Setting up an exempt company in Isle Of Man?

Sean Foley

Can I do this as an Irish resident in order to avoid tax? Does anyone have any experience of this?

I am wondering because I have a website in development and I think it may be cheaper this way from a tax point of view.

Thanks in advance.

Mr. Incognito

No. Unless you intend living in the Isle of Man full time.

Sean Foley

I noticed some online gambling companies seem to have done this, though?

Mr. Incognito

Then their corporate tax residence is in the isle of man and you can be sure that's compliant with Isle of Man tax rules- i.e they have a presence there.

If you want to open a company in the isle of man you must have key functions located there.

jonboy74

If you setup a company outside of Ireland but the company itself is "managed and controlled" from Ireland, it is an Irish tax-resident company and subject to Irish tax. If you want to setup a company outside of Ireland, you need to, at a bare minimum, have the majority of the board of directors as non-Irish residents and conduct all major decision making activities outside of Ireland.

Even if you can do this, you also need to be aware that you can create a taxable presence in Ireland if your activities based here create a "permanent establishment". In other words, if you have a fixed place of business here, even if the legal entity is formed outside of Ireland and is not an Irish resident entity you can be subjected to Irish tax.

In short, if you simply try to incorporate an entity outside of Ireland without having the right setup in terms of board of directors membership and location of actual business activities, you'll still be stuck in the Irish tax net.