Cyprus

The Republic of Cyprus is not in the list of offshore zones, but the conditions of registration and taxation of the company in Cyprus allows to include it to low-tax jurisdictions. There are special conditions regarding the taxation for companies that are operating outside of the Republic, but have Cyprus registration.

• There are no taxes on dividend payments if shareholder is not a resident of the Republic;
• Income tax is 12.5%.
• If the company carries out its activities outside the Republic of Cyprus, then there are no VAT, stamp duty and contributions to national defense;
• There are no strict transfer pricing;
• The possibility of obtaining a loan by the European Bank;
• Time for registration of the company in Cyprus takes from one to two weeks;
• Cyprus has an agreements to avoid double taxation with 38 countries.

However, when choosing a jurisdiction for the incorporation of the company it should be noted that banks in Cyprus doesn’t provide services of express wire transfers. Considering this, Cyprus is not optimal country for registration for the financial company. Also, according to the established European standards, all the data about the founders and shareholders of the company are in the public access.
As to the auditing and reports – the company must maintain an annual financial report to the Central Bank of Cyprus and the declaration of income to the tax authorities of the Republic.