WHAT TAX HAVENS ARE?

Everyone has heard about countries such as Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Costa Rica, Guernsey, Cayman, Isle of Man, Vanuatu, Liechtenstein, Switzerland being tax heavens. Who would not want to pay lower taxes, if not at all? Probably it’s a dream for any person or company to take part from a jurisdiction which does not impose taxes or impose it low. They are not a recent invention of globalization, tax free zones appeared in the same time as commerce, but nowadays they play a much more important role than in the past for finance and commerce worldwide. Tax havens are not necessarily island territories. While many tax paradises are situated in the tiny islands spread in the Caribbean or Pacific, others are in the middle of or near the richest regions of the world, in Europe or Asia.