In general, all jurisdictions can be divided into classic offshore, low-tax jurisdictions and prestigious jurisdictions. A jurisdiction’s prestige is equivalent to its ranking, determined by taking into account and evaluating information from the International Sanctions List, the OECD Grey- or Blacklist and the EU Jurisdiction White List, and data regarding the development of financial markets, and establishing whether the jurisdiction is FATF AML deficient and whether it poses any money-laundering concerns. These are the basic criteria that matter when determining whether the jurisdiction is prestigious or not. It cannot be viewed as prestigious if it appears on any financial blacklist.
Austria, France, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Switzerland are among the five most prestigious jurisdictions for incorporating a company.
A general overview of Austria The registration of a company or start-up in this jurisdiction allows the owner(s) to participate in all projects initiated by the Austrian government. The basic company types available are LLC, ULP, PJSC, PLLC, LLP and JSC.
Taxes: the income tax rate is 25%, while corporate tax of at least EUR 500 must be paid, with 20% VAT and a capital tax that varies from 0.8% to 1%. If the subsidiary is registered within the EU, the tax rate on income from dividends is 0%; if not, it’s 25%.
Austria has agreements with more than 90 countries allowing companies to avoid double taxation. It has no foreign exchange control. This jurisdiction ensures the confidentiality of business data.
A general overview of France France is a respectable jurisdiction that will allow your company to provide products and services carrying the mark of a European company. The basic legal structures available are SP, GP, PJSC, PJSC, LLC, CLS and LLPE.
France offers a number of opportunities: the possibility of obtaining loans from French banks, the chance to obtain a residence permit, no taxation for companies registered in the country that conduct business outside France and no foreign exchange control. France has agreements with more than 89 other countries allowing companies to avoid double taxation.
A general overview of the United Kingdom The United Kingdom is considered to be a respectable jurisdiction because of its high levels of rights protection, a simple and transparent tax system, the opportunity it offers to offset VAT and the availability of nominee services.
The basic company types available in the UK are PC, company with liability limited by guarantee, ULC and LLC. Again, there are no tax obligations for companies registered in the UK that do business exclusively outside the country. Corporate tax rates depend on profits (ranging from 20% to 24%). The UK has agreements with more than 100 countries allowing companies to avoid double taxation.
A general overview of the United States of America The USA offers a respectable, highly trustworthy jurisdiction for registering a company, allowing it to provide products and services carrying the mark of a USA company. This jurisdiction imposes no tax liabilities for those companies referred to as non-resident and it also allows nominee services. There is no taxation for companies registered in the country that conduct all of their business outside the USA.
The basic legal structures available are private entrepreneur, corp., branch of a foreign company, representative office of a foreign company, partnership, LLC, joint venture or LLJSC.
A general overview of Switzerland This jurisdiction’s good reputation stems from several factors, such as strong business development, a dynamic economy and a track record of innovation. The main company types available in Switzerland are LLC, ULP, JSC, commandite partnership and subsidiary.
Switzerland offers high levels of confidentiality, the world’s reserve currency, mechanisms to avoid double taxation, a reasonable tax system with tax rates depending on residence, the company’s level of income and legal form, tax optimisation opportunities and the possibility of setting up service enterprises which can be utilised for managing the parent company’s business operations and can serve as the overseas offices of international companies.
The development of telecommunications and economic globalization has made it possible for interested investors to form companies around the world. With proper research, financial investments, and legal backing, business ventures can safely be established in almost all of the world's countries. While it was once a complicated corporate endeavor to establish an international business, it is now commonplace with the help of experienced legal and economic advisers.
The advantages of forming a company in a foreign country are as numerous as they are obvious. Many countries offer specific location-based benefits, ranging from natural resources and established infrastructure to favorable laws and regulations that encourage growth in a specific industry. Likewise, it may be difficult to establish a venture or acquisition in one's home country because of disadvantageous situations: political or regulatory environments, lack of resources, and more. In this situation, it is useful to consider an overseas option that offers greater opportunities for growth, development, and success.
Company Registration in Cocos (Keeling) Islands When establishing a company in Cocos (Keeling) Islands, an interested investor must do due diligence with regard to legal processes, international regulations, and sufficient investment for success. It is critical to understand cultural, social, and political factors that will affect the establishment and growth of one's business; failure to do so could result in unintended consequences. Poorly-researched and tone-deaf international launches often end in disaster, as time, money, and energy is lost because of poor planning.
