For a depositor offshore banking is associated with the services of a bank from the country other than his country of residence. If you have invested or deposited funds to a bank outside the country (referred as “Offshore Bank”), where you live, you are engaged in offshore banking. On the other hand, any bank in your country of residence is often referred as a domestic bank.
Perhaps the most important benefit that offshore banking provides is that the account is strictly private. The confidentiality of all operations conducted through the account is protected by the legislation. The account is protected from creditors, tax authorities and other interested parties. It is to some extent a defense tool.
How do I get an offshore bank account?
Which one is the best tax haven? What country is the best option?
Is offshore banking really linked with criminal affairs and criminal financing?
Despite the fact that offshore banking provides bank secrecy, high degrees of privacy and confidentiality, this sector is strictly regulated and supervised business and this leaves very small space for criminal affairs. Opening an offshore bank account is not as simple as it may seem at the first sight. There are a few organizations like Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Basel Committee and the Offshore Group of Banking Supervisors (OGBS) that impose strict regulations on offshore banking sector of a tax haven. Tax havens that do not comply with the regulations imposed by these organizations risk to see themselves in a black list. This makes it almost impossible to transfer funds banking institutions from jurisdiction that is in the black list. Such approach makes tax haven authorities interested in to reduce or completely eliminate illegal transaction and makes very hard for criminals to engage in money laundering. So it is very important that the bank your choice has good reputation and is incorporated in a tax haven that has good reputation.
There are two main myths about offshore banking. First of all, the public mistakenly links offshore banking to criminal activities, terrorism-financing and money laundering. Secondly, people think that offshore banking services are only for high-income class, since ordinary people cannot afford them.
What are the benefits of offshore banking?
Offshore banking services provide wide range of benefits and opens up distinct opportunities. Opening such an account provides a powerful tool for keeping money secure and making it exempted from taxes. Using an offshore bank account provides opportunities that are not available to domestic banking users. The most important of those are bank secrecy / confidentiality and exemption from taxes on gains. Income generated in form of interest on deposits is not taxed by the income tax. Customers also get possibility to invest globally.Perhaps the most important benefit that offshore banking provides is that the account is strictly private. The confidentiality of all operations conducted through the account is protected by the legislation. The account is protected from creditors, tax authorities and other interested parties. It is to some extent a defense tool.
How do I get an offshore bank account?
Very easily. Open an HSBC Offshore Bank Account In Sterling, US dollars or Euros in minutes
Why to go offshore?
Offshore banking centers open wide range of opportunities for its users: access to innovative banking products, anonymity, safety, politically and economically safe environment. Benefits of going offshore are discussed here
Can I avoid taxes with offshore banking?
Most offshore banking centers are at the same time tax havens (low or no tax jurisdictions). Some offshore jurisdictions exempt all incomes from all taxes, while others exempt only those incomes that were generated by sources outside the jurisdiction. Although offshore banking centers do not tax your incomes, your home country may be taxing foreign generated income. So you must check your country’s legislation: if your countries authorities do not tax income generated from foreign sources, then your offshore incomes shall not be taxed, but if they do (like US does), you should report them, otherwise it will be considered as tax evasion.
Is offshore banking legal?
Answer to this question is quite simple: it is legal; nobody is arrested for having offshore bank account. Opening offshore bank account is absolutely legal service provided by a financial institution that is licensed in full compliance with the legislation of a tax haven.What can be illegal is when a person holds offshore bank account, receives an income and does not report this income in his home country, if the country’s legislation requires that. In other words using offshore banking is legal, but using offshore banking for illegal operations, such as tax evasion is illegal.
Is offshore banking safe and secure?
Offshore jurisdictions are politically stable countries with strong economies and developed financial sector. Financial sector is tightly regulated to eliminate risk of bank failures and ensure a good image of a jurisdiction making offshore banking highly secure.
Is my information kept anonymous and confidential?
Most financial institutions in offshore banking centers provide anonymity to their clients. Generally bank secrecy is ensured by a country’s legislation. Degree of bank secrecy varies from one jurisdiction to another; therefore if you are interested primarily in bank secrecy, you should check the legislation first to be sure to what extent your personal information is protected. Read more…Which one is the best tax haven? What country is the best option?
It is difficult to answer this question. Simple answer is: “it depends”. It depends what exactly you are looking for. If it is bank secrecy, then Panama may be a good choice. If you are resident of UK and want to go offshore, then you may want to choose services provided by Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey, and Isle of Man). The answer varies according to your priorities. We provide here description for major tax havens, so it is up to you which one to choose.
Which banks provide offshore bank accounts?
Offshore bank accounts are provided by both local banks operating at offshore banking centers and also by reputable international banking institutions, such as HSBC and Barclays. Actually you can open an HSBC Offshore Bank Account In Sterling, US dollars or Euros in minutes.Is offshore banking really linked with criminal affairs and criminal financing?
Despite the fact that offshore banking provides bank secrecy, high degrees of privacy and confidentiality, this sector is strictly regulated and supervised business and this leaves very small space for criminal affairs. Opening an offshore bank account is not as simple as it may seem at the first sight. There are a few organizations like Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Basel Committee and the Offshore Group of Banking Supervisors (OGBS) that impose strict regulations on offshore banking sector of a tax haven. Tax havens that do not comply with the regulations imposed by these organizations risk to see themselves in a black list. This makes it almost impossible to transfer funds banking institutions from jurisdiction that is in the black list. Such approach makes tax haven authorities interested in to reduce or completely eliminate illegal transaction and makes very hard for criminals to engage in money laundering. So it is very important that the bank your choice has good reputation and is incorporated in a tax haven that has good reputation.
