As reported by Delo, 36-year-old Petrovič explained that "there is a distinction between tax planning, a completely legal and legitimate activity, and tax evasion which is illegal". Petrovič has opened 17 companied through Mossack Fonseca for his clients, 16 of those in Anguilla (British overseas territory, where there are virtually no taxes, and no agreements with other countries on double taxation exist), and one at the British Virgin Islands.
The offshore operation can be completely acceptable, as the owners might decide for it due to completely justified reasons (e.g. easier setting up of companies and easier operation, or wish to keep the ownership of real estate anonymous, closeness of business…).
The operation through a company registered in a tax haven could be however controversial also in cases described by Petrovič. Such company from a tax haven could be a completely legal owner of shares in other companies. But should a Slovenian tax resident through such company receive certain income (dividends, proceeds of sale of shares, distributed profits…) and fail to report it to Furs (Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia), tax evasion is committed.
And at that point the owner has a problem – such income reported in Slovenia is subjected to Slovenian tax legislation, and operation through Anguilla makes no sense, as it would be all the same should he operate from Slovenia. The only logical thing would be to leave the money received through company with headquarters in Anguille there, as the tax would be small, or non-existent. Yet the next problem he would have to face would be to find a way to get that money out of the tax haven without being caught by the Slovenian tax authorities.
Presently the corporations and rich individuals all over the world are in possession of huge quantities of money, locked up within the tax havens. Furs comments that the operation through tax havens is characterised by a very high degree of banking secrecy (i.e. »secrecy jurisdictions«) and very low taxes for companies registered there.
