Ito Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Read their own promotional material.
>
>
https://www.hfsoffshore.com/why-go-offshore.aspx
>
*sigh* So you're basing your point on the web site of somebody selling offshore services? lol
> Secrecy, privacy, immunity from lawsuits, immunity
> from regulation.
>
> Note this line: "Placing bank and brokerage
> accounts offshore will keep them off the asset
> collector's radar screen."
>
> (hint, hint)
>
Hint hint: Asset collector in this sense applies more to debt collectors, lawsuits, divorce attorneys, etc., and do not apply to tax collectors given that they have far greater ability to access such funds even if offshore and less need to do so since they can attach local assets.
>
> What is a Tax Haven (offshore jurisdiction)?
> A Tax Haven (also known as an "offshore
> jurisdiction" or "international financial center")
> is a country with 2 distinguishing
> characteristics:
>
> 1) The country does not levy taxes on corporate
> income, personal income, interest income, capital
> gains, etc. For the person considering going
> offshore, what this means is that opening a bank
> account, making investments, forming a corporation
> or trust will not result in any taxes due to the
> tax haven country and there will be no
> requirements to file financial reports or tax
> returns in the tax haven country.
Correct. Which means that the OFFSHORE country where the company is based does not levy tax. NOT that the LOCAL country where an investor may be located and the country where assets/income may reside/result, which typically are not one in the same, can't tax it.
> 2) The country has laws, knows as "secrecy laws"
> or "privacy laws", that forbid banks, brokerages,
> financial institutions and incorporation services
> from giving out any information concerning the
> owner of an account, company or trust.
>
> Some examples of well-known offshore jurisdictions
> are: The Bahamas, The British Virgin Islands, The
> Isle of Man, Belize, The Cayman Islands, Antigua,
> The Turks and Caicos Islands, Panama, Nevis and
> St. Kitts, Luxembourg, Switzerland, The
> Seychelles, Hong Kong and Singapore.
>
Yes. Except in cases of money laundering and tax evasion given related treaties that now exist between most of these countries and the rest of the world. It's not the 1970s any more. All of these countries need access to central banks and international banking systems in order to operate and they cannot without complying with related requirements in such treaties (witness the Swiss for example as in recent news).
There are LEGAL ways to shelter income that you may have issues with but, by definition, they are legal and are used to some degree and in some form by virtually every company with an international presence. Even the activists who focus on such issues don't concern themselves much these days with hiding money as they do in addressing the legal structures.