Irrespective of where a person lives or what language he or she speaks - every person's first and foremost concern will always be his own life, his own family, his own business.

Therefore the issue of non-resident companies is always topical, and the entrepreneur's experience in this sphere is very often a key factor in his or her further commercial success.

This section may be of interest for those entrepreneurs who consider their knowledge of the context in which non-resident companies operate as not being exhaustive and who require additional information. We presume that these entrepreneurs are in the majority, since it is almost impossible to know everything. Even we are not able to master the whole volume of legislation in this area in every country. Our advantage, however, lies in the fact that we know with certainty where to obtain this information and which reliable and safe sources to use.

In this section, our aim is to discuss the issue that is probably uppermost in entrepreneurs' minds when it comes to non-resident companies - that is the issue of legitimacy (i.e. the status in law) of the use of non-resident companies for business operations. In order to illustrate our answer to this question, we should like to provide the following example:

Example. Let us suppose that in olden days, when the free market was still being created, a merchant had to deliver a consignment of goods to his customer, and in order to reach that customer he had to cross a toll bridge over a river. In this case the merchant, trying to economise on expenditure could, in theory, try the following courses of action:

Using non-resident companies for business operations directly corresponds to the second method. The role of the "next bridge" in this case is played by the corporate and tax legislation of other countries and its efficient use by entrepreneurs in their business operations.

It may be entirely normal behaviour for the entrepreneur to voluntarily choose to cross the river by the first, "taxable" bridge, if this bridge is more comfortable and the educated guard working there is a pleasant person to deal with. In such a case, the service provided is worth paying extra for. But if that is not the case, no one in a free-market economy can make an entrepreneur cross the river by the first, "taxable" bridge.

In this section you will find some useful and extensive information on the following issues: