You're very welcome!
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Best Country for Trading (Tax efficiency)
- Thread starter ET873
- Start date
Another option would be the small Caribbean banks which may fit your needs if you don't want to store all your wealth there and you're looking for remote account opening. They ask you a lot of documents (i.e. two bank reference letters) but once you have supplied your documents and you have clarified your future transactions and you have documental proof then they will leave you alone and won't try to make your life harder unlike HK or Switzerland.
.
Is it safe to bank in the carribeans ? i've noticed some banks there are touted by all offshore agents as they allow remote opening which indeed requires 2 bank references, but they don't seem very solid and when i checked the website of one of those banks they claimed one had to produce documentation before any transfer, which looks more like a bank that will find a reason to freeze your funds than a bank that doesn't ask questions.
No personal experience there btw, but more because of lack of trust than curiosity. Careful with the remote offshore corporate account openings, those more laxist banks seem to be the more fragile, either because they are poorly funded, fraudulent, or at risk of sanctions - there are many distressing posts on the net from guys looking to get their money back, it doesn't look like fun- and issues happened in many places, with probably a special distintion those last few years for Cyprus.
Your concerns are not baseless. About a year ago US banks started cutting their ties with many Caribbean banks and some of them was left without any US correspondence account. I know which banks you are talking about and I must repeat myself: "if you don't want to store all your wealth there".Is it safe to bank in the carribeans ? i've noticed some banks there are touted by all offshore agents as they allow remote opening which indeed requires 2 bank references, but they don't seem very solid and when i checked the website of one of those banks they claimed one had to produce documentation before any transfer, which looks more like a bank that will find a reason to freeze your funds than a bank that doesn't ask questions.
No personal experience there btw, but more because of lack of trust than curiosity. Careful with the remote offshore corporate account openings, those more laxist banks seem to be the more fragile, either because they are poorly funded, fraudulent, or at risk of sanctions - there are many distressing posts on the net from guys looking to get their money back, it doesn't look like fun- and issues happened in many places, with probably a special distintion those last few years for Cyprus.
So, there are truly terrible Caribbean banks but hey, it happens in the EU as well. Just look at what happened with Nemea in Malta, so just because a bank is located in the EU or in the US it doesn't mean that you're good to go. I know, the EU offers a protection up to EUR 100k but it's still your risk.
Anyway, there are several decades old banks in the Caribbean with professional teams and rock solid correspondence banking in the US with BofA, Chase, Wells Fargo, etc. so there are crappy and good ones alike. I don't want to name or recommend banks here but even the one you mentioned is rock solid even if they don't have a correspondence account.
This is the beauty of the Caribbean banks. You can find banks which are willing to open an account for you in less than 24hrs, remotely, without any deposit and you can also find highly liquid, 10, 20, 30 years old banks with strong international offerings.
I still don't recommend anyone to keep all of his wealth in any one bank. Use multiple banks in multiple jurisdictions. There are several banks in the Caribbean which are highly unlikely to fail. In fact most of the Caribbean banks are more liquid than European or American banks. If any of them fails it's due to some sanction against a particular bank and not because they stole your money. Consequently I must say stick to those banks in the Caribbean which are not new and doesn't accept shady businesses because those are the most likely to survive the US government's questioning.
Seriously, there are decent banks, just apply common sense.
Interesting info, thanks, will keep that in mind.
I didn't know about Nemea btw, or forgot about it, but sure have heard of western banks getting in troubles , and the 100k guarantee in EU seems far from straightforward, this long thread about FBME in Cyprus and Tanzania - another bank I think that offered remote opening via agents - is quite interesting :
http://www.talkgold.com/forum/showthread.php?t=420368&highlight=fbme
I didn't know about Nemea btw, or forgot about it, but sure have heard of western banks getting in troubles , and the 100k guarantee in EU seems far from straightforward, this long thread about FBME in Cyprus and Tanzania - another bank I think that offered remote opening via agents - is quite interesting :
http://www.talkgold.com/forum/showthread.php?t=420368&highlight=fbme
Many offshore banks are forced to do this now, in order to maintain their USD correspondent banking relationship. It's partially why these banks should probably be avoided by most unless absolutely needed, who wants to deal with such headache, along with the risk that at any time, a transfer could be held up for days/weeks pending 'verification' (or potentially months if the bank loses its USD correspondent, which is happening all the time in the Caribbean & Belize).i checked the website of one of those banks they claimed one had to produce documentation before any transfer
Speaking from direct experience: the high fees, long transfer times (at minimum 3-5 days to send a simple wire, which is normally a same-day process at any onshore bank), USD correspondent bank roulette (I know one bank that had three separate USD correspondents over the course of the past year) of Caribbean/Belize banks makes them just not worth it anymore.
