Do I need offshore company? or offshore bank?

[vemvemem]

Hi guys,

My situation is following: I'm EU citizen working in Iran. I will be getting paid a small amount of money in Iran legitimately and in compliance with local regulations, and rest of the salary will come from a European major bank. The company is asking me to provide a bank account. Now, if I provide my home bank account I will be taxed a lot. Instead, I'm thinking to open a bank account outside of my country.

What should I do?

Do i need to set-up a company or just a bank account? What are the risks of using something like Offshore Company Formation With Bank Account | OffshoreDesk I'm considering anything between opening just bank account and also becoming a resident of UAE with free trade zone company. Options vary between 500 EUR to ~ 7,500 EUR. No idea what to do.

Thanks,
vemvemvem

 

[Martin Everson]

Are you considered tax resident in Iran or the EU country?

Being taxed in your home country is the least of your worries when you have IRAN as the source of funds.

1. Checkout the sanction situation very very very very carefully and make sure your activity in Iran is thoroughly compliant especially with U.S sanctions. Even if you have not connection to U.S the banks you will use most probably have.
2. Determine where you are tax resident and hence where you will be obliged to pay your taxes.
3. Get advice from a local Iranian tax advisor as an agent who hears the word Iran is not going to offer you any services.

If you have what I think you have which is a split contract i.e some money paid onshore with bulk then paid offshore than this is 1999 thinking, not compliant with today's reality. Get everything checked over by an accountant and make sure your not making a serious error of judgement before you receive any funds.

 

[JohnLocke]

You may look into a Cyprus company setup which many in your situation setup, you can setup the company with nominees and most often avoid the taxes or you make use of double tax treaties in your country if they apply to reduce taxes.

What be nice with some answer to the questions from the previous post.

 

[Spinat]

As far as I remember many from Iran and the middle east are setting up companies in Cyprus because of tax reasons.

 

[vemvemem]

Are you considered tax resident in Iran or the EU country?

Being taxed in your home country is the least of your worries when you have IRAN as the source of funds.

1. Checkout the sanction situation very very very very carefully and make sure your activity in Iran is thoroughly compliant especially with U.S sanctions. Even if you have not connection to U.S the banks you will use most probably have.
2. Determine where you are tax resident and hence where you will be obliged to pay your taxes.
3. Get advice from a local Iranian tax advisor as an agent who hears the word Iran is not going to offer you any services.

If you have what I think you have which is a split contract i.e some money paid onshore with bulk then paid offshore than this is 1999 thinking, not compliant with today's reality. Get everything checked over by an accountant and make sure your not making a serious error of judgement before you receive any funds.

Thanks for the questions and sorry for late reply. I will be monitoring this thread daily.

1. I am considered tax resident in Iran. I have a tax residency certificate from Iran. Nevertheless, I don't have Iran as a source of funds i.e. the money from Iran does not flow out of the country. Part of the salary is paid locally in Iran, but just to cover the costs of living. The bulk of the salary is paid out from European major bank through an entity set up just for this purpose. I also have a consultancy contract with that entity. I can either invoice that entity or get paid as an individual to any bank account I want. Perhaps this is 1999 thinking, but I

2. in #1

3. Yes, but then again, source of funds are from major European bank from a company I have another contract with. I can check this with Iranian accountant but it's a risk I would like to avoid. Also, Iran is taxing tax residents' "worldwide income" so theoretically, those funds from EU should be taxed in Iran at 35%, and they're not.

Do I really need to set up a company? It's perhaps my wishful thinking that I should change, but could I just set up a personal offshore bank account and have the money flow there? I understand it's not 1999, but I checked and my country where I'm from does not seem to exchange any info with institutions outside EU.

I don't intend on coming back to my home country for the foreseeable future, so if I create a company somewhere I will also have to create a corporate bank account and personal bank account too.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks

 

[Martin Everson]

Unfortunately I can't give advice to Iranian residents....goes the same for USA persons also. Hope you understand.

Wish you the best with whatever choice you make going forward however.