If you are a non-US person who happens to spend a lot of time in the United States you are secure in the fact that you will not become liable for US taxes on your worldwide income so long as you do not spend 183 days or more in the United States during any tax year; RIGHT?
WRONG! To avoid a very dangerous pitfall you must be careful to read all of the fine print in the rules that determine US tax residency for non-US persons.
The first step is to analyze each of your assets and categorize them according to both their volatility and their exposure. Volatility denotes the amount of risk associated with each asset. Exposure denotes how easily the asset can be attacked. (This does not indicate the probability for success of such an attack, merely its exposure to attack.)
The Panama private interest foundation is considered by many to be one of the best asset protection vehicles in the world. As such it is highly promoted as an effective alternative to an asset protection trust. In most circumstances those claims are true. But, Panama foundations have also been promoted as providing tax benefits for their users as well. This certainly may be true for non-US persons, but is highly doubtful for US taxpayers.
The international business company or IBC is the second oldest entity in the offshore practitioners’ bag of tools. It is from that venerable creation that virtually all other non-trust entities are derived. It was originally called an IBC to distinguish it from a domestic company. In the early days of offshore companies an IBC could only be owned by persons who were neither citizens nor residents of the country in which the IBC was incorporated.
The trust is the oldest of all of the entities currently used in international financial planning. Some say it dates back to Roman times, but it certainly dates back at least to the time of the Crusades, when it was used to protect the estate of the knight or Lord who went to fight in the holy land at a time when wives were considered legally incompetent to manage such an estate.
The world was shocked when the US government arrested a prominent UK businessman for violating US law, even though he runs a perfectly legal UK licensed gaming company….
Who the heck do US officials think they are? What jurisdiction do they think they have?
No emperor, or commissar, pope or prince in all of history has claimed the kind of jurisdiction the United States government unabashedly asserts for itself:
Yesterday, I responded to the first half of Ed’s question:
I'm interested in the Netherlands Antilles and Austria as offshore jurisdictions. Do you have any info?
Answer Part 2: Austria
Austria’s appeal is limited to a few people with very particular needs—if you had asked me about quality of life I could have waxed eloquent for hours. But you didn’t, you asked about offshore.
"Happy Thanksgiving to All! May you have fair winds and find your way safely to your home port!"
Ed asks this question:
I'm interested in the Netherlands Antilles and Austria as offshore jurisdictions. do you have any info?
Answer Part 1: The Netherlands Antilles
The first thing to note about the Netherlands Antilles (NA) is that it is in the process of ceasing to exist.
The “miracle bank” of Central Asia, Asia Universal Bank in the Kyrgyz Republic has had an involuntary bankruptcy petition filed against it. The petition alleges that AUB illegally “froze” some US$11 million in order to cover its own liquidity problems. When questioned, AUB opined that it was required to freeze the funds under the anti-money laundering statute. Further investigation however, reveals that there was no such statute in effect at that time of the action, only a yet unenacted “draft”.
QUESTION: I have some questions as a beneficiary from an offshore non grantor trust. My father established the trust in the Isle of Jersey, off of UK in 1978. Out of the seven family beneficiaries, three reside in the US. My brother who is not a US resident is insisting that we may loose as much as 100% of all distributed assets in taxes and therefore he is advising to let him take all the money. My brother is specifically quoting following lines from your website.
When one looks at the following list of countries, what words jump to the front of your mind?
Corruption? Mafia? Ethnic cleansing? Danger? War, famine death and pestilence?
What offshore and international financial centers would you like to know more about? There are dozens of them, offshore centers that were but are not; offshore centers that never were; offshore centers that don’t admit it; offshore centers for some; offshore centers that might be; the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Right now Panamá is a place to watch. With the approval of the new canal, Panamá could afford the downsizing of its offshore financial services industry when the new canal is done. One cannot help but wonder what kind of deals Panamá will have to make in order to get financing for the canal. Lastly, it has been reported that, although Panamá companies only are taxed on their territorial income, starting in 2007, those companies must report their foreign assets, even though they are not currently taxable. This sounds to me like some taxman drawing up a wish list for later…
Opening a non-resident offshore bank account is: A) easy B) difficult C) extremely difficult D) impossible E) all of the above
And the correct answer is….
E) All of the Above. It really depends on what kind of account, at which bank and from which country you have a passport.
After 56 years of existence, no new Uruguayan SAFI (Sociedad Anonima Financiera de Inversion) can be created after the end of December. To those not in the know, this may be a big yawn, but real players will be less than happy about losing this key tool.
The good news is that the SAFI will not actually be abolished, yet. No new SAFIs will be formed, but Uruguay will allow all existing SAFIs to continue their operations for 10 years, after which they will become regular Uruguayan Companies. 10 years is a long time in the offshore world, so I recommend you consider getting this tool while you can.
Anyone who thought that the OECD attack on “tax-havens” would make them go away was self-deluded. The offshore financial services industry has grown to huge proportions. According to published US and UK government reports, it now tops $11.5 Trillion dollars and despite US and EU animosity it is still growing!
With this much money at stake an increasing number of high-tax countries are looking for ways to get a piece of this pie. None of them are turning into across-the-board tax havens, but various countries are selecting one or two specific vehicles to which they are granting special treatment.
The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) has one of the finest bodies of corporate law in the world, having closely modeled their laws after the top corporate haven in the world: the State of Delaware. The RMI is a former U.S. dependency in the Pacific Ocean which is now entirely independent.
One of the most innovative and useful business entities provided for in RMI Law is the Series Limited Liability Company (LLC).
If you are a US citizen resident anywhere in the world, or in space for that matter, or are a US resident for tax purposes, AND you have:
a financial interest in or signature authority, or other authority over any financial accounts, including bank, securities, or other types of financial accounts in a foreign country, if the aggregate value of these financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year, must report that relationship each calendar year by filing TD F 90-22.1 with the Department of the Treasury on or before June 30, of the succeeding year.
“As you requested my credentials and experiences are outlined here.”
More than 20 years ago I fell into this business by accident. I was working in Washington DC and served as an official of various international organizations. My travels took me to and through the offshore centers of the day on a regular basis. People I knew asked if I “could do them a favor while I was in” Switzerland or Luxembourg or one of the other traditional money centers. Over the years those favors developed into an avocation which transformed into a career. Perhaps that transmutation was inevitable: I have seldom seen a rule written by the hand of man that I did not immediately feel an urge to subvert—not break mind you, but get around it without breaking it. After all, only a cad enjoys winning by cheating.
In many ways, I am one of the most well vetted men in the world…let me explain.
Panama Real Estate MEDIA is revolutionizing Panama's real estate market by introducing the industry's first network of high-quality English magazines, promotional DVDs and Panama's first-ever all English television series, Hot Properties, brought to you by Panama Real Estate TV.
The UK will set itself up as an online gambling haven but will extradite executives to the US if asked, according to Sports Minister Richard Caborn.
The US effectively banned online gambling with a new law earlier this year, and Caborn and Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell outlined plans to welcome internet gambling companies to the UK and regulate them.
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GUERNSEY SEES RISE IN INCORPORATIONS
The first six months of the year saw an average of 156 incorporations a month, which far outstripped anything seen in the last four years. To the end of June there were 1,095 company formations, a 35% increase over the same period last year.
http://www.thisisguernsey.com/code/showbusinessarticle.pl?ArticleID=112763
