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Member of the Federation of Small Businesses
Important Note: Companies Act 2006 changes for business owners
 The Economy Private Limited Company package includes:
 The registration of your Private Limited Company within 40 business days
 Company name availability, conformation, and reservation
 The payment of initiation fees
 The payment of the first year's registration fees
 The appointment of your own candidates to the roles of director, secretary, and shareholder
 The registration of your CY £ 1,000 authorised share capital divided into 5,000 shares valued at CY £ 1.00 each (a minimum of one share must be issued)
 The preparation and submission of the Memorandum and Articles of Association of your company
 A local registered office address and a local registered agent (both of which are statutory requirements in Cyprus)
 The first year's fee for a registered office address and registered agent
 
 The following documents, Apostilled, and in both English and Greek, will be sent to you via courier:
 The original Certificate of Incorporation
 A bound copy of the Memorandum and Articles of Association of your company
 The Minutes of the First Meeting of the Board of Directors
 A completed register of directors and shareholders
 Share certificates
 Company seal
Economy Package
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Company Formation Home Page  >>  UK Company With Bearer Shares  >>  Cyprus: VAT Registration

CYPRUS: VAT REGISTRATION. INTRODUCTION

After having received many questions about changes in legislation in Cyprus and about the VAT registration (application, requirements, terms and etc) for all Cyprus companies, we have decided to give our client small review on this matter. First of all in need to be noted that the opening of a VAT account is very difficult procedure and all companies will be charged extra for this service. A fee of £200 will be charged for the Registration of VAT Number.

Accountancy and VAT work rate: Accountant £25. Senior Accountant £35. Manger £50. Estimate (normal Value) depends on the difficulties of the Accounts, £150, per month, (plus VAT, current 15%).

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Fully managed Cypriot Offshore Company This service includes the provision of a resident company secretary and professionally qualified individual directors to carry out the required management and control functions. Cyprus has concluded 26 double tax treaties so far with Canada, China, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Kuwait, Malta, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, (including all the CIS countries except for Kazakhstan) Sweden, Syria, United Kingdom, USA and the former Yugoslavia.
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Audit, Taxation - Annually, depends on the value of work and complexities, estimated from € 1,000 (plus VAT, current 15%). The company wishing to be registered for VAT in Cyprus should answer the following enquiries: give a full description of your company's main activities. If you are not obliged to register but wish to register voluntarily. State the value of your estimated taxable transactions for the next 12 months. Standard 15% of VAT. Reduced 5% VAT. Zero VAT.

The responsibility of VAT return is undertaken by the Director and Secretary. Every 3 months we must fill in and hand in to the VAT Authorities the VAT forms. In order to have these forms filled in we must have all original contracts, invoices, bank statements etc. in our office "in time" about 15 days after each month.

IS PREFERRED:

A deposit of minimum £1,800 must be made to our account. (Depends on the work, turnover and the responsibilities of the company). Moreover, we must be appointed as the second signatory for the bank account either opened abroad or in Cyprus for the getting from the bank information and documentation needed for the VAT procedure quickly and on time.

We suggest you to appoint our nominees as a second Director and Secretary of the company for the applying of a VAT number in Cyprus. For the other Director appointed by you, we must have his/her passport copy and biography sent to us and accompanied by a letter from the Beneficial Owner who will be appointing this Director, also a letter (with forms of the VAT Organization signed by the Beneficiary) addresses to us asking to registered VAT, a form from the VAT Organization will be also sended to the Beneficiary Owner to be signed and kept it in our files, after will be sent by UPS to the client (every case will be considered it separately).

Due to the responsibilities of the Nominee Director and Secretary of the company for the VAT, it would be better to give a salary to them on a monthly basis (as the services which are given to the clients are without any responsibilities etc.) We also suggest you to study the following samples in which Cyprus company registered with VAT may be involved:

SAMPLE:

If a Cypriot company purchases goods/services from a German company or any other European company which has a VAT registration number then the VAT charge is 0%. Furthermore, if the Cypriot company sells to a French company or any other European company which has a VAT registration number then the VAT charge is 0%.

If a Cypriot company, which has a VAT number has a trading activity with French or any European company, which does not have a VAT number - 15% VAT charge.

If Cyprus company, which has a VAT number has a trading activity with the Russian or non-European company - 0% VAT charge.

If the European company, i.e. German company has a VAT number and it has trading activity with the Cypriot company or with any other European company without VAT number registration, when the German company will be charged for VAT.

The Cypriot company which does not have VAT number has the trading activity with the French company or any other European company - 0% VAT charge.

The Cypriot company which does not have VAT number has the trading activity with the Russian company or any other non- European company - 0% VAT charge.

In order to open a VAT account for a UK company, this company must have a Branch in Cyprus.

If the ship is over 15 tones and will carry passengers then no it doesn’t pay VAT If it a second ship is bought from an EU country and is less than 15 Tones then again no VAT is paid if the ship was bought from a non EU Country then yes it will have to pay VAT. The main objective of the EU is to have all EU countries only pay VAT once. But please not that changes may be made and every case must consider separately and looked over it with our Accountant.

