It’s very important thing to note from the beginning that there is no one size fits all structure for a business, investment, operation, etc.

Every case is different and there are lots of things to consider:

• Who are the owners?
• Who are the customers?
• Where are the suppliers?
• What type of business is it?
• Where the staff are located?
• What the assets are?
• What the risks are?
• What regulations apply?
• How you accept payments?
• What are you trying to accomplish?
• etc.

When considering international corporate structuring you want to pay attention to lots of things.

First of all, you want to pay attention to tax.

This breaks into the three pillars of residency: you as an individual, your income, and your corporation.

Second, you want to pay attention to liability consequences.

What if you get sued? What happens if you get divorced? What if some government intervention occurs?

Third, you want to pay attention to banking. This is a huge thing today.

Historically, you were able to form a company anywhere. You could open a bank account very easily just walking into a bank. Bank account opening in Switzerland was very common among rich people. Those days are long gone.

Banks do lots of screening today. Whether they accept you or not depends on lots of factors. Some banks are easier to deal with then others. This is why when planning international structure banking is one of the things that we consider first.

Besides this, we need to consider how are you going to accept payments. Some countries don’t support certain services, such as PayPal.

Fourth, you need to pay attention to regulations in a foreign country.

Maybe you are in the industry that’s not supported in that country.

Then, you need to worry about audit. Do you need audited financials?

What about VAT, what about sales tax?

What are regulations around investing? There is lots of other rules and regulations that you need to pay attention to.

Finally, one thing that’s changed in the world today is that you really need to have some substance in a foreign country when setting up a structure. Or at least if you don’t you’re going to have a hard time maintaining a stable structure and even a harder time with tax.

Ideally, you’ll want a real office, team, customers and everything else that proves that you are doing legit business in that place. If you don’t have what the country is looking for you might end up having lots of issues.

This is why we need to be very thorough when setting up an international business structure.

It’s why a lot of the advice from those unqualified in the field, or even lawyers or accountants who might just look at one component and save you on tax but screw up your business operations are dangerous.

We help clients legally reduce their tax through international tax planning, as well as help with company formations, bank account openings, residency, citizenship, and payment processing.Have a question you want answered? Book a consultation now!

The post 5 Things to Consider When Building an International Structure appeared first on Golden Prime Trust.

What’s the Difference Between Residency and Citizenship?

There is a lot of confusion when it comes to this topic. Many people don’t understand the difference between residency and citizenship.

A residency permit gives you the right to live and possibly work in a particular country.

Citizenship gives you access to their passport, and also typically gives you the right to vote. It also might change what benefits your children receive as they might receive the citizenships by merit of your citizenship.

When you’ve obtained citizenship you are typically no different than a person who was born and spent their life in that country. So, with citizenship, you have full rights.

When moving abroad the first step is obtaining a residency. After that, you might get a citizenship at one point of time. In some cases, it takes 5 years, in some cases 20 years, in some case, it’s not possible to get a citizenship of a country as a foreigner.

Residency is the first of many steps when getting a citizenship of a country unless you are doing a citizenship by investment.

In simple words, citizenship by investment means that you are buying a citizenship (and passport). This means that you’re skipping all the time and hassle that you would otherwise have. Instead of waiting 5,10,20 years you will get citizenship almost immediately.

Rules vary from country to country: some countries will ask you to invest some money into the local economy, some will require that you buy certain real estate, some will ask to hire locals, etc, but the principal is always similar.

Getting a residency is much easier. You can usually get it via investing some money in the country, via going to school in that country, sometimes via work, sometimes via starting a business – it really depends on the country.

We can help you with both residency and citizenship by investment.

If you are interested in relocating in a foreign country or obtaining a second passport give us a call and we will explain what would be the best options for you and your family.

We help clients change their residency to a better jurisdiction and obtain second passports to expand their options in life. We also help legally reduce their tax through international tax planning, as well as help with company formations, bank account openings, and payment processing.Have a question you want answered? Book a consultation now!

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Most people only think of one, in some cases two layers of tax.

In fact, we generally, have three layers of tax to consider whenever we’re doing international tax planning and structuring.

The first layer is corporate income tax, which is what most people are trying to reduce by going to a low or zero tax jurisdiction.