And as far as a bank's age being a determinable factor of quality, that didn't help Caledonian Bank depositors. 44 years in business up in smoke when their mgmt decided to mess around with fraudulent penny stock scams.. $520M in client deposits locked away for years in a legal limbo nightmare..
https://www.caymancompass.com/2015/...t-and-in-liquidation-after-sec-files-lawsuit/
Last edited:
Personal accounts have a great advantage, it's that they are easier to open and to maintain documents' wise, also if you have a problem with a bank it's easy to open another account at a different bank (besides the people seeing their funds frozen in offshore corporate bank accounts, there are also a bunch who had their bank account closed or frozen, than got money stuck in a brokerage, which only allows same name transfers, when they couldn't open a new offshore corporate account)
Problem with personal accounts is that there are lower limits on internet banking ( fax indemnity can fix this through premium/private banking) and you are not supposed to do business transactions through those, hence if you plan many third party transfers, you might quickly run into problems. Cash transactions can get you in trouble faster as well through personal accounts in some juridictions, although if you are interested in withdrawing 10/30k usd from ur account when you visit, HK is still fine, I hear from friends in continental Europe some governments there are launching a war against cash, and local banks need to follow. HK is not that bad.
Btw if you're wondering wether HK banks ask many questions about your tax situation, they do, banks there seem very keen at the moment on avoiding tax evasion scandals - but the reaction from branch to branch of the same banks n HK can be notoriously very different, also a bunch of new questions, or requested forms, can show up after you have already opened the account
Last edited:
H
I'm not following... A tourist, non-resident & unregistered in the country of visitation, remitting zero income into the country - what exactly makes it "really, really easy" for said country to tax them? It sounds like it would take a nearly impossible audit/investigation (internationally subpoenaing a foreign tourist's business/trading records?). And with no local assets to seize, it could easily result in a tremendous waste of govt resources in an absolutely-certain drawn out court battle. If unsuccessful, it could also pose potentially disastrous consequences to said country's tourism industry (why would any rich business owner ever risk visiting a country that lays claim to income earned while visiting)?
I'm with you... DW is particulary paranoid.
Personal accounts have a great advantage, it's that they are easier to open and to maintain documents' wise, also if you have a problem with a bank it's easy to open another account at a different bank (besides the people seeing their funds frozen in offshore corporate bank accounts, there are also a bunch who had their bank account closed or frozen, than got money stuck in a brokerage, which only allows same name transfers, when they couldn't open a new offshore corporate account)
Problem with personal accounts is that there are lower limits on internet banking ( fax indemnity can fix this through premium/private banking) and you are not supposed to do business transactions through those, hence if you plan many third party transfers, you might quickly run into problems. Cash transactions can get you in trouble faster as well through personal accounts in some juridictions, although if you are interested in withdrawing 10/30k usd from ur account when you visit, HK is still fine, I hear from friends in continental Europe some governments there are launching a war against cash, and local banks need to follow. HK is not that bad.
Btw if you're wondering wether HK banks ask many questions about your tax situation, they do, banks there seem very keen at the moment on avoiding tax evasion scandals - but the reaction from branch to branch of the same banks n HK can be notoriously very different, also a bunch of new questions, or requested forms, can show up after you have already opened the account
Luis, interesting info, thanks!
With all due respect, it's 2017 not 1987... So @Trader KGB it's time to wake up. Let's say you spent 160 days in Australia and because of unknown reasons they ask you whether you've had any Australian sourced income during your stay. You say no (first problem, you're lying to the authorities) and they decide to check you. Now you're obligated to show them your bank accounts. If you don't do that, then they'll get your credit card details from the hotel you're staying and ask that bank to supply all the information they need and at the same time they'll ask the country of your tax residency and your country of citizenship to help them with the investigation so they'll let them know where do you have your bank and brokerage accounts. They will be able to help them easily because of the CRS. Then they're going to ask a statement from the banks and brokers and game over. They'll see each and all of your transactions on all your accounts.I'm with you... DW is particulary paranoid.
You could have ignored the requests and the questions in 1987 and in 1997 but not in 2017... now almost every single government answers to foreign governments' tax investigations incl. Switzerland, the US, China, whatever. You may think that it's a complicated process and they won't get anywhere with it but turn the question around, if you'd find yourself in a case like this, would you really want to try the authorities? If they prove you wrong or they simply fine you then what would you do? Would you run from the money you owe? Debt litigation is a simple process whether cross border or cross continent.
Maybe I'm paranoid but at least I fully understand how the system works. You and Luis are who can't understand English. I never said that it will happen to any of you. I said that it can, no matter how small the chance is and if it happens then you'll find my bla-bla the most useful text you ever read in your entire life.
Let me repeat myself, to make sure you understand: I never said that it'll happen to any of you nor I said that the authorities are spying on tourists. All I said is you're generating taxable income with your trading activities and if they want to give you a hard time because of any reasons then they can whether you're the president of Denmark or the prime minister of South Africa. It does not matter anymore.