Posted by William Byrnes on September 6, 2014
International Financial Law Prof Blog.
The tiny state is perennially at the top of the list of global tax havens and has gained a reputation as place where those with something to hide – embezzlers, arms merchants, money launders, drug dealers and the like – can set up shop, no questions asked. This is thanks to Delaware laws that allow the true owners of a corporate entity to remain a secret.
Posted in Money Laundering, OECD | Tagged: Delaware, Money Laundering, tax havens | 1 Comment »
Posted by William Byrnes on March 14, 2014
Today’s FATCA anecdote from a recent interview ….
Professor William Byrnes stated, “The US has a highly successful international financial service industry that is important to the US economy, exemplified by, firstly, the international financial centres such as Miami and New York) of over a half trillion dollars of foreign deposits of high net wealth individuals whom many experts allege are not tax and exchange control compliant in their home countries; secondly, over 900,000 Delaware companies is the second to Hong Kong, and ahead of British Virgin Islands (BVI is actually third in the world);[1] and thirdly, the US territories’ offshore regimes, reducing the effective US corporate and income tax rates below 3.5 percent.[2]”
In 2011, 133,297 businesses incorporated in Delaware. Delaware has more corporate entities than people, reports Leslie Wayne of the New York Times — 945,326 to 897,934. These absentee corporate residents account for a quarter of Delaware’s total budget, roughly $860 million in taxes and fees in 2011.[3] Moreover, the economic spill over impact for Delaware includes substantial employment and professional fees to Delaware business participating in the incorporation and advisory industry. Delaware is just behind China’s Hong Kong in number of annual incorporations and overall incorporations, and well ahead of the UK’s Virgin Islands (British) both in terms of offshore business and the dollars earned from that offshore business.
Tomorrow (Saturday March 15) I will provide a detailed account Where the Oft Cited “$150 Billion” Figure Of Offshore Evasion Come From?
See dozens of articles analyzing various compliance requirements of the FATCA Regulations and select IGAs at https://profwilliambyrnes.com/category/fatca/
[1] “Storm Survivors”, Special Report: Offshore Finance, The Economist, 16 Feb 2013. Available at http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21571549-offshore-financial-centres-have-taken-battering-recently-they-have-shown-remarkable (accessed 28 February 2014).
[2] See William H Byrnes and Dr. Robert J Munro, Tax Havens of the World, US Virgin Islands chapter, LexisNexis.
[3] See Wayne, Leslie, How Delaware Thrives as a Corporate Tax Haven, New York Times (June 30, 2012).
LexisNexis FATCA Compliance Guide
Fifty contributing FATCA experts, each advising major institutions and financial service companies, authored 600 pages of analysis within the LexisNexis® Guide to FATCA Compliance (2nd Edition): many perspectives – one voice crafted by the primary author Professor William Byrnes.
The LexisNexis® Guide to FATCA Compliance (2nd Edition) comprises 34 Chapters grouped in three parts: compliance program (Chapters 1–4), analysis of FATCA regulations (Chapters 5–16) and analysis of Intergovernmental Agreements (IGAs) and local law compliance challenges (Chapters 17–34), including intergovernmental agreements as well as the OECD’s TRACE initiative for global automatic information exchange protocols and systems. The 34 chapters include many practical examples to assist a compliance officer contextualize the regulations, IGA provisions, and national rules enacted pursuant to an IGA. Chapters include by example an in-depth analysis of the categorization of trusts pursuant to the Regulations and IGAs, operational specificity of the mechanisms of information capture, management and exchange by firms and between countries, insights as to the application of FATCA and the IGAs within new BRIC and European country chapters.
Posted in FATCA | Tagged: Delaware, FATCA, INternational Financial Center | 2 Comments »
Posted by William Byrnes on March 3, 2011
Late last year the IRS published proposed regulations regarding the classification for Federal tax purposes a domestic series limited liability company (LLC), a domestic cell company, or a foreign series or cell that conducts an insurance business.
A number of States, such as Delaware, have enacted statutes providing for the creation of entities that may establish series, including limited liability companies (series LLCs). In general, most series LLC statutes provide that a limited liability company may establish separate series.
Although the series LLC generally are not treated as separate entities for State law purposes, the treatment of rights and obligations is similar to separate entities, creating in essence “associated members”. Members’ association with one or more particular series is comparable to direct ownership by the members in such series, in that their rights, duties, and powers with respect to the series are direct and specifically identified. If the conditions enumerated in the relevant statute are satisfied, the debts, liabilities, and obligations of one series generally are enforceable only against the assets of that series and not against assets of other series or of the series LLC.
Read the analysis at AdvisorFYI
Posted in Taxation | Tagged: Business, Delaware, insurance, Internal Revenue Service, IRS, Limited liability company, Small business, United States | Leave a Comment »
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