Secrecy Jurisdictions

Any arrangement where two or more people agree to work together and share the resulting profits or losses.

See social security contributions.

An office, factory, or branch of a company or other non-resident. Under double tax treaties business profits are taxable at source if attributable to a Permanent Establishment. May include construction sites or oil platforms in place for over 6 months.

A tax that levies the same sum on each person irrespective of their means to make payment.

Purchasing Power Parity describes a measurement method that is designed to improve the cross-country comparability of economic and social data. When comparing the level of economic development between two countries it is hard to compare the GDPs in two different currencies with each other. In order to achieve a "common denominator" for comparison, recourse is taken mostly to the US-Dollar. However, current exchange rates might distort greatly the values of the GDP when converting the domestic currency in US-Dollars. Therefore, the domestic price level needs to be taken into account before meaningful comparisons of GDPs (and other monetary data) can be undertaken. This is what PPP analysis achieves. It integrates the domestic price level into the computation of the applicable exchange rate. If GDP is expressed in PPP-terms, it conveys a more accurate picture of the economic disparity between two countries.

A situation in which individuals or companies can negotiate their tax treatment in the state in which they have a tax liability. Pioneered by Switzerland in the 1920s, the arrangement is commonplace in the offshore world.

A company not quoted on a stock exchange. Shares cannot usually be sold without the consent of the company or its owners; in many countries little or no information need be disclosed on the activities of such companies even though their members enjoy the benefit of limited liability.

See private company. Limited liability partnerships and foundations are also private legal entities.

The process of transferring profits from a territory in which they would be taxed to another in which there is either no tax or a lower tax rate. Mechanisms for achieving this include transfer-pricing, re-invoicing, licensing, thin capitalisation, corporate restructurings and inversions.

A tax system in which, as income rises, the amount of tax paid increases in proportion to the income as well as in absolute amount i.e. the percentage tax rate increases as the income rises. Also referred to as Graduation. Compare with flat and regressive taxes.

See cell company

A company whose shares are quoted on a recognised stock exchange and are available to be bought and sold by anyone who wishes without consent being required from the company itself. Generally required to be more transparent than private companies.

Information is available on public record if it is freely available to any interested party or for a fee that does at most represent the handling costs of the supplier without any profit element being added. To qualify as publicly accessible data, internet availability is essential. The alternative to information being on public record is that the information is kept confidentially without public inspection. Layers of legal secrecy provisions may enable and further enhance the secretive quality of such 'non-public' information and prevent foreign authorities and the public from accessing information.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers: The largest of the Big 4 firms of accountants, outstripping all others in size by a considerable measure. Present in all the world’s major tax havens/secrecy jurisdictions and most of the minor ones as well.