After earning these profits and paying tax on them the company pays dividends to the shareholders.

Of course, most people are aware the shareholders will pay some sort of tax in most cases when they receive those dividends. Generally, avoiding these taxes is one of the reasons a person will shift their residency.

If these dividends are paid outside of the country you might have to pay the third layer of tax, which is withholding tax.

In other words, the income is earned at a company level and the company pays tax.

Then the company distributes a dividend and the company withholds a tax from that income, which is payable to the government of the country where the company is resident

And then the shareholder who receives the dividend pays a tax on those dividends in the country where they are resident.

Withholding tax in Different Countries

Now, not all countries have withholding taxes and those taxes will vary based on the treaties that might apply.

Up till now we’ve talked only about the withholding taxes applicable to dividends but there are several types of income that might be subject to withholding tax:

• Dividends
• Royalties
• Interest
• Capital gains
• Rent
• Director’s fees
• Technical service fees

The first 3 are almost universal. The fourth is usually only applicable on the sale of real property, the others, as well as various permutations based on local law, will vary.

Note, how something like royalties or interest withholdings could affect your business adding a potential fourth layer to the three layers we discussed.

Examples of Withholding Tax

Say a company in Country A is licensing IP to a company in Country B.

The income from this licensing is royalties income and therefore could be subject to withholding tax in Country B. In other words company in Country B pays royalties to the company in Country A but withholds a certain portion for taxes payable to country B.

Company in country A then pays taxes on the royalties received (they might receive a tax credit for taxes already paid depending on local laws).

They then might distribute to a shareholder in Country C.

This might mean taxes are withheld in Country A before the dividends are finally taxed in Country C.

The same principle would apply to interest income and in some cases technical service fees and some other classes of income depending on the country’s rules and source income rules.

The rates of withholding will be determined by a combination of country-specific local laws and the applicable tax treaties between countries.

The idea behind withholding taxes is because you earned money from a particular country you should pay tax there but they have no way to tax you once the money has left the country so they withhold the tax from the payment up front.

You need to look at withholding taxes on a country by country basis because some countries have none at all and others such as China and Brazil have very strict rules.

If someone has a structure that works perfectly well for them, doesn’t mean that it will work for you as well. In fact, it might be extremely bad for your situation and you might end up having lots of issues.

We help clients legally reduce their tax through international tax planning, as well as help with company formations, bank account openings, residency, citizenship, and payment processing.Have a question you want answered? Book a consultation now!

The post What is “Withholding Tax”? appeared first on Golden Prime Trust.

Taxation basis in simple words means – which portion of your income is the country going to tax.

The two most common you will hear about are worldwide income taxation and territorial taxation. There are few other forms of taxation basis that are not so common, including zero tax and remittance or blends of these.

Worldwide taxation basis means that all of your worldwide income will be taxed.

The common misbelief is that the USA is the only country in the world that still taxes worldwide income. This is untrue. Most countries have worldwide taxation, however, a lot of countries have what’s called a participation exemption or rules under which they don’t tax income distributed as dividends from foreign subsidiaries.

The next option is territorial taxation. In this case, they only tax the local source income. As we mentioned in our video on “what is source income” what constitutes local source income is a little tricky.

Rules vary from country to country, but unlike what many think it’s NOT based on where your customers are. In other words, usually, a territorial taxation nation will still tax you even if your customers aren’t located in the country if your operations are taking place in the country.

Territorial taxation can be very good for you if used well but certainly isn’t a “pay no taxes” or even remotely similar to zero tax ticket.

Some countries have remittance–based taxation.

This means that you will only pay taxes on income that you bring back into the country.

For example, in Thailand, if you make income abroad in a foreign country and don’t claim the dividends and bring them back into the country for a year you will not have to pay taxes on them.

Note that Thailand has worldwide taxation on resident companies, it’s simply territorial remittance based for individuals.

Malta, Gibraltar, and Singapore have some sort of remittance–based taxation in certain cases. So as long as you don’t bring your money into the country you will not have to pay taxes.

There are lots of rules and lots of exemptions for foreign income depending on the company type, income type, etc. This is why it’s important to dig into the rules of each country you’re doing business in.

