Keeping Credit Cards in Home country: Any Tax implications?

[HeinzKetchup69]

Let's say I have 5x different credit cards back in my home country.
I empty all my bank accounts and keep my credit cards running while I move to the Bahamas and keep funding these credit cards with my offshore company funds,
I use these funds for business purposes for my offshore company and collect points.

The credit cards are all in my personal names, and I do not use any of my home country bank accounts, I only top up the credit cards balances when they are due.

Does this have any form of tax implications if I'm properly set up abroad and have a foreign tax certificate, substance abroad, etc... ?

 

[JohnnyDoe]

In theory you shouldn’t have problems, but the local tax office can always decide to freeze your accounts pending investigation. So don’t leave a balance higher than what you need for the next 15-30 days.

 

[wellington]

No, because UK tax is based on residence…

It’s inheritance tax for kids / spouses you need to be worried about

Or if using these cards for business activities

Having said that in UK law there is no laws against using a UK account for commercial activities - therefore you could use a UK account for corporate banking whilst living in the Bahamas in theory and it would be outside of the UK for commercial tax reasons if everything else operates from the Bahamas etc

Banks are wising up to this though

 

[HeinzKetchup69]

In theory you shouldn’t have problems, but the local tax office can always decide to freeze your accounts pending investigation. So don’t leave a balance higher than what you need for the next 15-30 days.

Do you mean I should not leave the Credit Card balance (that I owe them) any higher than $0?
Credit cards are a debt I have to pay, so how can my home country "freeze them"?

 

[HeinzKetchup69]

No, because UK tax is based on residence…

It’s inheritance tax for kids / spouses you need to be worried about

Or if using these cards for business activities

Having said that in UK law there is no laws against using a UK account for commercial activities - therefore you could use a UK account for corporate banking whilst living in the Bahamas in theory and it would be outside of the UK for commercial tax reasons if everything else operates from the Bahamas etc

Banks are wising up to this though

I'm not from the UK.

I would use the credit card for both business and personal purposes (separate credit cards for each) and the credit cards would be all in my personal name, but the business is registered offshore, while the credit cards are on my personal name and registered with my home country address and in local currency from my home country so I would have to pay them with W-i-s-e or a similar EMI.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

Do you mean I should not leave the Credit Card balance (that I owe them) any higher than $0?
Credit cards are a debt I have to pay, so how can my home country "freeze them"?

I mean don’t have a positive balance on the cards. If you just pay the balance when due it’s fine.

 

[JackAlabama]

Let's say I have 5x different credit cards back in my home country.
I empty all my bank accounts and keep my credit cards running while I move to the Bahamas and keep funding these credit cards with my offshore company funds,
I use these funds for business purposes for my offshore company and collect points.

The credit cards are all in my personal names, and I do not use any of my home country bank accounts, I only top up the credit cards balances when they are due.

Does this have any form of tax implications if I'm properly set up abroad and have a foreign tax certificate, substance abroad, etc... ?

to know it, you need to disclose the country in question.

In many cases it does not. You can keep your accounts even. Just do not be physically there.

 

[Sols]

It depends on where you live and how much of your personal finances are tied to the card. If it's some tax hell and the credit card is a vital part of your personal finances, there are places in the world which could conceivably consider it as you having you economic center of interest there which makes you wholly or partly taxable.

 

[EliasIT]

I completely agree with everyone here, you shouldn't have money on these cards. You should just pay what you owe each month, and if you're living in a tax haven like some of the Scandinavian countries, you should avoid it completely.

Create some new cards that you can use, possibly where you're living now, like the Bahamas.

 

[HeinzKetchup69]

I completely agree with everyone here, you shouldn't have money on these cards. You should just pay what you owe each month, and if you're living in a tax haven like some of the Scandinavian countries, you should avoid it completely.

Create some new cards that you can use, possibly where you're living now, like the Bahamas.

My home country is one of the big 4 (AUNZUKCAD).
Tax department is quite harsh. But I need those Skyrewards points bro...

 

[EliasIT]

ohhh I see... sad to hear that.