What are offshore companies and how money is stolen with their help. What is an offshore and how is it useful for business? Where are the conditions better?

Part of the taxes that, before the transfer of rights, were received by the state where the plant or factory is located, ends up in the pocket of the business owner. And with the help of offshore companies, they evade taxes on purchase and sale transactions, hide the real owners of the business, and even confuse the traces of “criminal” capital. After all, many of these “tax-free states” do not disclose information about financial transactions.

According to some estimates, a third of the total wealth of the world's millionaires is stored in offshore structures today, approximately 11.5 trillion. dollars (and this does not take into account securities, real estate, yachts registered in offshore zones). This is almost one tenth of all the money on the planet. Many analysts believe that the presence of these same zones was one of the causes of the global financial crisis.

90% of large Russian businesses and the same amount of the fleet with Russian shipowners are offshore. 80% of transactions for the sale of Russian securities are also carried out through these zones. How is this beneficial?

1. Taxes

In Russia

The basic income tax rate is 20%, dividend tax is 9%

Offshore

Taxes are low (for example, in Cyprus, income tax is only 10%, dividend tax is 5%) or completely absent (Bahamas).

In Russia

Russian enterprise X has products that can be sold to make a profit of 1 million rubles. The tax on this amount will be 200 thousand rubles.

Offshore

X sells the same products to an offshore intermediary (his owner is the same as the enterprise) at a reduced price with a profit of 200 thousand rubles. The remaining profit (800 thousand rubles) will be received by the offshore company by reselling the goods. Tax is paid only on 200 thousand rubles earned in Russia. Only 40 thousand rubles.

Total: The enterprise saved 160 thousand rubles on income tax. (200-40). Offshore schemes can be used to evade VAT, personal income tax, dividends, social payments, and payment of various excise taxes and duties.

2. Secrecy

In Russia

You can find out about the owners of the largest enterprises in the companies' annual reports.

Offshore

The owners of the companies are not disclosed.

Total: A rich Russian, who does not want to advertise himself for some reason, registers a company offshore. Next, this company buys shares of a Russian enterprise. Thus, the business is protected in case of persecution of the “owner” by the authorities, raider attacks, etc.

3. Availability

In Russia

Firms charge 10-15 thousand rubles for help in registering a new company. Registration period is three weeks. Without help, it will take even more time.

Offshore

You can buy a turnkey company in an hour. The cost of the service is from 1 to 15 thousand dollars. You can register yourself in a period of 7 days to 3 weeks.

Plus, in many offshore companies there are no accounting requirements and there is no financial control on the part of the authorities.

Total: Opening and managing an offshore is extremely simple and often cheaper than registering a company in Russia.

Nikita Krichevsky, Doctor of Economic Sciences:

The use of offshore companies is a global practice. But nowhere are they used as widely as in Russia. It is difficult to imagine that almost the entire aluminum industry of any foreign country belonged to companies on the island of Jersey, and ferrous metallurgy belonged to companies registered in Cyprus (and this is exactly the case here!). As a rule, offshore companies own no more than 1% of European and American enterprises. In some places this is regulated at the legislative level, in other countries there are informal rules. And if world leaders talk about the need to tighten measures against offshore companies, then we are talking, first of all, about financial schemes that are carried out with their help to reduce taxation.

In Russia, with the help of offshore companies, they not only evade taxes, but also protect property from raider takeovers. We are talking about small and medium-sized businesses, since the owners of the largest enterprises, who are included in the highest circles of power, are already protected.

Offshore companies also allow, without publicity, to include representatives of federal authorities and law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation among the beneficiaries (those who receive profit) of the company. It is precisely because of the latter circumstance that Russia is not taking any effective measures to prevent the large-scale transfer of money from the country to offshores.

Almost all of us have heard about the existence of such a thing as offshore companies, but not everyone understands the meaning of this term. What are offshore companies in economic terms? These are financial centers that attract foreign capital by providing various tax incentives and special offers.