Legal documents Each country of the world presents its own set of intricate challenges with regard to forming, developing, and sustaining a business. Owners, financiers, and investors must enter into these engagements with the support of a knowledgeable and experienced legal team. Only someone with detailed knowledge of local and international corporate law will be able to set up an overseas business while avoiding the pitfalls that affect many new companies.
Additionally, shrewd businesspeople may consider opportunities to invest in overseas businesses without actually forming their own companies. In these situations, it still benefits the investor to team up with a knowledgeable adviser in global economics and litigation. International investments create a truly diverse portfolio that offers opportunities for growth that were unthinkable just decades ago.
Potential investors, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs should consider existing infrastructure in Cocos (Keeling) Islands when planning the launch of a new business. While substantial infrastructure and systems can help to make the business establishment a smooth process, it could also represent market saturation and diminished potential for growth. On the other hand, a lack of infrastructure often serves as a major hindrance to growth; however, lack of infrastructure indicates a clear market opening for a creative and efficient new business.
Bank Account Opening in Cocos (Keeling) Islands In conjunction with company formation, it will be necessary to open one or more bank accounts in Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Confidus Solutions offers the ability to open a bank account in over twenty jurisdictions, making it easy for you to avoid challenging language barriers or bureaucratic hangups.
Germany is a social market economy with a large capital stock, a highly qualified workforce, a high level of innovation and low levels of corruption. It is the largest economy in Europe and the fourth largest nation in the world in terms of nominal GDP. In addition to the intelligent economy and productive market structure, Germany also offers investment opportunities in its real estate segment.
What influences the German real estate market? The volatility of the real estate market can be explained by numerous macroeconomic and social factors in the country. Due to the zero interest rate policy of the European Central Bank, mortgage interest rates remain at record lows and offer historically favorable financing conditions. In addition, the quantitative easing (QE) policy being pursued by the ECB is leading to higher liquidity, increasing investment pressure as investors seek potential investment opportunities with above-average returns in relatively safe sectors. QE is also weakening the euro, making the German real estate market even more attractive to investors from outside the eurozone.
New projects and construction activities lag far behind the growing demand, which leads to rising property prices. The German Property Index (GPI), which measures the return on all real estate investments in Germany, reached 14.7% in 2016, a record level since German reunification. The demand for high-quality real estate is increasing due to the demographic and overall economic development in Germany – ongoing urbanization and growing metropolitan areas. Germany is experiencing a positive reversal in birth rates and other demographic factors. The birth rate rose from 1.39 to 1.50 per woman between 2011 and 2015. In addition, Germany has a persistent migration surplus, which can partially compensate for the demographic imbalance.
Commercial real estate, especially office space, is also in high demand due to record employment and the low unemployment rate, and is also benefiting from increasing purchasing power and high consumer spending. Logistics and warehouse real estate is crucial for growing businesses and is therefore in high demand due to the increase in wholesale and retail trade. Below you will find an overview of the most important sectors of the German real estate market.
Residential real estate The residential real estate market was able to recover from the financial crisis and market stagnation in the years after 2009. Residential property construction projects have risen steadily in recent years, resulting in around 277,000 completed residential units in 2016. 2015 Residential real estate With a total investment of EUR 170 billion, 60% of the total construction volume in Germany went into construction. Despite a significant increase in building permits issued (375,400 permits issued in 2016) and a record level of completed projects, demand still significantly exceeds the volume of completed housing projects.
Future prospects call for applications for new building permits to increase to 272,000 units per year by 2020 and further slow down to 230,000 units per year by 2030. Meanwhile, the number of residential properties could increase to 380,000 units in the short term due to increased immigration.
However, the demand for residential real estate differs greatly from region to region. In some regions, the gap between demand and supply could close soon, especially in eastern Germany. In some regions, especially in prosperous metropolitan areas, the available housing units will remain very scarce.
Along with the insufficient supply, the asking rents have risen accordingly. In large cities in particular, the trend towards rising rents is quite dynamic. For example, the annual growth rate of residential rents in Germany has been around 1.7% since 2004. In the meantime, rents in Berlin and Munich have risen by 3.9% and 3.5% annually, respectively. Both cities recorded an annual growth in purchase prices of 6% in this real estate sector.