Live Help » Live Help is a real time "chat" feature which enables you to interact with a customer service representative without a phone call. Get answers to your questions while using our website. Clicking the "Live Help" button will start an on-line session with one of our representatives. Live Help is currently available during normal business hours. Outside of the above opening hours our business center will be closed. When you click on the button you will see an e-mail form that will allow you to send us a mail with your questions. Live Help is absolutely free! There are no hidden fees. We offer the service as a courtesy to our website visitors. Dear visitors, while having a chat session with a customer, we are frequently requested to give a piece of advice on tax planning or business structuring. We would like to inform you that it is against our principles to provide online advice pertaining to these issues. The points that may be covered during a session include service description, package or service price, navigation at our website, ways of making an order, methods of payment etc. Yet, if you wish us to provide you with advice on tax or business structuring, you should be aware that this service is chargeable.

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UK - CYPRUS ATTRACTIVE TAX PLANNING FEATURES

For small trading and other active business groups, Cyprus can be used legitimately to reduce tax liabilities of their UK related entities. UK residents can transfer assets to Cyprus entities, collect profits in Cyprus and defer payment of UK tax indefinitely. Cyprus is an ideal route through which non-EU residents can extract profits from their EU operations for interest and royalty payments. Dividends can be extracted out of the EU with zero tax. It is the most advantageous jurisdiction for holding shares of EU companies.

"SMALL" UK GROUPS USE CYPRUS TO REDUCE TAX LIABILITIES

EU has ruled that thin capitalization rules between EU countries is illegal, as harmful to competition. Thin capitalisation is the restriction on interest payable as a result of financing arranged by a parent company considered as excessive compared with the company's share capital.

UK has abolished thin capitalization rules and has introduced transfer pricing rules to all transactions between entities irrespective of whether those entities are both UK or whether they are cross border transactions.

But as this would make the system unmanageable, the UK has exempted "small" companies transacting with related persons in qualifying territories completely from transfer pricing and thin capitalisation rules. Cyprus is a qualifying territory because it has a double tax treaty with the UK with a non-discrimination article. Equally, all European countries are indeed on the list of qualifying countries, including Russia. "Small" means the fulfillment of two of the following three conditions by the company and the group: less than 50 employees; turnover less than ?9.5 mil; gross assets less than 9.5 m.

This constitutes a key development and it means that for small groups Cyprus is an ideal location for reducing the taxable base of a UK related enterprise by having in Cyprus legitimately higher than market interest rates on loans, triangular trading etc. The UK Tax Authorities have no right to dispute the transaction or its deductibility in the UK.

UK RESIDENTS TRANSFER ASSETS AND PROFITS IN CYPRUS COMPANIES

UK's s.739 ICTA 1988 states that where a UK tax payer transfers assets to an offshore entity that result is a future income stream to that entity and the transferor has the power to enjoy that income stream then the income of the offshore entity will be treated as being the income of the transferor and subject to UK.

However, s.739 can be overridden by a suitable tax treaty and the UK - Cyprus double tax treaty states that the profits of a Cyprus company are taxable only in Cyprus unless the Cyprus entity carries out its business in the UK through a permanent establishment. It will be necessary to show that the effective management of the Cyprus company is carried out in Cyprus.

Consequently, UK residents can transfer assets to Cyprus entities, collect profits in Cyprus and defer payment of UK taxes indefinitely.

INTEREST AND ROYALTY DIRECTIVES

The directive is required to be implemented by EU member states as of I January 2005. Interest and royalty payments arising in one EU member state shall be exempt from any taxes imposed on these payments in that state provided the beneficial owner of the interest is a company in another EU state.

The companies must be associated and the company receiving the interest or royalty payment must not be acting as a trustee, agent or intermediary. It must receive the income for its own benefit. The interest or royalty must be on an arm's length basis.

Cyprus is an ideal route through which non-EU residents can extract profits from their EU operations. Interest and royalties are allowed as an expense in the EU reducing its tax base and is taxed at low rates (often nearly zero) in Cyprus. As an example: Cyprus entity receives loan from a BVI company and in turn lends the funds to its German subsidiary. A small interest margin is left in Cyprus on which tax is paid at 10%, whereas tax relief is obtained in Germany at over 30%.

PARENT - SUBSIDIARY DIRECTIVE (DIVIDENDS)

Dividends paid from one entity in the EU to another associated entity situated within the EU are made without any withholding taxes. An associate is a related entity having a 5% shareholding (reduced to 10% by year 2009). Dividends received by a Cyprus resident company are normally subject to defence tax of 15%. Such dividends are exempt where the dividends are received from a foreign entity in which the Cyprus entity owns more than 1% of the share capital and the foreign entity derives more than 50% of its income from non-investment activities.

Consequently, in most cases where Cyprus company acts as a holding company to an entity registered abroad, we would expect the dividends received to be exempt from taxation in Cyprus. In conclusion, Cyprus is the most advantageous jurisdiction for holding shares of EU companies. It allows dividends to be extracted out of the EU with zero tax.
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