【商业周刊 20130117】哪里才是你的避税天堂？

满仓

【中文标题】哪里才是你的避税天堂？
【原文标题】Which Tax Haven Is Right for You?
【登载媒体】商业周刊
【原文作者】Peter Savodnik
【原文链接】http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/2013-01-17/which-tax-haven-is-right-for-you#slide1


Gimme Shelter（译者注：滚石乐队歌曲名称）



曾经的避税天堂是指那几个热带小岛，上面挤满了豪华的游艇和毒品大亨。而现在，它已经形成了一个不规则蔓延的低税区，专为富豪和跨国公司提供庇护。对局外人来说，下面就是几个避税天堂的简要介绍。


特拉华州——如果你是美国公司的CEO



是的，你应该去……特拉华州。这是一个稳定、民主的地方（当然，大部分情况下是这样），而且，它会为控股子公司免税，这就是为什么财富500强中一多半的公司都设在那里的原因——这还只是登记在案的数字。其中包括谷歌、福特、伯克希尔•哈撒韦，其CEO沃伦•巴菲特还一直认为富人交的税不够多。卡托研究所的Daniel Mitchell说：“有些避税天堂拥有低税率的司法权，但是很多人都不知道，美国就是这样一个国家。”


开曼群岛——如果你是共和党人



尽管避税天堂并不受大多数美国人热捧——今年生效的外国账户纳税法案强迫外国银行公开美国户头的持有者姓名和金额，但是对共和党高层似乎具有特殊的吸引力。米特•罗姆尼把数百万美元转移到这个群岛上（真实目的是为了躲避法律诉讼），乔治•W•布什最近在一次投资会议上也公开表明立场。


伯利兹城（译者注：洪都拉斯首都）——如果你在打一场离婚官司



与英属维尔京群岛群岛、塞舌尔、开曼群岛和巴拿马一样，伯利兹城是一个壳套壳控股公司的聚集地，它提供无与伦比的隐私环境。PanamaLaw.org网站提供了一些有关税收天堂的信息，称伯利兹城拥有“我们目前所知的所有杜绝欺诈性财产转移行为的方法”。翻译过来就是：为逃避离婚财产纠纷和民事判决的人，在这里完全不用担心。


挪威——如果你是个维京人体育明星



在避税问题上，有一种模糊的弗洛伊德理论，认为我们所有人在内心深处其实都渴望避税。挪威财务部长罗杰•谢尔瓦也是如此，他最近宣称他的国家也是个避税天堂，说与奥斯陆比较起来，获取太平洋岛屿上的银行账户信息还要更容易些。荷兰也位列在册，所谓的“荷兰三维治”让包括米克•贾格尔和施特菲•格拉芙在内的数千人得以避税。


泽西岛——如果你是被英国小报争相报道的对象



远离法国海岸的泽西岛散布着海滨旅馆和中世纪的城堡，那里还是英国富人储藏现金的地方。这里对所有收入一律征收20%的税率。但是泽西岛的未来局势还难以预料，它隶属于海峡群岛——英国属地。英国首相大卫•卡梅伦的父亲在避税天堂攫取了一笔财富，他却在攻击哪些避税的名人。


塞浦路斯——如果你是“时髦的”俄罗斯商人



自从苏联解体之后，塞浦路斯成为了寡头政客为了躲避克里姆林宫和其他寡头政客的避难所。在1月1日之后，俄罗斯政府不再把塞浦路斯列为避税地黑名单，给这座地中海岛屿留下了一些尊严。塞浦路斯一位税务律师Carlo Scevola说：“塞浦路斯不是像巴拿马和英属维尔京群岛那样典型的避税天堂，这里还是有一些基本的税收条款的。他的司法权等级与英国、拉脱维亚和保加利亚一样高。”


卢森堡——如果你是富二代



卢森堡给自己的定位是，成功的、衣冠楚楚的人们做高端基金的国家。CMS DeBacker律师事务所卢森堡分部的合作伙伴Diogo Duarte de Oliveira说，客户“期望这里可以提供极为专业人士的服务，你在塞浦路斯找不到这类服务。”特制投资基金相当受欢迎。“一整套私募股权机构用来做艺术品和钻石之类的热情投资。”


迪拜——如果你不知道如何选择



迪拜聚集着世界上最喜欢炫耀的人群，红鲻鱼、兰博基尼和乌克兰妓女无处不在。2009年，邻国阿联酋用100亿美元紧急救助款偿还了迪拜的债务。从那以后，这里的房地产市场开始反弹，大批的伊朗、印度金融家涌入这里。据房地产咨询集团Knight Frank预测，到2013年，豪华别墅的价格会上涨10％。




原文：

Gimme Shelter

Once confined to a few tropical islands riddled with yachts and flashy drug dealers, the tax haven market has morphed into a sprawling tableau of low-tax zones that cater to wealthy individuals and multinationals. For the uninitiated, an abbreviated catalog of haven types.

