Offshore Banking, need advice from guys who have an account..

dsiomtw said:
Actually the OP is just the type of person who can easily benefit from some "cheap" offshoring.

It doesn't sound like he makes tons of money, so for the sake of an example let's say he makes 100k a year. He could open an offshore account and get a visa/debit card like he suggested, and then use it for every day expenses and withdrawals, never pay any taxes on it (if he chose not to) and the IRS would never know about the $$$.

But that's about all you can do easily and inexpensively, and if you're making serious money the "get a debit card and use it for every day expenses" won't help you much.

So yeah this can work if you're making say $100k a year, but the real question is what to do when you're making 100k a month ... then shit gets real and it's not quite as easy (if you like to sleep at night).
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until another country, financial institution or credit card rolls over and decides to funnel data to them.

and tax evasion is kinda big gamble. People on here got so worked up over the FTC going after berry slangers but you know what? You're not gonna go to jail for that.
 


Sonny Forelli said:
until another country, financial institution or credit card rolls over and decides to funnel data to them.
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Well, there ARE countries - and financial institutions within those countries that offer credit cards - that will NEVER roll over and play with the IRS.

There are also many ways to set-up your offshore corp/accounts/credit card so they can't be traced back to you in any way.

Put the 2 together and the proposed scenario could work for some "mini ballers" :)
 
lschmidt said:
haha right, some lame US bank is surely not capable of handling your millions upon millions of dollars.

if you had enough money to need an offshore account you would know how to get one.

You still haven't told us WHY you think you need an offshore account. Answer that question or I'm calling you're full of shit.
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Why does he need to tell you shit? What business is it of yours? Why the fuck would anyone looking to open an offshore account want to put his money in a US bank? That makes loads of sense.
 
I use following scheme if you don't mind, I have a middleman in US who have totally legal LLC with even lot of licenses for money exchanges, check cashing, etc. They do have something like Epass/Payoner/or lately even their own debit card program in which you can load your money in their web banking to their (yours i.e.) card, then just cash it in your own country. With limits of ATM of course and like $10k or even $25k per day lol of actual card. I don't use it quite ofthen, but that how it works. How he does his taxes is a bit of mystery for me though looool, any feedback by the way ?:)
 
Are you in the US? If so, just pay your taxes, they're not that bad compared to over here.

Personally, I'd prefer to pay a chunk of money to keep myself out of jail, and to stop myself losing double that. It's just not worth it.

Avoid paying taxes, and you're looking over your shoulder the whole time, and it's only a matter of time before the government find out. All they have to do is notice something suspicious, i.e. you're meant to only be earning 5k a year but you drive a ferrari, and then you get put under a bit of surveillance. All they need is CCTV of you making a deposit, or paying for something on that debit card, and boom, you're gone.

Only safe way to avoid tax is to move to somewhere like Dubai or Monte Carlo, neither of which you're likely to be able to afford on 5 figures, tbh.
 
-joe- said:
Are you in the US? If so, just pay your taxes, they're not that bad compared to over here.

Personally, I'd prefer to pay a chunk of money to keep myself out of jail, and to stop myself losing double that. It's just not worth it.

Avoid paying taxes, and you're looking over your shoulder the whole time, and it's only a matter of time before the government find out. All they have to do is notice something suspicious, i.e. you're meant to only be earning 5k a year but you drive a ferrari, and then you get put under a bit of surveillance. All they need is CCTV of you making a deposit, or paying for something on that debit card, and boom, you're gone.

Only safe way to avoid tax is to move to somewhere like Dubai or Monte Carlo, neither of which you're likely to be able to afford on 5 figures, tbh.
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In the UK at least, they can get you on the basis of "lifestyle" ie - if your passport has a lot of stamps, and you own a lot of nice clothes, they don't need to prove your income. It may be the same with the IRS.
 
I recommend Singapore or Hong Kong. If you are a U.S. citizen be careful about foreign reporting standards. That shit can bite you in the ass.

Cheers.

If you are a U.S. citizen and your total aggregate balance in any foreign account is greater than $10,000, you will be required to report your foreign account to the U.S. Treasury. You can do this by submitting US Treasury form TDF-90-22.1.

