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Where to setup company for best privacy in 2020 ?
- Thread starter Spinat
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I can't talk for UAE and Singapore, but I'll give you a present if you can introduce me to ANY real bank in LU or MC that would open an account for a Marshall Islands structure.
I just don't believe it.
Anything is possible once you're above 7–8 figures. At that point, jurisdiction is almost irrelevant. As long as the bank trusts you and knows where the money is coming from and going to, you can show up with just about any kind of company (except sanctioned/blacklisted countries, those require more finesse).
Dunno.
Having a few years of Private Banking (also in a somewhat offshore-friendly Liechtenstein bank) behind my back, I can tell you that:
- 7 figures is yawn
- A lot of private banks won't consider US clients until the 8 figure mark
- No bank that I know of would onboard a Marshall Islands entity unless it was legacy or the business is actually intertwined with the jurisdiction. Certainly not in the "anonymity" scenario discussed.
Another thing is it's not particularly easy to generate 7-8 figures without a clear BO, so all of this anonymity waterfall is pure insanity in my opinion. Especially, when given such figures, public listings, securities, invetment funds, foundations etc etc are readily available and relatively inexpensive.
Mind you, the witch hunt has only become intense about 4 years ago (earlier in Luxembourg). Since then, most in Switzerland and Liechtenstein have completely cleared their books of non tax-compliant structures. Even at a cost of losing HUNDREDS of millions under management per institution...
What forced all of them to do that and lose their clients/profits that way? EU regulations and higher risk to be sanctioned/fined by the government for assisting tax evasion?
The U.S. government destroyed Wegelin & Co, the oldest Swiss private bank, through the exercise one of the worst cases of extraterritorial jurisdiction in human history. After surviving for more than 2-1/2 centuries, the bank entered a guilty plea to charges of helping wealthy Americans evade taxes through secret accounts and then closed its doors forever. The U.S. also targeted other Swiss banks. Why do think that everyone in the offshore world is frightened?
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...close-after-guilty-plea-idUSBRE9020O020130104
It was a really awkward situation.
Shitty service providers are at the core.
For a very long while they were pedalling perfectly illegal "solutions" that were simple and cheap and clients ate them up like cookies. There was hardly any incentive for the Service Providers to strive to be legal, because legal solutions are less cost effective than passable illegal ones. Meanwhile, the Banks just gobbled up whatever because they felt it was not their business to be their client's taxman. So shitty solutions from shitty providers was what got the deals done.
Fast forward to the moment where banks and bankers have a criminal liability in assisting clients with tax evasion and then the cleaning initiatives of the EU - all of a sudden, these banks found themselves with dozens if not hundreds of structures that could no longer hold water on their books. Of course all the clients were informed that there was a problem, but we couldn't exactly go ahead and spoon-feed the clients the solutions, so as not to be seen as co-conspirators in Tax evasion.
Most of their Service Providers turned out to be absolutely inept at playing the rules of the game, some even tried to hold up the narrative of the evil bank, we'll find another. Long story short, by D Day only about 20% of those whom we warned changed and adapted to a more compliant structure (often by virtue of a small formality), the rest had to go and so they did. I guess EPIs and Crypto soaked up a large number of these folks, the rest became compliant when they realized no real bank would take them anymore.
Another issue is that once you're kicked out of a failing/blacklisted Bank or EMI (ABLV anyone? It was destroyed by the US in 2 weeks), other banks and EMIs are (should) be EXTREMELY careful about onboarding you - a few too many bad apples roam to a new bank and its the next in line for retaliations...
Long story short, have your s**t 100% ready before you come to the bank, don't try to work it out later or as it goes along. And bother thinking past the "offshore = no tax" mentality, because things are incredibly more nuanced and being able to navigate intricacies is now the name of the game.
Electronic Money Institutions, as most neo-"banks" and payment service providers that are allowed to open transactional accounts, but are not strictly banks.
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