Tax havens can be used by individuals, small businesses, large businesses, Fortune 500 companies, governments, charities, and non-profit organisations. The numbers are staggering, with the British Virgin Islands, for example, having over 1 million registered companies. In the Cayman Islands, 40 of the world’s top 50 banks have licences, and hold US$1 trillion on deposit.…
Read More »Although there is no consensus on the number of tax havens in the world it’s estimated at over 150. Some of these tax havens are whole countries (like Bermuda), and others just a state or territory within a country (like Nevada). The list of tax havens is constantly changing as new tax havens are added…
Read More »Malcolm Turnbull’s Innovation Statement released on 7th December 2015 provides tax incentives for early stage investors. The tax incentives will encourage early stage investment in innovative start-ups and should boost growth by fostering new enterprises and promoting entrepreneurship. Further details are available at National Innovation & Science Agenda. The tax incentives apply from 1st July…
Read More »Countries restructure and redesign their tax system to become a tax haven for two main reasons – jobs and money. Some Countries may offer a lower tax rate to large corporations, in exchange for the companies locating a division of their parent company in the host country and employing some of the local population. Apple,…
Read More »Taxation has been around since 6,000 BC (in Ancient Mesopotamia). Mesopotamia is the name of the Tigris-Euphrates river system (corresponding to most of Iraq, Kuwait, the eastern parts of Syria, and regions along the Turkish-Syrian and Iran-Iraq borders). Since then taxpayers have been reducing their tax liabilities by utilising the differing tax laws operating in…
Read More »For businesses operating on an accruals basis, income that is subject to a client dispute may be deferred until the dispute is settled. The disputed income should be recorded in the financials as a liability, and only recorded as income when the dispute is finalized.
Read More »There is no generally accepted definition of what renders a country or jurisdiction a tax haven. The Cambridge Dictionary defines a tax haven as ‘a place where people pay less tax than they would pay if they lived in their own country’. The term most commonly refers to those countries or jurisdictions that have a…
Read More »Both common law partnerships and written partnership agreements allow the partners of a partnership to vary the amount a partner draws as a ‘partner salary’. To be effective for tax purposes in an income year, the agreement must be entered into before the end of that income year. The partner’s salary should be based on…
Read More »Capital city: Nicosia Currency: Euro (EUR) Population: 1,100,000 Language: Greek & Turkish GDP …
Read More »Capital city: Road Town Currency: United States dollar (USD) Population: 28,054 Language: English GDP …
Read More »"You’d be stupid not to try to cut your tax bill and those that don’t are stupid in business"
- Bono: U2