Every US citizen or resident alien, partnership, corporation, estate, or trust must file TD F 90-22.1 if they have "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." (From the Instructions for TD F 90-22.1)
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Penalties for Not Filing

The Treasury Department may impose very stiff penalties for failing to file TD F 90-22.1.
"Civil and criminal penalties, including in certain circumstances a fine of not more than $500,000 and imprisonment of not more than five years, are provided for failure to file a report, supply information, and for filing a false or fraudulent report." (From the Privacy Act Notice on Form 90-22.1)​
According to tax attorney Howard Rosen, the following penalties can be assessed:

  • Failure to File Penalty – up to $250,000 and/or up to 5 years in prison for any person "willfully violating" the requirements to file. (31 CFR 5322a penalty)
  • Fraud Penalty – up to $500,000 and/or up to 10 years in prison for any person "willfully violating" the requirements to file "as part of a pattern of any illegal activity involving more than $100,000 in a 12-month period." (31 CFR 5322b penalty)
  • False Information Penalty – fine or up to 5 years in prison for any person providing false, misleading, fictitious, or fraudulent statements on TD F 90-22.1; or up to 8 years in prison if the false information involves domestic or foreign terrorism. (18 CFR 1001 penalty)
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Source:

Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)
Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (TD F 90-22.1)

Laws Governing TD F 90-22.1 Report of Foreign Bank Accounts
 
lschmidt said:
haha right, some lame US bank is surely not capable of handling your millions upon millions of dollars.

if you had enough money to need an offshore account you would know how to get one.

You still haven't told us WHY you think you need an offshore account. Answer that question or I'm calling you're full of shit.
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You don't even know what the fuck you are talking about. You ever even had an offshore account? I'm gonna guess no - so stfu and get outta my thread. You don't need millions to get an account nor is it only for millionaires.. I don't need to tell you why, how much I have or what I need my account for.

PS - I am not in the US, I am Canadian and our tax brackets are very very high.
 
Get a HSBC Premier account and a Premier Mastercard would be a good place to start - you can open them anywhere, and the card itself has great rewards, a high credit limit and no foreign currency fees. You need to deposit $100k to be eligible though.

As far as banking offshore - that part is easy, structuring a legal setup to pay less tax is the tricky part.

HiGhPeR said:
The time has come that I need to get an offshore personal bank account. I know its not as easy as it used to be, to be able to just walk in and say "hi - I need an account" so thats why I am here.
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It's not? I have account in a few different countries and I did exactly that. Pretty much everywhere offers USD credit cards (to avoid currency fees) so do a little research and pick a place - somewhere like Hong Kong seems like a good option (and you can go with HSBC there too = the world's largest bank), or Panama are renown for the best privacy laws (forget Switzerland who sold out). Just give them a call first and make sure you have what you need - you could always do things via correspondence but that's a pain in the ass IMO.

I would recommend you research into double taxation treaties for Canada, and since you likely deal with USA companies, read up on foreign earnings taxation.
I know for example in Australia, if you're outside of the country for X days of the year you won't get taxed on foreign earnings.

If you're young and enjoy traveling read up on:
Perpetual traveler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I haven't formed a company offshore, but plan to later in the year. The best option IMO is to form a company in one country and bank in another - and have the bank account in the business name (important).

If you have the cash to open an office in that country (you also need X number of employees) and can prove your earnings are made there you can pay way less tax - depending on double taxation etc. (not so sure about USA people who have to declare all earnings though).

Cyprus = 10% tax. Gibraltar = 0% on foreign earning etc etc.

I'd recommend you try find a tax adviser who specializes in this stuff. If it's structured right I know it's doable to pay little/no tax.
 
Cupid Stunt said:
Get a HSBC Premier account and a Premier Mastercard would be a good place to start - you can open them anywhere, and the card itself has great rewards, a high credit limit and no foreign currency fees. You need to deposit $100k to be eligible though.
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How does that work, though, surely since HSBC is a major player in the US it'll mean they have to report to the IRS, so you can't avoid the tax?
 