There is debate among legal scholars as to what exactly can be considered an offshore, so there is still no consensus on this matter.

Offshore concept

The first country where the term began to be used was the United States of America. Back in the 50s of the last century, newspapers began to write about this new trend, although people at that time still had no idea what offshore companies were.

Newspaper articles told the story of a financial company that managed to escape government control. The company's managers simply chose another location with a more favorable tax climate. Since then, the concept of “offshore” has both a legal and economic-geographical meaning.

The history of the emergence of offshore companies

As for offshore schemes, they took place back in the days of Ancient Greece. Then a tax of two percent was introduced on the territory of Athens on the import and export of various goods. The merchants in this situation were not at a loss and went around the city by the tenth road to avoid taxation. They began to place products on the territory of small islands, where contraband could be imported and exported without duties.

There are many more examples of similar schemes in which offshore countries participated. So, in the 15th century, English traders took wool to Flanders to sell, where taxes were much lower than in England. And in the 18th century, US entrepreneurs tried to evade taxes imposed by England on the import of products through trade with Latin America.

Offshore jurisdictions

Offshore zones are certain powers or parts of countries where a special regime for registering and doing business is established for non-resident companies. Today there are many offshore companies where it is possible to register a company. Conventionally, offshore jurisdictions are divided into several groups:

1. European. There is a fairly high status here and, accordingly, the high cost of maintaining an offshore. In these offshore zones there are tax breaks only for certain types of businesses. Not all financial analysts call these territories offshore, because there is no black accounting, but on the contrary, an audit is carried out, data on business owners is open and accessible.
2. Island. In this case, entrepreneurs can open an offshore company on small islands. In particular, in the archipelagos of the Caribbean Sea, the islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, there is no concept of taxes. There is practically no accounting, and information about the owners of companies is closed, that is, anonymity can be maintained. The downside in this situation is the dubious reputation and distrust on the part of partners and consumers.
3. Entities of an administrative-territorial nature where there is a special tax regime. Such territories include some states of the USA, Labuan in Malaysia, as well as Russian areas: Altai, Kalmykia, Uglich, etc.

Offshore organizations

Offshore companies are foreign companies that are registered in the same zone of the state that provides tax benefits. Such companies have the right to operate only abroad, and not at the place of registration.

Which countries benefit from having such offshore companies on their territory? Basically, their creation is encouraged by small states, which, through these schemes, find additional revenue items in their budget.

What are offshore companies, and why do business owners need them? The most important purpose of their use is to optimize taxes and duties. If you structure this organization correctly, you can get important advantages: data confidentiality, cost optimization, the absence of any requirements for accounting, etc.

It is no longer a secret that many well-known companies use offshore companies in order to reduce tax payments. Among them: BMW, General Electric, Microsoft, Pfizer, etc.

Features of offshore companies

One of the most important characteristics of offshore companies is the fact that they are non-resident in relation to the state in which they are registered. This means that all control, management and activities are carried out in another country. As a rule, these companies have tax benefits or are exempt from taxes altogether. It happens that they only have to pay an annual registration fee, which is not a large amount.

The registration process itself is much simpler in offshore countries. There is no need to constantly assemble a board of directors, but the use of nominal owners is permitted. In addition, audits and currency controls are not carried out.

One of the specific qualities of an offshore is the ability to hide as much as possible the data of the owner, who usually hires local people to register the company. However, in most cases, it is not possible to completely hide the name of the beneficiary, as these hired directors must know who they are working for to ensure their financial and legal security.

How to open an offshore company?

There are two main ways to register an offshore company: go personally to the country where the said zone is located or contact a company that helps with the registration of such organizations.

Persons who are familiar with what offshore companies are must also have information about how to open them. And companies that do this usually provide a list of certain services. These include:

1. Assistance in registering a company, including a complete registration package and obtaining certificates.
2. Sale of a ready-made offshore company registered earlier.
3. Opening a bank account in order to place money offshore.
4. Assistance in conducting activities, including secretarial services, telephone numbers.
5. Providing nominee managers and shareholders.