Office Properties Similarly as residential properties, also office properties’ market is in a good and forward-looking shape mainly due to positive migration balance and historically low unemployment rates. In 2016, approximately 3.9 million square meters of office space was rented in the top 7 cities in Germany. This indicates a growth of 12% in comparison to the previous period. A particularly dynamic development was observed in Frankfurt, Cologne and Stuttgart with growth rates ranging between 25% and 48.4%. Meanwhile, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Munich and Berlin have experienced a cool-down in floor-space turnover in comparison to previous years.
The overall vacancy rate of office properties has decreased due to several factors: a dynamic demand, a slow expansion of floor space and high pre-letting rates. Across the top 7 cities mentioned above, the vacancy rate decreased by 0.7% points to 4.9%. In the top 7 real estate locations in Germany, the prime office rents range between 21 EUR/m2 and 37.50 EUR/m2 giving an attractive potential for investment return. This especially applies to Berlin, where rents have increased by more than 17% in comparison to 2015 reaching 28.7 EUR/m2. Currently, the highest office rents are in Frankfurt and Munich (37.50 EUR/m2 and 35 EUR/m2 accordingly).
Local investors retain the dominant market position accounting for around 60% of the total transaction activity in office property market. Meanwhile, foreign investors account for approximately two fifths (or 20.9 billion EUR) of the transaction volume.
In general, a beneficiary is an individual who derives a profit or other benefit from something. In the financial world, a beneficiary refers to someone qualified to receive distributions from a will, life insurance policy, or trust. In business, it refers to a beneficial owner who ultimately owns and controls a business and/or other natural person on whose behalf a particular transaction is being conducted. Beneficiary is a person who exercises ultimate effective control over a legal entity or arrangement. The notions of ultimate ownership or control and ultimate effective control are useful in situations where ownership of the entity is exercised through a chain of ownership and does not clearly identify the direct and actual owner of the entity.
Importance of identifying a ultimate beneficial owner of the account Beneficial ownership is currently the main concern for anti-money laundering (AML) compliance professionals in banks. And there's a good reason for that. By developing comprehensive know-your-client (KYC) and other due diligence procedures before opening a bank account and throughout working with clients, banks have succeeded in fighting terrorism, tax fraud and other crimes. Large-scale fraud is often related to the inappropriate use of commercial structures. For example:
60% of abusive companies are involved in white-collar and financial crime; 75% of known criminal organizations use companies to cover up their activities. While banks risk losing their customers and profits after stepping up their KYC and other due diligence procedures again, this is usually done to meet increasing AML requirements from national governments and international institutions. Global AML standards dictate that understanding the ultimate beneficiaries of bank accounts is an essential part of any financial institution's AML program and can be achieved through extensive know-your-client and other due diligence processes.
Who exactly is considered the ultimate beneficiary of the bank account? The Fourth Money Laundering Directive of the EU (MLD4) is essentially aimed at the final beneficiaries. Under this policy, ultimate beneficial ownership is presumed in one of three cases:
A natural person holds 25% or more of the capital of the legal person; A natural person can exercise 25% or more of the voting rights during general meetings; A natural person is a beneficiary of 25% or more of the capital of the company. It is sometimes difficult to determine the ultimate beneficiaries of a company. The above policy also requires that officers be treated as beneficial owners if the above criteria are not met.
Ultimate beneficial owner and the nominees If a beneficial owner wishes to keep their name out of public records, the company can use a nominee shareholder service. The nominee shareholder is generally an independent third party with which the legal entity's shares are formally registered and held on behalf of a beneficial owner. The ultimate beneficiary of the company can enjoy actual ownership of the company while public ownership is held on behalf of the nominee shareholder. Generally, the true identity of the ultimate beneficiary is known only to the law firm or company incorporation service and the beneficiary himself.
The final beneficiaries usually do not want to lose control of their company, but they also do not want to be perceived publicly as the owner of the company. Therefore, it is crucial to create adequate documentation that proves the rights of true ownership. These documents include a Declaration of Trust and a Nominee Services Agreement and will be kept strictly confidential.
There are 1050 km² of cultivated land in Vanuatu, and it comprises 9% of the country's total territory. In Vanuatu, permanent crops occupy 850 km² of the land. This comprises 7% of the country's total territory. There are 200 km² of arable land in Vanuatu. and it comprises 2% of the country's total territory. 65% of the population are working in agriculture.
Before starting a business or even choosing a jurisdiction, you need to plan a corporate structure for your business and based on that determine the purpose of the business you wish to start. It is important to understand the business structure of your company as this will determine the jurisdiction and type of company you choose to best meet your needs.
