners.
Types of offshore companies
Most of our clients utilise the following types of offshore companies to structure international business and for tax planning:
- Very low or zero tax
Offshore companies incorporated in jurisdictions often described as tax haven islands, such as the differing types of offshore company that can be formed in offshore company formation centres such as the Seychelles or British Virgin Islands. - The LLC or Limited Liability Company and the LLP or Limited Liability Partnership types of vehicle.
These classes of company are used for offshore business, international business and tax planning because they have the advantage of limited liability but the flow-through characteristics of a partnership for tax purposes. This means that profits are divided among the members, in proportion to their respective holdings, and are taxed in their hands. In some circumstances, if all the members or partners are non tax resident in the domicile of the LLC or LLP company and no business is undertaken in that country, neither the LLC or LLP company nor the members or partners will be subject to tax in the company's country of establishment. Such companies are said to be "fiscally transparent" and examples include US LLCs and the UK LLP. - Companies incorporated in jurisdictions which offer both offshore companies and onshore companies and which may benefit from favourable tax regulation or special offshore company regimes. For example Cyprus, although not typically regarded as a tax haven, it has a favourable tax regime, which effectively means that correctly structured, managed and administered Cyprus Companies can be utilised for undertaking offshore business and international business without paying tax in Cyprus provided that any profits arising are not made in Cyprus. This type of tax regulation is known as "territorial taxation".
- Foundations
Foundations have existed in parts of Europe since the Middle Ages, when they were originally only used for charitable or religious purposes. In modern times, foundations have increasingly been used for wealth management purposes, as pioneered in civil law jurisdictions such as Liechtenstein and Austria. In recent years, a number of common law jurisdictions have introduced foundation legislation, and the popularity of foundations continues to increase.
Like a company, a foundation is a separate legal entity (in contrast to a trust, which may only operate and own property through a trustee). Once the founder of a foundation transfers assets to the foundation, those assets cease to be the founder’s property and become the sole property of the foundation.
Unlike the shareholders of a company, the beneficiaries of a foundation have no control over the foundation and have no ownership interest of any kind in foundation assets, unless such assets are actually distributed to a beneficiary in accordance with the foundation’s charter or regulations.
As neither the founder nor beneficiaries of a foundation have any ownership interest in foundation assets and as management and control of a foundation is typically vested with the foundation’s council (which may be located in a low tax or nil tax jurisdiction), a foundation is a highly useful entity for tax planning, asset protection, wealth management and “outside estate” succession planning.
Offshore banking
M&N Group has extensive expertise and knowledge of the bank account opening procedures and maintenance requirements of a wide variety of reputable international and offshore banks.
The main banks that M&N Group can assist with opening business bank accounts are:
- Barclays Bank Knightsbridge
London United Kingdom (international division) - Barclays Bank Seychelles
- FBME bank in Cyprus
- BMI Offshore Bank (Seychelles) Limited
The bank accounts can be opened by mail or in person.
Potential clients must understand that opening an offshore bank account is not a simple matter and can be time consuming. Some offshore and international banks may take longer than one month to open an offshore bank account from receipt of a completed bank account opening package. Consequently potential clients are encouraged to ensure that they provide us with complete information of themselves and their intended business activity. The shortest time period for the bank account opening by mail should take approximately 10 days.
Offshore account opening procedures
The following information will be required for offshore and international banks in order to comply with the prevention of money laundering and terrorism:
- evidence of our clients' identities
- identify the source of funds paid into accounts to ensure that such funds are not derived from criminal activity and to document evidence relating to source of funds
- monitor banking transactions to risk assess each client in respect of illegal activities i.e. money laundering and terrorism
Typically offshore banks will require some or all of the following information to open and operate an offshore account for a simple offshore company which is owned by individuals.
- Certified proof of identity of owners, directors, account signatories and all parties connected with the offshore company. Acceptable proof of identity would normally include a certified passport copy
- Proof of residence of all parties associated with the offshore company. Acceptable proof of residence would typically include utility bill, an original bank statement or credit card statement
- Information relating to the expected annual income or asset base of the offshore company, the number of transactions per month, the geographic spread of the proposed business and the amount of money that will be left on deposit at the bank
- A description of the proposed business activity
- Documented evidence relating to source of funds, i.e. if a million dollars is to be paid into an offshore company's account, the bank will seek to obtain documentary evidence relating to the source of such funds in the form of a bank statement, contract or similar.
- Some banks require clients to visit them on an annual basis.
If a client incorporates the offshore company with our assistance, we provide all the corporate documents in accordance to the bank's requirements, as per client's instructions.
Please further note that M&N Group will only assist in the opening of offshore bank accounts for companies that we set up and administer. We do not assist in the opening of individual accounts for a person, but these can normally be opened by clients automatically after their business account is fully operational.
For more information on the opening of bank account, please contact us.
Due diligence
We have an obligation under International Money Laundering Regulations to ensure that we "Know Your Client" in order to protect ourselves in the event that any of our clients should use a structure we set-up for the purposes of money laundering, drug dealing, terrorism and so on.
In common with all respectable offshore providers, we require a copy of each client's passport and current utility bill to hold on file in order to comply with the regulations.
These are held securely and completely confidentially and would only be shown to an outside agency if ordered to do so by a court order.
Jurisdictions
We offer registration in many jurisdictions but please click on the pages below for details of our favoured jurisdictions.
You may not know the best location for your offshore company to be placed, as each client is unique and their requirements may differ. Therefore you may need to seek professional advice prior to placing an order.
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