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International Trust in Cyprus

The possession, handling, and management of wealth - whatever the amount of wealth involved - provides an extremely divergent task for all of those who have acquired, possess or, as agents, merely manage wealth. The problem is probably as old as the notion of private property itself. This is particularly true today, when business possibilities know no frontiers, and if we compare the situation today with the situation at the beginning of the last century, then it becomes even more true, as the production and concentration of wealth has never been so widespread throughout the world. While at the beginning of the last century records showed 60 people in the USA with wealth exceeding one million dollars, today there are almost 300 people there whose fortune is greater than one billion dollars.

As we have already mentioned, the management of wealth is a task of significant importance, but investing that wealth securely and arranging for its secure transfer to the next generation and future owners is no less significant. The fact that many unauthorised people may make claims on their often hard-earned fortune can cause problems in the lives of possessors of wealth. Another problem is that no one is immortal, and an unexpected event can occur at any time in a person's life. What would happen if a person became permanently incapacitated, or even, Heaven forbid, died? How can the assets be transferred to the family members without allowing unauthorised persons to take advantage, and how can the maximum amount possible be retained by the family members and loved ones? Every rational businessman has probably spent some time pondering this question. But what offshore solution can provide the perfect possibility of fulfilling this role? Maybe an offshore company? Yes, up to a point, but it does not provide 100% security, as an offshore company by itself does not guarantee that the assets will automatically be transferred to the beneficiaries. The shares can be lost, bearer shares may find their way into unauthorised hands, and there is no guarantee that the director will act in accordance with the wishes of the original owner.

In this brochure, we would like to briefly introduce an offshore vehicle which, after centuries of refinement, may be able to provide the solution to the problems described above. In the opinion of numerous experts, the Trust of Shares system can, if properly structured, provide asset holders with complete assurance that, in the aftermath of an unexpected event, their wishes will be adhered to as fully as possible. This will be so even if they themselves are unable to intervene in the matter personally.


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Offshore company

An offshore company is an enterprise which only carries out economic activities outside the country in which it is registered. So, an offshore company can be any enterprise which doesn't operate "at home". At the same time, according to public opinion, an offshore company is any enterprise which enjoys tax-free or low-tax status in the country of registration. In the USA, the term offshore company is also used as a synonym for any overseas activities. The offshore company existed in ancient Greek times, when Greek merchants offered their wares from nearby islands in order to escape the taxes in Athens. The format of the modern offshore company, however, is undeniably linked to the United Kingdom, and it was the British who developed the offshore company as we know it today. It was English corporate law, adopted in one form or another by just about every British territory, which provided the basis for the establishment of the laws necessary for the incorporation of offshore companies. If we examine the most significant tax havens where it is possible to incorporate offshore companies, then the British legislative roots can be discovered almost everywhere. And here it is not just the everyday transplantation of offshore companies as is the practice in common law which we are talking about, but the legislation itself, based on the English law, specifically allows for the establishment of the offshore company, often through a separate law. For example, numerous jurisdictions have copied one of the most popular laws regarding offshore companies of the last 25 years, the British Virgin Islands IBC Act, which replaced the BC Act, though the rules for the formation of an offshore company hardly changed under the new law. The only real change in the British Virgin Islands is that while it was possible earlier to form an offshore company with bearer shares, this possibility has now been very tightly restricted. It is still possible today for an offshore company in the BVI to issue bearer shares, but such an offshore company will pay a minimum of 1100 USD in annual tax as opposed to 350 USD, and an offshore company formed this way has to deposit the issued shares with a person specifically authorised for the purpose.

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