It’s important to note that territorial taxation doesn’t mean zero tax. This is a common misconception. It could mean zero tax in certain cases if structured properly. It’s very important to understand all these rules, otherwise, you could get into an issue.

We help clients legally reduce their tax through international tax planning, as well as help with company formations, bank account openings, residency, citizenship, and payment processing.Have a question you want answered?Book a consultation now!

The post What is “Taxation Basis”? appeared first on Golden Prime Trust.

Lots of people have the idea of setting up an offshore company in a low or zero tax jurisdiction and then charging the original company (that’s in high tax jurisdiction) with management or marketing fees (or similar fees).

Well, there are rules against doing this. These rules are called “transfer pricing rules”.

If you are billing from one company to another that’s abroad and these companies are related (owned by you, your family member, etc) you have to bill the fair price as you would bill an unrelated third party.

So, what you are paying your own company, for example, for marketing services needs to be similar to what you would pay some random marketing company that’s completely unrelated to your businesses if it was doing the same thing for you.

So before billing your own company for some service, many countries require you need to do transfer pricing study. This will tell you what is the fair market value for that service.

Depending on the country there are different rules about how you need to conduct these studies, the pricing methods involved and then what reporting is involved.

If you don’t do this, or you do it and misprice those transactions (what’s called “transfer mispricing”) you can be subject to fines in some cases ranging up to 400% of the difference.

All this takes lots of work initially, especially for a small business. So, when we do international structuring we are looking to avoid transfer pricing since it lowers your costs and risks at the beginning.

However, transfer pricing is widely used by all the big companies (it’s rare to find a Fortune 500 company that doesn’t use it in one form or another) because sometimes it’s the only viable option to save on tax and it pays for itself many times over.

Transfer pricing will prevent you from excessively abusing your ability to shift profits from a high tax jurisdiction to a low tax jurisdiction and shouldn’t ever be the first choice for international tax planning but it is very useful to have in your belt.

So, even though setting up proper transfer pricing structure is lots of work initially this is something that can massively pay off later on.

We help clients legally reduce their tax through international tax planning, as well as help with company formations, bank account openings, residency, citizenship, and payment processing.Have a question you want answered?Book a consultation now!

The post What is “Transfer pricing”? appeared first on Golden Prime Trust.

There are lots of misunderstandings when it comes to CFC rules (controlled foreign companies rules) and CMC rules (management control rules, part of Corporate Residency Rules). Lots of people get confused about which is which.

You have to pay attention to both.

However, not every country has them, some countries will have CFC but not CMC and vice versa.

So, which are the principles of CFC rules?

Think of it like this…

All the countries want their local companies to reach further than just within the country of origin. They want their businesses to succeed globally. This is very good for the country because it brings more money back to local shareholders, creates jobs, etc.

However, let’s imagine this situation:

An American company sells in Germany. In this case, if they will have to pay taxes in both countries: in the USA and in Germany. This will put them at a disadvantage compared to a German (local) company, which only has to pay taxes in one country.

This would be bad for the US, which wants their companies to be competitive when doing business abroad to gain market share.

Because of this, they created rules that let the company form a foreign subsidiary company to do business there and only pay taxes on the income earned in the other country where they’re doing business.

Of course, this naturally leads to lots of exploitation where companies could either never bring the money back and hence never pay the tax (sort of like creating an unlimited deferred retirement plan (which is why CFC rules are called “anti-deferral rules”). Or, they form foreign companies in countries where corporate taxes are much lower even though it isn’t simply because they are doing business there in order to gain tax savings.

(Sometimes they can bring the profits back tax-free see “participation exemption” or “holding company regime”).

This is where CFC rules come in.

The tax departments are smart, they know businesses will form these foreign companies artificially just to pay less tax or move and keep income abroad to pay less tax.

CFC rules at least, in theory, are designed to prevent this abuse while still allowing for the legitimate uses described above.

The way these rules work is if a company meets certain criteria (usually owned and controlled more than a certain percentage by shareholders of a particular country) and the income of that company meet certain criteria, even though the company is foreign they force the shareholders to pay taxes on the money as though they brought it back even if they didn’t.

It’s very important to be aware of these rules in each country you live and operate.

However, if you are structured properly you can often work around these rules.

You can give us a call and we will discuss how you could avoid paying all the taxes while still following all the rules.

