Barbados advantages in estate planning

For purposes of estate planning, Barbados Island offers the following advantages to take into consideration:

1. Follows international standards in tax and tax information exchange matters: Barbados is a signatory of the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters in 2015, which will enter into force on the month of November of the present year.
2. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) does not consider it as a tax haven or a non cooperating country. Barbados is considered a country that complies with all tax transparency international standards.
3. It has a broad network of Double Taxation Treaties with countries such as: United States, Canada, Spain, China, Panama, Mexico, Venezuela, among other. Companies residing in Barbados wishing to make business in other countries have incentives in tax matters under these Agreements.
4. It has a network of Treaties to Promote and Protect Investments with countries such as: China, Canada, Italy, Switzerland, Cuba, United Kingdom Venezuela and Germany, among other. Companies residing in Barbados that wish to make investments in signatory countries to such Treaties have the benefit of reimbursement of withholding taxes, use of international arbitration to solve investment related controversies and an equal treatment to their investments.
5. It has political and economic stability: Barbados forms part of the Commonwealth of Nations, was placed No. 1 in the Report of International Transparency on the Corruption Perception Index in 2014 in Latin America and the Caribbean and No. 17 among 175 countries. Likewise, according to the Economic Freedom Index of 2014, it is considered as the 8^th highest index of economic freedom of the American continent, and 45^th worldwide. Barbados was also classified by the World Economic Forum in its Global Competitiveness Report as the 4^th more stable banking system of the western hemisphere.

Image: Jordan Whitt