Offshore Centres

Hannah Beecham  Wednesday, March 24 2010  12.53

Offshore Jurisdictions

Parking your money offshore makes it accessible and tax efficient, but it does require planning and research. 

When you depart long-term for foreign shores, your money goes 'offshore' too. But it doesn't necessarily reside in the same place as you. In fact, if you’re a working Brit it is more likely that you will have opened or are considering opening an offshore account where you can save and invest. Why? Because investing offshore not only provides accessible access to your cash no matter where you live, it is also a convenient way of managing your tax liability including taking control of when tax charges are made. So where are these financial centres?

What they are and where to find them

An offshore jurisdiction, also called an offshore (or international) finance centre, is usually, but not always, a small island or landlocked principality adjacent to a larger country - as the Isle of Man is to the UK.

• There may be no 'onshore' to balance the 'offshore' component in the title.
• The Turks and Caicos Islands are an offshore finance centre but there's no Turks and Caicos mainland.
• Not all islands offer international banking services. Take Greece; loads of islands, no offshore finance centre.
• Offshore doesn't necessarily mean surrounded by water. Ireland's International Financial Services Centre is a short stroll from Dublin's O'Connell Street yet, bar the puddles, there's no reason to wet your feet getting there.

For our purposes, the definition of an offshore jurisdiction or international finance centre is a low tax, or no-tax, environment where British expatriates can legitimately place their money.

How to choose an offshore jurisdication

Offshore Britain