We help clients legally reduce their tax through international tax planning, as well as help with company formations, bank account openings, residency, citizenship, and payment processing.Have a question you want answered?Book a consultation now!

The post What are CFC Rules (Controlled Foreign Company rules)? appeared first on Golden Prime Trust.

Today we’re going to learn about “income source”.

Have you heard about territorial tax systems?

What it means, in theory, is that they only tax you on your locally sourced income.

By contrast, some countries will tax you on your worldwide income, meaning you pay tax on everything you make everywhere. (For the difference see taxation basis)

Most places will tax you on your local source income unless we are talking about tax heavens, zero tax countries like Bahamas or Cayman Islands, however, these are super rare.

However, there’s the catch.

What exactly do they mean when they say ‘’local source income’’?

This totally depends on the country. Some people believe that they will be taxed based on where their customers are, this is not completely true. In some cases, this will happen in some others it won’t.

Usually, there are a few basic principles they apply.

The first is called ‘’permanent establishments’’.

This is very broad, but we can think of it as a permanent place of business.

For example, if you have a team and an office that can be considered a permanent establishment if you have a store that can be considered a permanent establishment as well.

In some cases, even a person can be considered a permanent establishment – for example, you have a manager somewhere who is doing their work remotely. They can tax you in the country where your manager is, as well as in the country where your operations are. This is something to be very careful about.

Next thing to consider is something called the “operations test”.

This means that they are going to look for where your business operations take place. For example, you could have your employees in Hong Kong, they do all the work but your customers are from Australia. In this case, you will be taxed in Hong Kong because this is where your business is operating from.

So, things to consider when thinking about source income:

• Permanent establishments
• Where is the work taking place
• Capital gains – for real estate you will be taxed based on where the property is
• Royalties – you will be taxed based on where your customers are
• Interest – you will be taxed based on where is the person paying interests from
• Dividends – usually taxed based on where is it paid from.

Note, these might be taxed at both ends, something to investigate.

These would be the rules loosely, however, when thinking about taxation the best is to look into each situation closely and that’s how we will know which structure will suit your business the most.

We help clients legally reduce their tax through international tax planning, as well as help with company formations, bank account openings, residency, citizenship, and payment processing.Have a question you want answered?Book a consultation now!

The post What Does “Source Income” Mean? appeared first on Golden Prime Trust.

You may have heard of trust companies when discussing estate planning or inheritance.

You might have heard wealthy people talk about trust companies managing their assets, or watched movies where heirs of a wealthy individual deal with trusts to get their rightful share of inheritance money.

Setting up a trust is considered good financial planning. You can also look at trust companies who can do the work of the trust and help smoothen the process of transferring assets or estates from one entity to the beneficiary.

First, let us understand what a it is.

So what exactly is a trust company?

A trust company is a corporation or a legal entity that has the fiduciary duty of managing the estate or assets of its client.

The client could be an individual, a company, or other such entity. Generally, a special branch/division or an associated company of a commercial bank offers the service of a trust company.

However, a trust company can also be run by an independent partnership or a law firm. A trust company administers the assets of the client and deals with the process for the eventual transfer of those assets to the rightful beneficiaries.

It is a custodian for asset management, share transfer, registration of beneficiary ownership, and any other custodial arrangements.

A trust company is a for-profit company. It takes out its fee (profits) from the assets that it manages or when the asset is transferred to the beneficiary.

Sometimes, instead of regular fees, a fixed amount is charged during the eventual transfer of assets. Fees for such a companies range anywhere between 0.2% to 2% of the total assets managed.

The actual percentage depends on the size of the assets. It is important to note that a trust company does not own any of the assets that it manages.

The company simply has the legal obligation to take care of and oversee the assets that its client has assigned to it. The assets are normally held in an actual trust.

The company is simply the trustee of those assets. A trust company employs professionals such as financial planners, CPAs, attorneys, portfolio managers, trust officers, real estate professionals, tax professionals, and other admin staff.

A company may require that every client have a minimum net worth of $500,000. So, inquire about such minimum requirements when you do your research.

They come in different sizes and offer a variety of services. Things like customer service levels provided and fees charged are also different for different trust companies.

Do note that larger firms may have more products and services. Their brand and presence may be deeper than smaller companies.

