Corporate haven

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A corporate haven is a jurisdiction with laws friendly to corporations thereby encouraging them to choose that jurisdiction as a legal domicile. Within the United States, Delaware is considered the pre-eminent corporate haven. However it is facing competition from Nevada, Wyoming and Alaska. While Delaware through its developed legal system and laws protecting shareholder rights is geared toward the large complex public corporation, Nevada and Wyoming are more attractive to the small privately held corporation. Delaware law tends to protect the rights of shareholders, and Nevada and Wyoming tend to favor management.

Corporate havens outside the United States include British crown colonies such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. These havens are widely used by people and other entities from various places, particularly Hong Kong. Increasingly, U.S. corporations are using these havens, either by incorporating subsidiary corporations in these locations or by moving their corporate domicile there.

United States tax law can make these offshore corporate havens very unattractive to individual citizens, because U.S. citizens are taxed by the U.S. government on their world-wide income. Of note is that tax deductions and credits are allowed to individual citizens in certain instances for income from foreign sources to avoid double taxation.

From IMF coverage ([1]).

Offshore Financial Center IMF Member Historical Association with IMF Member Population (million) Licensed Banks (number) Supervisory Authority
Group I
Dublin (Ireland) Yes n/a n.a. 54 Central Bank of Ireland
Hong Kong, SAR No An SAR of PRC 6.85 454 Hong Kong Monetary Authority
Group II
Andorra No France and Spain 0.06 n.a. n.a.
Bahrain Yes UK independ. since '71 0.62 102 Bahrain Monetary Agency
Bahamas Yes UK independ. since '73 0.3 418 Central Bank of the Bahamas
Cayman Islands No UK Overseas Territory 0.04 575 Cayman Islands Monetary Authority
Cook Islands No In Free Assoc. with N.Z. 0.02 n.a. n.a.
Marshall Islands Yes n/a 0.07 n.a. n.a.
Nauru No Former UN Trustee 0.01 n.a. n.a.
Niue No In Free Assoc. with N.Z. 0.002 n.a. n.a.
Samoa Yes n/a 0.17 n.a. n.a.

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