Main offshore schemes

Today, there are a great many schemes that help evade taxes and provide higher profits. Economists identify the most common offshore schemes:

• agency, in which an offshore company finds any company, hires it as its agent and carries out activities through it;
• construction - in this case, the offshore organization is a contractor and receives payment for construction services;
• transport, which takes place during international transport;
• manufacturing - an offshore company pays for the production services and raw materials of the manufacturing company at meager prices.

In addition to the above, transfer pricing schemes, provision of services, registration of new enterprises, supply of raw materials, etc. are also popular. The choice of one or another offshore scheme depends on the tasks and goals that the company sets for itself.

The term "offshore" (offshore, offshore) - literally translated as far (off) from the shore (shore) or “mainland”, which indicates the withdrawal of capital to the islands. This is not always true, because similar preferential zones are also present on the continents. On the other hand, in American slang the word “shore” itself is often interpreted as “to deprive of something” or “to rip off like a stick.” So a more accurate definition would be "outside the territory where you are being overcharged." There is another meaning of the word “shore” - region or region, which indicates the registration of a company outside the region of operation.

This term was first used in the middle of the last century, although the practice of moving businesses to zones with preferential taxation was used by the ancient Greeks. Today, offshore is a country, region or certain territory that provides foreign companies with reduced tax rates, as well as a simplified registration system and submission of reporting documentation. They are called offshore zones. There are more than fifty of the latter in the world. These include both island territories (Bahamas, Virgin Islands, Aruba, Cayman Islands, Cyprus) and mainland states (Costa Rica, UAE, Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein).

Thus, if we talk about what an offshore company is, then it is a company registered in an offshore zone, but operating outside it. The advantage of creating such conditions for the states and regions themselves is the easy attraction of foreign funds to the budget. Most often, by providing the opportunity to register companies, the country receives a fixed remuneration, and sometimes employment of the local population, while the company conducts its main activities in its own country.

For many, the concept of an offshore account is often associated with violation of laws, fraud or concealment of real income. And it should be admitted that this really happens. The main method of government combating such actions is to tighten the requirements for cooperation with such firms for resident companies, as well as the imposition of sanctions on the offshore zones themselves by various international organizations. This means that when choosing a suitable offshore zone for yourself, you need to first check whether it is included in the “black” or “grey” lists.

Schemes of work in an offshore zone and stages of company registration

In practice, to open a company in a preferential zone, you can register from scratch or buy an offshore company already registered in the country you need. To do this, it is not necessary to travel to the offshore zone itself, but simply order the service from an intermediary company. Since there is a cost associated with this, it is important to understand who and when it will really benefit from before choosing this route.

Purposes of registering a company offshore

On the practical side, the purposes for which offshore companies and accounts can be opened are not only tax reduction. In reality, they include quite broad business opportunities:

• Carrying out export-import operations. This is the most popular scheme, which allows, when exporting, to reduce the price of a product as much as possible by sending it to an offshore company, with subsequent resale to the actual buyer at the real cost. The difference remains offshore. In turn, when importing, the maximum price reduction is carried out to reduce VAT and customs duties. Sometimes companies operating on the simplified tax system are involved in such a scheme.
• Opening bank accounts. The main purpose of such accounts is to accumulate and save capital, as well as to perform various banking operations. Such accounts are not subject to audits by tax authorities (unlike standard accounts in foreign banks), and financial institutions themselves do not disseminate information about customer amounts. Such accounts can be opened not only by companies, but also by individuals.
• Tax reduction and effective planning.
• Elimination of double taxation. This option is used when doing business in the international market with a wide range of countries.
• Liquidation of enterprises. Using an offshore in this case allows you to speed up the process, as well as solve the problem of the company’s existing debts to creditors or the budget. To do this, the founders of the company include a nominal offshore company, after which its main participants leave and the general director is replaced, which completely brings the company into the preferential zone.

