Any Reason NOT to Close a Gibraltar Holding Co + bank account?

[MrBurns]

I have a Gibraltar company, was using it for business for a few years, but in the last few years it's only used for holding investments.
I live in a tax haven so I don't care about income tax, capital gains, and don't mind CRS either.

I am thinking of shutting it down and moving the investments to my personal account, for the following reasons:

1. Tricky to open accounts: some banks close accounts, others take a lot of hassle to open.
Even banks that open and have a great relationship with me tell me that "unfortunately compliance decided we can't open for non-EU entities, we are happy to have a personal account for you but can't accept GIB"
2. Saving the yearly fees
3. It is not useful for asset protection(?) since I'm the only director/shareholder.

Is there any value in keeping the company open?
Is there any sense in holding shares in a holding company vs just keeping it on a personal level?

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TL;DR: is there any advantage of holding stocks in a holding co vs just personal account?

 

[Konstanz]

I have a Gibraltar company, was using it for business for a few years, but in the last few years it's only used for holding investments.
I live in a tax haven so I don't care about income tax, capital gains, and don't mind CRS either.

I am thinking of shutting it down and moving the investments to my personal account, for the following reasons:

1. Tricky to open accounts: some banks close accounts, others take a lot of hassle to open.
Even banks that open and have a great relationship with me tell me that "unfortunately compliance decided we can't open for non-EU entities, we are happy to have a personal account for you but can't accept GIB"
2. Saving the yearly fees
3. It is not useful for asset protection(?) since I'm the only director/shareholder.

Is there any value in keeping the company open?
Is there any sense in holding shares in a holding company vs just keeping it on a personal level?

===

TL;DR: is there any advantage of holding stocks in a holding co vs just personal account?

Which tax haven you live in?
Sometimes is useful to diversify.

 

[MrBurns]

Which tax haven you live in?
Sometimes is useful to diversify.

A tax haven in Europe. There are multiple and they are all quite similar (I'm a Non dom).

Diversification is very useful, I agree, but what diversification do I achieve with this company? CRS still reports me on a personal level.
It's hard to find good banks for such a setup unless I put 7-figures in a private bank (Which beats the purpose of diversification).

Overall I'm trying to figure out if there is something I miss and there are other advantages to keeping stocks in such a setup.

 

[Konstanz]

Non dom is not tax haven
That is why I ask. If you control company from where you live most likely it's tax resident in your country

 

[JohnLocke]

Non dom is not tax haven
That is why I ask. If you control company from where you live most likely it's tax resident in your country

I would agree, you may indicate what country you are from or at least make sure you really don't have to pay any taxes where you live right now. It will hit you hard if you think you don't have to pay taxes but you have.

 

[MrBurns]

Non dom is not tax haven
That is why I ask. If you control company from where you live most likely it's tax resident in your country

I am aware of CFC rules and they don't apply in my case.

I would agree, you may indicate what country you are from or at least make sure you really don't have to pay any taxes where you live right now. It will hit you hard if you think you don't have to pay taxes but you have.

Appreciate the concern but this is not the case. My country of residence does not care about any offshore companies I operate. I have been doing this for many years now.

As I said before, I am not interested in the tax aspect.
My main concern is if there is any ADVANTAGE of keeping the company alive vs holding the investments directly.

 

[JackAlabama]

I am aware of CFC rules and they don't apply in my case.


Appreciate the concern but this is not the case. My country of residence does not care about any offshore companies I operate. I have been doing this for many years now.

As I said before, I am not interested in the tax aspect.
My main concern is if there is any ADVANTAGE of keeping the company alive vs holding the investments directly.

Its a good question im struggling myself with, I try this with a company but often fall back to person because its just so much easier to do and maintain. So I have like an unsustainable mishmash.

Its way way easier to hold stuff like that directly personally especially across different countries in case you want to hold natively.
Simple companies today offer not much help since the veil is always pierced and you're reported anyway for whatever reason and scope ranging from crs to ubo, brave new world 2030 style.

* So a benefit would be if youd get a structure where youre not the ubo any more, than at least you have the real benefit of separation from your person. That one I can easily see why its worth to go thru the added complexity.

