WHY OFFSHORE?

Wealth Protection: There is world-wide growth in the provision of fiduciary services, largely as a result of increasing wealth. As people gain wealth they naturally want to protect it; from political instability, unnecessary taxation, extravagant heirs, or indeed any other threat.

Offshore companies and trusts are the route to achieving the levels of protection which are required.

Tax Planning: This does not mean the illegal non-payment of tax, but the legitimate avoidance of tax by the appropriate organization of financial and business affairs. A classic example is offshore captive insurance companies - a major trading group establishes an offshore company to insure its various risks and can thereby obtain tax deductibility on its insurance premiums in its own jurisdiction whilst investing accumulated premiums free of tax offshore.

Inheritance Planning: People who travel the world and expatriates often find that their connections with foreign countries create uncertainties and undesirable consequences for their wealth on their death. The transfer of wealth to an offshore trust can avoid these difficulties, the wealth is protected in a stable environment well away from the unwanted attentions of the tax and inheritance laws of foreign jurisdictions. The Guernsey trust law specifically states that Guernsey trusts will defeat the forced heirship laws of other countries.

Another example is the avoidance of 'community of property' laws (where the male spouse has control in law over the wealth of his wife). An offshore trust takes the wealth out of the legal ownership of a daughter, and thus prevents access to it by her husband, while still enabling her to benefit from it.

International Invoicing: When trading internationally it can be advantageous to invoice through an IOFC for a number of reasons; sophisticated methods of payment can be properly handled, intermediate profits can be earned, and all without any tax consequences.

International Employment: When working abroad for short periods or frequently moving from country to country the arrangement of employment through an offshore company can avoid the application of local taxation and social security charges, by restricting the amounts remitted to, and therefore taxed, in the location of the employment. Excess earnings can then be invested and accumulate income free of taxation.

Patent and Royalty Holding: Patent and royalty income can be collected and accumulated offshore thereby benefiting from double tax treaties and enabling income to be accumulated without taxation.

Yacht and Boat Registration: We provide a full registration service to deal with the lengthy and sometimes difficult procedures, but it is these requirements which give such good title and accuracy to ownership acceptable internationally. Once registered the beneficial owner of the company will need some form of documentation to demonstrate their entitlement to be in possession of it and their authority to skipper it. We arrange standard Charter contracts or suitable powers of attorney. Letters of Manager's and Crews' authority are also recommended.

Aircraft Registration: We assist in selecting a jurisdiction to fit clients' needs. We provide a full registration service including obtaining a certificate of airworthiness and the provision of legal documentation to demonstrate entitlement to be in possession of the plane. We can also arrange radio licenses and aero insurance.

Our offshore services: We specialize in providing a comprehensive company and trust administration service. Our closely knit team of people has an extensive range of skills and experience enabling us to offer expertise in all aspects of offshore company and trust administration services.

We handle all the usual wealth protection, tax and inheritance planning schemes. This typically involves deposit management and administering property and investment portfolios.

We also deal with many offshore trading operations, these include international invoicing and employment companies. We routinely pay and collect invoices, arrange and monitor the shipment of goods, and arrange letters of credit.

All these transactions can involve the arrangement of multi-currency transactions, and the provision of insurance cover and legal documentation. We recommend professionals in areas not covered by our own expertise, but we do not obtain any commissions from such referrals. In particular we have a policy of not providing investment advice as this is a specialist service better provided by stockbrokers or professional investment managers. Administration Policy Our aim when providing any of our services is to apply the highest professional standards and to adopt current best practice, while endeavoring to provide a personal service and remain competitive with our fees.

The provision of administration services creates onerous responsibilities for us, automatically of course to observe the highest standards of integrity and fair dealing, and to act with due skill, care and diligence in handling clients' affairs.

We are, however, also bound to consider the standard world-wide legislation concerning the prevention of money laundering, in relation to drug trafficking and terrorism, in particular. As administrators we potentially face imprisonment if we knowingly or negligently participate in such activities. We are therefore obliged to take sensible precautions when providing offshore services.

As we deal with international trading activities (which many administrators will not handle) we not only require full details of our clients, but also insist on having open and sufficient control of the offshore activities which we administer.

In Law a company is controlled by its directors, accordingly we will normally arrange for the provision of suitable directors. For reasons dictated by the desire for confidentiality, the beneficial owner should not act as a director.

Any payments required must be advised to us for implementation and this will enable us to ensure that payments are fully supported by appropriate documentation and accurately recorded at the time they are made. In the case of goods being purchased we will require a copy of the supplier's invoice and we will arrange payment direct to the supplier. Payments to be made can be notified to us on our fax machine.

As with trusts, a common misconception is that the beneficial owner can continue to treat company assets as if they were their own. This is not the case, the beneficial owner has no inherent authority over a company in law, and if the advantages of an offshore company are to be obtained then the formalities must be complied with.

Appropriate instructions can be accepted and will be acted upon, but the beneficial owner will not normally have any authority to commit the company or act for it themselves.

This 'hands-on' style of administration means that companies administered from the jurisdictions of the companies we form for clients have a better reputation than those administered elsewhere, at a time when offshore companies are coming under increasing scrutiny from foreign tax authorities.

An offshore company can demonstrate much more substance if it has competent people providing real management offshore, it can then rightly claim independence for tax and trading purposes. Powers of Attorney In appropriate circumstances Powers of Attorney can be provided which will enable third parties to undertake specific acts on behalf of a company during the course of a specified time period.

Powers will not be written which endanger the true nature of a trust.

When we form your company for you, everything is included: An Office fully staffed A phone number A Fax number An email (at nominal extra cost) Post Office Box Number We forward and process mail, including preparing bank deposits We invoice and bill and collect. Accounting, bookkeeping and auditing services are available

All our services are provided in cooperation with licensed, qualified legal, accounting and investment advisory professionals.