As we near the end of the year, more than a dozen large U.S. companies have initiated plans to move their headquarters overseas. The reason: lower corporate tax rates and a welcoming environment to international business companies (IBCs). The destinations: places like Belize. What certain critics might call tax evasion and what tax experts call “inversion” is perfectly legal and rational from a corporate point of view. Pfizer, for example, is leaving United States tax jurisdiction, which the company estimates will save it U.S. $1 billion. Laws against tax inversion (or tax evasion) often slow down large international business companies as they try to conform with them. Pfizer’s merger with AstraZeneca will most likely fall within a legal anti-inversion loophole, which allows a company to move its headquarters at the time of a merger with another company worth at least 20% of its American counterpart. This will present a legal way for Pfizer to make the change. When looking at the $1 billion in tax savings, the cost of more than $100 million to buy AstraZeneca looks probably looks like quite the basement bargain to Pfizer corporate leaders.
At the end of the day, it’s imperative to know what you’re doing, whether you’re creating an international business company or moving an IBC overseas. Belize offshore companies benefit from huge advantages including lack of foreign controls, tax-free or tax-exempt laws for corporations, confidentially, and a generally welcoming legal and cultural atmosphere. We have legally protected Belize shelf companies that can be taken over within a few hours. If an overseas move makes sense for Pfizer, it might make sense for your international business company.
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