Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The Offshore Company Formation and Its Essential Guide

By Shawnda Boeshore


One size fits all does not apply to the offshore company formation. The choice will often depend on what your aims are, that could be for tax reduction, asset protection or wealth management on a larger scale. This article talks about why the different offshore companies are being used, and what they offer.

The Offshore Corporations, are also known as the limited companies or IBCs. The tax-free trading, royalties/patents/copyright holding, investments that could be in equities, commodities, or forex trading and overseas property holding, are the common uses of the most common type of offshore company. Other than that, they are also used to shield the beneficial owners of offshore bank accounts, by making the company the account holder. A 'bearer share corporation' where physical possession of shares rather than naming on a public document denotes ownership, is said to be the most private type of offshore company. The bearer share companies are becoming increasingly hard to find due to their association with money-laundering. Most of the offshore IBC's can be incorporated within just a few working days.

The Offshore Limited Partnerships, which are also known today as the limited liability partnerships. The objective of a limited partnership is to separate the functions of ownership and control and making them great for asset protection. A person who has unlimited liability, and limited partners who are only liable for what they have invested in the partnership, is the general partner who manages a limited partnership. An offshore company frequently takes the place of the general manager and this is to protect the assets of the partnership's investors. The Limited partnerships offer better protection against seizure from creditors than a traditional offshore company.

The combination of the simplicity of a limited partnership and the limited liability of the corporation, are in the recent entities of the Offshore Limited Liability Companies. There are guaranteed safeguards against seizure from third party creditors, and this is because just like in an offshore limited partnership,Shareholder interests are also being protected. They can also be managed by the managers who may not be members, and this is to further increase asset protection qualities.

The Offshore Protected Cell Companies, Supreme asset protection vehicles are useful for insurance and investment, and these are otherwise called an incorporated cell company. The Assets are segregated into various cells, and the assets and liabilities of every protected cell company are said to be separated and apart from those of every other cell, and from the company itself. From every other cell and from the company itself, the ownership, and even the management of every cell may be different.

The Offshore Specialty Companies are created if the formation of a specialist company is required and they are usually engaged in offshore financial services such as offshore banks, offshore insurance companies, offshore investment funds, or offshore trust companies, all of which usually require special licensing.

Remember, that the Offshore Trusts or foundations are technically not companies often used in place of a will or to protect assets in advance from third party creditors. So generally, they are also great tax free investment vehicles when holding an offshore company.




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