Anonymous Company Formation and Banking

[mattystorey]

Hi, I have a few questions based on my scenario.


I am UK based and looking at forming my own business. All of my work is carried out via the internet. I am currently employed permanently in the UK and would be looking to run this business on the side. All business is currently conducted in the UK and i will be paid by UK companies for services rendered.


I am looking at registering a anonymous bank account and anonymous company to protect my identity. Ideally the anonymous company will pay little to no tax due to its jurisdiction/location. I would obviously like to take money from the account to pay myself and use for the business to pay for items/on going costs.


The number of questions i have:


1) What jurisdiction can i register a anonymous bank account and anonymous company?


2) What is the best jurisdiction to register it in based on my requirements and scenario?


3) How do i go about taking cash out of the business to pay myself and items for the business? Rather than a lump sump maybe buy items instead?


4) How do i go about invoicing companies and have them pay me? (bearing in mind i am UK based, but the company i own is in a different jurisdiction).


Thanks in advance!

 

[Zqq]

1) What jurisdiction can i register a anonymous bank account and anonymous company?

Without a time machine to go back a couple of decades - nowhere.


There is no such thing as anonymous bank accounts or companies. Someone will always know who you are. You can use nominee directors and shareholders for the company, but aggressive and clever tax authorities will just go after the bank and get them to disclose the account signatory.


You can use bank account nominees, but the authorities can in theory keep pursuing if they have strong reason to believe that the ultimate beneficiary is someone under their jurisdiction and compel the nominees to reveal your identity.

3) How do i go about taking cash out of the business to pay myself and items for the business? Rather than a lump sump maybe buy items instead?

Using undeclared funds to make purchases is in most jurisdictions I'm aware of considered a predicate crime to money laundering. By committing money laundering, the authorities can bring in much heavier artillery to get banks to disclose information. Even though a bank in a jurisdiction might not disclose information on tax offences, they almost universally will for money laundering. Only a handful of jurisdictions cannot or will not.


You might get around the money laundering aspect if the money stays in the company.

4) How do i go about invoicing companies and have them pay me? (bearing in mind i am UK based, but the company i own is in a different jurisdiction).

I'd say - do yourself a favour and keep it legitimate. Speak to a qualified professional about tax minimizing actions you can take, but forget about things like anonymous companies and bank accounts. They are a thing of the past and one simple misstep and you risk going from tax evader to money launderer.


I know many UK businesses use offshore entities to reduce their tax burden. These aren't necessarily anonymous, but they are legitimate tax reduction vehicles.

 

[electric]

What you are asking about is tax evasion. What you want to do is tax avoidance.


There's a big difference. Mostly the amount of time in jail you will spend when you get caught.

1) What jurisdiction can i register a anonymous bank account and anonymous company?

As Zqq said, this is not possible. There simply is no bank in the world that will open a truly anonymous account. The best you could do is pay someone to be the signatory on the account (called a "nominee"). This will not only be very expensive, but basically you have handed over control of the account to someone else. How much do you trust that person? If you had signing control over some stranger's bank account, and it had a million dollars in it, and there was literally no way you could possibly get caught... :evil:
Also keep in mind that even if you did catch the person (which would be practically impossible, but let's play this game just for the sake of argument), they would most likely argue that they were the owner of the account. After all, your name is not mentioned anywhere in the account at all, right? That's the whole point of "anonymous". So it's literally your word against theirs. Your local government is probably going to be interested in who wins the case.

2) What is the best jurisdiction to register it in based on my requirements and scenario?

Baring in mind the above info (there is no such thing as anonymous banking), then the next best thing is "obfuscated banking". This is where "your" bank account is actually owned by an offshore company and you are just the signatory. The offshore company is the actual owner/beneficiary. (Although it get's complicated, because you would be the wizard behind that offshore company...)
In my research into the best offshore structure for my needs, I came up with the following:


- I create an offshore company in Seychelles. There is no public record of the shareholders and directors for a Seychelles company, so it's "relatively" anonymous.


- The Seychelles company creates a Hong Kong company.


- The Hong Kong company opens a Hong Kong bank account. I would be the signatory of the bank account, but not the beneficial owner. (The HK company is the beneficial owner.)


So what this does is make it difficult for my local government's tax authorities to look into things and see any kind of direct ownership or beneficiary relationship to me directly. Of course, if they dig hard enough... they will find it. Or they will simply presume it, and then I am obligated to disprove it. (Lots of countries work that way, if they think you are trying to cheat them.. they'll simply assume you are guilty and you must prove your innocence.)


If you belong to a country where you must declare any beneficial ownership or signatory powers in any foreign company or bank account... this structure will NOT protect you.

3) How do i go about taking cash out of the business to pay myself and items for the business? Rather than a lump sump maybe buy items instead?

Most corporate bank accounts will offer some kind of "card" you can use to make purchases. Make sure the card is not in your name, but is in the name of the company, etc... Then you could use that to make your purchases or cash withdrawals in your home country. I would not recommend using the ATM down the street from your home, though.

4) How do i go about invoicing companies and have them pay me? (bearing in mind i am UK based, but the company i own is in a different jurisdiction).

If you go the route I mentioned above, with a Hong Kong company, then the HK company would be doing the invoicing to your customers. Your customers would pay the HK company.
Then the HK company pays you as a consultant.

 

[Zqq]

Keep in mind that as of 2014, Hong Kong requires companies to have at least one natural person (human) director.

 

[electric]

Keep in mind that as of 2014, Hong Kong requires companies to have at least one natural person (human) director.

I had not heard this. Where can I find information about this?


Most importantly, will existing company's be exempt from this requirement?

 

[Zqq]

It is in the most recent Company Ordinance. I'm afraid I can't get a link right now.


Existing companies are not exempt. In some circumstances, the director's address and passport number can be withheld.