The European jurisdictions of Luxembourg and the Isle of Man are the top offshore tax havens according to the latest Global Financial Centres Index which is complied and released by the City of London biannually.
The collation and creation of the index is based upon an examination of the competitiveness of the 50 leading onshore and offshore financial centres and havens in the world, and the analysis is based upon the findings of financial services leaders and their opinions are sought on 54 separate indices of competitiveness.
The offshore tax haven and leading global financial centre of Luxembourg came in at position 17 in the September 2007 report having climbed nine places in terms of its competitiveness since the last report was issued back in March.
This makes Luxembourg the most competitive of all the taxation friendly centres of the world according to financial services leaders and bodes exceptionally well for the nation obtaining and retaining business going in to 2008.
However, Luxembourg isn’t officially an offshore centre despite being widely recognised as a tax haven!
This means that the Isle of Man clinches the official number one spot for the offshore centres included in the index.
The inclusion of the Isle of Man within the Global Financial Centres Index was new for the September 2007 edition - and the offshore tax haven came straight in at position 21 for all centres and number 1 for offshore centres.
This is incredibly positive news for the jurisdiction and its government who have been actively working to improve the overall appeal of the location for international business and offshore finance in general.
Some have raised eyebrows at the inclusion of offshore tax havens within the index – but as the authors rightly reply, offshore centres are extremely important financial centres and where there is political stability, exceptionally business friendly regulation, favourable taxation regimes, discretion and appeal, the jurisdictions will naturally rank very highly indeed.
Of all the offshore tax havens included in the Global Financial Centres Index, the majority are clustered around the mid-20s position and the list includes the likes of Dubai, the Channel Islands and the Cayman Islands.
To read more about the index and access the results you can visit the City of London website.
