Prague - Czech firms are increasingly moving their activities to offshore tax havens.
According to estimates provided by the Territorial Investments Group that studies the problematic, there are already six to eight thousand Czech companies that have relocated their activities to tax haven countries.
"In the last three years, the number of such companies has increased by practically 100 percent," Tomáš Pelikán from the Territorial Investments Group told Aktuálně.cz.
This year, Pelikán added, the number is likely to increase by about 20 percent.
Sunny (tax) paradises
The most popular destination among Czech entrepreneurs are Seychelles, Cyprus and Holland.
However, primarily middle and large firms are interested in Holland, since it is more expensive to found a company there in comparison with, for example, Cyprus.
Panama, Luxemburg, British Virgin Islands or Belize are other tax paradises popular among Czechs.
It is mostly financial and investment groups, or firms trafficking goods from Asia, that tend to relocate parts of their activities to tax havens.
Kellner, Komárek, Bakala and the likes
Thousands of companies have moved their operations in search of lower taxes. Petr Kellner, a majority owner of the PPF Group has re-located part of his business abroad.
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Some of Kellner's companies are registered in Holland and Cyprus, as well as those belonging to oil magnate Komárek, the owner of KKCG Finance.
Coal baron Zdeněk Bakala is located in Amsterdam too.
Cyprus, at the same time, is a location of some of the firms under the Penta Investments umbrella.
Zentiva or AAA Auto are controlling their business from abroad too.
"Tax haven? Stable legal framework!"
However, representatives of many companies are denying the allegation that what they look for abroad are lower taxes.
"Seats in Cyprus, or Holland, are not established out of tax concerns, as is frequently claimed by the media. Rather, they are linked to international expansion of the group not only in Europe but also in North Africa or the Middle East. Cyprus and Holland are countries with stable economic scenes, solid legal frameworks and law enforceability, great conditions for international investments and also intergovernmental agreements on foreign investments protection with the majority of the countries around the world ," explained Dan Plovajko, a spokesman of Karel Komárek.
