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Tag: #Offshores

Analysis of exchange of tax information and investment in exchange for citizenship, taking into account the first results of the discussion organized by the OECD

Back in the first quarter of 2018, namely on February 19, 2018, a draft of advisory document was published on the official website of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which called on all interested parties to join the discussion on the OECD strategy for combating the loopholes on using the Common Reporting Standard (CRS, Single standard of tax information exchange) in the “citizenship by the investment” (CBI - granting citizenship in exchange for investments) and “residence by the investment” (RBI - granting a residence permit in exchange for investments). To date, more than 70 jurisdictions in the world offer these schemes. On April 17, 2018, a 96-page document was published on the OECD website (PUBLIC INPUT RECEIVED ON MISUSE OF RESIDENCE BY INVESTMENT SCHEMES TO CIRCUMVENT THE COMMON REPORTING STANDARD), which, in fact, summarized the first results of the discussion and the contents of the official letters to the organization. More than 20 structures were the speakers, including: AFME office in London (Association of Financial Markets in Europe, it brings together the largest agents in the capital markets in the region); Italian...

Which countries get into the offshore list?

Published: Dmitriy Batrakov | 18.05.2018 | blog

As a result of widespread use of offshore schemes in business, many countries of the world have faced a serious problem: huge capital began to pass around the state budget. In order to protect the economic system, the states make up the lists of offshore jurisdictions - the so-called “black lists” of offshores. The countries and territories included in this list are subject to close monitoring and a special system of taxation. As a rule, they are characterized by the availability of fixed tax benefits for non-resident companies up to the complete exemption from taxation of all profits, a high level of confidentiality of information with respect to business owners, the lack of requirements for the submission of accounting and financial reporting, as well as insufficient cooperation with other countries in relation to exchange of information. The lists of offshores of different countries are different, but they often include a “traditional” block of countries, generally accepted for all state lists. Among such countries are: Dominica, Panama, Seychelles, Belize and others. The Ukrainian current legislation has two lists of unreliable states: The list of offshore zones...

What danger is behind cheap offshore?

Published: Dmitriy Batrakov | 27.04.2018 | blog

Before buying an offshore, potential buyers usually compare the conditions of various vendors - so to speak, “ask the price”. At this stage, many people have the same questions: why are the prices for classic offshore companies so different? In fact, the cost of registration of such a company on the sites of competitors may be 5-10 times different. A tempting low price for an offshore company did not forebode good before, and the situation had worsened over the past year and a half to such an extent that at present, such a purchase might result in criminal prosecution. In this blog, we’ll figure out what forms the price of the offshore, how the sellers manage to reduce it and how relevant is the proverb about “cheap fish” and “bad broth”. What is included in the cost of an offshore company? The real offshore price consists of three important components, such as: Required minimum (cost price). This includes the registration of the company in the state register, payment of state duty, a basic package of documents, registration of the registration address, opening of an account in a local bank, international sending of documents and other mandatory procedures. ...

The Cabinet of Ministers Excluded 5 Countries from Offshore List

Published: Olena Vydysh | 08.02.2018 | news

On January 31, at the meeting of the Ukrainian government, it was decided to exclude 5 countries from the list of offshore companies, namely Estonia, Latvia, Georgia, Malta and Hungary. We remind that on January 19, the Ministry of Finance of Latvia announced that the inclusion of this country in the list of offshore zones was unreasonable. Earlier, Ukraine included Estonia in the list without notification of the Estonian government, so the Prime Minister of the state Jüri Ratas reacted by a statement on the need to remove the jurisdiction immediately from the offshore list. It took place on January 26, during his meeting in Davos with the Prime Minister of Ukraine Vladimir Groysman and the Minister of Finance of Ukraine Aleksandr Danilyuk. In total in 2017, Ukraine expanded the list of the countries, the operations with counterparties of which are subject to control in the administration of the law of transfer pricing, to 25 countries. Guadeloupe, Guatemala, French Guiana, the Commonwealth of Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, Iran, Cuba, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Mauritius, Malta, Morocco, Monaco, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Georgia and Hungary were added to the...

Offshore Transactions No Longer Subject to Additional Bank Checks

Published: Ролан Бондарец | 01.02.2018 | news

The NBU has forbidden financial institutions to apply the requirements of the Regulation on the procedure of analysis by the banks and verification of documents (information) on financial transactions and their participants (Resolution No.369) to the transactions, one of the parties of which are persons registered in the offshore zones. On January 24, the financial institutions received the corresponding Clarification No.25-0008/4731, signed by the director of the financial monitoring of the National Bank of Ukraine, Igor Beryoza. The document was sent out in the form of an electronic message. The letter states that from January 1, 2018 banks should not define such operations as risky ones, which means they are not required to conduct additional checks and request the documents from the clients. This change is justified by the fact that the order of the Cabinet of Ministers, effective from September 16, 2015, with which the list of offshore countries and territories was enshrined, lapsed at the beginning of this year. At the same time, the updated list, determined by a separate order, was not included in the relevant resolution of the National Bank. In other words, the list of...