Depending on whether you have a trading company or a holding company, different solutions can be applied. That is why it is important to choose the right company structure.
Asia has a very rich cultural heritage that has been carefully nurtured through centuries of history. Today Asia is very attractive to international investors due to the fact that it has several large economic areas as well as several special areas with a thriving economy and favorable tax systems. Below is our top list of jurisdictions for international investing in Asia.
Hong Kong
Modern Hong Kong can offer a free market economy that relies heavily on international trade, the financial sector, the extent of export / import, including a fairly large proportion of re-exports. Hong Kong does not impose tariffs on imported items. Also, there are only four groups of goods subject to excise duty: high alcohol beverages, tobacco, hydrocarbon oil, and methyl-based alcohol. Currently, Hong Kong does not have any import / export quotas for anything. The Hong Kong government continues to peg the local currency (Hong Kong dollar) tightly to the US dollar, in support of an agreement signed in 1983.
The local government is actively developing the Special Administrative Region (SAR) to make it a desirable destination for mainland China Renminbi to achieve their internationalization in the business community. Residents are allowed to open savings accounts in RMB currency; In addition, Hong Kong public and Chinese government bonds were issued in RMB currency; as well as currently in the private and public sectors, RMB agreements are permitted. The Hong Kong government is working really hard right now to increase the additional use of RMB in Hong Kong's financial markets and is looking for an opportunity to increase the RMB ratio significantly.
Macau
Since establishing its local casino industry hotspot in 2001, Macau has attracted tens of billions of dollars in international investment, completely transforming the area into one of the largest global gambling hotspots. The Macau gambling and tourism industries have been heavily influenced by China's decision to relax travel restrictions on Chinese nationals looking for an opportunity to visit Macau. In 2016, Macau gambling taxes estimated over 76% of total household revenue. Macau's economy suffered quite a bit in 2009. It was a consequence of a global economic crisis, but the rapid economic growth continued somewhere until 2013. In 2015, Macau was home to approximately 31 million tourists, with an urban population of 646,800. About 68% came from mainland China. The services offered, mainly gambling, have boosted Macau's economic performance several times. Recently, however, the anti-corruption campaign carried out by the Chinese government has suffered slightly for the Macau gaming industry.
Singapore
Singapore is currently having a prosperous, well-developed free-market-oriented economy. Singapore government has hardly worked on and achieved an open and nearly 100% corruption-free government and business environment as well as strong economy, and quite high competitive (even by the Western standards) per capita GDP. Employment rates are extremely high, while the Singapore budget mostly relies on exports, specifically of consumer goods and electronics, IT & software, medical technology and devices, pharmaceuticals as well as on lively business, banking and financial industries.
Singapore is a famous destination for many international investors and entrepreneurs, especially in certain industries. According to financial analytics data it will continue to develop and evolve into Pacific Asia’s major business and high-tech hotspot. Singapore is a proud member of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement. It is also a part of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement. Back in year 2015, Singapore has established, along with the rest of the ASEAN participants, the ASEAN Economic Community.
China
Starting back in the late 70s, China has been working on it’s economy and market, rapidly going from internal government controlled closed market, to more liberal, open government planned system with profoundly internal market-oriented economy, leading to an increase of China’s impact on the global market. By year 2010, China has turned into the largest global exporter. Changes and reforms have started with slowly abandoning collectively planned agriculture, developing to introduce free-market pricing, decentralizing taxation, granting more autonomy for government-owned companies, expansions of the private sector, fast development of stock markets and introduction of a modern banking system as well as China’s access to international trade and investment.
China did undergo a number of reforms lately. During last few decades, Chinese government has renewed its support for government-owned companies in industries, which are strategic for country’s security and development. Such decision was made specifically to boost certain industries and make them more competitive on a global market. Such change of economy and the following benefits have dramatically impacted to a China’s GDP making more than ten times increase since year 1978.
Taiwan
Modern Taiwan has a prosperous free-market economy with overall decreasing government control over international investment and trade industries. Strategic production industries, such as production of electronics, machinery and petrochemicals, have given the major boost and factors necessary for rapid growth of economy. However, such factors as Taiwan’s diplomatic isolation, extremely low birth rate, and quickly aging population are several major long-term challenges that Taiwan’s government needs to face and solve.
» Search for ChristopherScott's content
Sat Dec 21, 2024 12:21 am
