CYPRUS
Take advantage of Cyprus’s excellent international reputation. Cyprus offers a base for several offshore businesses due to its favourable tax rate.
INFORMATION ON CYPRUS
The Republic of Cyprus is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean. It is the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean. The earliest known human activity on the island dates from around the 10th millennium BC. Historically, through its overseas trade, the island has given its name to the Classical Latin word for copper aes Cyprium, “metal of Cyprus”.
Cyprus is a member of the European Union (EU) and joined in 2004. Cyprus has been sought as a base for several offshore businesses due to its favourable tax rates. It maintains a corporate tax rate of 12.5%. Tourism, financial services and shipping are significant parts of its economy. Cyprus uses the Euro as its form of currency.
ADVANTAGES OF A CYPRUS COMPANY
- An International Business Company is tax resident in Cyprus if it is managed and controlled in Cyprus. Taxation does not depend on where the offshore or IBC is registered, but where it is considered tax resident.
- Cyprus has double-tax treaty agreements with more than 40 countries.
- There is no withholding tax on payment of dividends, interest and royalties by an IBC to nonresident individuals or companies.
- English is widely used throughout Cyprus and is considered the business language.
- Dividend income received in Cyprus by an IBC may be under certain conditions wholly exempt from tax in Cyprus.
- Tax losses can be forwarded without restrictions. They can be carried forward indefinitely and set-off against future profits.
- Mergers and acquisitions, reorganisations of companies are implemented without tax implications.
- Employing foreign workers is possible, but usually from within the EU as obtaining work permits for workers outside the EU can be difficult to obtain.
- No capital gains tax (except on sale of immovable property situated in Cyprus). Profits from the sale of shares are not taxable for all Cyprus tax residents.
