Offshore financial questions

Tax planning is the legal mode and a structured model that a natural person or company uses to avoid the maximum taxation in their country of residence. The vital part in carrying out this fiscal planning are the offshore financial centers. Tax planning is not done in tax havens, as we all think, but outside these financial centers. Thanks to the favorable fiscal environments of the offshore financial centers and double taxation agreements, the perfect tax planning can be carried out.

From our webpage you will learn how to identify an offshore financial center or an international financial center, move your business from onshore to offshore, reduce the tax burden on your company, use the best tax planning for your company, how to save taxes legally

You are not committing any illegality with your MLM business, it is totally legal and you can operate without problems with an offshore company. In case if you do not want to appear in the transaction we recommend you to set up a company in Belize with an account in Cyprus. From what I see the transferred amounts are not very high and you will not have problems with your tax agency. You can receive payments from any country in the world to your offshore including France and Spain. Not all offshore are considered tax havens, you can register an offshore company in Cyprus, for example, with your bank account and it would not be considered a tax haven. Have a nice day

Up until now,Hong Kong has signed agreements of automatic banking information exchange with 7 countries and Spain is not among them. However, a client should always keep in mind that in the future it is possible that it will be signed. The decision to sign this kind of agreement depends on both countries and their preposition and interest in bilateral exchange of information. It is hard to predict if this kind of agreement will ever take place with Spain because 3 things can happen: it gets signed, it does not get signed or that it happens in a long future. Note that in order for the automatic information exchange agreement to become effective, there must be a bilateral agreement between both countries and if there is not, there will be no exchange of information.

Opening a bank account for a company that develops gambling activitiesis complicated but not impossible. Offshore banks take many precautions when opening a bank account for gambling companies since these are businesses with a high risk of tax fraud. The countries that can open a bank account for a company with a gambling license registered in Costa Rica are Mauritius, Bulgaria (SEPA), Romania (SEPA) or Hungary (SEPA). Bank accounts can be opened with the SEPA banking protocol in the European Union and may operate legally with a gambling license.

The requirements to open an offshore bank account personal or business are the following:

Requirements to open offshore personal bank account

Yes, the client has access to all offshore bank accounts he has since all the banks in the world have online banking and all their offshore investments can be perfectly controlled from the country of residence of a client. What the clients apprecite most is the security of asset protection structure and banks really fight hard to achieve it. That is why all offshore banks invest in creating sophisticated online banking offering the client the possibility to control their investments 24/7.

The denial of loans requested by businesses is quite an every day situation, whether it is requested in a country of high taxes or low taxes. It is in the hands of the bank to determine if you are a person or a business eligible to receive a loan. The bank takes carefully their clients through analyzing their information and then the risk department decides whether the loan is given or denied.

Banking secrecy has almost disappeared in more than 100 countries. The latest international regulations on the exchange of tax information has led to the exchange of personal account data starting from January 2016. Business bank accounts will not exchange financial information if the company has a bank account balance of less than $ 250,000 as of December 31. The alternatives that exist to avoid the exchange of automatic information are to open an offshore company with several bank accounts or use debit card issuers. These last entities are not obliged to report information and it would be a good solution to have privacy.

Due diligence is an investigation carried out by the Compliance Department of a bank, financial entity, credit institution or payment entity with the objective of assessing the viability of a natural or legal person and preventing the money laundering of illicit origin. The FATF (Financial Action Task Force) demanded the due diligence of the clients of banks, lawyers, auditors, tax advisors, jewelers, gaming activities, real estate and notaries to avoid transactions related to the laundering of money of illicit origin. Governments have been responsible for transferring the responsibility of Due diligence to prof

Transferring money to an offshore bank account is completely legal and you do not have to be afraid when transferring your money. The problem arises when the person who wants to transfer the money to his account did not declare this funds to his tax authorities. We recommend that you declare your bank account to your tax authorities and then through double tax treaties reduce the taxes that you have to pay in your country of residence.

It is a financial entity that has the obligation to communicate automatically banking information of companies and individuals to the tax authorities of the countries that have signed a bilateral agreement with the country where the financial entity is registered. Currently, more than 100 countries have signed the automatic information exchange treaty but not all countries are going to sign bilateral agreements with each other. The financial institution is obliged to inform whenever both countries sign mutually a bilateral agreement.

We can define a financial entity as an entity that guards funds, deposits, investments or an insurer entity. Financial entities are characterized by receiving and providing credits to third parties. An example of a financial entity of recognized prestige could be Bank of America, Chase or Bank of China.

Custodial entityis a regulated entity that has financial assets of third parties, whether of individuals or legal entities for the development of its economic activity.

A deposit entity can be defined as any entity regulated by the central bank of the country where it is registered with the objective of accepting deposits in order to carry out its financial activity.