Types of offshore companies

By type of activity, the following areas are the most popular for offshore companies:

• Investments. Conducting investment activities through an offshore allows you to reduce taxation, as well as protect your capital from creditors in the event of bankruptcy or default. This is implemented through the creation of funds, trusts, investment portfolios, management companies and holdings.
• Insurance. A common way to reduce taxes and increase profitability is to create a captive insurance company (a subsidiary that serves only the parent company). For example, this can be used in cases where the legislation of the state in which the activity is carried out does not allow self-insurance. This method also allows you to provide insurance for cases that are not included in the list of insurance in commercial insurance companies.
• Banks. Such institutions can only cooperate with offshore or foreign companies and individuals. Cooperation is impossible with citizens of the country in which such a bank is registered (i.e. the offshore zone itself), as well as companies operating there. The creation of a personal offshore bank for banks and large companies provides an opportunity not only to receive tax benefits, but also to organize their own payment center without the involvement of foreign intermediary banks.
• Ship owning companies and shipping lines. Registration of such companies in an offshore zone allows you to almost completely avoid taxes on the provision of cargo transportation services.
• international trade. Here, import and export schemes are used through their own offshore companies. In this case, the goods are sent directly from the seller to the buyer, and the offshore intermediary participates in the scheme only on paper.
• Property management and ownership. In practice, an offshore company can own residential and commercial real estate, and even production facilities. The territory of such objects remains under the jurisdiction of the country in which they are located, but tax obligations on them will be transferred to the preferential zone of the copyright holder. This means that by selling or renting such properties, you can minimize taxes. Moreover, in fact, information about who owns this property is completely hidden in reality. If we talk about production facilities, then moving them offshore also helps protect the company from raider attacks, since in this case the interception of assets is impossible.
• Leasing. Creating an offshore leasing company allows you to purchase equipment, reducing tax deductions on it. Such a nominee company acquires the required property and leases it to the parent company. Regular lease payments paid are included in the cost price, reducing the final amount of income tax for the main company, while the offshore company has reduced rates on payments received.
• Licensing. It is much easier to obtain a license offshore, which is actively used by financial organizations (online casinos, forex brokers, non-bank credit companies, tourism operators, providers).
• Intellectual Property and Franchising. To reduce taxation when receiving income from the sale of a license or franchise, you can transfer the rights to your own offshore company. In this case, the parent company will no longer have official rights and will also need to obtain a license and pay royalties. Such payments may be subject to income repatriation tax unless treaties have been concluded between the countries (in which the activity is carried out and the offshore zone) to avoid double taxation.

The process of registering a company offshore

If you decide that registering an offshore company is a profitable option for you, you need to know what stages this procedure consists of. First of all, make sure that the zone you choose is suitable for achieving your goals. Next, select the name of the company being created that suits the activity. Please note that it must meet the following requirements:

• The name should not coincide or be consonant with existing companies registered in the corresponding offshore. You can check the company name in special web registries.
• Lack of associations with government bodies.
• If the name contains the words - bank, trust, fund, insurance, it can only be registered if there is a license to conduct such activities.
• The name should not contain obscene language, as well as words indicating terrorism, racism, violence, belittlement, insult to personality or religion.

If the name is approved by the registrar, the next thing you need to register an offshore company is to draw up constituent documents. It is prepared in printed form and defines the types of business activities of the company, as well as the basic rules. The articles of association or memorandum of association must be drawn up in the official language of the country in which registration is carried out. Signatures of all directors (founders, shareholders) and certification by a notary are required. When preparing documents through an intermediary, the services of nominee directors or shareholders are often provided, which speeds up the procedure and allows you to hide the name of the true owner.

The next stage is the formation of the authorized capital. Here you need to know whether the minimum amount is established by local legislation and how it affects the tax rate received offshore. Also, registration requires a legal address to which requests from the tax service will be sent.

