Offshore company for stock trading with Interactive Brokers

[Piano]

Interactive Brokers will not let you transfer any founds to any account, owned by other than the company. Currently they are not accepting BVI companies, I had to close my BVI company account with them. They refused to move positions to my personal account, even being the sole director and only beneficiary.

which offshore jurisdictions does Interactive accept ?

 

[glengoolie]

IB supports all banks AND customers who are from countries on this list, according to their website: Countries - Financial Action Task Force (FATF) although different IB branches might support different countries. find the branch you want, click on open account, then "what you need" and you have different information for different countries/jurisdictions.

 

[BlueMist]

The nominee agreement holds different titles: declaration of trust, trust deed etc. Maybe that’s why you are confusing it with trust structure.

Last year I opened account at Bank of Cyprus for Malta company with Cyprus holding nominee. So it is definitely possible. I also know that Sepaga (Cyprus EMI) open accounts with nominee structure. Yes Bank of Cyprus is not cheap. They indeed charge EUR 50 + EUR 20 per month, but SEPA transfers are reasonably priced. Cyprus banking is not cheap for business accounts but it nowhere is apart from Wise or Revolut.

 

[glengoolie]

SEPA transfers are reasonably priced

shouldn't SEPA be free through entire EU??

 

[CyprusLaw]

The nominee agreement holds different titles: declaration of trust, trust deed etc. Maybe that’s why you are confusing it with trust structure.

Last year I opened account at Bank of Cyprus for Malta company with Cyprus holding nominee. So it is definitely possible. I also know that Sepaga (Cyprus EMI) open accounts with nominee structure. Yes Bank of Cyprus is not cheap. They indeed charge EUR 50 + EUR 20 per month, but SEPA transfers are reasonably priced. Cyprus banking is not cheap for business accounts but it nowhere is apart from Wise or Revolut.

As you have mentioned it is possible to open a bank account with a nominee structure, most, if not all, of the holding companies in Cyprus work with nominees and unless their activities are deemed high risk banks open accounts for them.

 

[Dom pedro]

IB supports all banks AND customers who are from countries on this list, according to their website: Countries - Financial Action Task Force (FATF) although different IB branches might support different countries. find the branch you want, click on open account, then "what you need" and you have different information for different countries/jurisdictions.

This is confusing. There was a reply just above that stated that they are not accepting BVI companies. I wonder if someone found a solution for opening an offshore for trading with them.

 

[TravelAfficionado]

IB publishes their supported countries at the following link:
https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=7021
So no reason to consult the FATF list, which is different.

 

[Fred]

IB publishes their supported countries at the following link:
https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=7021
So no reason to consult the FATF list, which is different.

From there list they basically consider close to all jurisdictions however the difference will be made during compliance.

For example forget about getting your BVI company a IBKR account if the company doesn't has its own office space apart from the registered office with the agent.

For the UAE they look away of this rule but keep a closer look on if you have a real bank account within the country of incorporation.

So forget about there list because you will end up getting no IBKR account for your American Samoa or Dominica Residence as they will put you in weird loopholes even they mention it as supported countries.

 

[Dom pedro]

I have the same problem as the OP. An offshore would help me a lot in tax optimization for stock investing. I would also love to not do accounting. But it seems like it's becoming very hard to do it in traditional tax havens.
Does anyone knows if I would face problems opening a IBKR account for a Delaware LLC? It's not the ideal for me, but it's better than a personal account.

 

[PaulKruger]

Does anyone knows if I would face problems opening a IBKR account for a Delaware LLC? It's not the ideal for me, but it's better than a personal account.

it's a brokerage account not a bank account?

 

[Dom pedro]

it's a brokerage account not a bank account?

Yes. Getting a bank account would be another problem. But if IBKR does not have a problem with foreign owned LLCs, that's already a good progress, considering that they apparently aren't being friendly with BVI and other jurisdictions.

 

[LYY00852]

Interactive Brokers will not let you transfer any founds to any account, owned by other than the company. Currently they are not accepting BVI companies, I had to close my BVI company account with them. They refused to move positions to my personal account, even being the sole director and only beneficiary.

Thanks for sharing @john254 , would like to ask how is the progress? So it means that they force you liquidate all position and transfer the cash back into your company account, so that they can close your IBKR account? Do you know whether that IBKR is doing this closure to all BVI clients or just selected clients?

I am considering to set up an offshore company to hold stock too, do you know any another offshore jurisdiction that can open IBKR account? Though BVI is supposed to be reputable jurisdiction, things are getting strange and it seems like US / Europe are trying to crack down on any offshore jurisdiction.

 

[PhantomOf ThePits]

Thanks for sharing @john254 , would like to ask how is the progress? So it means that they force you liquidate all position and transfer the cash back into your company account, so that they can close your IBKR account? Do you know whether that IBKR is doing this closure to all BVI clients or just selected clients?

I am considering to set up an offshore company to hold stock too, do you know any another offshore jurisdiction that can open IBKR account? Though BVI is supposed to be reputable jurisdiction, things are getting strange and it seems like US / Europe are trying to crack down on any offshore jurisdiction.

I know people who trade with BVI Co via IBKR US (maybe IBKR EU will create issues).

However, as @Fred wrote, the cleaner setup is Dubai Co.

Depending on where you live, going via (single member) Delaware LLC (or even via LP) may be an option to look into

 

[Onassis]

Has anyone tried to open an IBKR account for a Cypriot Ltd recently? Do they require the company to have a bank account in Cyprus?

 

[EliasIT]

Hi,

I'm new to the world of offshore companies. I've been thinking about setting up an offshore IBC to trade stocks with Interactive Brokers while being resident in Europe. I understand tax residence rules would still apply, but my country of residence has a much lower corporate tax rate than income tax rate and if I wanted to move in the future, I wouldn't need to set up another company. In addition, maintenance costs would be lower, as those tax haven countries often don't require audits etc. Would this make sense? I've read here IB recently terminated somebody's Seychellois account on the grounds of it being a "high risk country". Would Anguilla be a better choice? And would it be possible to skip opening a bank account in the offshore country and just use my personal bank account to receive wages or dividends while keeping most of the money in the IB account? I'd appreciate any help.

I wonder, it is 6 years since this post was made, but does anyone think it would still make sense to go this route ?

For me it looks like a confused person not knowing anything and desperately try to avoid taxes?