LINKS
IN THIS SECTION
- Offshore
Company Formation
- Accountancy Services
- Legal Services
RELATED
SECTIONS
-
Taxation
of Offshore E-commerce
- Regulation
of Offshore E-commerce
-
Offshore
E-commerce Facilities
-
Offshore E-commerce Applications
At one time, the
financial infrastructure of tax havens, as they
were then called, lagged far behind the level
of sophistication of the tax-minimising schemes
for which they were used. This problem was compounded
by poor telecommunications and inadequate legal
infrastructure.
Facilities can
still be well below par in some of the more
backward jurisdictions, but there is strong
competition among the better and more popular
jurisdictions which has led to a much improved
level of services. This is definitely a point
to check when selecting an offshore jurisdiction,
and it is not necessarily easy to get objective
advice. See the Lowtax.net
Jurisdictions section for information on
the facilities available in different centres;
and you might consider talking to an adviser
in a high-tax country who makes regular use
of your chosen jurisdiction for advice on this
point.
The key financial
institution for an offshore e-commerce operation
is of course a bank, although if you are considering
a listing then you will be interested in the
relatively few offshore jurisdictions that have
stock exchanges, and the associated brokerages,
registrars and custodians. There are stock exchanges
in the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands,
the Channel Islands, Cyprus, Ireland, Luxembourg,
Mauritius, Hong Kong and Switzerland.
There is wide
variety in the level and scale of banking operations
in offshore jurisdictions. At one extreme lies
the Cayman Islands, with 340 banks (2006) including
branches of virtually every major bank in the
world, while at the other extreme some jurisdictions
defend their domestic banking sectors and restrict
foreign banking quite severely.
The need is for
a bank that will be easily able to receive transfers
from all over the world and account for them
accurately, and will be able to provide normal
commercial services to your local operation
possibly including payroll support. The local
offices of major Western commercial banks may
qualify, or they may not, depending on their
reasons for being there. Some will be no more
than representative offices, some will be specialised
trade-support offices, while some (perhaps few)
will offer a full range of services.
Local banks will
no doubt offer full service, but will not themselves
be offshore (check withholding tax issues),
may work in a foreign language, and may not
have the same level of IT and communications
support offered by a Western bank. So careful
shopping around is in order.
However, some
of the more advanced international banks now
offer such good Internet-based services that
there may be no need to look for local banking
facilities.
OFFSHORE
PROFESSIONAL AND FINANCIAL SERVICES
- Offshore
Company Formation - Forming an offshore
company for E-commerce purposes.
- Accountancy Services
- Professional services for offshore tax optimisation.
- Legal Services
- Specialist legal services for offshore E-commerce.
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