Belize IBC tax residency?

[Reborn]

Hi,

First post. I hope this is the right forum. Also a noob to the "offshore world".

I'm considering living in Cyprus and being tax resident there, and registering a Belize IBC that I own entirely.

I'm concerned, however, that the tax authorities in Cyprus would consider the Belize IBC as tax resident in Cyprus, because Belize IBCs are not tax resident in Belize if I understand correctly.

However, if there are no bank accounts in Cyprus, no employees, no directors, no physical address... just me as the only shareholder living there... would the Belize company be considered tax resident in Cyprus (which is what I want to avoid).

I hope my question makes sense.

Thanks.

 

[Reborn]

Actually, let me clarify the whole setup I'm looking at creating.

I'd live in Cyprus and own all shares in a Belize IBC.
I'd have the non-domicile tax residency status in Cyprus
There would be no bank accounts, employees, physical address, telephone line etc. in Cyprus
There would be 1 director, a nominee, in the Belize IBC. The nominee director would be a resident of Belize
There would be no meetings in Cyprus

Would the Belize IBC then be considered tax resident in Cyprus or not?

 

[JohnLocke]

Before you consider a Belize company and live in Cyprus you may read the forum! Since a few weeks the Cyprus banks refused to open bank accounts for offshore companies which have no accounting obligations.

This means you will have a hard time find some reliable banking for your business needs unless you are using an EMI provider which of course is an option.

 

[Reborn]

Hi Admin and thanks for the reply.

I'd be using payoneer and paypal mostly, and I don't see a need for any corporate bank accounts in Cyprus in my case, but thanks for the input.

Apart from that, do you think the Belize company would be considered tax resident in Cyprus using the setup I mentioned?

 

[negon]

No, Belize would not be considered tax resident in Cyprus. However, you want to look into Seychelles with an tax expert in Cyprus. There are special tax treaties for Seychelles corps in Cyprus!

 

[diablo]

You want to setup a Belize or other offshore company with nominees. So you are 100% sure not to be liable for tax in Cyprus if you should decided to live there!

 

[Reborn]

So I called the Belize IBC registry and they informed me that a Belize IBC is NOT considered tax resident in Belize.

So I asked where it's considered tax resident. And they said "probably where it operates".

I can't really wrap my head around this. It would be much better from my point of view if it was considered tax resident in Belize, with 0% tax, but apparently it isn't.

Any insights on this, anyone?

 

[orientalc]

Should i expect any problems, If i own a Belize company and want to open a personal bank account in Cyprus to receive the director salary, loans from the company EMI account? I'm going to stay in Cyprus for more than 180 days and am okay with showing some company profit (but not all) and pay personal taxes. Any caveats?

 

[Reborn]

orientalc,

Why not pay yourself the profits from the Belize company as dividends? If you have non-dom tax residency in Cyprus you pay 0% tax on dividends.

 

[cyprus123]

Check the Virtual Zone Georgia with 0% corporate tax. According to DTA Cyprus Georgia there is no withholding tax on dividends in Georgia if shareholder is tax resident in Cyprus. So you have 0% tax without using offshore jurisdictions.

 

[Marcus Aurelius]

Check the Virtual Zone Georgia with 0% corporate tax. According to DTA Cyprus Georgia there is no withholding tax on dividends in Georgia if shareholder is tax resident in Cyprus. So you have 0% tax without using offshore jurisdictions.

I have enquired for a Georgia Virtual zone setup with a few providers and they all said that I couldn´t take advantage of the 0% tax.

It only applies to real IT companies and my operations (affiliate marketing) are non IT operations and would be charged at 15% corporate tax.