A ready-made offshore company or registration through intermediaries will save you from these difficulties, but will require financial investments. Depending on the zone, the cost of a full range of services can vary from 2,000 to 20,000 US dollars per year. Similarly, opening an account in an offshore bank will be a paid service starting from $500. On the other hand, it is easier and sometimes cheaper than doing everything yourself. To create a company through an intermediary, you will only need documents confirming your identity and place of registration, as well as a description of the type of activity.

Pros and cons of using an offshore company

Creating a company in an offshore zone seems to be very beneficial for an entrepreneur. After all, this provides a number of advantages:

• Quick registration;
• Concealment of information about the real beneficiary;
• Low taxes and minimal reporting;
• Possibility of opening a bank account in any country in the world;
• Safe accumulation of capital abroad;
• Management through a proxy.

On the other hand, this option may not solve your problems and may even create new ones. So, in practice you may encounter the following disadvantages:

• Close attention from international and state law control bodies.
• Differences in legislation. Before opening a company, you need to thoroughly study which zone is best to open your type of business. It may turn out that the territory with the most attractive benefits has problems licensing your activities.
• Risk of losing business. Since you are working through representatives and are not familiar with the law, you may become the target of scammers, especially if you buy a ready-made company.
• Problems with obtaining loans. Offshore companies are not trustworthy, and the chance of getting a loan is minimal.
• Negative reputation. Registration in an offshore zone is associated with fraudulent activity, since there is a legal concealment of data about the real owners.
• High cost of maintenance. This disadvantage is typical for small enterprises and manufacturing companies operating exclusively within one country. In this case, it would only be rational to use offshore accounts to accumulate capital.

Understanding the meaning of the term offshore - what it is in simple words and what possible patterns of its use, you will be able to apply new opportunities in the practice of running your own business, gaining advantages for its development.

The modern world is rich in tax avoidance schemes, including distortion of accounting data, illegal use of tax benefits, fictitious barter, etc. Very often, large enterprises use intermediary companies registered in offshore zones. Offshore zones have been used since the times of ancient Athens.

Offshore(term from the English offshore - “outside the shore”) is a territory where special conditions for paying taxes, a simplified reporting procedure, and the possibility of registering a company in the name of other persons have been created for foreign companies when doing business. In simple terms, offshore companies are needed to give them the opportunity effectively avoid paying taxes.

Offshore company

A company registered in an offshore zone with the provision of certain benefits is called offshore. Its features:

• Control over this company is located outside the offshore zone;
• Minimum tax payment amount;
• High guarantee of anonymity.

Offshore account

Offshore company opens offshore account, that is, essentially an ordinary bank account that serves both for accumulating and saving funds. Its advantages:

• The procedure for opening it is simplified;
• A minimum number of documents is required;
• High level of confidentiality;
• Inspections by regulatory authorities have been reduced to a minimum;
• Banking operations are carried out without any particular risk.

This allows companies to save capital without much risk.

An offshore account can be opened by both a legal entity and an individual.

Offshore operating schemes

Offshore companies use different operating schemes. The most common classic scheme is company registration. A foreign company, becoming the founder of the company, receives the right to dividends, which are subject to minimal tax.

You can register a company for the supply of goods, carrying out export-import activities, when the profit from this type of activity remains in the offshore zone, which allows you to artificially either increase or decrease prices. The difference in the price of goods is not controlled and is not subject to taxes.

Recently, banking has become popular. Successful businessmen open “their own” banks. They can be opened for certain persons or one person. Offshore banks are created at minimal cost. Having your own bank is convenient because it allows you to make payments with minimal taxation and provides a wide range of financial planning opportunities. An important advantage of an offshore bank is the distribution of funds in different currencies when conducting foreign trade transactions.

Offshore zones for conducting various types of business

Offshores are a type of free economic zones. Below are offshore zones by type of advantageous location.

