Which Offshore Jurisdiction?

[luisHK]

Ok, good luck and please keep us informed, it will definetely be useful to some.
The times of popping up in HK for a day trip during which one would get the BVI corporate documents and open a ready to use bank account for it have gone unfortunately, but recently some other countries still worked - some agents still offered distance account openings in several juridictions a short while back, I wonder how serious those banks are, and if the option is still valid.

 

[i am nobody]

The legal advice I have received states that (under current UK tax legislation) my trading operation can be legally structured such that I pay zero taxes on accumulated gains.

Not started looking yet. Put the whole thing on ice whilst I was waiting to see how the fallout from these Panama Papers settled.

I don't understand what this has to do with Panama Papers? if your construction is legal Panama Papers are irrelevant. Panama Papers is about ILLEGAL constructions, constructions that are FAKE.

 

[Low Salubrity Thug]

I don't understand what this has to do with Panama Papers? if your construction is legal Panama Papers are irrelevant. Panama Papers is about ILLEGAL constructions, constructions that are FAKE.

Simple. Because this chain of events could have manifested:

Panama Papers
=>
Political fallout
=>
Political pressure by British Government on British Overseas Territories offshore jurisdictions
=>
Those jurisdictions are forced to tighten their legislation (e.g. stricter auditing requirements)
=>
Those jurisdictions then become less appealing to me from a cost/hassle perspective.

I wanted to wait and see what transpired before proceeding any further. As I have said before several times in this thread, my structure is not illegal.

You've added nothing of value to this thread and, to be honest, I'm growing a little tired of your infantile CAPSLOCK ranting, so you're joining the esteemed ranks already on my ignore list.

Welcome!

 

[i am nobody]

Simple. Because this chain of events could have manifested:

Panama Papers
=>
Political fallout
=>
Political pressure by British Government on British Overseas Territories offshore jurisdictions
=>
Those jurisdictions are forced to tighten their legislation (e.g. stricter auditing requirements)
=>
Those jurisdictions then become less appealing to me from a cost/hassle perspective.

I wanted to wait and see what transpired before proceeding any further. As I have said before several times in this thread, my structure is not illegal.

You've added nothing of value to this thread and, to be honest, I'm growing a little tired of your infantile CAPSLOCK ranting, so you're joining the esteemed ranks already on my ignore list.

Welcome!

Or maybe you are just a small trader that wants to impress people with "offshore constructions". That might explain why you could not answer to the question of luisHK. You did not start yet and probably you never will. Has nothing to do with Panama Papers, but with money or rather lack of it.

 

[syswizard]

How easy it is nowadays to open a bank account for HK companies managed from overseas i'm not so sure though.

Good post Luis.....someone should look into this one.

 

[dealmaker]

Good post Luis.....someone should look into this one.

Doesn't that imply double taxation...

 

[luisHK]

I've actually checked the current state of affairs in HK when it comes to opening a bank account for a HK company set up by a non resident, and it's very grim. It's far from good btw even if the director is HK resident, and it's much worse when it comes to offshore companies - there is a hint though that chinese owned banks are easier to deal with than the big western banks.
Also at least with HSBC which had been the leader for years/decades in HK in opening accounts for offshore companies, their compliance department is giving hard time to existing accounts, and closing a bunch of them.
Besides I remember a graph a couple of years ago showing the number of bank accounts frozen in HK superior to the total number of accounts frozen in the rest of South east Asia, including Singapore. I wonder what proportion of those freeze comes from judicial decisions or from bank compliance departments not happy with something in the account.

Basically i'd advice anyone to shop in other juridictions for their banking needs, except if they have particulary good reasons to bank in HK.

http://www.scmp.com/business/bankin...-difficulties-turning-business-away-hong-kong

http://www.scmp.com/business/compan...g-kong-when-it-comes-one-simple-thing-opening

http://www.scmp.com/business/bankin...09/account-problems-cloud-hong-kong-hub-hopes

One excerpt, but there are many others in the same vein :

"Hong Kong is now the strictest and most difficult environment in the world to get a bank account," says Callan Anderson, the Hong Kong general manager of the Orangefield Group, an international company which specialises in corporate and professional services.

Vincent Bremmer, managing director of Orangefield in Hong Kong, says: "But from being very easy, they have gone to the other extreme."

 

[z3bra]

What about Mauritius? English is the official language, their legal system is based on British common law and it is a stable democracy. There is no capital gains tax and no withholding tax on interest and dividends. I think the appropriate structure is their category 2 Global Business Company (GBC 2) for non-residents wishing to establish a corporate entity. Could be worth looking into?

 

[Xela]

What about Mauritius? English is the official language

Only in the parliament.

It's not really widely spoken, there. Mauritian Creole, French Creole and French itself are the widely used everyday languages, together with some Hakka, Mandarin, Gujarati, Bhojpuri, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Urdu!

(The country's constitution actually doesn't refer to an "official language" at all.)

it is a stable democracy.

Well, it depends what you mean by "stable", perhaps. Again, in the parliament I don't doubt that's true; but there's also a great deal of social unrest there, putting it mildly.

 

[i am nobody]

Americans have no place to hide as their world income is taxed in the US apparently.

In Europe a number of countries are defined as fiscal paradises, which means that companies set up in these countries are considered as fiscal fraude and their income will be taxed in the respective country where the shareholder lives.

The full list was in 2015: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Guernsey, Monaco, Mauritius, Liberia, Seychelles, Brunei, Hong Kong, Maldives, Cook Islands, Nauru, Niue, Marshall Islands, Vanuatu, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Montserrat, Panama, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis, Turks and Caicos, US Virgin Islands.

So setting up constructions in these countries is useless as they are considered as illegal. On top of that many European countries consider the country where the REAL management takes place as the taxating country and not the fiscal paradise where the company is domiciliated.
Why do so many celebrities live in Monaco? It is a horrible place to live. Why don't they take an offshore construction? Because they know better then anybody here what the risks are.