Hello Everyone!
Please help me become a Ghost!
I'm a UK citizen (and I suppose resident), but I actually spend very little time in the UK and do a lot of business abroad, it's very difficult for anyone to actually prove my residency, other than finding my two worldwide bank accounts and checking my flights and phone.
I'm interested in setting up offshore structures, not actually primarily for favourable tax purposes, but first and foremost for my personal privacy. Other reasons include the corporate flexibility that many offshore jurisdictions offer and also so that I can be permanently invisible to the UK tax man, none of my business is actually conducted within the UK (so I am still under the radar) and I pay myself a shoestring personal expense income which I have no desire to increase. As an example I know someone who lives on Jersey Island and conducts his business from there, UK tax men check his phone everytime he leaves the UK to make sure he hasn't been more than 90 days in the UK - I do not want this, I'd like to freely enter and leave the UK as much as I'd like and be under the radar.
Some things I'd like to do with an offshore structure:
-Have an Offshore company owning EU companies and paying itself dividends after corporate tax locally.
-Have a separate Offshore company (not related to the one above) with which I can invoice others for my personal services.
-Withdraw any profits to an offshore entity and hold the funds in the company for years without paying myself any dividends or income.
-Use the company and funds as a vehicle for purchasing property within the UK and within the EU.
-Use the company for invoices and services in EU countries such as Poland and Belgium.
-Be able to have some sort of banking facility for the receipt of funds within the EU as well as outgoings.
I do have some concerns however:
1) I have yet to find Banks that will open accounts for Offshore that I feel are safe, especially in the long term, I don't trust the EU will not raid Cyprus again for example, and I'm not keen on the idea of Carribean banks. Latvia is too close to Russia for invasion and I've been introduced to some fairly dodgy/sleazy small Swiss banks. No bank in the UK will open an offshore account for anyone afaik.
2) Countries such as Poland will not allow outgoing Bank tranfers to Offshore destinations or invoicing from Offshore enitities.
I had believed that I had found the way around this which was to create a UK LLP with an Offshore company as a partner with someone (from the UK) who acts in an agent role as a partner, where the profits after expenses would be drawn off by the Offshore company. I believed this would allow me to create a UK bank account (not possible but maybe possible outside the UK in the EU) and allow the agent to act in the name of the partnership while keeping myself out of the equation.
I discovered to my dismay new legislation in the UK called PSC "Person of Significant Control" which would mean that even if I just signed off with a Power of Attorney for the Offshore Company or LLP, I will lose my secrecy pretty fast. Furthermore my agent is likely to get into trouble apportioning off the profits entirely offshore as the taxman will come down heavily on them to prove why the other party should receive 90% or more of the profits.
3) Ideally I'd like to be in a jurisdiction like the Cayman Islands, BVI, Anguilla since they are under UK dominion so politically safe, however I am concerned if someone like Jeremy Corbyn gets into power in the UK it will mean the end of that pretty quickly.
4) For the Offshore company concerning my personal services only (the LLP example and not the one holding other companies) I would like to keep the annual running costs/renewals to a bare minimum, since the income here is very sporadic!
I've had lots of advice from consultants etc. which to be honest have left me more confused than when I started! Any of your insights would be appreciated!
Please help me become a Ghost!
I'm a UK citizen (and I suppose resident), but I actually spend very little time in the UK and do a lot of business abroad, it's very difficult for anyone to actually prove my residency, other than finding my two worldwide bank accounts and checking my flights and phone.
I'm interested in setting up offshore structures, not actually primarily for favourable tax purposes, but first and foremost for my personal privacy. Other reasons include the corporate flexibility that many offshore jurisdictions offer and also so that I can be permanently invisible to the UK tax man, none of my business is actually conducted within the UK (so I am still under the radar) and I pay myself a shoestring personal expense income which I have no desire to increase. As an example I know someone who lives on Jersey Island and conducts his business from there, UK tax men check his phone everytime he leaves the UK to make sure he hasn't been more than 90 days in the UK - I do not want this, I'd like to freely enter and leave the UK as much as I'd like and be under the radar.
Some things I'd like to do with an offshore structure:
-Have an Offshore company owning EU companies and paying itself dividends after corporate tax locally.
-Have a separate Offshore company (not related to the one above) with which I can invoice others for my personal services.
-Withdraw any profits to an offshore entity and hold the funds in the company for years without paying myself any dividends or income.
-Use the company and funds as a vehicle for purchasing property within the UK and within the EU.
-Use the company for invoices and services in EU countries such as Poland and Belgium.
-Be able to have some sort of banking facility for the receipt of funds within the EU as well as outgoings.
I do have some concerns however:
1) I have yet to find Banks that will open accounts for Offshore that I feel are safe, especially in the long term, I don't trust the EU will not raid Cyprus again for example, and I'm not keen on the idea of Carribean banks. Latvia is too close to Russia for invasion and I've been introduced to some fairly dodgy/sleazy small Swiss banks. No bank in the UK will open an offshore account for anyone afaik.
2) Countries such as Poland will not allow outgoing Bank tranfers to Offshore destinations or invoicing from Offshore enitities.
I had believed that I had found the way around this which was to create a UK LLP with an Offshore company as a partner with someone (from the UK) who acts in an agent role as a partner, where the profits after expenses would be drawn off by the Offshore company. I believed this would allow me to create a UK bank account (not possible but maybe possible outside the UK in the EU) and allow the agent to act in the name of the partnership while keeping myself out of the equation.
I discovered to my dismay new legislation in the UK called PSC "Person of Significant Control" which would mean that even if I just signed off with a Power of Attorney for the Offshore Company or LLP, I will lose my secrecy pretty fast. Furthermore my agent is likely to get into trouble apportioning off the profits entirely offshore as the taxman will come down heavily on them to prove why the other party should receive 90% or more of the profits.
3) Ideally I'd like to be in a jurisdiction like the Cayman Islands, BVI, Anguilla since they are under UK dominion so politically safe, however I am concerned if someone like Jeremy Corbyn gets into power in the UK it will mean the end of that pretty quickly.
4) For the Offshore company concerning my personal services only (the LLP example and not the one holding other companies) I would like to keep the annual running costs/renewals to a bare minimum, since the income here is very sporadic!
I've had lots of advice from consultants etc. which to be honest have left me more confused than when I started! Any of your insights would be appreciated!