However, large trust companies will not easily match the level of service and the personal touch that a smaller firm can provide.

Services Offered by Companies

There are many trust companies that offer a host of services. Some of the larger firms have been around for a while and offer a lot of products and services.

The most common service provided by trust companies is the management of investments which are placed in a trust created by the client.

The portfolio could have instruments like stocks, mutual funds, derivates, real estate, etc. Some trust companies also provide additional services like management of limited partnerships, natural resources, hedge funds, private equity funds, and other alternative asset classes.

Other services offered by trust companies may include safekeeping via secured vaults. Clients can store valuable assets like jewelry and precious metals.

Financial planning, retirement planning, and insurance are commonly sought as well.

They can manage retirement accounts, educational trusts, marital trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, QTIP trusts, incentive trusts, generation-skipping trusts, intentionally defective trusts, charitable trusts, revocable and irrevocable trusts, living trusts, and testamentary trusts.

In the estate planning area, trust companies offer services such as estate settlement, titling and re-titling of assets, valuation of assets, dispersion of assets, preparation of estate tax returns, expense and debt payment, and any other service related to the transfer of assets from a deceased client to his/her heirs.

They work not just with the client, but also with the heirs of the clients since they are the recipients of any asset transfer.

They can also offer a lot to corporate entities. They can manage the retirement planning process for the company’s employees.

Services could include investment advice, plan enrollment, investor education workshops, asset custody, customer service, etc.

It can basically act as one point of contact for all the retirement planning needs. Trust companies can also assist a company with the issuance of corporate debt.

It can also act as an independent party that administers the disbursement of interest payments to the bondholders.

The trust company can ensure that the covenants of the bond are complied with by the issuer (which in this case is the client company).

Why use such a company?

A trust company can take care of assets, tax procedures, and legal issues. It is like a one-stop shop for wealthy individuals or anyone who does not want to run around and deal with different professionals such as a financial planner, an accountant, a lawyer, or any other professional.

A trust company can manage a host of issues for the client and take actions which secure the financial well-being of the client. Thus, time and effort can both be saved.

Clients who do not feel comfortable or confident of making big financial decisions can also seek the services to manage financial matters for them.

Besides financial and investment planning, trust companies can help with estate planning. If there are multiple heirs, or if there are no heirs, or no responsible heirs, then in those cases, assigning the trust company as the successor trustee of the trust created by the client can smoothen the process of succession.

Having a trust company can minimize or eliminate any family squabbles related to inheritance of assets as the trust company can play the role of a neutral third party.

If there are no heirs, then the trust company can manage the assets of the trust in compliance with the terms and conditions of the trust and as per the wishes of the deceased client.

If you need help setting up trusts or connecting with companies that can deliver solutions that you may be seeking for estate planning, financial planning, corporate processes, or any other financial matter, reach out to us and our team will guide you accordingly.

The post Trust Company appeared first on Golden Prime Trust.

If you want to open an offshore bank account, you obviously would want to know how it will be beneficial to you in the long run.

Is the offshore bank account going to improve your business or boost your personal wealth? There are actually a number of reasons why many investors have opted to go offshore.

Some people open offshore accounts for asset protection, others may want to benefit from the high interest rates on deposits and there are also others who open a bank account in a foreign jurisdiction for confidentiality purposes.

Opening an offshore bank account is also easy and convenient. No matter what your reasons are, it is important that you do background research on the best offshore bank accounts.

Most people open foreign bank accounts in tax haven locations mainly because they offer a tax-free environment. There are several factors you should consider when choosing foreign jurisdiction.

Some of the factors include political and economic stability, tight bank policy laws and the ease of communication. Most of the factors will be discussed later on in the article.

Finding the best offshore banking jurisdiction

If you decide that opening an offshore bank account is convenient for you but you still are not sure of the best offshore banking country to open the account in, then this is the article for you.

There are different factors that you have to consider before you commit yourself to a specific offshore bank. The first thing to bear in mind is the cost involved.

The account opening and maintenance fees vary from one bank to another. Most banks also require clients to maintain a minimum balance which also varies from one financial institution to another.

It is therefore important to do your research on these costs before you open the account. To guarantee safety for your money, you should also confirm the political and economic stability of the country.

