he Maltese Italian Chamber of Commerce (MICC) has a central role in developing business between Italy and Malta, offering different types of services for both Italian and Maltese entrepreneurs.
The MICC is a private-law organisation who operates like the normal Chambers of Commerce, it is member of ASSOCAMERE, the Association of Italian Chambers of Commerce in foreign countries and it is officially recognized from the Italian Government thanks to the law 518/70.
The MICC can be considered the first contact point between the Italian Entrepreneur who wants to start a business in Malta and the Maltese business environment. Our staff has a strong local knowledge and background so it can easily be considered one of the best referents in Malta for Italian citizens.
Both Italian and Maltese enterprises can become members of the MICC. We offer different types of membership depending on the amount of services you’ll want a have access to. Becoming a member is cheap for both who wants to start a new business in Malta and for who already has it but want to develop his business by, for example, finding new partners. Click here to become a member.
Globiance – A simple way to buy or sell crypto – an easier way to bank & trade worldwide.
What is Globiance?
Globiance is a regulated, crypto-trading exchange/banking platform simplified. We’ve made it easier to access both banking and crypto trading – all in one convenient location. Use the Globiance APP to buy & sell Crypto, collect daily rewards and much more.
What does Globiance offer?
Globiance offers a user-friendly experience whether you are a novice or a seasoned trader, offering access to both; a CEX (centralized) and DEX (decentralized) exchange platform on the XDC network. Globiance is a safe and secure alternative to traditional banking and trading crypto. You can pay bills, manage finances, and even go shopping – using your Globiance Bank/Debit card. Foreign Currencies can instantly be converted into local funds, when making transactions, so there’s no need to worry about exchanging or moving money around ahead of time.
Where is Globiance?
Globiance is Global! You can find Globiance in countries all around the world, including; Switzerland, USA, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Australia, South Africa, Turkey and EU (Estonia), Globiance has Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Korea, Canada and many more are currently in the works or on the radar.
What service does Globiance offer?
Bank accounts, Visa, Mastercard or UnionPay cards are directly integrated into the Globiance Platform – making it a solution for managing your finances in one, easy location. Buying & Selling crypto with an integrated bank account easily accessible on the same platform, is a much smoother experience that helps speed up settlement times. The Globiance Platform network is fast and cheap averaging 2-3 seconds per transaction and currently costing less than a penny in transaction fees. No more waiting hours for your crypto transactions to go through.
The GBEX Token
Introducing the GBEX token. A ‘Deflationary Token’ created specifically for Globiance that generates passive rewards for GBEX token holders on the Globiance platform & app. The GBEX token is the house token – ‘Native’ to Globiance. GBEX is a deflationary token, this means that the token supply is burning away tokens, with every transaction made on the CEX, as well as when transferring between certain wallets. Globiance contributes 12% of the profit from every trade, giving 6% to the holders and burning the other 6% from the total GBEX token supply. You can use GBEX tokens to trade crypto, earn rewards and more! GBEX holders earn rewards in a variety of ways including; Trading 4% Burn/Reward tax benefits 12% internal tax contribution from Globiance 6% burned / 6% rewards to GBEX holders Staking Referrals Holding NFT’s – (coming in the near future) Game-fi – (coming in the near future)
Where to buy GBEX:
Globiance EU Platform: http://eu.globiance.com Globiance International: http://exchange.globiance.com GlobianceDEX – via D’cent or XDCwallet http://dex.globiance.com
The Globiance Platform is licensed and registered and can be used for banking transactions in the countries where it is currently active. It is based on military-grade security software and is a safe place to store your GBEX and other crypto holdings. Globiance works with both hot and cold wallets – however, only minimal funds are ever held on ‘hot’ (online) wallets. Most of the funds are held in ‘cold’ (offline) wallets and stored safely offline. Withdrawals on Globiance are authorized manually and verified for maximum security. While no platform can guarantee 100% security, Globiance has taken the necessary steps to be as vigilant and secure as possible when it comes to protecting assets.
XinFin Foundation is a non-profit organization which liaises with different international governments in order to reduce the existing gap in global infrastructure. According to XinFin, the lack of government sponsored financing hinders the possibility of many infrastructure projects around the globe.