*Other reason is just for better tax treatment locally (due to write off expenses for work etc) or to streamline your affairs within a partnership or family,
* Or the place where you live forces you to do it due to having bs tax laws, like wealth tax etc.
* You want to relocate and you will be getting visa/work permit by having a local company and that place is at the same time known for some really good business laws etc (not some banana republic where a company is just the means of getting visa).

 

[MrBurns]

Simple companies today offer not much help since the veil is always pierced and you're reported anyway for whatever reason and scope ranging from crs to ubo, brave new world 2030 style.

Exactly. Thank you @JackAlabama for a thorough and good reply.

I know I'm getting reported at the UBO level, I already hold assets diversified over multiple jurisdictions/countries/continents so the company doesn't really help, in fact it only detracts because using a company limits me a lot to what jurisdictions I can open accounts at.

Also not to mention that banks perceive you as a much higher risk, and therefore demand higher fees (which is understandable). So I end up paying higher fees but get nothing in return.

So a benefit would be if youd get a structure where youre not the ubo any more

Absolutely good point. For now not something I want to do but maybe in the future.

* Other reason is just for better tax treatment locally (due to write off expenses for work etc) or to streamline your affairs within a partnership or family,
* Or the place where you live forces you to do it due to having bs tax laws, like wealth tax etc.
* You want to relocate and you will be getting visa/work permit by having a local company and that place is at the same time known for some really good business laws etc (not some banana republic where a company is just the means of getting visa).

Agree with all of these reasons, but I already pay 0% tax on the corp level and 0% on personal level (almost). So no extra value for me at all.

@Sols, I hope you forgive me for tagging you directly, just wondering if you have anything to add about advantages of corp vs personal, from reading here you are an absolute professional.

 

[Meta]

That's interesting as I was thinking of moving my personal holdings into a company and was going to ask for advice.

Situation is that I have some assets in my name and it becomes inconvenient for two reasons.
1) My personal bank statements start to look like a small business. I guess banks aren't really thrilled to try to understand all that.
2) There are some small-business-like operations which I would prefer to delegate but cannot as it's in my name.

It's four real estate properties in three countries. I get rent and should check if payments arrive on time. Personal accounts so nobody except me has access. I don't manage properties personally, my assistant helps with that, but sometimes I need to pay an odd bill or forward an e-mail from tenant who uses an e-mail from the contract and cannot be bothered to remember the other one.
I have some stocks/bank accounts/etc that I need to pass to accountant for tax purposes. IBKR is good, you can provide view access to somebody, but most banks don't allow that for personal accounts.
I use crypto quite a lot. Not trading, but still in the last year there were a few withdrawals and two cases when I needed to deposit fiat to a crypto exchange. The bank is cool so far as I explain that I'm selling personal property, but I guess a few more deposits and they could decide I'm using my personal account for crypto business/trading and close it.
I also sold some gold and silver (as physical metals) some time ago. Just once, wanted to check a weird idea. But everybody who sees that (accountants/lawyers/bankers) gets really confused. I guess I'm not supposed to do that in personal capacity even as one-off.
I have three staff not related to my primary business, so not on main operating company's payroll, I pay them personally. It's fine so far, but if it were five persons with regular payments I guess my bank would start asking questions.
Sometimes I need freelancers for small tasks and those payments again are on my personal statement if could not be done in crypto.
I have quite a few of power of attorney documents for lawyers, managers and I'm a bit tired of signing them personally.

Etc etc etc. It's not that bad actually, but it adds up. A few bank statements to request and send, a few more bills to pay, occasional visit to notary public to sign some docs, some messages that I forward... Well, not much, but I have other work to do. I guess if it doubles up I will not be able to handle it easily.

I would love to move some of this to a holding company, appoint a director who would do all this administrative tasks without bothering me, have a clear simple accounting, payroll, bank cards for staff so I don't need to share my personal card with assistant. I feel it would simplify things for me.

My residence provides me with 0% tax on foreign income. If I put something like Seychelles/BVI in between it would not change my tax situation. Would it make banking much more difficult? Are banks ok at all with business activities as "A few investments, my assistant paying random bills so I don't have to and other one-off business ideas like selling some bullion"? Lol, does not sound good

Would appreciate any input. Especially from the topicstarter @MrBurns Regards.