Best Countries to do Business with regard to Tax Laws

There are a variety of countries with low taxes, including little known places such as Lubuan, Aruba, Barbados and Malta. There are also quite a few well known places, such as Switzerland and Costa Rica, which are renowned for their low trading taxes for companies wanting to import, export, and do off shore business.

The British Virgin Islands is one of the low tax haven countries. The country is majority English and is located in the Caribbean off Puerto Rico. The only significant tax was income tax until 2005. There are some custom duties and real estate taxes, however the British Virgin Islands are still considerably lower than other local regions.

The local currency is the US dollar and there are no exchange controls. The government is responsive to the needs of business and the legislation in the country is flexible and straightforward. There is an international airport at Road Town.

In /www.lowtax.net”>Cyprus the government has worked hard over the years to create a favourable atmosphere for offshore tax regime, while still maintaining a domestic economy. The region is expensive, however, for offshore operations because many of the documents need to be filled in in Greek.

Dubai is also a good option when it comes to low taxes. The country is 3885 square kilometres large, with 50% Arab and 50% mixed population. English and Arabic are the two dominate languages. In Arabia, Dubai is the largest free trading area.

The airport, Jebel Ali, is the second largest airport in the world with regard to daily transit passengers. The top airport with the highest daily transits passengers is in Tokyo. Apart from the oil industry and domestic banking, there are no income taxes, withholding taxes or capital taxes in Dubai.

Mauritius is between India, Africa and Asia. Since 1968, Mauritius has been an independent member of the common wealth. In 1992 it became a Republic. Until 1994, Offshore Company and International Company were allowed zero taxation. However in 2001 things changed.

The new legislation states that most areas are taxed 15%. There are tax treaties with over 30 countries. It should be stated that although offshore tax is still low in Mauritius, domestic tax is moderately high, along with property and real estate tax.

Lastly, Switzerland has always been rumoured to have low taxes. Switzerland is not an offshore jurisdiction such as the above mentioned. But it is still a low-tax jurisdiction country, due to a series of specialised corporate forms. These forms can be used to reduce tax bills substantially. However, this is a civil code jurisdiction. Therefore, the process is slow and expensive as Switzerland has a tendency to be bureaucratic.

Celeste writes for Capital Consulting, who specialise in Offshore Tax.