Uses of Offshore Companies: Property in Offshore Companies

Owning an offshore company can offer many advantages. This applies to anyone looking to expand their business overseas, protect their assets, and benefit from favorable tax laws in another country with more accommodating jurisdictions. Before you create an offshore account, do some research. Speak to expert advisers in both jurisdictions. This will insure you understand all gained financial and legal benefits, as well as potential problems to avoid.

A plus to owning an offshore company is you can use it to handle and hold property in various jurisdictions. You can enjoy a slew of favorable features in the process. Managing property through an offshore company could be a viable solution if you hold property in various jurisdictions, or need to protect assets from inheritance taxes.

Here are a few things to know.

Financial Benefits

The main financial benefit of holding property in an offshore company, and using it to manage property, is that you stand to avoid a lot of undue taxation. Provided you incorporate in the right jurisdiction, such property is protected against your local inheritance tax.

If you own properties in several countries, the process of passing along property as inheritance could be significantly expedited, with fewer costs, by avoiding probate. In the process, you’ll be able to better protect your privacy. When assets go through probate they may become public record, causing creditors and other claimants to come out of the woodwork.

Should you choose to sell property held by an offshore trust, you’ll gain financial advantages. For example, you can sell the shares in the company instead of a straight property sale. Thus avoiding land tax in some countries. For expensive properties, the savings could be significant. Records of the sale need not be made public because it is merely an exchange of company shares.

Legal Benefits

Holding money in an offshore account has legal advantages. Minimized liability, and avoiding probate, are two major benefits. In terms of minimized liability, a corporate entity shields an individual owner from obligations, such as a visitor who suffers an accident on the property and decides to sue.

There is no need for probate, which would normally occur in the event that a property owner dies and property is left to beneficiaries. The property passed to beneficiaries through the company or third-party trusts, avoid the fees and public records associated with probate.