However, by means of creating a secured blockchain transaction platform, XinFin aims to bridge that gap wherein the investors can bid for different infrastructure projects and finance them in a smoother way, thereby avoiding all the issues and paperwork that arises during the process of allocating finance to an infrastructure project happening in a different country. The idea is to leverage the facilities of blockchain platform to connect the investors and the developers in a secure environment thereby allowing them to transact finances against certain secured digital assets.
Adorebits is one of the leading technology solutions company that leverages the cutting-edge technologies of today to help clients improve their business. We are one of the leading blockchain development company and cryptocurrency development company in the market with a solid portfolio across industries. At Adorebits, our mission is to become the trusted and preferred technology partner for our clients. We are experts in Blockchain, AI, Cryptocurrency Exchange Software, Mobile and Web app Development technologies. Our experienced team of technology and domain experts along with our passion for client success ensures that we provide quality work and client satisfaction. Website : https://www.adorebits.com/
The one time setup fee per company includes share capital and government fees. The annual recurring service package fee is 3600 Euro incl accounting, company secretary registered office, VAT returns and company administration.
Every company needs also a commercial address – a physical office. As a minimum this is one desk in a co-working space. Without this you can not get a VAT number and you are not allowed to start trading. For a price of 3600 Euro per year you get your own physical desk which you can use 24 hours, a shared meeting room, wifi, coffee, water, free parking. This fulfills the substance requirement of the government. If you need more space we can also provide locked up offices for 4 or 6 people or full own offices.
How does the Maltese tax refund scheme work? Please let us set you a call with one of our accountants to explain more details on how the Maltese tax refund system works.
A simple example for the 6/7th refund: For example if you have 100k profit. You pay 35% taxes = 35,000 Euro to the government The government refunds 30%=30,000 Euro to the shareholder (to the holding company or you personally)
The Advantages of Maltese Companies can be summarised as follows:
A full Member State of the European Union and part of the Eurozone, providing Malta-based businesses with instant access to the EU’s internal market of over 500 million people;
Strategic location, being within 3 hours direct flight time from Europe’s major financial centres;
Accessible and forward-looking regulators having a pragmatic and pro-business approach towards regulation;
EU passporting rights for certain classes of financial services licences granted by the Maltese authorities;
Entitlement of non-resident persons to various levels of tax refunds, based on Malta’s full imputation tax system;
A Corporate income tax rate of 35% which can be reduced to between 0% and 5% in the hands of shareholders. Such rates are achieved through the application of various levels of tax refunds available to shareholders not being tax resident in Malta;
No Maltese withholding tax applied on the distribution of dividends to shareholders of Maltese companies;
Political stability coupled with unanimous political support for the country’s position as an international business and financial services centre of excellence;
An educated, dedicated and multi-lingual workforce having a strong work ethic;
Availability of specialised professionals at competitive rates;
Presence of all major audit firms;
Possibility of re-domiciling or continuing companies into and out of Malta, providing the option of preserving the continuity of a company’s legacy, reputation and financial track-record;
A banking sector, composed of a combination of solid and reliable Maltese banks and major international banks, providing the highest standards of service to corporate and private clients;
Availability of state-of-the-art hosting and connectivity technology;
State-of-the-art transhipment and distribution facilities
Despite the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, the UK continues to be an attractive location to site an international holding company since not only does it offer a relatively stable legal, political and economic system it also has an attractive tax regime in its own right and extensive tax treaty network with the rest of the world.
The location of a holding company is an important consideration in any international structure where there is a desire to minimise the tax charged on the income flow.
The UK:
has a low rate of corporation tax, currently 19% and set to fall to 17% in 2020
exempts dividends received from subsidiaries in most countries from corporation tax
does not charge capital gains tax on the disposal of trading subsidiaries
does not levy withholding tax on distributions from the holding company to its parent company or individual shareholders
has no capital gains tax on profits arising from the sale of shares in the holding company by non-resident shareholders
offers extensive reliefs for early stage businesses
offers extensive relief for expenditure on qualifying research and development
has the option of a remittance basis of taxation for non-UK domiciled individuals who come to the UK, for example as holding company directors
Some of the highlights in more detail
Tax Treaty Network
The UK has the largest network of double tax treaties in the world. In many situations where a UK company owns more than 10% of the issued share capital of an overseas subsidiary, the local rate of withholding tax on dividends paid up from the subsidiary is reduced to 5%.
