Why did offshore come about? What is this in practice? Why are they used? What preferences do people and countries receive that resort to their services? Here is an incomplete list of issues that will be addressed in this article.
How did offshore come about?
That this phenomenon may have ancient roots, few people guess. But even then, merchants, in order to evade taxes, organized trade under the walls of city-states. "Offshore" can be translated as "outside the border." This could be observed in the Middle Ages, when English wool was traded in Flanders in order to get more benefits. Yes, and in modern times you can find examples, at least take the colonists of the territory of the modern USA, when there was still royal power. In order not to fall under the influence of English law, they made deals in Latin America.
But in the modern sense, they began to use this term only in the middle of the last century. This is what the past have offshore. What can this give in practice to the state and business?
Offshore zones
Each owner tries to get the maximum profit. And in this he will be happy to help any specialized economic zone. They are developing countries (or their individual areas), where it was decided to create attractive conditions for foreign capital. If an economic zone is created, this ensures a reliable (although not very significant in volume) tax and / or duty. Also thanks to this, the level of permanent employment of a smaller population rises. One of the features of offshore companies is the lack of tax reporting requirements or a very small list of documents that must be submitted to the country's authorities.
Offshore companies
This is a necessary tool for organizing a profitable business of this type. We have already figured out what offshore is directly. The company helps personally.
Suppose your company needs to purchase something abroad. In this process, an offshore company is used as an intermediary. No matter what the original price was. You can specify an arbitrary input cost. Let even a batch of expensive processors be sold for one ruble, on this occasion no one has the right to interfere with the transaction. And this will save money on taxes. Of course, there are pitfalls that customs legislation creates, but all of them can be successfully circumvented or their influence reduced.
Blacklists
We already know many of the nuances that offshore companies have. What does this give to other states? They, in turn, really dislike these centers of international commerce. Therefore, lists of economic zones are created to tighten compliance with the rules and achieve some of their goals. So, the lists of the Russian Federation were compiled to increase control over the movement of currencies, to avoid the situation with a zero tax rate and complete avoidance of paying taxes. From the moment offshore companies became available for interaction, they were initially offered as an opportunity for tax optimization. Since then, they are used in almost any type of activity. But such schemes can sometimes create precedents for the onset of responsibility (administrative or even criminal). Therefore, when using this toolkit, it is necessary to approach the matter carefully.
