How an Offshore Company Will Benefit You

It’s simply not true that an offshore company is a vehicle that can help only those involved in cross border business transactions or which will only function effectively as a mechanism to help companies mitigate their tax exposure.  An offshore company can help you the individual in up to at least 10 different ways - from tax reduction to asset protection.

If you’d like to understand how an offshore company will benefit you, in this article we lay out the 10 most common reasons why people incorporate a company offshore and how the incorporation directly benefits them with everything from financial planning to privacy protection.  You can then understand and determine how an offshore company will benefit you and move forward towards incorporation with our assistance.

1) Corporate Tax Reduction – If you’re considering incorporating a company offshore through which you can trade, transact and conduct business, it is possible to select a jurisdiction through which you can trade but within which you have no corporate taxation liability at all for example. 

As you can imagine, this is a strong deciding factor for many when it comes to the consideration of offshore company incorporation - but please note, you will need specialist advice on methods of incorporation so that you do not accidentally lay yourself open to greater taxation in your country of residence as a result of offshore incorporation!

We can help you get the specialist advice you need on everything from jurisdiction to company type, from overall structure to the use of nominee services for example.  Simply complete our brief offshore advice service form and through our strategic partners we will help you get advice and establish an offshore company that benefits you to the max.
2) Conduct Business - an offshore company is a legal entity which has many of the same intrinsic rights as an individual person so it can allow you to trade and invest through it for example whilst remaining one step removed from operations.

3) Maintain Confidentiality - many offshore jurisdictions require little or no data be held on public file relating to those involved in the offshore company or to the affairs of the company.  Even where data is required, there are options to include nominee director services to protect the beneficial owner of the company for example. 

Additionally if you place an offshore company within an offshore trust for example, or make use of a hybrid company structure you can create even more confidentiality benefits for you and your affairs.

4) Reduce Expenses - certain jurisdictions allow those with offshore companies incorporated therein the benefit of being able to reduce employee related expenses.  If you have employees working in other countries you can legitimately avoid the likes of social security payments or withholding tax for example.

5) Personal Tax Reduction - as part of an overall financial management strategy for you, the individual, it is sometimes possible to incorporate an offshore company within your overall financial plan to offset personal taxation liabilities. 

This requires specialist advice and depends entirely on your own personal circumstances though – so please take advice before taking action to ensure your proposed actions are legal and will not accidentally lay you open to greater exposure.  Remember we can help you get advice and get solutions in place.

6) Protect Investments - Sometimes an offshore company can lend funds to businesses in other countries, therefore as an investor you could establish but not directly own such an offshore company and lend to a company set up in another country.  You could ensure interest rates are charged to lower tax obligations and you can protect your ability to repatriate investment funds.  This is a benefit that investors sometimes use when they are working in countries with strict exchange controls and high taxes.

7) Maximise Profit, Minimise Tax - by operating a business through an offshore company in a low or no tax jurisdiction it’s possible to minimise taxation exposure whilst maximising profits.  For example, the offshore company as a legal entity can buy from one country and sell to a company in another country with the profits of the transaction being accrued in the offshore company in the low or no tax jurisdiction.

8) Asset Protection - when an offshore company is used in an overall asset protection strategy it is an incredibly useful mechanism towards the protection of your assets from taxation, litigation, erosion and general risk.

9) Simplify Business Operations - many offshore jurisdictions have very loose reporting and auditing requirements making it far simpler for those setting up or running a business to manage day to day operations.

10) Simplify Personal Wealth Management - Selling, transferring or reinvesting property, assets, investment or real estate in various countries around the world can be time consuming, expensive and complicated – but if you hold such assets within an offshore company, complete or partial ownership can be simply transferred by company shares rather than through the physical transfer of the assets in question.

Please remember that these are just the 10 most common benefits you could potentially achieve from the establishment of an offshore company – there are many more besides and the specific benefits you could enjoy are dependent largely on your own personal circumstance which is why we would urge you to contact us today so that you can receive specialist personal advice pertinent to your situation and requirements and get the financial management strategy in place most applicable to you.