You can tell the morons in this thread who think having an offshore account is some romantic endeavor only for millionaires.

It's a bank account like any other.

And btw, nothing is anonymous anymore. Bearer shares, trusts - Doesn't matter. By law the bank must know the beneficial owner of the bank account and this supersedes any of your lawyers chicanery.
 
-joe- said:
How does that work, though, surely since HSBC is a major player in the US it'll mean they have to report to the IRS, so you can't avoid the tax?
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OP is from Canada. And you don't need your SSN to join, they keep the banking in different companies relatively separate, and he should use a company name, not his personal name. The company name can be a company he's formed in a place like Panama, who will never give up company details.

That being said it'd be tax evasion not tax avoidance. So OP needs to get a proper structure for a legal set-up with a office etc.

OP could also check out:
http://www.escapeartist.com/Offshore/Dominica-St-Kitts-Passport/
I haven't read up enough to know if that's enough to stop paying tax on your foreign earnings, but paying $75k would be totally worth it for me if I no longer had to pay tax.
 
I did my own research on this a while ago and frankly, I don't think it's as complicated as it sounds. A lot of countries will grant a bank account to anyone with no minimum (or very low minimums). Just pick the country that is the most economically stable, that is 3-4 hours flight at most and pick a bank that provides good support.
 
HiGhPeR said:
You don't even know what the fuck you are talking about. You ever even had an offshore account? I'm gonna guess no - so stfu and get outta my thread. You don't need millions to get an account nor is it only for millionaires.. I don't need to tell you why, how much I have or what I need my account for.

PS - I am not in the US, I am Canadian and our tax brackets are very very high.
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If you don't want responses like mine, then don't come to a public forum on the internet asking a question like this. You should be talking to an accountant or lawyer, not some random people on a forum infamous for dickrolling.

Details about how much money you have and *why* you need an offshore account would determine exactly where and what type of account you'd need.

So you want to get an offshore account for tax evasion? That's just a bad idea any way you look at it.
 
LittleMike said:
You can tell the morons in this thread who think having an offshore account is some romantic endeavor only for millionaires.

It's a bank account like any other.
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lol - yea
LittleMike said:
And btw, nothing is anonymous anymore. Bearer shares, trusts - Doesn't matter. By law the bank must know the beneficial owner of the bank account and this supersedes any of your lawyers chicanery.
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In the case of a bank account attached to a bearer share corp I believe the the account would be under the corp name - laws in regards to banking vary from country to country, it's impossible to generalize
 
lschmidt said:
If you don't want responses like mine, then don't come to a public forum on the internet asking a question like this. You should be talking to an accountant or lawyer, not some random people on a forum infamous for dickrolling.
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Gee, asking a question about offshore banking in a forum full of people with offshore bank accounts... who'd have thunk it? Why do you have to be a douchebag about it? If you haven't got anything possitive to add keep your yap shut. We might like to dickroll n00bs and each other from time to time but generally the people here are all friends.

lschmidt said:
Details about how much money you have and *why* you need an offshore account would determine exactly where and what type of account you'd need.
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Still none of your business and once again shows you probably know little about offshore banking.

lschmidt said:
So you want to get an offshore account for tax evasion? That's just a bad idea any way you look at it.
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You haven't been paying attention. The rules aren't the same for Canadians as they are for Americans.
 
Andrew Scherer said:
In the case of a bank account attached to a bearer share corp I believe the the account would be under the corp name - laws in regards to banking vary from country to country, it's impossible to generalize
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Yep it'll be under the corp name, but since 9/11 all banks in all countries must know who actually owns the funds. The only way to avoid this is to have someone else as your beneficial owner.

So if the US government have a legitimate claim you've done something wrong they present evidence to the bank in the hope they'll turn over the beneficial owner.

It's much more risky for US citizens to bank offshore, since the US has so much power.

And like people have said, Panama is by far the strongest country in terms of ignoring requests for information from foreign governments.

A universal truth in offshore stuff is that for the most part complex set-ups designed by lawyers do not work. Once offshore you're 90% the way to being as secure as you'll ever be.
 
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