Getting your money into a tax haven provides tax haven benefits and can help you keep it, and grow it. Whether you’re transferring, converting, or just looking to take in all of the advantages of placing your money offshore, here’s what you need to know to get started.

What is a tax haven?

Tax havens are locations (other than the habitual residence of the corporation) that offer financial and tax advantages to corporations, at least part of whose business is outside of a country. Corporations can always choose to use a 1031 exchange fund or 1031 exchange properties anywhere domestically, but may also use realized tax haven benefits in an attempt to reduce or eliminate income taxes on earnings outside their home jurisdiction. The United States Government has found tax haven benefits to be a significant problem with respect to tax evasion, more so than in money laundering schemes.

Why do tax havens exist?

Tax Havens and tax haven benefits exist for many different reasons. One of which is that they allow foreign individuals and corporations to pay minimal amounts of tax. Most of them operate in an extremely similar manner, such as way that the Cayman Islands do. They often have zero or very low net tax rates, low or no extreme property sale taxes like the California capital gains tax, high levels of banking privacy, and offshore banks that are not regulated by local authorities.

Are tax haven advantages worth the effort?

Tax havens have become more and more popular with the growing complexity of global tax codes. However, there are many legitimate reasons for companies to operate from a tax haven, and thus they are not inherently bad. Listed below are three main reasons that companies prefer to use tax havens: 

• The easy mobility of corporations: In an increasingly globalized economy, companies are taking advantage of the reduced cost of operating in places that have minimal corporate governance and tax rates. The Tax Havens report looks at the countries and states with the largest populations of such offshore tax haven benefits – like the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, and Bermuda.
  
  
• The separation between ownership and management: Separation of ownership and management is a good reason for tax haven benefits; ie, the management of an affiliate can be placed in a jurisdiction that has favorable taxation policies.
  
  
• The lack of exchange controls on capital moving in and out of a country: The definition of a tax haven can vary. Some scholars point to potential lack of transparency in tax systems as defining features, while others suggest that a lack of exchange controls on capital moving in and out of a country defines the term ‘tax haven.’ In practice, the label ‘tax haven’ is often applied to countries and territories known for attracting investors through low or zero tax rates (tax haven benefits), and many are located in the Caribbean or are islands with small populations.
  

Can I benefit from a tax haven as an individual investor?

Corporations are not the only ones with access to tax haven benefits. Individual investors use them as well. However, while corporations have the ability to base themselves in a tax haven location, individual investors can incorporate their investments offshore, but their onshore activities must be limited to passive investment. A company incorporated in a tax haven can enjoy all profits in the form of dividends and generally is not subject to corporate income tax in its jurisdiction of incorporation as well as any other country where it does business. The structure for an offshore company incorporates a company within a company, or two companies stacked one on top of the other.

In conclusion

Contrary to the popular conception, a tax haven is not synonymous with low taxation. The purpose of a tax haven is to provide tax haven benefit to facilities, foreign investors and businesses so that they can escape foreign taxation, or fulfill certain other objectives like expanding business operations. Tax havens also assist newly formed (presumably) domestic companies in avoiding taxes as long as they remain outside of the jurisdiction of their respective home country.

We’re here across California to help with the 1031 exchange fund process in Palm Desert, San Bernardino, Ontario, Riverside, Escondido, Chula Vista, San Diego, La Jolla, Carlsbad, Laguna Hills, Long Beach, Anaheim, El Segundo, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Westlake Village, Santa Clarita, Oxnard, Santa Barbara, Bakersfield, San Jose, Palo Alto, San Mateo, San Francisco, Oakland, San Ramon, Santa Rosa, Roseville, Folsum, Sacramento, Elk Grove

**All information in this article is strictly informational. Any and all tax related questions for 2022 should be advised by a licensed accountant or professional tax representative in the State of California.**