For most people, regulatory regimes are not going to be the first point of comparison in choosing between competing offshore jurisdictions, but once a short list of suitable jurisdictions has been assembled based on other criteria (investment type and accessibility? language? contacts? location? climate?) then a comparison of regulatory regimes may help to narrow the field.

The choice of an offshore jurisdiction is in itself a difficult, and to some extent a circular task. You will not find it easy to distinguish between the merits of different offshore jurisdictions, or the facilities they offer, until you have got to know them quite well. This is the point at which you might think that an onshore adviser in your own home country can help you - and it may be so, but remember that only a very skilled, knowledgeable and above all, objective, adviser is going to be useful. Such a person is hard to find.

www.lowtax.net is designed to help people who do not have access to the perfect adviser we just described. www.lowtax.net is not an investment adviser, and is no substitute for professional advice, which is an absolute necessity for anyone planning a move offshore. But the www.lowtax.net site does contain a wealth of information about 35 offshore jurisdictions, which is designed to help you to make a preliminary choice of one or a few offshore jurisdictions suited to your circumstances, which you can then explore in depth.

Among much other information given for each jurisdiction, www.lowtax.net contains sections on Offshore Business Sectors, giving a general account of the regime for trusts, banking, mutual funds etc, and a section called Law of Offshore, which reviews legal and regulatory structures in depth.