[jwilliams]

Whilst Singapore comes up a lot as a company HQ - it's often not due to company taxes (which are _rarely_ as straightforward as you pay x%, no matter the domicile).

The big draw to Singapore is usually for the individuals - Singapore has no Capital Gains Tax (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_gains_tax#Singapore). At a personal level, if you're flipping a multi-million dollar business that's a big deal.

As other commenters have mentioned, the company/personal/VAT picture becomes more murky.

[walterbell]

Are there precedents where the Singapore company holds IP and licenses that IP to foreign companies which hire and pay employees? Could a Singapore company grant stock options to foreign employees?

[jwilliams]

I don't know specifically wrt to Singapore, but this is a common structure.

It used to be called a "Dutch Sandwich", but now called the Double Irish: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Irish_arrangement

[walterbell]

That now appears to be closed to new companies in Ireland.