• Reduced taxation:
  Great Britain, Cyprus, Scotland.
  Companies can legally avoid paying taxes.
• By business area:
  Holland, Latvia, Poland, Switzerland.
  In these countries, it is profitable to register companies engaged in tourism, agriculture, and IT technologies, since taxation for such types of activities is optimal.
• Research in the field of high technology:
  China, Singapore.
• To conduct honest business:
  Cyprus, Switzerland, Estonia.
  These countries offer low taxation, successful development of companies without problems with the law.
• When choosing an offshore zone, it is necessary to thoroughly study the current laws of the country, carefully analyze your activities and correctly set the priorities of the selected offshore territory. For example, small states with a low level of economic development They have low reporting requirements, they have an annual fixed fee for state revenue, there is no register of enterprises, and strict anonymity. These countries are politically stabilized. For example:
  Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands.
• Respectable offshore zones, on the contrary, they impose increased requirements for financial reporting, provide tax benefits, and maintain a register of enterprises. However, prestigious companies operate in these zones. For example:
  Cyprus, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Switzerland.

Attention!

An offshore zone should be distinguished from a free economic zone. If a company operates outside its territory, then this is an offshore zone, if on its territory it is a free economic zone.

Pros and cons of offshore companies

The main advantages of using an offshore company:

• Tax benefits or no taxes;
• Protection of financial investments;
• Minimal risk;
• Minimum expenses;
• High confidentiality;
• Simplified legislative regulation.

The main disadvantages of using an offshore company:

• Distrust of offshore enterprises of global companies;
• Difficulty in obtaining a bank loan;
• Risk when choosing an economic zone;
• Close attention of international authorities to the companies they are interested in, which can harm the prestige of doing business.

Control over offshore zones is exercised by the International Monetary Fund and some banks from around the world.

Individuals and corporations, seeking to protect their assets, are using offshore companies in search of a safe place to carry out activities and place finances, as well as trying to reduce tax payments to a minimum.

When choosing an offshore zone, you must carefully study the laws of the country. We should not forget that many states are concerned about the massive spread of offshore companies. Some states have a blacklist of offshore companies. Strict control is exercised over the companies on this list.

Turning on a well-known talk show once again, you can observe how the audience is indignant at the fact that some oligarch took the “people’s” money offshore or the news says that a company withdrew money through offshores. It would seem that we should also be indignant, but it becomes more interesting to find out what an offshore is and maybe it’s worth withdrawing your money there? This article will explain what offshore companies are in simple terms.

Optimal taxation options, opening companies and accounts in offshore zones, assistance in choosing ready-made offshore companies.

Which is correct: offshore or offshore?

First you need to understand the spelling. It must be said that there are no clear rules. Many dictionaries use the form “offshore,” and Microsoft Word considers this form to be correct. Wikipedia uses "offshore". Therefore, the article will use a word with two “f”. To completely close the topic of language, it is worth giving the translation of this word from English: offshore - “outside the shore”, which quite accurately describes the essence of this phenomenon.

What is offshore?

An offshore, or more precisely, an offshore zone, is the territory of a state in which special tax conditions apply to foreign companies (there may be no taxes at all).

In addition, offshore companies do not require company owners to make financial statements or conduct any audits. Another advantage is the confidentiality of all data about the company, that is, it will not be possible to find out the true owners and the amount of funds spent through the company simply out of curiosity. It can be seen that there are quite a few advantages; they will be discussed in more detail later. It is worth noting that due to such advantages, almost 10% of all money on the planet is stored in these zones. For Russia, these statistics are even more depressing: 90% of large Russian businesses and the same amount of the fleet with Russian ship owners are offshore. This will also be discussed further below.

Where are offshore companies located?

It should be noted that there is no exact list of offshore zones, since they differ in conditions, and different countries where cash flows come from may treat these zones differently. There are several classifications of offshore zones.

Conditional classification:

1. Island offshores where there are no taxes and where accounting reporting is not required. These include the following states: Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Belize. The conditions offered in such zones guarantee complete confidentiality about operations and their owners. As a result, the zones have a dubious reputation, since criminal operations for money laundering or promoting terrorism can take place through them.
2. Offshore zones of increased status. These include Liechtenstein, Monaco, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Macau. These countries have good tax incentives for some activities, require financial reporting, and disclose ownership information upon request. But companies registered in these zones are much more trusted by partners.
3. Some zones in countries where there are tax incentives for non-resident companies of that zone. For example, in Russia, this is the Kaliningrad region, where there are benefits for companies registered in special economic zones. Otherwise, the requirements for companies are the same as for all other companies registered in this country.

