Move Business & Stay Anonymous to Avoid Lawsuits?

[DCble]

In your case; have you cut ties permanently with the UK and is your tax residency in Thailand kind of recognised and accepted by the UK?

Not cut ties permanently but they've accepted I'm not a tax payer there at the moment (they look back over the last 5 years to pull you back into UK tax) and still have some cash in UK banks.

For the moment I've got a visa to stay in Thailand for 10 years and a Thailand tax ID.

Why do you think so? I did it without the slightest troubles a few years ago. And I lived in one of the highest tax paying countries in the world.

Times have changed.

Many European countries are trying to keep you tied as much to them as they can so that they can continue to collect taxes. This means that if they find your story not plausible they will immediately treat it as a way to evade taxes and that makes that you are forced to proof that it is not to evade taxes but a legitimate move for whatever purpose. Any connection to your passport country then works against you. A connection in that sense is nowadays already when you have family and a bankaccount left in your passport country.

We knew the Dutch and Spanish tax authorities are displaying this behaviour. A solid third place is for France and Germany is quickly catching up to just name a couple of high tax usual suspects. UK also fits in this list.

Dubai as an example. Low taxes etc and if you go and work as an employee there it will fly for your passport country. If you go as an entrepreneur it will be frowned upon from the beginning. Depending on how big of a fish you are in the eyes of the tax authorities you will receive less or more attention. That threshold amount is a lot lower than we all think. It is definitely not in the millions anymore.

 

[JohnLocke]

Many European countries are trying to keep you tied as much to them as they can so that they can continue to collect taxes. This means that if they find your story not plausible they will immediately treat it as a way to evade taxes and that makes that you are forced to proof that it is not to evade taxes but a legitimate move for whatever purpose. Any connection to your passport country then works against you. A connection in that sense is nowadays already when you have family and a bankaccount left in your passport country.

I completely agree with you, but the world is not black and white, and even in this long (good explanation) which I certainly find to be an interesting read and which can help people in their decision, I just want to point out that there are many nuances in deregistering from your home country and escaping that hell.

You are generalizing, and that cannot be done; there is legislation, wealth, rights, and how the country you move to views your so-called tax evasion. It's very difficult to argue for it in such a simple way as you do here.

 

[GPT]

I completely agree with you, but the world is not black and white, and even in this long (good explanation) which I certainly find to be an interesting read and which can help people in their decision, I just want to point out that there are many nuances in deregistering from your home country and escaping that hell.

You are generalizing, and that cannot be done; there is legislation, wealth, rights, and how the country you move to views your so-called tax evasion. It's very difficult to argue for it in such a simple way as you do here.

Fair comment and indeed I am generalizing.

Previously I already said that there is no one solution for all. That also relates to deregistering and moving countries because as you correctly state the world is not black and white. Where it was something relatively easy in the past to deregister you now need proper (sometimes very expensive) advise to cover all your bases.

To cover all exceptions on the entirety of Europe is impossible. Lets also not forget that as an answer to the handful of questions I started out with I didnt get a better answer as "European passport, one of the good ones". Hence my reply was also generic.

 

[DCble]

Times have changed.

Many European countries are trying to keep you tied as much to them as they can so that they can continue to collect taxes. This means that if they find your story not plausible they will immediately treat it as a way to evade taxes and that makes that you are forced to proof that it is not to evade taxes but a legitimate move for whatever purpose. Any connection to your passport country then works against you. A connection in that sense is nowadays already when you have family and a bankaccount left in your passport country.

We knew the Dutch and Spanish tax authorities are displaying this behaviour. A solid third place is for France and Germany is quickly catching up to just name a couple of high tax usual suspects. UK also fits in this list.

Dubai as an example. Low taxes etc and if you go and work as an employee there it will fly for your passport country. If you go as an entrepreneur it will be frowned upon from the beginning. Depending on how big of a fish you are in the eyes of the tax authorities you will receive less or more attention. That threshold amount is a lot lower than we all think. It is definitely not in the millions anymore.

I think something has gone wrong as this wasn't my post, it's far too good!

The UK would pull me back into their tax if I stay more than 16 nights a year with family. If I do go back then they'll want the tax details for the last 5 years and look at taxing me on those.

In the 80s popstars went to taxhaven for a year to save money then came back, those days are long gone!

 

[GPT]

I think something has gone wrong as this wasn't my post, it's far too good!

The UK would pull me back into their tax if I stay more than 16 nights a year with family. If I do go back then they'll want the tax details for the last 5 years and look at taxing me on those.

In the 80s popstars went to taxhaven for a year to save money then came back, those days are long gone!

I was wondering the same, I probably did something wrong
I dont mind, you can take the credits

 

[daniels27]

Based on these two answers you are a nightmare to work with

A good EU passport means imo a high tax country which isnt easily going to let you go.
Living in, on Airlines isn't going to fly and makes a setup not easy.

Explanation with the above is that the high tax EU country will treat you as a resident and therefore tax you because you do not formally live somewhere else. You also do not fall in the accepted exceptions such as sea farers. For me to be able to suggest something with regards to a structure you first would have to establish a residency flag. Until then everything is likely going to be treated as transparent which renders the use of almost all structures useless.

The above will be disputed by many providers. Keep in mind that most of them are just in it for the money and want to sell you the entities and some extra services. When you start to encounter problems, they wash their hands in innocence and hide behind their small print.

It may not be what you think of. But apart from that, where would you suggest me to go?

 

[GPT]

It may not be what you think of. But apart from that, where would you suggest me to go?

There is no apart from that. A good passport shuts the doors to many solutions. A lower ranked passport can perhaps open the solutions which are not open to you if you have the good passport. Both of these passports are Europe.

To give an example. As a rich French person there is no benefit for you to go to Monaco for instance whereas Monaco will work for a German passport holder.

 

[jafo]

It may not be what you think of. But apart from that, where would you suggest me to go?

Keep moving! Keep enjoying your travels and work. Invest in yourself. Look for new opportunities.
Don't set roots until it's 100% beneficial for YOU!
Who knows, maybe later, you can settle in a country that is tax-free and won't bother you.

 

[belarus]

I've been trading as a UK limited company for my online business for 18 months. Money is made via patreon, Substack and affiliate links.

I'm based in Wales but have been in Thailand for the last year. Currently have a 10 year visa but on their program where you have to report every 90 continuous days.

The nature of my business leads me open to lawsuits from people with deep pockets. Nothing other than threats at the moment, but they're currently applying via patreon for my personal details to sue me/my company for more than my net worth for defamation. I believe it to be spurious, but someone with way more money and resources than me under the laws in the UK could still waste my time and all of my money.

Any advice on where to look into moving myself and my company to in order to be mitigated against this?

Can you tell me how you did about it and how is it going for you? quick update, I ran into some like same situation as you

 

[bubbledouble]

Not cut ties permanently but they've accepted I'm not a tax payer there at the moment (they look back over the last 5 years to pull you back into UK tax) and still have some cash in UK banks.

For the moment I've got a visa to stay in Thailand for 10 years and a Thailand tax ID.

If you are not a tax payer there in the UK, why do you worry? they can't hurt you in anyway while you are sitting in Thailand?