Last but not least, ensure that the offshore jurisdiction is reputable. Of course, the best offshore bank accounts have achieved a good image through the quality of services they have been offering over the years.

But you also should know that there are some offshore banking countries that are blacklisted for being the world’s worst tax havens and you obviously wouldn’t want to store your finds in such countries.

The best counties to open an offshore banking account

Regarding the best offshore bank accounts, you may at times get opposing advices. This, however, does not mean that some advices you get are wrong.

As a matter of fact, there are more than sixty options available when it comes to offshore jurisdictions, and what one person thinks is the best may not be the best option for another person.

This article extensively explains the best countries for offshore banking worth considering, and why it is the best idea to open an account in these counties.

Cayman Island

The Cayman Islands are widely known for quite a number of reasons, and among them is offshore banking. The Cayman Islands are known to offer clients a wide range of financial services and besides, they are a tax haven.

A country qualifies to be a tax haven when it’s economic and taxation policies favor foreign business operations.

The jurisdiction has a stable political and economic environment which makes it convenient to offer a variety of services which includes online banking services, investment bonds, international multi-currency transfers, portfolio management, and term deposits among others.

Another benefit of opening an offshore bank account in the Cayman Islands is that they do not have direct taxes. With so many tax havens that we currently have, it is through a lot of effort that Cayman islands have been able to maintain their reputation when it comes to offshore banking.

In fact, the islands are among the list of top ten countries for offshore banking in the world.

Singapore

If you want to store huge amounts in an offshore account, Singapore can be a good option for you. It is easy to open the account, and at times, you don’t even have to make travel arrangements.

There are many reasons why most people choose Singapore for offshore banking. Among them is that the country is safe and stable. Singapore also has strict banking regulations to ensure the protection of client’s wealth.

The country has also been able to use modern technology in banking, making it easier for you to access your account, and also to ensure that your money is safe.

Additionally, Singapore banks have skilled and experienced financial advisers who can always guide you on the best financial strategy.

Switzerland

Switzerland is among the oldest tax havens, and it is also a perfect place to open an offshore bank account.

First, the country has strict privacy laws. These laws prohibit banks and other financial institutions from making information about a person’s bank account public unless they are given permission to.

Secondly, the country is politically and economically stable. Switzerland banks are regulated by the Swiss Bankers Association.

The country does not impose any taxes on interest, inheritance or dividends. It is also easy to open an offshore bank account in Switzerland.

Nevis

Nevis is among the best jurisdictions for those who want to set up an offshore company. This is because the country has convenient conditions which include a legal system that is easy to understand, stable democracy and a stable economy.

Forming an offshore company in Nevis is easy and the process is also straightforward. It is also possible for companies to move to other jurisdictions, or migrate from other jurisdictions to Nevis.

Besides, foreign corporations can merge with companies in Nevis and other foreign corporations.

Belize

Belize can be a good option for those who want to open offshore accounts that offer the best interest rates.

The country does not impose any taxes on interest. Another attractive feature about Belize is that it is the only Central American nation which uses English as their official language.

This makes it easier for clients to contact their offshore banks and be sure that all your questions will be well answered.

Also, you don’t have to plan for a trip to Belize if you want to make transactions. Provided you have a steady internet connection, you can easily access your account at any location.

You also have the option to bank through the phone or via email. You can withdraw funds from your account any location by use of an ATM card.

Germany

Germany is globally known to have the safest banks in the world. The country is stability, both politically and economically. And it is also a developed country, which means that their banking services are quick.

Germany banks offer 24/7 online access to your account and you can also withdraw funds at any location by use of an ATM card. In fact, you don’t even have to travel to Germany when you want to open an offshore bank account.

The fees charged for opening and maintaining the account is usually low.

What you need to know when opening an offshore bank account

Generally, it is easy to open an offshore bank account no matter your jurisdiction. But the complexity and expenses vary from one country to another.

Once you decide that an offshore bank account is the best option for you, (It actually comes with a lot of benefits like account confidentiality, asset protection high interest rates, among others), it is important to be aware of how the account opening process goes also ensure that all the legal requirements are met.

You can seek advice from a financial professional. This is the only way to ensure that you are doing the right thing and that all the tax laws are followed.

