It’s a serious point, when the UK press gets its knickers in a twist over offshore bank accounts and secrecy jurisdictions Monaco has never got a look in until today. Even then the press has only mentioned Monaco in a passing fashion, there has been none of the micro analysis, “tax haven” bashing that offshore centers closer to home enjoy. Also part of the whole deal was a company based in Miami but again this has only got a passing mention. If this company happened to be setup in the Channel Islands you could be sure we’d have been treated to a double page spread by now.

With so many apparently world class places to hide your money dotted around the UK, one of which the BBC would have you believe you can just set up an untraceable trust willy nilly, why would you choose to deal with Monaco? Maybe it’s because these white listed, well regulated jurisdictions aren’t quite such an easy place to hide money as people would have you believe? If you took the time to look who found themselves in the initial OECD Grey List compared to those White Listed jurisdictions you might just be surprised.

Following up these three the continued force of Asia is still dominant with Singapore, Shanghai and Tokyo all doing well. Reinforced by the most improved financial centre in this report – Seoul. Seoul has not only improved its ranking significantly but also its rating, some achievement when you see how ratings have dropped for other centres. The importance of Asia just cannot be underestimated and it is also prominent in the report looking at where companies are likely to open new offices. The top 6 spots are all filled by Asian cities with London only just scraping it into the top 10.

The offshore centres have seen a continued decline in this report with the Isle of Man falling further behind Jersey and Guernsey in overall ranking and rating. The 3 crown dependencies continue to fill the top 3 spots for offshore financial centres but a historical look clearly shows how mounting pressure has seen a decline in “offshore”. This is only likely to continue what with the recent UK budget looking to place the UK mainland in more direct tax competition with the dependencies.

These are just some of the brief highlights of the report and the complete document comes in at 44 pages long. It’s a very worthy read, you can view the complete Global Financial Centres Index 9 (2011) by following the link (Right click Save As.. to save a copy to your hard disk)

A popular jurisdiction due to its Common Law base and relative cheapness compared to other European trading nations. A UK company where trading outside the UK can be sheltered from UK taxation when acting in an agency or broker capacity.

The UK has now introduced the Limited Liability Partnership which provides the benefits of a partnership with the protective limited liability of a company. Whilst having corporate characteristics and legal capacity in its own right, trading income is taxed like a partnership. Therefore if owned by non-UK tax payers and has no source income it falls outside charge to UK tax.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, (UK) is located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. The UK includes the island of Great Britiain (England, Scotland and Wales), the northeast part of the island of Ireland and many small islands.

In the British Virgin Islands it has long been fashionable to talk of the “twin pillars” of the Territory’s economy – tourism and financial services. The financial services are by far the more important. Nearly 50% of the Government’s revenue comes directly from licence fees for offshore companies, and considerable further sums are raised directly or indirectly from payroll taxes relating to salaries paid within the trust industry sector (which tend to be higher on average than those paid in the tourism sector).
As a British Overseas Territory, the BVI is made up of about 40 islands and keys (cays) located approximately 60 miles East of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea. The BVI has gained a reputation as the world’s leading offshore corporate domiciles due to its effective regulation and efficient services. It combines a safe, politically stable environment with a suitable legislative framework developed with the financial community in mind.
The BVI offers one of the most popular and long established International Business Companies Acts in the world, with over 600,000 companies having been incorporated.
It has a zero tax rate, with no income, wealth, capital gains or estate tax for offshore entities.
The BVI has an effective regulation and a proven legal and court system based on the British legal system and English common law. There are also no exchange controls and the US dollar is the legal tender
The BVI boasts a modern communications infrastructure and easy access through excellent flight connections – which makes it a very pleasant holiday destination.

As a Crown Dependency the Isle of Man has i’s own Corporate Registry – which makes available a wide range of company structures at an attractive price. And from the 6th April 2006 they introduced an income tax of zero percent ( 0%) and no withholding tax on payments of dividends to shareholders. This makes Isle of Man company formation an excellent option to save tax.

The Island has its own Income Tax and Customs & Excise services – both provide a very quick service to queries. It takes approximately one week to register with the VAT authorities and receive your VAT number.

The Isle of Man benefits from a special relationship with the European Union which allows for streamlined movement of goods between the Island and the Union.

The Isle of Man Government has a policy of offering good incentives to high-technology companies and financial institutions to locate to the Island. This seems to have paid off as there is an expanding knowledge base being attracted to the Island which fosters a entrepreneurial spirit. Finance now contributes to about 35% to the Manx gross national product.

The Isle of Man is undergoing a growth in economy due to the success of its financial services industry. Any Corporate services company have to be licenced by the Isle of Man Financial Supervision Committee – introduced to regulate Corporate Services on the Isle of Man and ensure a high standard of service and accountability.

The main activities of the finance sector are deposit-taking, asset protection and management, packaged investments such as unit trusts, life assurance and corporate management. Markets for these services are world-wide and the Isle of Man has built an exceptional reputation as a centre of excellence for expatriate banking. The Isle of Man is constantly innovating the service industry with its offering of Space Isle (catering to space insurances) and Yacht and Shipping management.