Offshore setup question: Cyprus and Caymans in combination? (after Caymans off EU blacklist)

[are44]

Hello forum!
I am living in Cyprus, and I also have a LTD here. I am since 3 years on the island, but I need advice now for adding an offshore into the mix. I am leaning towards Caymans.

I saw that Caymans has been removed recently from the EU’s list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions. Is this a good setup - having a Cyprus Non-dom residency, LTD as well as an extra Caymans company?

Concretely, my questions are:

• now that Caymans are off this list, there should be less harassment, or what are the concrete positive sides of this in your opinion? is banking easier?
• anyone has a similar setup (cyprus, caymans) and can advise?
• can I get a European bank account with the Caymans company? (which Banks can you suggest?)
• how complicated is it to get KYB/KYC with a Cayman company on crypto exchanges and crypto-fiat ramps? (Binance, etc.)
• what are the actual requirements for a company doing SaaS, and accepting cryptocurrency for payment?

Thanks a lot!

 

[LoveMyLife]

There is no bank in Europe which will open bank account fro company registered in Cayman Islands.

Banking in Cayman Islands is also not easy there. You just can not come and open account there. Their KYC DD procedures are extremely strong. If you have some reasonable 7 figure amount to wire there, it can be easier.

Setup Cyprus + Cayman Islands is good, but very expensive.

KYC on crypto exchangers is the same for all who are not from USA or EU. Does not matter if it is Seychelles or Cayman Islands.

 

[EliasIT]

Cayman Islands sounds very interesting, but I believe @LoveMyLife is right when he say that it is going to be mission impossible for you.

Should you succeed opening an account in the Caymans, I hope you will let us know.

 

[are44]

There is no bank in Europe which will open bank account fro company registered in Cayman Islands.

Banking in Cayman Islands is also not easy there. You just can not come and open account there. Their KYC DD procedures are extremely strong. If you have some reasonable 7 figure amount to wire there, it can be easier.

Setup Cyprus + Cayman Islands is good, but very expensive.

KYC on crypto exchangers is the same for all who are not from USA or EU. Does not matter if it is Seychelles or Cayman Islands.

Thank you for the fast answer.

Some follow-up questions to your answers:

• You are mentioning that EU banking is not possible. There is a "hint" on how this is supposed to work with "offshore seychelles" in the forum here (click on the right hand upper side). They mention how it is done with revolut involving a UK company with the same name. Why would this not work with a Cayman company?
• Since you are mentioning "you can not come and open an account there"; how are others solving this issue exactly? Opening a bank outside of Caymans?
• You are mentioning a "7 figure account" to wire there - how much would be needed in your opinion to make this easier?

 

[are44]

Cayman Islands sounds very interesting, but I believe @LoveMyLife is right when he say that it is going to be mission impossible for you.

Should you succeed opening an account in the Caymans, I hope you will let us know.

Thank you EliasIT for the answer. Is there any similarly interesting jurisdiction where it is easier to get a bank account then? (I mean a jurisdiction which is not on the blacklist).

 

[LoveMyLife]

Thank you for the fast answer.

Some follow-up questions to your answers:

• You are mentioning that EU banking is not possible. There is a "hint" on how this is supposed to work with "offshore seychelles" in the forum here (click on the right hand upper side). They mention how it is done with revolut involving a UK company with the same name. Why would this not work with a Cayman company?
• Since you are mentioning "you can not come and open an account there"; how are others solving this issue exactly? Opening a bank outside of Caymans?
• You are mentioning a "7 figure account" to wire there - how much would be needed in your opinion to make this easier?

Using a Revolut account with UK company of the same name is illegal. All income on this Revolut account will be income of UK LTD. And has to be taxed in the UK. You do not save any taxes on stucture like this.

Some oeple openned UK companies and created a contract between their offshore company and UK company where UK company is "payment agent" or "billing agent". And they flow money through this UK company declaring this company to be a "billing agent" where Uk company is taxed on just a fraction as "comission". Problem in this structure is, that to being a "payment agent" or "billing agent", you need a license from FSA. Because this is all regulated financial activity.

People who opens companies in Cayman Islands usualy moves there, receives a long term visa, residence permit, work permit and it is possible corporate bank account, afterwords.
Cayam islands is great jurisdiction just for 2 groups of people:

- Rich who are willing to relocate there
- Ultra rich who does not have to relocate there

The most of cayman banks will welcome you from any amount higher then 1 mil. USD. But some of banks are being more and more picky. So just exact 1 mil USD does not have to be enough. But 1.2 mil USD will be openning doors to the most of the banks.

I believie, that with 1.2 mil USD, you can have also bank account for company incorporated in Cayman Islands in some private banks in Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austria. Private banks usualy accepts offshore companies, if you are ready to mantain 7 figure balance with them.

 

[are44]

Using a Revolut account with UK company of the same name is illegal. All income on this Revolut account will be income of UK LTD. And has to be taxed in the UK. You do not save any taxes on stucture like this.

Some oeple openned UK companies and created a contract between their offshore company and UK company where UK company is "payment agent" or "billing agent". And they flow money through this UK company declaring this company to be a "billing agent" where Uk company is taxed on just a fraction as "comission". Problem in this structure is, that to being a "payment agent" or "billing agent", you need a license from FSA. Because this is all regulated financial activity.

People who opens companies in Cayman Islands usualy moves there, receives a long term visa, residence permit, work permit and it is possible corporate bank account, afterwords.
Cayam islands is great jurisdiction just for 2 groups of people:

- Rich who are willing to relocate there
- Ultra rich who does not have to relocate there

The most of cayman banks will welcome you from any amount higher then 1 mil. USD. But some of banks are being more and more picky. So just exact 1 mil USD does not have to be enough. But 1.2 mil USD will be openning doors to the most of the banks.

I believie, that with 1.2 mil USD, you can have also bank account for company incorporated in Cayman Islands in some private banks in Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austria. Private banks usualy accepts offshore companies, if you are ready to mantain 7 figure balance with them.

Thanks again for the clarification. So is there any other recommended offshore location (non-blacklisted) such as Caymans, where it is possible to get a bank account?

 

[LoveMyLife]

Thanks again for the clarification. So is there any other recommended offshore location (non-blacklisted) such as Caymans, where it is possible to get a bank account?

There are just a very few countries which are blacklisted.

Why are you considering standard offshore? Whatabout staring considering onshore? It means countries with standard taxation of corporate profit, where only local profit is taxed. If your profit is less than 130K USD per year, the cheapest is Costa Rica. And I believe, Costa Rica is not on blacklist of the most european bank. So you can hav company in Costarica, bank account in Costa rica and also having a bank account in Europe for Costa rican company. Costa Rica has a flat tax of few hundred USD if you have no income sourced in Costa rica if your income is not over 130K USD per year. (calculated in eproximate amount on exchange rate of Costa rican colone to USD). Very similar is Guatemala.

If you are looking for typical offshore, good choise can be United Arab Emirates.