Whilst a number of specific Business and Investment strategies lend themselves to Offshore structuring, generally speaking, people choose to register a Company and Bank Account “Offshore” from their usual country of residence for one of 3 key reasons…
- Financial Privacy/Tax Minimization
- Asset Protection
- Access to High return Investments
- Financial Privacy/Tax Minimization: He who controls the wealth makes the rules! Most countries which offer Offshore Company registration have strict privacy laws which make it extremely difficult (if not near impossible) for any outsider to determine:
By making it difficult for others to determine the exact extent of your income and assets you gain greater control over your wealth and, potentially, how much tax is payable on your income. - Asset Protection : Most Offshore Financial Centres do not recognize foreign judgments. This means that any judgment creditor hunting assets held by your Offshore Company would have to file fresh suit in the Offshore Courts (a costly, time consuming and very risky exercise).
Additionally most Offshore Privacy Havens have laws protecting ownership privacy making it impossible (unless you or your company are involved in illegal activity) to determine who actually owns the company.
Hence, by transferring your wealth to a company registered in a privacy haven, you make your wealth much less vulnerable to attack. With divorce and general litigation risk on the increase it makes sense to make it as difficult (and as costly) as possible for would-be vultures to track down and/or seize your wealth.
- Access to High Return Investments : Many, if not most, high return Offshore Investment opportunities (Offshore Mutual Funds and Private Placements for example) are not accessible to “onshore” investors, qualified (meaning extremely wealthy) investors excepted.
Establishing an Offshore entity thus affords you a wider choice of investments than would otherwise be available to you as an onshore resident.
Having said all that the secret to successful offshore structuring is to ensure you have someone who really knows what they are doing guiding you on the structuring (and assisting you with the ongoing management) of your offshore company, trust or foundation.
Why?
Because with the advent of information exchange the chances of underlying ownership of your IBC, Trust or Foundation being discovered are greater than they were 10 years ago.
If underlying ownership of your offshore corporate structure were ever discovered (or if your Offshore entity were seen to be managed and controlled from onshore) you could wind up in a whole lot of trouble. Hence the importance of (a) setting up the right structure from the start and (b) having a management system in place that minimizes the chances of the company’s activities ever being placed under the scrutiny of onshore authorities or courts.
The staff of Offshore Companies International have both the experience and the professional qualifications to ensure that you get the right structure AND effective company management advice or assistance (when you need it most).
Want to know more about Why people go (or how to set up) Offshore? Please Contact Us
