A corporate haven is a jurisdiction with laws friendly to corporations thereby encouraging them to choose that jurisdiction as a legal domicile. For other uses, see Corporation (disambiguation). ...

History

Corporate Havens are a post 1970s global economic phenomena. This decade more or less marked the end of colonialism and the formation of EU in the form of the EEC. Many legal and taxation processes culminated in this decade that led to the formation of Tax Havens and Corporate Havens throughout the developed world.

Geographical distribution

North America

Within the United States, Delaware is considered the pre-eminent corporate haven for large public corporations, while Nevada, Wyoming, and Alaska are corporate havens for small closed corporations. This article is about the U.S. State of Delaware. ... A Delaware corporation is a corporation chartered in the U.S. state of Delaware. ... This article is about the U.S. State of Nevada. ... Official language(s) English Capital Cheyenne Largest city Cheyenne Area  Ranked 10th  - Total 97,818 sq mi (253,348 km²)  - Width 280 miles (450 km)  - Length 360 miles (580 km)  - % water 0. ... For other uses, see Alaska (disambiguation). ...

Delaware, through its developed legal system and laws protecting shareholder rights, is geared toward the large complex public corporation, whereas Nevada and Wyoming are more attractive to the small privately held corporation. Delaware law tends to protect the rights of boards of directors and shareholders, while Nevada and Wyoming tend to favor management.

Commonwealth & Western Europe

Corporate havens outside the United States include British crown colonies such as A United Kingdom overseas territory (formerly known as a dependent territory or earlier as a crown colony) is a territory that is under the sovereignty and formal control of the United Kingdom but is not part of the United Kingdom proper (Great Britain and Northern Ireland). ...

• Bermuda
• Cayman Islands
• Gibraltar (for financial services, and incorporation)
• Saint Helena -- for trans-shipping only, still in development
• Nauru (mostly for financial services, and banking)

Internal to the UK, but globally used as corporate havens

• Guernsey (for incorporations, offshore back office services)
• Isle of Man (for incorporations, offshore back office services)
• Jersey (for incorporations, offshore back office services)

UK Crown Colonies do not have exclusive monopolies on offering corporate havens, other notable havens include

• Andorra
• Zug, Switzerland
• Dutch Crown Colonies: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao

These havens are widely used by people and other entities from various places, particularly Hong Kong.  , capital of the Swiss canton of that name, is a picturesque little town at the northeastern corner of the lake of Zug, and at the foot of the Zugerberg (992 m (3255 ft. ... Anthem: Tera di Solo y suave biento Capital (and largest city) Kralendijk Official languages Dutch Government See Politics of the Netherlands Antilles  - Bonaire Administrator  - Governor of N.A. Frits Goedgedrag Constitutional monarchy part of the Netherlands Antilles  Area  - Total 288 km² 111 sq mi  Population  - 2001 census 10,791  - Density... For other uses, see Curaçao (disambiguation). ...

Increasingly, U.S. corporations are using these havens, either by incorporating subsidiary corporations in these locations or by moving their corporate domicile (the home company of the corporation) there.

Corporate havens are often not beneficial to small corporations operating in one legal jurisdiction because of the complexity of creating a corporation elsewhere and then having to re-register in the local area as a foreign corporation. A foreign corporation is an existing corporation that is registered to do business in a jurisdiction (such as a U.S. State, or a country) other than the one where it was originally incorporated. ...

North American legal issues

United States tax law (since the 1980s) has made these offshore corporate havens very unattractive to individual citizens. US citizens are statutorily taxed by the U.S. government on their world-wide income, unlike the citizens of all other nation states. “Taxes” redirects here. ... Offshore may refer to oil and natural gas production at sea; see oil platform. ...

• It must be noted that tax deductions and tax credits are allowed to individual citizens in certain instances for income from foreign sources to avoid double taxation.
• The US still has very spotty double taxation treaty system, so the need for many Tax Havens will not go away any time soon.

Revenue Canada loses billions each year to the Tax Haven phenomena. Double taxation is a situation in which two or more taxes may need to be paid for the same asset, financial transaction and/or income and arises due to overlap between different countries tax laws and jurisdictions. ... The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) administers: tax laws for the Government of Canada and for most provinces and territories; international trade legislation; and various social and economic benefit and incentive programs delivered through the tax system. ...

• The US, for many Canadians is used as a tax haven.
• Canada's tax system has tended (under mostly Tory governments) to move towards being more like a Caribbean tax system.
• Canada has no taxes on Lottery winnings or any Estate Transfer taxes. These would typically be taxed in most European Tax Havens.

Offshore financial centers

From IMF coverage ([1]). IMF redirects here. ...

For other uses, see Dublin (disambiguation). ... Hong Kong (香港; Cantonese IPA: ; Jyutping: hoeng1 gong2; Yale: heūng góng; pinyin: Xiānggǎng; Wade-Giles: Hsiang-kang) is one of the two Special Administrative Regions of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Special administrative region may be: Peoples Republic of China Special administrative regions, present-day administrative divisions (as of 2006) set up by the Peoples Republic of China to administer Hong Kong (since 1997) and Macau (since 1999) Republic of China Special administrative regions, also translated as special administrative... For the Chinese civilization, see China. ... The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (Traditional Chinese: ) or HKMA (金管局) is Hong Kongs central banking institution. ... [--168. ...

See also

• Internal affairs doctrine
• Offshore financial centre
• Tax haven
• Tax treaty

The internal affairs doctrine is a choice of law rule in corporations law. ... An offshore financial centre (or OFC), although not precisely defined, is usually a low-tax, lightly regulated jurisdiction which specialises in providing the corporate and commercial infrastructure to facilitate the use of that jurisdiction for the formation of offshore companies and for the investment of offshore funds. ... A tax haven is a place where certain taxes are levied at a low rate or not at all. ... Tax treaties exist between many countries on a bilateral basis to prevent double taxation (taxes levied twice on the same income, profit, capital gain, inheritance or other item). ...

External links

• Offshore Banking and Financial Centers
• Offshore News Blog