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Digital Nomad / Perpetual Traveller - 0% tax with US LLC
- Thread starter nardulfo
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Of course. Beside of that I'm very thankful if you could mention some Banks that open for panama residence and if they only need the panama residence card as proof of address like the uae banks do with the local residence card. Thank you.
you may it sound like banking hell ..the truth is most of the times , somewhere in the middle ...
I think this describes the pro’ and con’s well..:
”
The Pros
- A few banks in Panama accept non-residents, unlike most banks in most countries in the world.
- Even Americans are accepted, which is not that common due to FATCA.
- Higher interest rates on your USD deposits than in other countries.
- A fully dollarized economy.
- Easily accessible.
- Credit cards are available, even for non residents.
- Low barriers to entry; some banks let you open an account with only USD1,500.
- Panama is fiscally prudent with a debt to GDP ratio of around only 40%.
- No capital controls.
- The compliance departments of local banks are familiar with Latin America, so channeling funds through a bank in Panama for deals in places like Colombia and Nicaragua could make sense in case your bank in Asia or Europe doesn’t want to go ahead with the deal.
The cons of opening a bank account in Panama as a non-resident
- Physical presence is required.
- The requirements change on a regular basis.
- The customer service levels are not fantastic, and can be quite slow. That said, online banking is improving, thus resulting in less “human” interaction.
- The stigma associated with a bank account in Panama; Panama is on various blacklists for still being perceived as a tax haven, most notably on an EU money laundering blacklist.
- In many countries, you have to declare your foreign bank accounts to the authorities, which is fine, but if you add Panama to the list you might get a higher chance of being audited.
- Some banks will completely refuse to accept money coming from a Panama bank account.”
Do you have experience in practice of opening a bank account in Panama? Because I'm a guy from the practice. I don't care about the theory. There is a huge difference between practice and theory when it comes to banks.
Personally not , this comes from a guy with experience in the field ...
he confirms what you said , some banks refuse to accept payments from Panama banks , some banks ...it all depends with who you want to do business ...
“the requirements change on a regular basis “ so what is possible today , is not possible tomorrow ....
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Yes, there are several banks that open account to non residents even remotely; just as an hint, have a look at branches of other Latin American banks, mainly Venezuelan.
OK here we go completely of the topic. This is about people that want residency, so easy account opening, so they can enjoy Panama territorial tax and travel.
residence does not mean automatically tax residence in that country ...
This is quoted by a lawyer :
”
To become a tax resident in Panama and therefore be eligible to apply for a Tax Residence Certificate, the following rules apply:
Article 762-N: They are considered fiscal residents of the Republic of Panama natural persons who remain in the national territory for more than 183 calendar days or alternates in a fiscal year or the year immediately preceding. “
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In order to obtain tax residency in Panama, foreign individuals must remain in the Panamanian territory for a period of at least 183 days (intermittently or consecutively), within a fiscal year, or establish their physical residency in Panama. Physical residency is the criteria.
Be sure to read the fine print. Some Puerto Rican "banks" don't actually have banking license, they are IFEs (International Financial Entities).
Whenever you hear about a Puerto Rican bank that don't require physical presence to open an account, more likely than not it is an IFE and not a real bank.
What does it mean? It means your funds are not FDIC insured.
If the bank goes bust, your money goes up in the air.
(although some of them claim to have their customer's deposits in correspondent bank accounts)
You've gotta check the small print before signing up.
If you walk-in in person, anyone (resident or not) can open an account in any bank as it satisfies their KYC/AML compliance requirements.
This includes the banks in the mainland US (some of them can give you a hard time, but you can keep insisting until you find an employee who isn't a drone)
I think Georgia could be really good bet for a 1% tax (small business status incentive), if you want a tax residency somewhere and you don't have to live in Georgia.
As long as you don't stay too long in any other country to become a tax resident (individual countries have different rules)
As long as you don't stay too long in any other country to become a tax resident (individual countries have different rules)
there's a loop whole now (Georgia’s High Net Worth Tax Residency program e.g. more than $64,000). If you can't meet the 183 days they will waive it
and you can open it remotely
though you have to report monthly by logging in and pay the tax each month and it'll only be good for someone who moves around enough not to trigger tax residency rules of other countries
https://expathub.ge/high-net-worth-program-georgian-tax-residency/
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PLEASE! This program has been discussed over and over. It is completely worthless because no relevant tax authority on Planet Earth will accept a tax residency solely based on this program.
