4. Singapore
Singapore and Hong Kong are racing against each other to be the leading offshore financial center in Asia. Even though Singapore mostly covers Southeast Asian investors, many of those from North Asia and China prefer to save their money in Singapore rather than Hong Kong.
One of the reason why is the fact that registered companies conducting business outside Singapore jurisdiction are not required to pay annual income tax. In the other hand, companies conducting business in Singapore have to pay 17% tax rate if their annual income is over $2 million.
However, this can be turned if the companies meet the requirement of IRAS (Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore). The tax rate can be lowered or even cleared.
In terms of bank service, information related to offshore accounts’ holders and offshore bank accounts are not to be released by banks officers. And disclosure of the information is punishable by prison or fines. I guess that is another thing to be added to the fine list of Singapore.
