Cyprus Company and Corporate Law – Cyprus Tax Law

Cyprus Company Formation and Administration

Our main services include:

• The Cyprus Companies Law
• Types of Company Formation
• The Procedure of Cyprus Company Formation
•  Directors and Secretary of a Cyprus Company
• Shareholders of a Cyprus Company
• Registered Office
• Cyprus Companies Administration Services
• Opening a Cyprus Bank Account

The Cyprus Companies Law

The Cyprus Companies Law, CAP 113, regulates and governs the formation of a Cyprus Company and the duties of its officers. The incorporation of a Cyprus Company can be effectively utilised by entrepreneurs for International Tax Law Planning purposes and at the same time enjoy the status of being located at a reputable business centre within the European Union.

Cyprus company formation allows investors and entrepreneurs to conduct their business both locally and internationally subject to a low corporate tax rate of 12,5%, which is one of the lowest rates in the European Union. The low tax rate makes the formation of a Cyprus Company ideal for holding and investment purposes.

A Cyprus company can benefit from the double taxation treaties that Cyprus has signed  with many countries all over the world, which, enables Cyprus Company offsetting tax paid in one of two countries against the tax payable in the other, in this way preventing double taxation for businesses and individuals. Another advantage that the incorporation of a Cyprus Company provides to its shareholders is that there is no withholding tax on dividends paid by a Cyprus Company to its foreigner shareholders. Additionally, a Cyprus company may be incorporated and fully owned by foreigners.

The low Cyprus tax law regime coupled with the wide network of double tax treaties that Cyprus has signed with many countries, makes the idea for incorporating a Cyprus Company more attractive in the following tax planning structures.

Types of Company Formation

• Holding Company
• Trust Company
• Finance Vehicle Company
• Trading Company
• Royalty Company
• International Investment schemes

The Procedure of Cyprus Company Formation

The formation of Cyprus Company is a relatively easy, fast and cost effective procedure.  For the Cyprus Company formation, an application is filed to the Cyprus Registrar of Companies with the requested name of the Company. Upon approval of the Company name, the applicant shall submit before the Cyprus Registrar of Companies  the Memorandum and Articles and Association stating therein the activities of the Company, the amount of the share capital, the internal Company regulations and all the other required information. Upon examination of the aforementioned documentation and assuming that everything is in order, the Cyprus Registrar of Companies proceeds with the incorporation of the Company, assigning it a unique registration number and the corporate certificates of the Company are issued either in English or in Greek.

Directors and Secretary of a Cyprus Company

For the incorporation of a Cyprus Company the minimum number of its director and secretary is one, who can be either an individual or a company or other legal entity. In many cases, members or lawyers of our law firm are appointed both as nominee directors and secretary in order to execute the board meetings and resolutions in Cyprus. In this way the management and control of the Company is conducted in Cyprus and therefore the Company will not lose its tax advantage of a low tax rates.

Shareholders of a Cyprus Company

In accordance with the provisions of the Law, the minimum number of shareholders for the incorporation of a Cyprus Company is one. Persons who do not wish to appear as registered shareholders may appoint nominees to act for them as registered shareholders, whilst the actual ownership of the shares shall always rest with them. Our firm can provide nominee shareholders services upon request.

Registered Office

Every Cyprus Company should have a registered office located in Cyprus, where it maintains, inter alia, its register of members and where all official notices are served. Upon request, our law firm offers the services of a virtual office with telephone, fax and all other relevant facilities to assist in the administration of the Company according to the needs of the Client.

Cyprus Companies Administration Services

Christos Paraskevas LLC provides a complete range of Company and Corporate Law services, which include, but are not limited to:

• Incorporation of Cyprus Company
• Cyprus Company registered office and provision of Company Secretary
• Provision of corporate or individual nominee shareholder(s) under trust agreement;
• Nominee Directors
• Allocating bank accounts and appointing bank signatories:
• On-going management and administration of the Cyprus Company
• Preparing and holding meetings of directors and shareholders;
• Reorganizations,
• Mergers, including EU – cross border mergers
• Joint ventures, acquisitions
• Drafting, negotiation and implementation of shareholders’ agreements,
• Corporate restructurings, secured project financing and secularization

Opening a Cyprus Bank Account

Once we have assisted with Cyprus company formation, Christos Paraskevas LLC can assist the beneficial owners of the Cyprus Company to open a corporate bank account with any of the leading Cyprus banks including Bank of Cyprus and Hellenic Bank or any other Cyprus Bank that the client may request.

Advantages of International Companies

There are many advantages coming from setting up offshore companies such as a very low rate tax or no taxation at all, preservation of confidentiality of the beneficial owner of the company, low costs of operations, legal and asset protection or limited liability without any paid up capital requirement.

Christos Paraskevas LLC can assist you to register a company in the most popular jurisdictions, with the entire company formation procedure, from the initial incorporation steps to the continued company management and administration. Our Firm is offering Company formation and administration services in various countries all over the world such as British Virgin Island, Seychelles, Belize, Panama,  Anguilla, Delaware and many others.

International Cyprus Trusts – Tax Planning

On 23 March 2012, the International Trust (Amending) Law of 2012 came into effect reforming the International Trusts Law of 1992. The new Law builds on the existing very attractive Cyprus International Trusts Law and has introduced many new competitive features.

The main reasons of forming an international Trust include:

• Mitigate tax liabilities, or help in the avoidance of tax;
• Assets can be placed in a Cyprus International Trust to safeguard the interests of a beneficiary.
• Allow a family to retain ownership of property;
• Permit the control and enjoyment of assets to be maintained, despite giving or selling the assets to others;
• Benefit certain groups of people, for example, the mentally disabled, while control of the property is withheld from them;
• Act as a management vehicle. Investment Trust Funds, banks, etc. manage funds for their clients through a structure of a trust and an offshore company that acts as a trustee;

Our firm holds extensive expertise on the creation of a wide range of trust structures and advice on structure of cross-border operations in a tax efficient manner.

We provide assistance and advise as to the procedure of setting up a trust, draft the Trust Deed and generally complete this procedure. Furthermore, our firm, acting through trustee companies owned and controlled by lawyers in our firm, can act as trustees, settlors, or protectors and administer trusts.