Have you ever seen a tax residence certificate based on this program ... ? It has nothing in common with an ordinary Georgian tax residence certificate; it looks much more like a diploma with most parts handwritten
and a few stamps on it.Read post #118 of 0% tax residency
PLEASE! This program has been discussed over and over. It is completely worthless because no relevant tax authority on Planet Earth will accept a tax residency solely based on this program.
Have you ever seen a tax residence certificate based on this program ... ? It has nothing in common with an ordinary Georgian tax residence certificate; it looks much more like a diploma with most parts handwritten
Read post #118 of 0% tax residency
i do understand what you mean if you try and get this residency and then live the rest of the time in another county - it's not designed for that and of course that would never work.
To me it looks like this program is really for perpetual travellers. Or imagine someone taking three years off to go travelling around Africa and Asia spending a month or two in various places.
Andrew Henderson talks about his "trifeckta" method of splitting up your time in three countries, not triggering tax requirements by limiting time there. For these type of people it could be worth it to pay this Geogia tax.
I see a few pros:
1. a place to go for an emergency - Georgia
2. something to give the banks
No need to use the Georgia tax returns for other tax authorities. To them you need to prove you are not a tax resident in these countries by time spent there, not by handing in taxes filed in other countries.
You can't spend 6 months in UK and then expect to get out of paying tax there for the rest of the year by getting Georgia tax status ... you must properly separate from tax obligation form initial residence
@rowena Do you know how the UAE would treat this? I mean if you actually live there.
Both if you're using a transparent entity like a US LLC or UK LLP, or if you're using some low-tax entity like an Isle of Man company?
I guess if you have local UAE clients, you'd definitely need a license and register for VAT.
But what if you only have clients outside the UAE, but you work for your "offshore" company from the UAE? Would you need a license? Register for VAT (even if the VAT would be 0%)?
That's one of the things I find a bit challenging about the UAE, it's not easy to get a proper answer to such questions.
No. but there are a few caveats.
Firstly, if you live in the UAE most of the time and manage your company from the UAE, then your company would be considered a UAE company from a tax perspective because of PE laws, although it won't matter much because of UAE 0% taxes, but it's worth mentioning, see:
https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/united...ishment (PE),the relevant Emirate tax decree.
for the VAT question, No, you don't need to pay VAT on your US/UK companies or any foreign companies if you managed it from Dubai, my tax accountants confirm this, and I haven't had to register VAT for my foreign companies.
HOWEVER, if you have a UAE company but you don't deal with emirates nor any GCC individuals/business, your vat would be 0%, and you can file for VAT registration exemption based on the fact that your UAE company don't deal within the UAE nor within any of the GCC member states. You just need an accountant to file for the "exemption" status for your company.
So to summarize, foreign companies don't need to register for vat, but UAE companies need to register for VAT, UNLESS these UAE companies don't do business in the UAE or in any GCC state, then they can file for VAT exemption through their accountant/agent.
The issue with the likes of Mr. Henderson and other non-lawyers whose very business is to sell these dreams (and not care about the consequences) is that while some of these structures may at first appear solid, they nearly unequivocally break apart in most real-world scenarios.
Consider your example of "not triggering tax residency anywhere". With that, there are two major caveats that are often completely ignored:
1. In such a scenario, unless perfectly executed, one's home country will often still subject the person to their tax residency;
2. More importantly to most people, the majority of countries on Planet Earth have both PE legislation in place, as well as legislation to tax the proceeds of any work performed from within that country.
So yes, if you're fully retired and your income is purely passive then a setup like this may indeed have merit. But the majority of people looking for these structures, who either actively run their business or work remotely, are not in that boat and would sign up for major risks. That's unless the 3 countries in question are all countries that literally don't care, or don't have a developed tax legislation - but I highly doubt anyone here would actually consider living in any of those countries.
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