E-business of an offshore company

That is probably an area of activity where the exercise of his trade through an offshore company is therefore more interesting and easy. In most cases these are commercial sites that do not require permanent establishments and everything happens on the Internet.

Understand your rights related to the Internet. In international sales transactions made on the Internet, there is the following problem: where the tax benefits?

Internet makes it possible for a trader with a foreign company (in Gibraltar, for example) to achieve a sale in France and Belgium via its website, without the foreign company in France or Belgium had no physical presence (website virtual) or without France or Belgium than just another presence server or hosting of its website in a hosting.

But how does one determine the place of taxation? The criterion relating to international taxation of profits based on the physical presence of parties in one or other of the States.

This criterion is the notion of PERMANENT AGREEMENT is defined by the OCDE as "a fixed place of business through which an enterprise is wholly or partly carried on" which includes branches, subsidiaries, offices, permanent representatives, etc.. This means that in the case of e-commerce company based in Gibraltar that would sell in France or Belgium via a website hosted by a service provider located in Belgium or abroad, could not be imposed France and Belgium, for having no permanent establishment in the territory of French or Belgian.

The Belgian government has adopted a position similar to that of the OCDE since the first ministerial response "from Chazeaux" states that "only in exceptional cases where the foreign company would have its own computer equipment in France Belgium and employ staff to run it, it would be possible to consider that this company has a permanent establishment in France and Belgium "(No. 15728, JO AN 26 October 1998. p. 5849).

The only obligation of the company based in Gibraltar since the new directive from 1 July 2003 on electronic commerce is to pay VAT on French or Belgian State.