Most Western countries provide reliefs under their laws which
allow assets to pass, free of tax, from individuals or
corporations into Offshore Trust arrangements.
Indeed, the relationship between Trusts, both onshore and offshore,
Taxation, Asset Protection and Wealth Preservation has brought
about a demand for information which was difficult to obtain only
a decade ago. And this is all quite legal. The super-rich
have been doing it for decades. Most major companies and banks,
globally, have offshore operations.
But, now these arrangements are available to anyone wishing to
enjoy the following benefits:
Save vast sums in taxes
Pass wealth to future generations free of tax
Enhance financial privacy away from networked databases
Shield against harassment and vengeful lawsuits
Minimise inflation and currency risks
Protect property against government confiscation
Limit personal liability
Avoid currency, capital and exchange controls
Minimise economic and political risk
Transfer ownership of almost any asset anonymously
Reduce costs of property transactions
Use trust as a money-raising vehicle
Avoid probate on death
Preserve wealth with financial, investment and pension planning
and
Achieve financial immortality
Richard Branson saved many millions in tax when he sold his Virgin
Record Company by using offshore arrangements. Before Virgin
went public, Branson took the step which saved him tens of millions
in tax by transferring ownership of many of his shares in the
Company to Offshore Trusts of which he and his family are
beneficiaries. When the Company went public, and when his music
business was sold later, in a transaction worth over £560 million,
the bulk of the capital gain was free of tax. There was not,
could not, and will not, be any dispute over the legality of the
tax avoidance inherent in the transaction. This kind of trust
arrangement is expressly allowed under British tax law. And
the same is true for most Western countries.
Here’s a possible scenario for an individual with more modest
means:
A man owns, solely or jointly, a portfolio of investments.
These are usually properties, but could be anything of a capital
nature. The properties may be mortgaged. Using legal
strategies, successfully implemented over decades, the portfolio
can be moved, under statutory protection, into a tax-free,
trust-based environment.
The portfolio investments can be sold free of any tax on the
capital gain. Tax-efficient rental strategies remain available.
The investments and their sale proceeds fall outside estate/death/
inheritance taxes.
This arrangement uses statutory reliefs. It does not even touch
on “tax avoidance”. It has full disclosure to tax authorities.
It can be set up in conjunction with existing professional advisers.
It uses independent professional trustees. The perfect arrangement.
Tax avoidance is fine. Tax evasion is illegal, no matter where
you reside.
A U.S. Supreme Court Judge stated: “The tax-payer has a right to
so arrange his affairs as to make his tax as low as possible.”
And a French Chancellor: “The art of taxation consists in so
plucking the goose as to obtain the largest amount of feathers
with the smallest possible amount of hissing.”
Punitive taxes are among the major obstacles in accumulating wealth
today. In high-tax countries, which includes most of the Western
world, the government will try to take 50% or more of your income
while your alive and working.
After you have gone, it will try to take at least 50% of what you
have left, in estate/inheritance/death tax.
As privacy is eroded, most Western countries are following the
United States’ example. Frivolous, indiscriminate, costly
litigation abounds, with lawsuits appearing everywhere and for
everything. Well-informed lawyers know exactly what your assets
amount to, and can ruthlessly pursue their clients’ claims to them,
unless action is taken to protect them. Offshore arrangements
will do this.
But it’s not just lawyers who can gather information on you.
Private investigators, with access to advanced technology, can
glean the deepest personal and business knowledge, without anyone
knowing. According to a UK television documentary, the UK
Inland Revenue uses undercover vehicles to eavesdrop on suspected
tax fraudsters. Offshore arrangements can help avoid this.
Our lives are finite, but corporations can live forever. This
means that you could use an offshore entity as a wealth
preservation and estate planning vehicle to provide a source of
income to uncounted generations of your family. Unless you
protect your wealth and your estate, your heirs could lose more
than half of it. Then, of course, the government becomes your
biggest “heir”.
By using a simple offshore trust, rather than a corporate one, in
the event of the death of the settlor, the winding-up of the
estate can be accomplished simply without delay.
If you truly wish maximum privacy for your business and financial
affairs, combined with the most efficient wealth preservation
planning, you should do something without delay, no matter where
in the world you reside.
Duncan Watson, Expatriate Financial Bureau, has advised on
offshore strategies since 1979. For further information on
the advantages of trusts please go to:
http://www.protectallassets.com