The procedure used to open an offshore account, including the requirements, are similar to what is required when opening a bank account in your home country.

Personal information, which includes your name, address, date of birth, occupation and nationality are required.

These basic requirements are usually required even in countries that strongly uphold privacy. You may also be asked to provide additional information, like the sources of funds that will be deposited in the account.

The main reason for this requirement is to avoid illegal activities that are usually associated with offshore bank accounts (like money laundering, tax evasion) from taking place.

As an investor, what you need to know is that offshore banking isn’t illegal, provided you don’t use the account to carry out unlawful activities.

Conclusion on the best offshore bank accounts

When it comes to finding the best offshore bank accounts, you can at times be overwhelmed by a wide range of choices available.

The jurisdictions also have varied characteristics, and what you feel is the best choice for you may not be the same for another individual.

It is therefore important to take your time and find a country that is the best for you depending on what you want to achieve by opening the offshore account.

Getting advice from an experienced financial professional can come in handy. The two main things that you need to consider in an offshore jurisdiction are privacy and the safety of your investment.

The good thing is that most offshore jurisdictions have strict privacy laws and stable banking regulations and it won’t take long for you to come up with the best option.

The post Finding The Best Offshore Bank Accounts appeared first on Golden Prime Trust.

Offshore banking is whereby an individual or company deposit funds in a bank that is situated in a place outside their country of residence.

Other people define offshore banking as the act of depositing hard currency in a bank that is located in a country that is not their home of residence, usually for safekeeping among other reasons.

It can also be referred at as an offshore investment. Offshore banking definition is diverse. But regardless of how it is defined by different sources, they actually mean the same thing.

Provided you have deposited funds in a bank account that is outside the country where you work and live, you have simply moved offshore.

Banks located in your country of origin are referred to as domestic banks.

Banking in Islands

In the offshore banking definition, you may assume that the banks’ locations are in islands, but this is not always the case.

For sure, many offshore banks are located in islands like the challenge and Cayman Islands. But there are many of these banks that are also located in landlocked countries like Switzerland, and Luxemburg.

Benefits

There are quite a number of benefits that come with offshore banking. The main one, of course, is for tax benefits. Most offshore jurisdictions are tax havens.

This actually means that their environments are conducive for foreign businesses to operate, and they achieve this by imposing low or no taxes for businesses and foreign individuals.

This helps protect your money from being taxed in your home country.

Offshore banking can also guarantee security for your money or asset protection as others may call it.

If for instance, you operate a profitable business, different parties will be interested in the business; these can be your competitors or even the government.

If these people decide to file a lawsuit against you, your bank account may be frozen. But once you have an offshore account, your funds will always be protected against such threats.

Compared to banks in your home country, offshore banks also offer specialized services. You can have easy access to your account by use of online or mobile banking at any time of the day.

Besides, experienced people, like relationship managers, for instance, are the ones who are assigned to client’s accounts.

They are also the people you will communicate to if you have any questions or issues concerning the account.

Lastly, offshore banking also allows clients to hold their funds in different currencies, which come in handy especially when the currency used in your domestic country is not very stable.

Origin

The term offshore banking came as a result of the establishment of banks in the British Channel Islands.

These banks were tax havens, and the main aim of setting up the banks was to attract investment.

There are currently many jurisdictions that offer offshore banking services, and most of them are tax havens, which mean that no taxes are imposed on deposits.

What are the functions of it?

The services offered by banks are just the same as those offered by banks in your domestic country.

The main roles include depositing savings and offering other offshore investment services. If you want to open an offshore bank account, you don’t have to travel to the offshore jurisdiction of your choice.

Provided you have all the required documents and information, you are allowed to open the account online.

Other services offered by banks are more or less related to the benefits that come with offshore banking. These include tax relief, asset protection, and currency diversification among others.

Centers

There are quite a good number of offshore islands and other offshore centers that we currently have.

The Islands of Bahamas are one of the top offshore centers in the Caribbean with more than 400 banks.

Other Caribbean offshore banking centers include Panama, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the Netherlands Antilles.

When it comes to Europe, one of the top offshore banking centers is Cyprus, commonly known for their friendly tax regime, Switzerland known for accounts secrecy and Germany for having the safest banks.

Other offshore centers include the city of London and New York among others.

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