Importance of Choosing A Legitimate Jurisdiction
Many offshore jurisdictions are regarded by banks, the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) and other bodies in the finance industry as being regulated either as effectively as or better than their onshore counterparts whilst others are known to be areas of dubious legitimacy.
Unfortunately gone are the days (if ever they existed) where the distinction between onshore and offshore equated to legitimate or illegitimate. The current position is that there is no correlation between legitimacy of jurisdiction and tax status. For example Nigeria would not be regarded as offshore but perpetrates much of the world's advance fee fraud whereas Switzerland would be regarded as a highly respectable jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, some locations are still seen as being somewhat in between offshore jurisdictions and financial centres. The offshore regime in Cyprus for instance, although still maintaining low corporate tax and other benefits has successfully reformed all its financial sector legislation in line with international best practice, fully compliant with European Union directives, the OECD, Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and Financial Stability Forum (FSF); since EU accession. Following these measure, Cyprus was excluded from the OECD's harmful tax haven blacklist and was placed on the OECD white list of territories which have substantially implemented the internationally agreed standard in tax transparency.
It is no longer possible for illegitimate jurisdiction to operate in light of the OECD and the FATF as well as current and pending US legislation (13/06/09). It is very much in the interest of most offshore jurisdictions to ensure their house is in good order as this failure to comply and subsequent sanctions could lead to the total economic collapse of a country dependent upon its international reputation.
Read more about this topic: Offshore Company
Famous quotes containing the words importance of, importance, choosing, legitimate and/or jurisdiction:
“Never before has a generation of parents faced such awesome competition with the mass media for their children’s attention. While parents tout the virtues of premarital virginity, drug-free living, nonviolent resolution of social conflict, or character over physical appearance, their values are daily challenged by television soaps, rock music lyrics, tabloid headlines, and movie scenes extolling the importance of physical appearance and conformity.”
—Marianne E. Neifert (20th century)
“When we can begin to take our failures nonseriously, it means we are ceasing to be afraid of them. It is of immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves.”
—Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923)
“Although I’ve risen! and my back is bold.
My tongue is brainy, choosing from among
Care, rage, surprise, despair, and choosing care.
I’m semi-splendid within what I’ve defended.”
—Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)
“This will not be disloyalty but will show that as members of a party they are loyal first to the fine things for which the party stands and when it rejects those things or forgets the legitimate objects for which parties exist, then as a party it cannot command the honest loyalty of its members.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)
“The putting into force of laws which shall secure the conservation of our resources, as far as they may be within the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, including the more important work of saving and restoring our forests and the great improvement of waterways, are all proper government functions which must involve large expenditure if properly performed.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)