Achieve Your Business Goals with an Offshore Company

The list of offshore jurisdictions includes over 100 countries, so you will have something to choose from: Seychelles, the British Virgin Islands, Singapore, New Zealand, Turkey, and many others. Businessmen traditionally opt for offshores to enjoy low or zero tax rates, enhanced confidentiality, and better asset protection.

Choice of a jurisdiction

Why register your company in an offshore jurisdiction rather than choose an advanced economy?

Well-developed countries have a high reputation in the business environment, so they do not need to take great effort to attract capital or talent. As a result, there is no need for them to think about more incentives or more interesting conditions for newcomers: investors are attracted enough by the existing “brand.”

Weaker economies think hard to attract finances and entrepreneurs, that’s why they position themselves as tax havens that do their best to create appealing conditions for businesses while remaining compliant with international laws.

Our specialists will be happy to help you with setting up an offshore company by analyzing your business and shortlisting the jurisdictions with the most beneficial conditions for you.

What about blacklisted jurisdictions?

First of all, why is a country blacklisted? The matter is that FATF and OECD, the two major organizations, are striving for more and more transparency, and they may blacklist a country if it refuses to disclose as much information as they demand, for example. However, this is a transient measure: the jurisdiction usually agrees to make some reforms sooner or later and gets on the white list again.

The thing is that there is no single blacklist that we can call international. Each country has its blacklist, and it may not correspond to FATF or OECD blacklists. For example, such well-known offshore jurisdictions as Panama, Marshall Islands, or Costa Rica are on the EU blacklist, but Spain puts them on the white list. So if you are a resident of Spain, you can safely work with them.

And now let’s suppose that you are a Spanish resident and you work with partners from France. Panama is out of the question as it is on the French blacklist. However, we have the Marshall Islands that are whitelisted in both Spain and France (though the country is blacklisted by the EU).

We are now talking about the situation in 2023 (and the lists relevant as of this year), but it may change. Our consultants keep their finger on the pulse and are ready to advise you on recent goings-on at any particular moment, so do not hesitate to contact them.

Are offshores legal?

In short, this is a perfectly lawful business instrument – just like the company in any onshore jurisdiction. However, you will have to comply with the following:

• Adhere to the laws of the country where your business is registered.
• Make sure you comply with the laws of your home country (you may need to declare possession of an offshore company or an offshore bank account)
• Keep your business schemes legal

And if you act in accordance with these three requirements, you will never be entangled in any offshore scandal, like those tax evasion cases you can see in the media.

An offshore account

You will need to open an offshore account for your company, and we strongly recommend relying on a financial advisor here. There are potential issues making the choice a complicated matter, and here are the reasons why:

• You can open an account with a traditional bank, a neobank (digital bank), or a payment system. They have different requirements and give different opportunities, and is it not always obvious which one will be a perfect match for your particular situation. A consultant will make a better assessment.
• There are different jurisdictions where you can open an account. You need to be aware of all the latest news in the banking sphere to choose the one that is not going through hard times and is not blacklisted by FATF for any reason. What is more, choosing the best jurisdiction may depend on where your counterparties are based, and a consultant will ask you all the necessary questions to shortlist the best possible options for you.
• The situation also differs from bank to bank within the same jurisdiction! Banks may change owners, policies, or undergo reforms, and all this will influence the quality of services. We collect feedback from customers who have opened accounts with our help to see which banks are still good – and, of course, we analyze all information on the banking sector we can get our hands on. This is how the final choice is made.

If you are a banking sector professional, you can venture on your own. Otherwise, booking a session with a financial advisor would be a much wiser strategy.

Things to consider before account opening

Here are the points to think about before you open an account:

• Costs of maintenance. All offshore bank accounts cost something: some of them charge larger fees for opening but have lower subsequent commissions and monthly fees, and vice versa.
• The main currency you will need for your settlements. You may need a multicurrency account sometimes, and we will have to look for the relevant offer.
• The countries where your potential customers will be located. For instance, if they are mainly in China, we will find a bank that makes fast wire transfers to China.

Cryptocurrency is yet another concern: not all banks are crypto-friendly, so if you need this payment method, you’d better tell us in advance. There are really good offers on the banking market!

Procedures required by the bank

Offshore banks try to minimize the documents required, but they still have to comply with the minimum required by international legislation. You will have to prove the origin of your funds, and undergo KYC (Know Your Customer) and compliance procedures.

If you are unsure that you can prepare the documents impeccably on your own or you have any other doubts, please follow the above links to contact us and ask any questions you may have!