An investment entity is an entity regulated by the central bank of a country where it is registered with the aim of investing the economic resources of a client to his favor. Investment entities are specialized in investing the client's money in monetary market instruments, certificates of deposits, derivatives, currency exchange (Forex), index-based instruments, securities or futures trading in commodities. Investment entities may make investments in favor of a single client or collective groups. Investment entities make investments in countries with high economic and legal stability. Currently the countries that attract the highest volume of investments are New York, London, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

A financial entity that is not obligated to communicate banking information is a financial institution that presents a very low risk of tax evasion. Financial entities that are not required to report banking information automatically to tax agencies are: 

1. State entities, regulated international non-profit organizations, and central banks. If any of these entities carries out a commercial activity for a third party, the entity is obligated to communicate information. 
2. Large-share pension funds, restricted participation pension fund, pension funds of state entities, pension funds of an international non-profit organization or pension funds of a central bank. 
3. Payment institutions issuing cre

A central bank is the main authority that regulates and protects the interests of customers who have deposited the financial asset in any financial institution supervised by the central bank. Central banks are normally imposed by governments with the objective of monitoring the transactions carried out in other financial institutions.

The new automatic banking information exchange treaty regulations identify two types of bank accounts: new bank accounts and pre-existing bank accounts. The difference between both accounts is: 

1. New bank accounts: These are the accounts opened in a financial institution regulated by a central bank as of January 1, 2016. 
2. Pre-existing bank accounts: These are bank accounts opened in a financial entity regulated by a central bank before December 31, 2015.

Depending on the year the bank account was opened, it will be reported or not to the tax authorities. 

New and pre-existing personal accounts: The regulations identify two types of accounts, one of

Yes, you can open a bank account in Danske Bank PLC USA, however the success of the process depends on the banking officer in charge of opening your bank account. The bank decides if it opens the account or not depending on your nationality, nature of the business, reasons for opening the account. Also please take into consideration that in general it is very complicated to open a bank account without a physical presence in a financial institution of United States. If you are of American nationality all the banks in the world are required to inform the IRS that a person with an American passport has requested an opening of a bank account. As a result, many banks have decided not to open bank accounts to individuals and co

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

The Resident agent is the legal representative of your company in the country where it has been registered whether in an offshore or onshore jurisdiction. For the registration of an offshore company the participation of a resident agent is mandatory since the owner of the company or its directors can not directly incorporate an offshore company on their own.

The responsibilities of a resident agent are:

• Register the offshore company in the jurisdiction chosen by the client.
• Sign the incorporation documents.
• Assign the first director of the company.
• Represent the company and its directors legally before the authorities of the state.
• Send and receive notifications

A tax haven is a country with a tax-free regime applied to companies and individuals that are not tax residents in this same country. Tax havens have favorable laws to encourage investments offering opacity and easiness to invest. 

Tax havens can be seen from two points of view: 

1. The first opinion is from the point of view of high taxation countries that have a moralistic and hypocritical opinion criticizing tax havens. However, the same experts don’t dare to criticize such countries like the United States where we can find states like Delaware with a tax saving regime for companies registered in this American state and where Greater 500 Wall Street companies have their representative office to eliminate their taxes considera

No, it is not legal. Money laundering is the process of hiding the real origins of money earned from illegal activities such as drug trafficking, arms smuggling, political corruption, tax evasion, crimes, prostitution, public embezzlement, extortion and terrorism converting it to legal money earned by seemingly lawful companies. Money laundering is a criminal activity in all countries of the world and is very persecuted by laws.

An offshore bank account is a personal or business bank account that is opened outside the country of residence of the bank account holder and has some tax benefits that are not available his country of residence. Depending on the country where the offshore bank account is opened, it may have greater bank secrecy or not. Currently the most opaque countries to open an offshore bank account are Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Samoa, Uruguay.

A legal entity is an institutional entity created by one or more individuals for certain collective purposes. Legal persons have the capacity to be holders of rights, own assets and also incur obligations. An example of a legal entity would be a company, association, corporation or foundation.

An offshore foundation is a commercial entity that occupies a place between a trust and a company. It is characterized by the allocation of a fund or patrimony for a specific purpose. The fund that is donated for the specific purpose becomes an autonomous entity and acquires the same rights as a legal entity.

A fiduciary is a physical person, for example, a trusted attorney appointed by a natural or legal person, such as company or a bank, who takes a responsibility to administer personal loans and assets. The fiduciaries can use their name or offshore companies owned by them to achieve opacity in the administration of their client's assets. One of the main obligations of fiduciaries is a high level of loyalty and ability to prioritize the interests of the owner of the assets taking good care of them in accordance with laws.

