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Advice Needed - Where to Move?

#25
Marc M said:
Maintenance fee starts at 1500 USD/year, depending on the emirate and the company construction. RAK Offshore Ltd. is the cheapest solution with all pros and cons.
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The company itself is not that expensive to main yes, but I was considering the amount of money you have to spend to live a in UAE unless you are living in one of the other emirates than Dubai or AD or you can actually manage to live in areas like Bur Dubai or International City lol
 
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#26
ih8socialism said:
The company itself is not that expensive to main yes, but I was considering the amount of money you have to spend to live a in UAE unless you are living in one of the other emirates than Dubai or AD or you can actually manage to live in areas like Bur Dubai or International City lol
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2 stopover visits/year are enough with an Offshore Ltd.. Residency is not possible and necessary. Banking and reputation are the big cons. But i may not see a topic here, looking at the initial post. Banking has to be checked. Maybe TW can help. I beleave, other UAE threads are helpful here.
 
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#27
@eRabbit I'm in a similar situation and I would consider looking into other countries besides Panama. I obtained the Friendly Nations visa from Panama 5 years ago, however, I decided it was not worth moving there.

Some of the reasons why I skipped Panama (specifically Panama City) were:
  1. No tax treaty with my home country, requiring the cutting of all ties to sever tax residency.
  2. Absolutely no culture
  3. Unbearably hot and humid weather
  4. Very expensive compared to other Latin American countries
  5. Very relaxed (i.e. lazy) locals
I would look at countries such as Mexico which are quite friendly to foreigners in regards to taxes. As long as you're not earning income from local sources, you will pretty much be out of the radar of the Mexican tax authorities. See this article for more details on how they determine tax residency.

I moved to Mexico recently and my lawyer told me to not worry about filing a tax return. The culture, food, weather, and people here are a lot better than Panama. It's like comparing Istanbul to Dubai. Also, because Mexico has a lot of double tax treaties with high-tax countries, I didn't have to sever that many ties with my high-tax home country.

Perhaps there are other countries such as Mexico which on paper tax worldwide income of tax residents, however, in practice are relaxed on enforcement and have loose rules on who they deem a tax resident.

Here is an excerpt from the article I linked above:
Despite what the Mexican tax laws say about registering to pay income taxes on worldwide income, very few foreign nationals do so. Clients tell me that the main reason for non-compliance is that Mexico is not inclined to enforce tax laws on foreign residents (and who wants to pay taxes anyway?). The Mexican tax authority, Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT), often does not bring enforcement actions against its own citizens due to a lack of resources. The Authority concentrates its limited resources on businesses and those with some sort of commercial activity (Mexican and foreign), where they expect to get the most bang for their buck. They also know that enforcing tax laws on non-Mexican individuals would send a chill through the large expatriate community and thus have often decided (at least for the time being) to ‘let sleeping dogs lie.’
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#28
botero said:
I moved to Mexico recently and my lawyer told me to not worry about filing a tax return. The culture, food, weather, and people here are a lot better than Panama. It's like comparing Istanbul to Dubai. Also, because Mexico has a lot of double tax treaties with high-tax countries, I didn't have to sever that many ties with my high-tax home country.
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It is not entirely safe to move and settle in Mexico, I think. I do not dare to admit that. The fact that the tax authorities are large and do not really care about the annual report does not come as a surprise. But thank you for your great feedback.
 
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#29
Marc M said:
2 stopover visits/year are enough with an Offshore Ltd.. Residency is not possible and necessary. Banking and reputation are the big cons. But i may not see a topic here, looking at the initial post. Banking has to be checked. Maybe TW can help. I beleave, other UAE threads are helpful here.
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What is the advantage with such an offshore company? As far as I know, they are not even tax resident in the UAE.
 
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#30
JustAnotherNomad said:
What is the advantage with such an offshore company? As far as I know, they are not even tax resident in the UAE.
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As an RAK-offshore Ltd. you are part of the freezone and tax resident with 0% direct tax. Physical residency is with a Ltd. not possible. 2 stopovers/year and above mentioned fees are necessary for maintenance. To open a bank account you need an agent. Restrictions in terms of your profession have to be observed. From my point of view this is a good alternative for eRabbit as she/he wants to live in Panama and for affiliate business a perfect reputation is not obligatory. If eRabbit opens an UAE bank account with an agent, avoiding high currency changing fees e.g. in combination with TW it's a good solution. For sure there are other options like Georgia or other destinations. In the end, it's an individual decision as there is no "golden way".
 
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#33
Marc M said:
2 stopover visits/year are enough with an Offshore Ltd.. Residency is not possible and necessary. Banking and reputation are the big cons. But i may not see a topic here, looking at the initial post. Banking has to be checked. Maybe TW can help. I beleave, other UAE threads are helpful here.
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An RAK IBC company can not sponsor you a residence visa. Besides that, yes you only need to visit the country every 6 month but this doesn't help to pay legally no tax unless you are not staying longer than couple of months in a country. Also opening a bank account for the offshore entity can be a pain in the a*s.
 
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#37
JustAnotherNomad said:
But in that case, what is the advantage with that company? You might as well set up a company in the Seychelles or something?
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As I said it's tax free and as I as well said, there are many other possibilities...Many zero/low tax destinations are possible.
My reply considered eRabbit's wishes: Residency in Panama, combined with zero/low tax. UAE reputation as well is better than the classical offshore destinations from my point of view. That's it.

Feel free to make other proposals ;)
 
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#38
I think a US LLC is probably better - provided that it works in combination with Panama residency. Better access to payment services, better reputation etc.
But I don’t know if it would be taxed as local income by Panama. But I would assume that there’s no difference to a RAK offshore company.
 
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#39
@Admin My broader point was that countries with zero tax or territorial tax are usually not the best places to live. It's good to know what is important to a person before cutting all ties and moving to a foreign country. If money is all that is important to a person and quality of life doesn't matter one bit (which is sad, but possible), Panama and other zero-tax countries will work fine.

In regards to Mexico, are you speaking from experience? The reality on the ground is much different than what the media has influenced people to believe.
 
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#40
no I have not personally lived in Mexico but only heard the news and watched it on TV, so I never go and travel to Mexico, not even for vacation or for shark fishing :)
 
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