Best offshore countries for EU citizens

[Duke]

This is my first time researching. Forgive me for any questions that might seem obvious to you.

What are the best countries an EU citizen can legally place their money out of reach of the EU based on treaties, agreements or lack thereof? I'm talking about a simple personal savings account.

Should I be making a distinction between the EU in general and my specific country? For example, is it possible for an EU citizen of one country to bank in another EU country but still be protected?

 

[Bizfiling]

Difficult question. To own and use a offshore corp is not illegal it is just a matter of reporting.
Of course you can use a Eu corp in CY ,MT. IE.LUX for your funds and banking it just depends on your situation and plans

 

[globalconsultancy]

"Out of reach" in what sense? If you want a banking jurisdiction that does not report back to your home country, you would need a non-CRS jurisdiction. There aren't many left, but some are not bad. https://www.oecd.org/tax/transparency/AEOI-commitments.pdf

If you want to keep your money in Euros in a non-CRS jurisdiction, you're still subject to currency risk - all non-EU banks that hold Euros will have a correspondent account with an EU bank. If that bank fails, your money will be at risk. So if "out of reach" means "safe", no EUR account anywhere is "safe".

 

[Dubsize]

"Out of reach" in what sense? If you want a banking jurisdiction that does not report back to your home country, you would need a non-CRS jurisdiction. There aren't many left, but some are not bad. https://www.oecd.org/tax/transparency/AEOI-commitments.pdf

If you want to keep your money in Euros in a non-CRS jurisdiction, you're still subject to currency risk - all non-EU banks that hold Euros will have a correspondent account with an EU bank. If that bank fails, your money will be at risk. So if "out of reach" means "safe", no EUR account anywhere is "safe".

Hi,
so basically U.S will also report if they have an IGA with my country?
so U.S are not the tax heaven everybody is talking about.

 

[globalconsultancy]

US banks will not report the existence or balance of your accounts to your EU jurisdiction, even if there is an IGA.

US banks do report interest income for all interest-bearing account holders (including foreign) to the IRS. US taxpayers usually get a 1099-INT form from the bank telling them how much income was reported, so they can include accurate figures on their tax returns. For non-US persons, interest is not reported on a 1099-INT, but on the IRS Form 1042-S, “Foreign Person’s U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding.” It's not a withholding tax obligation (only a reporting obligation), and it only applies to non-business bank deposits of individuals.

If there is a FATCA IGA, the IRS will likely report the information given to them by banks on 1042-S to the country of residence of the account holder.

If you have a non-interest-bearing account in the US, you are probably safe.

 

[challenge]

USA is a good solution right now. But you should plan it right, otherwise IRS is no fun. You risk escaping tax in europe and being hammered in USA.
You need a corporate bank account, NOT individual. And one that doesn't pay interests.
And you should plan carefully your company structure.

USA will collect all of your data (not only banks, you'll have to fill some modules too). But as today, for what I know (double check yourself) it's not reporting automatically.
EU just gave USA 1 year ultimatum to start exchanging or it'll be added to the tax haven blacklist. (I seriously doubt they would do such a stupid thing)

Puerto Rico though doesn't give a f* about exchanging infos. The US territories don't even exchange because there's a loophole in the treats that allows that.

 

[challenge]

If it's just a personal account and no business to be done, then forget the USA and look straight to the US territories (Puerto Rico etc)
Careful, many banks are moving there cause govt made it easy to start a bank (the hurricane did huge damage and they need to attract money), but there are some dodgy ones.

 

[Duke]

Thank you for all the responses. Yes I meant a country that does not report back to mine.

 

[Banker89]

Puerto Rico is a great solution, like the USA itself. Euro Pacific Bank who advertise on this forum are in Puerto Rico if you are looking for somewhere to start. They used to be based in St Vincent and Grenadines but they moved to Puerto Rico once St Vincent signed up for automatic exchange, presumably because they have a lot of European clients who did not want reporting.