Offshore Manual
Offshore Services
Offshore Centres
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What is Offshore?
Offshore services is, at its simplest, the provision of financial services by banks and other agents to non-residents.
The definition of an Offshore financial center (OFC) can be defined as any financial center (Jurisdiction) where offshore activity takes place. And where some or all of the following services is provided: low or zero taxation; flexible legislation; banking secrecy and anonymity.
It is reckoned that to be a successful offshore centre, political stability, respectability and accessibility of the centre are of paramount importance. Political stability is a prime consideration of potential investors who must be assured that the funds invested are secure in the jurisdiction under which the centre operates.
Offshore Business Sectors
In addition to banking activities, other services provided by offshore centers include fund management, insurance, trust business, tax planning, IBC, gambling license, yacht and shipping registration, and expatriation planning activity.
Offshore jurisdictions offers a number of incentives which are as follows: minimization of tax, protection and enhancement of assets, risk management, cost reduction, confidentiality, avoidance of bureaucracy and excessive regulation.
By the Numbers (statistic)
- In 2006, Offshore financial center kept $1.34 trillion in American-owned assets from U.S. taxation, up from $796 billion in 2003, according to the Center for International Policy. That’s a 68 percent increase.
- UK nondomicile status: In 2004-05, 112,000 individuals claimed non-domicile status in UK, which allows foreign billionaires to base themselves in Britain but pay no tax on their overseas earnings.
Offshore Financial Centers
Some twenty years ago, there were only a handful of offshore financial centers, and to many, their use was surrounded in 'mystique'. Also, there were only a few professionals specializing in offshore practice and tax havens, and those that did, typically made use of only one or two jurisdictions.
Over the last twenty years, startling advances in technology and the telecommunications revolution, have made it easier to access offshore facilities - so much so, that today's offshore industry has developed in to a major global business, spanning all quarters of the world, involving, in one way or another, approximately half of the world's financial transactions by value.
There are some 68 offshore centres in the world today with different products and services. The second-largest tax haven just behind the Cayman Islands, Nauru has ten thousand residents and four hundred offshore banks. European favourites include Luxembourg, Austria, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Cyprus, and the British Channel Islands-with strong links to London. Dubai and Israel are important in the Middle East.
Here is a list of some Countries, Territories, and Jurisdictions with Offshore Financial Centers.
Africa: Djibouti, Liberia, Mauritius, Seychelles and Tangier.
Asia and Pacific : Cook Islands, Guam, Hong Kong, Japan, Labuan (Malaysia), Macao, Marianas, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Philippines, Singapore, Tahiti, Thailand, Vanuatu and Western Samoa.
Europe : Andorra, Campione, Cyprus, Dublin, Ireland, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Liechtenstein, London (U.K.), Luxembourg, Madeira, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands and Switzerland.
Western Hemisphere : Anguilla, Antigua, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Turks and Caicos Islands, United States, Uruguay and West Indies (UK).
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