The number of Czech companies with owners registered in tax havens increased by 4 percent to 12,554 last year. The figures from the Czech Capital Information Agency (CEKIA) indicate that 3.4 percent of the 366,500 businesses based in the Czech Republic are controlled from tax havens.
“Entrepreneurs continued to be interested in tax optimization and securing anonymous ownership through foreign companies last year,” CEKIA analyst Petra Štěpánová told ČTK. Cyprus dominated European onshore destinations, clocking a 12-percent increase in registered companies y-o-y, followed by the Netherlands and Luxembourg. But while Cyprus’s popularity has been increasing since 2006, interest in the Netherlands and Luxembourg has recently dropped. Meanwhile, the Seychelles topped the offshore list, reporting a growth of 24 percent. The interest in locations used to secure anonymity grew as well, due to the unclear future of anonymous shares.
