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Yea yea yea

First slapass, it depends which nationality you are and also where you plan to be resident while this corporation is operating.

For most countries, excluding the US and about 3 Middle East countries, this is easy to do, and, where you are living in your "home country" you are (99% of the time) obliged to declare all revenue from this comporation. (Note, I did not say it was "your" corporation! It ain't anyway - it is a legal entity.)

The above scenario to a degree defeats the whole excercise, although under the tax laws of some countries, their revenue collectors are only interested in the revenue brought into the country and it's not their concern about profits generated by foreign corporations where the funds are held elsewhere.

Strictly speaking, and in far the majority of situations, it is not possible to legally operate an offshore corporation, unless you actually live offshore (or in some other country than your country of citizenship), without paying varying amounts of tax in your homeland. (BTW... being offshore has nothing to do with citizenship, but there is a big concern if you have US citizenship.)

Ideally, you move to a country where the tax laws and all other stuff is advantageous and that kills all problems - you can do what you like and no taxes are payable in your homeland. Plus.. the lifestyle is often vastly superior anyway:-) Moving in most instances means "totally moving" out of the country - ie.. no revenue is generated from, eg, home rental etc. (Another note! This para does not apply to US citizens unless you do relinquish US citizenship, but is OK for the majority of other countries and does not affect citizenship. But, the US IRS does give some allowances.. think $70K-$80K for residing elsewhere, but taxes and returns are still required annually.)

Almost finally... absorb, but don't deal with offshore formation from "net marketers" - they know nada about offshore and are only interested in selling something and more of a danger than anything. The best sources for information and advice are lawyers/formation agents resident and operating offshore - I've never once had one of these people fail - unlike "onshore" :-)

Panama is valid as are most Latin American countries where a geographical taxation system applies - ie you pay taxes, tho often not much, for business done within the country, but no taxes on earnings from elsewhere. This is an ideal scenario for "mobile earners" - eg.. webmasters, commodity dealers, authors, collectors of intellectual rights revenue blah.

Panama and, generally, Latin American countries are not places to keep money and have banking accounts. They are corp formation countries. Banking can be anywhere you like and it is normal to have banking in another jurisdiction than that of the corporation. Despite that, Panama has a fair number of major banks and they are not just acting as office blocks to decorate the place - they do substantial business. (And... stating the obvious - you don't need an offshore corp account your home country!!!)

Finally, all this starts with who "you" are and what your country of citizenship is and your obligations under the tax laws their. Also, whether you are willing to actually live in another country. If you are in the US, it is harder, but not impossible to do this legally. You need *very* good professional advisors tho :-)

And yea.. got more Panama corps than I have fingers - it's not the corps that matter, they are ten a penny - it's the background setup and your personal situation that needs "organized" first depending on what is needed.

Bottom line?? Only my two cents worth, but I've never regretted one moment of moving "offshore". I wonder why the hell we never did it earlier! When the novelty of no taxation goes - it's more about a far superior level of lifestyle than tax or money.




PS Suggestions about setting up a corp and, eg, opening some account in Switzerland and using ATM cards to defraud revenue is not recommended - there have been too many cases of, particularly the US making applications to courts in other countries to have the accounts of US citizens opened - and also tracing transactions on eg VISA cards. (This exact situation is happening with VISA Miami office now over Caribbean bank accounts.) This level of offshore dealing is not really valid - it's just basically fraud and can leave ya open to crap problems.

Also.. on a comment posted above - if you happen to die :-) In that instance you elect to have the shares of any offshore assets transferred to whoever you wish - same as any asset.

Pornwolf:
No bank needs ever to be holding $100mill! :-) They have no cred to hold that level of money for one person - don't matter where the bank is, onshore or offshore. Can't remember, but I think the FDIC and some other orgs in the EU only guarantee around $50K in one account - that's more of a "non-guarantee" than anything :-)

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