Delaware

YOU ARE: an American CEO

Yes, you’re in ... Delaware. It’s in a stable, democratic country (well, mostly), and it exempts subsidiaries of holding companies from taxes, which is why more than half the Fortune 500—on paper—are there. They include Google (GOOG), Ford (F), and Berkshire Hathaway (BRK/A), whose CEO, Warren Buffett, believes rich people don’t pay enough taxes. “Some tax havens have always been low-tax jurisdictions,” Cato Institute’s Daniel Mitchell says. “And then you have countries like the U.S., which are tax havens but no one knows about it.”

Cayman Islands

YOU ARE: a Republican

While tax havens are not popular with most Americans—the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, which took effect this year, forces foreign banks to disclose the names and balances of American account holders—they seem to have a special allure among senior Republicans. Mitt Romney moved millions to the islands (the better to shield it from lawsuits) and George W. Bush recently gave the keynote at an investment conference there.

Belize

YOU ARE: in the midst of a nasty divorce

Like the British Virgin Islands, the Seychelles, the Caymans, and Panama, Belize is where the holding companies that own the holding companies that own the real companies are. Belize offers an unparalleled level of secrecy. PanamaLaw.org, a website that provides information about tax havens, calls the Belize trust “the only structure we know of that does not allow for fraudulent conveyance actions.” Translation: People running away from a divorce settlement or any civil judgment from a foreign court need not worry.

Norway

YOU ARE: a Viking sports star

Among tax haven opponents there’s a vaguely Freudian belief that all of us are, deep down, tax evaders. So it was that Roger Schjerva, the state secretary of Norway’s ministry of finance, recently called his country a tax haven, noting it was easier to get information about bank accounts in a Pacific island than in Oslo. The Netherlands is also in this category; the so-called Dutch Sandwich has enabled thousands, including Mick Jagger and Steffi Graf, to avoid taxes.

Jersey

YOU ARE: a British tabloid fixture

The island of Jersey, off the French coast, is littered with seaside inns and medieval castles. It’s also where rich people from Britain often stow their cash. The island taxes income at a flat rate of 20 percent. Alas, Jersey’s fate is uncertain. It belongs to the Channel Islands, which is a dependency of the British crown. Prime Minister David Cameron, whose father made a small fortune in tax havens, has attacked celebrities who avoid paying taxes.

Cyprus

YOU ARE: a “classy” Russian businessman

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cyprus has been the go-to haven for oligarchs looking to shield their money from the Kremlin ... or other oligarchs. As of Jan. 1, it was no longer on the Russian government’s tax haven blacklist, lending the Mediterranean island some respectability. “Cyprus isn’t a classic tax haven like Panama or BVI. There’s still a minimum level of taxation,” says Carlo Scevola, a tax attorney in Cyprus. “It’s a very high-standing jurisdiction which can be compared to the U.K., Latvia, or Bulgaria.”

Luxembourg

YOU ARE: a chic old-money scion

Luxembourg thinks of itself as a place where successful, well-dressed people invest in sophisticated funds. Diogo Duarte de Oliveira, partner at the Luxembourg office of law firm CMS DeBacker, says clients “want a jurisdiction that offers very skilled people, and this is not what you will find in Cyprus.” (Burn.) The specialized investment fund is popular. “You have this fund being used by private equity outfits or for passion investments such as art or diamonds.”

Dubai

YOU ARE: an embarrassment

Dubai is overrun with the most garish people on earth; mullets, Lamborghinis, and Ukrainian prostitutes are ubiquitous. In 2009 the city-state’s neighbor, Abu Dhabi, paid off Dubai’s debts with a $10 billion handout. Since then the real estate market has rebounded, and hordes of Iranian and Indian financiers, among others, are flocking there. Luxury villa prices are expected to rise 10 percent in 2013, according to property consultancy group Knight Frank.

沐霜

没有人会觉得钱烫手

oodmboo

避税，那是对他们而言，有时可能不需要那么复杂