Tax havens do not offer many advantages without the personal or legal entity of Trusts. The basic definition of a Trust is: a mediation of a physical person or a public limited company (SA, SL, LTD, INC) generally owned by the trustworthy lawyer to hide and protect the assets of the final beneficiary. The Trust is widely used in the common law to hide the ownership of bank accounts and partnerships that a natural or legal person registers as a final beneficiary. The Trusts are also known as nominees where a trusted lawyer performs the functions of final beneficiary such as the company's billing and tax triangulation to save the maximum taxes to the final benef

The term asset protection describes the legal concept of transferring your assets to a legal entity that protects it from frivolous litigation, government misappropriation and spousal attacks. The protection of assets protects them from any situation that may threaten their property. In any of these situations an offshore company will protect your assets, as it will act as a shield against these unexpected situations.

Law defines an offshore company as a legal entity with tax-exempt status whose liabilities are limited. Offshore companies can sell and buy shares, they have the right to sue and to be sued they also have a perpetual existence. Depending on the jurisdiction where it is registered, the offshore company may be based on "Roman law" such as, for example, Costa Rica and Panama or Anglo-Saxon law "common law" such as, for example, Cyprus, Belize, Cayman Islands, San Vicente and the Grenadines or Seychelles. Managers/directors and shareholders constitute offshore companies. Depending on the jurisdiction, it might be possible or not to use nominee services to hide the identity of the final beneficiary of the offshore company. The Articles of i

The main difference between tax haven and offshore territory lies in tax rates and location. A tax haven is a country where non-residents are not subject to tax, for example, Belize, and an offshore territory can be any country, with or without fiscal obligations, that is outside of the taxpayer's tax residence. That is, a person who is a tax resident in Spain can register a company in an offshore territory with obligation to pay tax, for example, in the United States or can set up a company in a tax haven where tax rates for non-residents are 0%, for example in Belize. In both cases the fiscal location would be outside of client´s country of residence in Spain (

It is quite cheap and easy to protect your heritage. The basic offshore structure in Belize for the protection of individual's funds and assets would cost 1,395 Eur with an annual cost of 995 Eur for maintenance and annual renewal of the company. Of course, this cost can increase according to the complexity of the offshore structure that the client needs.

The most important SICAVs in the European Union, due to its favorable taxation, are those registered in Spain and Luxemburg.

The SICAVs are a type of special partnerships and investment vehicles targeting large fortunes in order to invest it globally in real estate and stock exchange. The term SICAV comes from French and stands for “Société d´I nvestissement à CApital Variable".

The SICAV pays 1% of tax on earnings generated during the fiscal year. This special tax is effective if the generated profit stays in the investment company. If the profit generated by the company pays dividends among the 100 members, than the tax rate shall be equal to a Spanish corporation, i.e. 30% of the generated profits.

Please find bellow an example of certificate of incorporation of a company registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Please find bellow an example of certificate of incorporation of a company registered in Belize.

These and many other questions rise up when deciding to buy a property in your country of residence or in offshore jurisdiction. An offshore company can buy a property in any country but VAT taxes will have to be paid in the country where the transaction takes place. Once the offshore company becomes the owner of the real estate, it can claim these taxes from the tax agency of the country where the purchase was made since the company is not the resident in this country and does not do any type of commercial activity there. Therefore, it cannot be treated a tax resident. Once the offshore company requests the tax refund, the fiscal authorities verify that none of its members (directors / shareholders) are residents of the country where the purchase was made. Once all the

The requirements to register an offshore company are the following:

Requirements Copy of Passport
Apostiled and certified by a notary
Copy of Personal Identity Card
Apostiled and certified by a notary
Copy of one utility bill not older than 3 months
Electricity, water, gas, telephone or bank statement.
Bank Reference or bank certificate not older than 3 months
In English

Opening an offshore company or foundation is very cheap and easy. Depending on your needs you should carefully consider the most comprehensive packages to obtain better results. If you are interested in protecting your family you can purchase a Panamanian foundation of private interest or if you prefer to open an international business you can buy the Package Offshore Company in Panama. In this way the tax savings and protection will be total.

The best offshore jurisdictions for asset protection are Hong Kong, Belize and Seychelles. Most tax havens are equal in terms of their tax laws and services. Certain tax havens have developed a bad reputation due to the abuse of certain elements of the offshore industry, but most of the tax havens that are currently available are quite safe. According to any financial plan it is better to use a mixture of jurisdictions choosing the best of each.