Whilst UK remains part of the EU, it can also benefit from the EU Parent/Subsidiary Directive, thereby reducing withholding tax to zero on dividends from many EU countries. Although there is no indication yet of proposed regulations post Brexit, the UK will certainly need to offer a competitive landscape to continue to attract investment.
Tax Exemption for Foreign Income Dividends
Small Companies
Small companies are defined as companies with less than 50 employees that meet one or both of the financial criteria below:
turnover less than €10 million
balance sheet total of less than €10 million
Small companies receive a full exemption from the taxation of foreign income dividends if these are received from a territory which has a double taxation agreement with the UK that contains a non-discrimination article. The UK has treaties with more than 130 countries including the recently enacted agreement with the United Arab Emirates.
Medium and Large Companies
A full exemption from taxation of foreign dividends applies if the dividend falls into one of several classes of exempt dividend. The most relevant classes are:
dividends paid by a company that is controlled by the UK recipient company
dividends paid in respect of ordinary shares
capital that is non redeemable
most portfolio dividends
dividends derived from transactions not designed to reduce tax
Where these exemption classes do not apply, foreign dividends received by a UK company will be subject to UK corporation tax. However, relief will be given for foreign taxation, including underlying taxation, where the UK company controls at least 10% of the voting power of the overseas company.
No Withholding Taxes
The UK does not impose withholding taxes on the distribution of dividends to shareholders or parent companies. This is regardless of where in the world the shareholder is resident.
Capital Gains Tax
There is no capital gains tax on disposals of subsidiaries by a holding company of a trading group subject to meeting the qualifying conditions for the “Substantial Shareholdings Exemption” (SSE).
To have a substantial shareholding, a company must have owned at least 10% of the ordinary shares in the company and have held these for a continuous period of 12 months during the two years before disposal.
To qualify for this exemption the investing company must still be the holding company of a trading group or a trading company itself immediately after the disposal. If it is no longer a trading company or member of a trading group, dissolution of the holding company should proceed immediately in order to qualify for the exemption.
Sale of Shares in the Holding Company
The UK does not charge capital gains tax on the sale of shares in the holding company situated in the UK by non-residents. Therefore if the holding company is itself disposed of by non-UK owners (personal or corporate ownership) there is no exposure to UK capital gains tax.
There is anti-avoidance if the holding company is mainly a property investment company, which would bring gains into the UK tax charge.
UK Controlled Foreign Company (CFC) Legislation
Anti-avoidance rules, called the controlled foreign company (CFC) rules, prevent UK resident companies rolling up profits in jurisdictions where the tax rates are very low to avoid paying UK tax on the rolled up income.
UK CFC laws exist to:
target and impose a CFC tax charge on the artificial diversion of UK profits
exempt foreign profits, where there is no risk to the UK tax base
ensure profits from genuine economic activity from outside of the UK are not taxed in the UK – a vital component of any holding company regime
The UK CFC laws do not therefore affect the majority of UK companies which are the parent of international groups whose intention is not to divert passive profits away from the UK.
Conclusion
Locating a holding company in the UK is highly desirable due to:
the UK’s extensive double tax treaty network
exemption of dividends from taxation in the UK
capital gains tax exemption for trading companies
the absence of withholding taxes
the absence of capital gains tax on the sale of shares in the holding company by foreign shareholders
Nordic Capital Ventures is an investment and advisory firm focused exclusively on Blockchain technology, the digital economy and exponential markets. While the core team provides capital management and trading services the firm facilitates Blockchain adoption and venture capital deals through its broad network of experienced ambassadors in Europe, S-E Asia, Australia and the Americas. With a practical and open approach they welcome any general queries to contact@nordiccapitalventures.com