There is also a classification by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which includes the most developed economies in the world. This classification takes into account how countries with tax havens apply the tax standards proposed by the OECD. As a result, all countries are divided into two categories: the “gray” list and the “white” list. The “gray” countries include those countries that have decided to apply international tax standards, but have not yet sufficiently implemented them: the island states of Nauru and Niue. The “white” list now includes all other zones with tax benefits.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental organization that develops global standards in the field of combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism, has developed its classification of offshore zones. It has a “black” list that includes Iran and North Korea - countries with the highest risk of money laundering and terrorist financing. The “dark gray” list includes countries that have national regimes that have failed in terms of strategy, or those countries that do not implement FATF recommendations. The list includes: Vietnam, Indonesia, Yemen, Kenya, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sao Tome and Principe, Syria, Tanzania, Turkey, Ecuador, Ethiopia.

The situation with offshore companies in Russia

Since there is no official list of offshore zones, the Central Bank of Russia publishes a list of such territories.

Since 2009 the list looks like this:

Caribbean countries:	Pacific countries:	European countries:	Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf:
Anguilla	Brunei	Andorra	Kingdom of Bahrain
Antigua and Barbuda	Republic of Vanuatu	Gibraltar	Union of Comoros
Aruba	British Virgin Islands	Principality of Liechtenstein	Republic of Mauritius
Commonwealth of the Bahamas	Hong Kong	Republic of Malta	Republic of Maldives
Belize	Macau	Principality of Monaco	United Arab Emirates
Bermuda	Republic of the Marshall Islands	Republic of San Marino	Republic of Seychelles
Grenada	Montserrat	Isle Of Man	Liberia (Africa)
Commonwealth of Dominica	Labuan	Channel Islands
Netherlands Antilles	Republic of Nauru
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Niue
Saint Kitts and Nevis	Cook Islands
Saint Lucia	Republic of Palau
Turks and Caicos Islands	Samoa
Cayman Islands

The accounts of offshore companies registered in these territories contain many billions of dollars withdrawn from the Russian Federation. Why does this happen?

Taxes

In Russia

The basic income tax rate is 20%, dividend tax is 9%

Offshore

Taxes are low or non-existent.

In Russia

Let's say that a certain organization receives a profit for the sale of its products in the amount of 1 million rubles. The tax on this amount will be 200 thousand rubles.

Offshore

The same organization sells the same products to an offshore company (its owner is the same as that of the organization) at a reduced price with a profit of 200 thousand rubles. The remaining profit (800 thousand rubles) will be received by the offshore company by reselling the goods. In all these operations, the goods are not exported outside the country. Tax is paid only on 200 thousand rubles earned in Russia. Only 40 thousand rubles.

The bottom line: the organization saved 160 thousand rubles on taxes. Offshore schemes can be used to reduce other taxes.

Secrecy

In Russia

The ultimate beneficiaries of large enterprises can be found in the annual financial reports.

Offshore

The owners of the companies are not disclosed.

As a result: A rich Russian, who does not want to reveal himself, registers a company offshore. Next, this company buys shares of a Russian company. Thus, the business is protected from cases of persecution.

In addition, opening an offshore company and managing it is much easier and cheaper than in Russia.

Will the withdrawal of money from the country stop?

Bills have been adopted and amendments have been made to the tax and civil codes aimed at deoffshorization of capital. A tax amnesty was even declared for money transferred outside the country. But as time shows, cash flows from the country are not decreasing, but only increasing. If in European and American enterprises no more than 1% of assets belong to offshore companies, then in Russia this percentage is much higher and is unlikely to decrease soon.