The information that we could find in the commercial register if we requested it would be: the full name of the company, the date of incorporation, auditing reports, and any other public information. For example, in the case of Nevis (one of the safest and most secretive jurisdictions in the world) when the company is registered there is no requirement to include the names of the officers, directors or shareholders of the company in the Public Registry. Such information is confidential and cannot be disclosed by any official, lawyer, notary etc. Otherwise when revealing this information they will have a penalty of jail and high economic sanction. In Panama, the law is a bit different, since it i

Offshore companies are used to issue shares, bonds, increase or decrease capital, guarantee obligations, employ, buy and sell goods and services, make contracts, rent offices, maintain bank checking and savings accounts, maintain retirement plans for employees and managers. Also offshore companies are used to own other companies and operate in both national and international businesses. Although most companies are private and managed by the beneficial owners or managers themselves, others are public and can negotiate in the stock market.

No, it is not immoral to protect your assets by moving them to offshore. It is the most logical and professional way to protect your assets for what may happen in the future: divorce proceedings, misappropriation of the real estate or economic destruction of the beneficiary. Some people let the system go for their assets having them in sight. This is your choice. The protection of assets by moving them to "offshore" is between both alternatives and there is nothing immoral in this option. We must protect the assets obtained thanks to long hours of work to be able to enjoy them and our family in the future.

Tax evasion is the illegal behavior of an individual or company by not paying their taxes. However, tax avoidance is the main foundation of tax planning and is the use of legal resources to get the minimum tax payment. Therefore, when we speak of avoidance we mean a legal tool that allows the taxpayer to avoid paying taxes or lower them. All the governments of high-tax countries enclose this type of legal structures.

Setting up an offshore company is simple but you have to take into account the obligations contracted by the directors and shareholders of the company. If by your circumstances you cannot maintain the company, the money deposited in the bank will still be yours even if the company is not renewed. What can happen is the following: you stop paying the renewal fees of your company and at some point the bank, where you have your business bank account, asks you for a "Good Standing" certificate to verify that your company is up to date with the payment of your tax obligations. If you don’t present that certificate, that can be issued only by the government of the country where your company is registered and only after all the fees are paid,

A fiduciary company is a vehicle of patrimony protection highly recommended to safeguard properties in the country of residence of the owner and abroad. The fiduciary companies are very common in inheritance planning and it is a very good option to avoid problems between heirs and to give anonymity to the final beneficiary of the company. The best jurisdictions to establish your fiduciary company are: Panama, Belize and Liechtenstein. You can read more on related terms in “Who is a fiduciary?” and in “Trusts”.

No, it is not illegal. To move your assets to offshore is 100% legal when your goal is diversification or protection and there is nothing illegal in the mobilization of assets to "offshore". You can have offshore companies, offshore bank accounts and real estate in any country of the world without committing any fiscal crime.

Offshore companies and private foundations are legal. Therefore, they are not causes of investigation by the tax authorities if everything is declared correctly. Money laundering activities of illicit origin are the activities pursued by the tax agencies.

No, the client will never have to travel to another country to set up an offshore company. The registration of the company is processed online and without physical presence of the client in the country of incorporation.

Depending on the jurisdiction you wish to invest in, the shares may be nominative or bearer. Let´s take a look at Belize, where both types of shares are allowed, as an example. Currently Belizean banks do not favor this kind of legal structures because they are considered high risk and if you require banking services you may be denied the opening of the business account having bearer shares. In the not too distant future it is possible that the bearer shares will disappear at all so that the companies that have issued this type of shares wouldn’t be able to carry out commercial activities in the main markets of the United States and the European Union.

Closing down an offshore company is the process of liquidation of a company (or a part of it) and distribution of liabilities and assets that company possesses. The term “closing down a company” can also mean the dissolution of a company. However, technically speaking, the dissolution is the last phase of the whole process of closing down an offshore company.

The procedure for closing an offshore company highly depends on the country where the company is registered, its laws and governmental regulations. In some countries such as France and Spain the process of closing a company can be overlong and expensive. But in other countries, such as Belize or Seychelles, the same process is much simpler and consists of paying the closing fees and

It will be considered that the offshore company has the address of the headquarters where the effective administration took place. The financial institution where the company has a bank account, the post office boxes or addresses used to receive correspondences will not be considered as effective administration address. The exception of this rule is when the address used by the company is the only address it has and it is listed as the registered office in the official documents of the company. Nor is the headquarters address considered if a natural person receives all correspondence from the company and then sends it back.

A company will be considered as linked when it participates in administration or has at least 50% of the capital or 50% of the rights of another company. The links between two separately registered companies is not illegal but you have to be careful when filing corporate taxes as it can lead to misinterpretation and cause the final beneficiaries problems with their tax agencies. We advise to create correctly the contracts between both companies and make it very clear what activities the companies develop and what is the objective and functions of a linked company. The linked operations between companies may have the objective of reducing the liability or the corporate tax of a master (parent) c