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English equivalent to "Briefkastenfirma"?



 
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English equivalent to "Briefkastenfirma"? #1 (permalink) Fri Feb 08, 2008 12:50 pm   English equivalent to "Briefkastenfirma"?
 

Hi,

I've just been asked by a group of Germans if there's an equivalent to the German expression "Briefkastenfirma". It seems to me that this is a typical German phenomenon and although there is the English term "shell corporation" I doubt that this is a widely used in English as is its German counterpart.

Can you shed some light on this please?
Thank you so much,
Torsten

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Torsten
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English equivalent to "Briefkastenfirma"? #2 (permalink) Fri Feb 08, 2008 12:58 pm   English equivalent to "Briefkastenfirma"?
 

I think we often say, "The company is only a P.O. box." Dict.cc gives two definitions, one plausible and one implausible. The plausible one is "phantom company", but I don't get any real hits on Google with that meaning.

"Shell company" maybe be your best bet. Here's what Investopedia.com says about that:

Quote:
A corporation without active business operations or significant assets.

Shell corporations are often formed before commencing operations to obtain financing. Sometimes, they may be used as a front in tax evasion.
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English equivalent to "Briefkastenfirma"? #3 (permalink) Fri Feb 08, 2008 14:11 pm   English equivalent to "Briefkastenfirma"?
 

Hi Jamie,

Thanks a lot for your response which you posted in record time. What would you say is the percentage of Americans who know the term "shell company"? I'm asking because I'd reckon that at least 80% of all Germans would know the expression "Briefkastenfirma".

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English equivalent to "Briefkastenfirma"? #4 (permalink) Fri Feb 08, 2008 15:13 pm   English equivalent to "Briefkastenfirma"?
 

I think almost all Americans would have some sense of what a "shell company" is, even if they'd never heard the term.

However, I've just remembered the more common, universally understood term for it. We most often say "front company"; "front" there as in façade.
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English equivalent to "Briefkastenfirma"? #5 (permalink) Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:42 am   English equivalent to "Briefkastenfirma"?
 

.
There's also something called a "dummy corporation/company", which I'd say would also be pretty universally understood over here.
.
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