Here are a few suggestions on researching useful offshore banking accounts:
- You can find web-sites offering to help you get a private overseas account, but choose carefully; some have established ‘real-world’ businesses behind them, and some are no more than a few web-pages and a couple of guys in a back room. There is no need to utilize the many middleman internet sites you’ll find via a search engine. Most of these are *bogus*, even the slick-looking ones. More and more banks are offering offshore bank-accounts direct. Just get a list of banks in the country you’re interested in, and go to their web sites.
- - Your own offshore company. It’s the body (corporation) in whose name your foreign bank account exists. You transfer funds to it, or it earns them direct. It exists in one country. You live in another. Your account can be in a third. You may avoid tax, depending on where you live. You have limited liability if someone sues you, and the fact it’s overseas makes it harder. As a legal entity separate from you, it can own property, enter into contracts, or be sold.
- - Private foreign accounts are usually for high-net-worth individuals; you should have at least $100,000 to deposit. Then you’ll be welcomed with open arms, after the necessary due-diligence has been carried out.
- - Due diligence means the responsibility to check that an entity is who they claim to be, and that the have no criminal associations. You will have to provide a notarized copy of your passport (if applying by post), one or two bankers references, and a copy of a utility bill from your current address.
- - Possible paperwork: In addition to the Application Forms: For each signatory (Corporate or Personal Account): Notarised copy of ID (Passport or Driver’s Licence); Original reference letter from a current banker, lawyer or chartered accountant; Original utility bill or similar showing the current address of the signatory.
- - Corporate foreign bank a/c: The following may need to be notarized. You get these after your foreign company registration): Board Resolution; Certificate of Good Standing (if the company is more than one year old); Copy of the company’s Certificate of Incorporation; Copy of Bye-Laws and Articles of Incorporation; Subscribers Resignation; Copy of the Resolution for Appointment of Directors.
- - You might want a foreign Swiss account in order to: Expand your business; Minimize your taxation; Simplify business administration; Asset protection; Financial anonymity; Tax-free investing; Estate planning.
- - Those who engage in online or international business and who generate a large tax exposure can legally ease their burden through an offshore Swiss account. Bear in mind that the Swiss government charges a 35 percent withholding tax on interest earned by accounts held by foreign residents. Also, cheques are not used any more in Switzerland. This is a nuisance if you’re used to dealing in them.
- - Overseas bank accounts are the same as your local bank account; just in a different country.
- - You can pay revenues from your offshore company into your foreign bank a/c, transfer funds into other a/cs, such as a local bank a/c used to pay daily expenses and bills, or cover any expenses that you may still have in your home country.
- - Participating in international commerce is even simpler now because of the the World Wide Web. Many businessmen have signed up for foreign a/cs in order to manage their funds, protect their privacy, increase financial security and the tax haven benefit a non-resident a/c can give.
- - Applying By Mail? You get copies of identity documents stamped by a local notary public. A Notary is an impartial witness. A Notary Public is a public officer commissioned by the the State to perform notarial acts. The notary is empowered to issue an apostille.
- - Another advantage of using an overseas bank is the protection of one’s assets and the administration of your estate. Many countries legal systems allow your assets to be litigated away and their governments are keen on fleecing people post-mortem.
- - If you are resident on one country and doing business in others, there is some scope for tax avoidance. It really depends on: Which country your company is registered in; Which country your money is coming from; Which country you are resident in; Which country you have citizenship of; Which country it moves through, and which country it ends up in.
- - If you’re in receipt of cash, items or benefits from persons or enterprises in the country you’re resident, you are liable for tax there, and no foreign bank a/c sleight-of-hand will get you out of it. You’ll leave a paper trail, and sooner or later the hammer will come down.
- - Once the foreign bank account is established, the client is issued a bank card. He can then utilize the bankcard to withdraw cash and to pay for everyday expenses. There are ‘free’ accounts offered as part of defined foreign company registration packages. Non-resident a/c opening procedures only begin once an IBC or an foreign trust has been established.
- - Tax havens offer tax benefits to non-residents, or foreign residents, who utilise their facilities. They’ve set themselves up to provide services to those who want to protect their assets. It’s the basis of their economies.
- - So what are the advantages of having an offshore bank a/c? The obvious one is tax minimisation – doing business where tax is legally not payable. Another is privacy. Most offshore locations have laws in place which guarantee your financial privacy.
- - There are three reasons for setting up a non-resident bank a/c. First, taxation is less on interest earned on deposits. Secondly, there will, or should be, be no active onshore bank accounts in your own country to muddy your case for non-resident classification with your revenue body. And, third, an offshore bank-account should be strictly confidential.
- - My advice to you is to avoid non-resident bank-account websites which are light on data, especially about who, exactly, is offering the service. Who owns the site? Where is it based? Just who, exactly, are you dealing with?
- - Take advantage of the fewer reporting requirements. Some jurisdictions require your foreign bank a/c info to be reported much less than others. There are also places where your company info reporting will be required only under extreme circumstances.
- - One of the advantages of a non-resident bank account is that they provide access to politically and economically stable jurisdictions. People who are resident in areas where there is corruption within the banking system, or where there is a risk of expropriation, or where bank officers may become liable to the influence of or pressure from criminal gangs e.g. Eastern Europe.
- - Once the foreign bank account is established, the client is issued a bank card, then after that he can use the card to withdraw cash and to pay for everyday expenses.There are free accounts offered as part of overseas commerce packages. Overseas account opening procedures only go through once the foreign service has established an IBC or a non-resident trust for a client.
- - Because credit cards provide easy access to foreign funds and a/cs in tax haven countries, this situation allows income to be hidden. Although is not illegal to have an offshore credit-card, the average person does not need one setting a reasonable basis for believing that some individuals utilise foreign credit-cards to evade paying US taxes.
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I hope these few beginner tips will help you in researching useful offshore banking accounts.
About the author: Nicky Svengali is an author for offshore accounts and adverse credit remortgage web sites in London, Great Britain.