Another 6 Countries Have Joined the BEPS Multilateral Convention

Published: Dmitriy Batrakov | 31.01.2018 | news

On January 24, 2018, another six states signed the Multilateral Convention for the Implementation of Activities under the BEPS Plan (MLI Convention). In this regard, the countries were able to amend promptly their agreements on avoidance of double taxation, taking into account the recommendations developed by the OECD in the framework of the plan of action to counteract the base erosion and withdrawal of profits from taxation. Barbados, Côte d'Ivoire, Jamaica, Malaysia, Panama and Tunisia joined the MLI Convention, after which the total number of signers reached 78. It is also worth noting that Algeria, Kazakhstan, Oman and Swaziland have announced their intention to sign the Convention in the near future. In addition, other jurisdictions are actively working on signing the agreement in June this year, as the press service of the OECD reports. To date, four jurisdictions - Austria, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Poland - have ratified the Convention, which will enter into force three months after the fifth part of jurisdictions transfers the instruments of ratification to storage. The Convention, developed as part of large-scale negotiations involving more than 100 countries and...

Since January 1, 2018, Amount of Official Payments Has Been Increased in the BVI

Published: Olena Vydysh | 25.01.2018 | news

In connection with the entry into force of amendments to the Law on Commercial Companies of 2004 (as amended in 2005), since January 1, 2018, the official fees have been increased in the BVI, levied from business companies in the Register of Corporate Affairs. These changes were adopted and published by the Government of the British Virgin Islands at the end of 2016. Initially, it was assumed that the amount of official payments will be increased from July 1, 2017, but in March of last year, the entry into force of the changes was postponed until January 1, 2018. The increase in the amount of following payments is among the most notable changes: Accordingly, the fines for late payment of annual fees have also been increased, since they are set as a percentage of the annual fee. The amount of payment for the restoration of the company in the Register has also been significantly increased. Some new duties have been introduced, including: for the primary registration of a copy of the register of company participants; for registration of changes in the register of participants; for registration of an application for consent to use a limited in the use word or a phrase in the...

The European Union Excluded 8 Countries and Territories from the “Black List” of Offshore Zones

Published: Olena Vydysh | 24.01.2018 | news

The European Union excluded 8 countries and territories from the “black list” of offshore zones, as it was reported on the official website of the Council of the European Union on January 23. The following countries were removed from the list: Barbados, Grenada, the Republic of Korea, Macau, Mongolia, Panama, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. As it was noted in the message, the exсlusion was justified taking into account the expert assessment of the obligations undertaken by these jurisdictions to eliminate the shortcomings identified by the European Union. In each case, the commitments were backed up by the letters signed at a high political level. At the same time, the above countries and territories belong to a separate category now, subject to close monitoring. We remind that on December 5, 2017 the EU announced its intention to exclude 17 jurisdictions from the “black list” of offshore zones that do not take appropriate measures to ensure financial transparency and combat tax crimes. Thus, 9 of the planned 17 countries and territories remained on the list, namely American Samoa, Bahrain, Guam, Marshall Islands, Namibia, Palau, Saint Lucia, Samoa and Trinidad and...

The European Union Intends to Exclude 8 Countries from the “Black List” of Offshore Zones

Published: Ролан Бондарец | 17.01.2018 | news

The European Union is discussing the possible exclusion of eight countries from the “black list” of offshore zones. It is reported by the IA Reuters, referring to the documents at its disposal. According to the agency, Panama, UAE, South Korea, Barbados, Grenada, Macau, Mongolia and Tunisia can be removed from the list. Such a proposal is justified by the fact that these countries have agreed to change their tax policy. In addition, an exclusion from the list of Bahrain was discussed, but in the end, it was decided to leave it on the list. On Tuesday, January 16, the issue was discussed at the ambassadorial level. And next week the proposal will be considered by the EU finance ministers. In early December, the last ones published a “black list” of countries that did not want to cooperate with the EU in the field of tax reporting, as reported by the UNIAN. The list includes 17 countries, namely: American Samoa, Bahrain, Barbados, Grenada, Guam, Macau, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Namibia, United Arab Emirates, Palau, Panama, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and South Korea. Offshore zones are on the territory of the most part of these states. We remind that...

OECD Has Published Comments Regarding Taxation of Offshore Indirect Transfers

Published: Dmitriy Batrakov | 11.12.2017 | news

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has published the comments that were received during the consultation on the draft of a new tool regarding the taxation of the so-called Offshore Indirect Transfers. We remind that the last ones constitute transactions for the sale of a legal entity located in one country and owning any immovable asset located in another country, by a non-resident of the country where the asset is located. The developed tool is part of the OECD program to assist developing countries in creating their own tax policies for Offshore Indirect Transfers. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has justified its actions by the concern that such countries may have difficulties in administration of tax systems because of a lack of appropriate competencies and resources. Thus, the attempts to minimize the tax burden have become more frequent among the multinational corporations, and there is no single principle for considering these transactions. In addition, the issue is not regulated by the BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting), the action plan of the OECD on the counteract of the tax base erosion and profit shifting from...