Panama offshore
Some infos about Panama and their offshore services
The ships are lined up in front of the Panama channel. Panama… the developing country with only 3.2 million inhabitants. The Central American dwarf is a giant at sea. Panama is the greatest naval power of the world. 25 % of the international fleet / over 11 000 ships are registered there. More then 67 million US-Dollar from the ship owners flow into the national budget. This is primarily possible because the ship owners save money with the Panamanian register. Because the profits of the ships are tax-free in Panama. The crew can be signed on under a Panamanian, quite liberal industrial law.
There is gold-digger atmosphere since the Panama channel has changed into the hands of the Latin American country. Golf courses and hotels shoot from the ground in the canal zone. Panama keeps the door open for large investors.
A second duty-free zone completes the biggest duty-free zone of the western world already existing at the channel entry on the Atlantic side of Colon. Big ports shall more existingly and two far ones make the port to the trade centre of Asian electronic products for the whole caribbean and South America.
At present, about five per cent of the world trade is dealt over the Panama channel. 68 per cent of all goods which will unload in U.S. ports take this way. China sends 23 per cent of its trade emerge through the channel, Japan 16 per cent. Primarily the ships which come from the mega-ports, the gigantic container ports in Taiwan, Singapore or Hong Kong choose the Suez route or even the detour around cape horn on the route to Europe meanwhile.
Now the sluices are extended to 55 metres. From 2014 on, if the development is completed, also only just 50 metres wide and 420 metres long ocean giants shall have place in the channel. The project will cost about 5.25 billion U.S. dollars. The country does the rest of the world a great service by removing an eye of a needle of the global trade. Enterprises and consumers in many countries will profit from it.
Although the strategic advantages attract international investors, the state is notorious under the tax paradises for its wild west methods despite its favourable position to the north and Latin America which all features of an ideal refuge offer. At present, 200 000 offshore companies are registered around in Panama.
Panama does not have numbered bank accounts like Switzerland did have in the past, but it does have the next best thing. Panama has bearer share corporations which can own a bank account. These corporations have no ownership records. The person in possession of the share certificates owns the corporation, and thus the Panama bank account. The government does not even know who the owners of a bearer share corporation are. The Nominee Directors names are recorded in the public registry to preserve your anonymity.
You can transfer the stock certificates privately with no record of the sale appearing anywhere. The new owner of the offshore company can replace the directors with his own directors and even have resignation letters in his possession for the directors.
The share capital amounts is 10 000 US dollar. The registration fees are about 500 U.S. dollars, the annual concession expensive at 150 U.S. dollars. A profit tax does not arise. Since 1991, Panama has a legal aid agreement with the USA which provides joint actions against drug raffic and money-laundering. Panama is still a tax haven: It imposes no taxes on money from outside of the country.
