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How to Avoid CRS - 3 Options as of 2019

Your friend will have to pay tax from the balance of this account and if he is lucky he won't get penalized this time. There is a threshold of about 5000 or 20000 euro where such amounts won't get reported. Not 100% sure about the amounts but I know it is not all that has to be reported.
One banker back in the day told me they are not interested in amounts under 250k EUR ... apparently if you have less than 250k they will not bother with you as you are considered to be a "small fish".
 
One banker back in the day told me they are not interested in amounts under 250k EUR ... apparently if you have less than 250k they will not bother with you as you are considered to be a "small fish".
For the tax office you are interesting if you have more than 50k Eur, because in most countries you have to declare it and the fines could be interesting enough to pay attention to you
 
A friend of mine has been contacted by the tax office (in his EU country) to confirm the accounts and balances he holds in banks outside EU, based on the reports the tax office got. The balance isn't small, which is probably why it triggered some interest, also it hasn't been declared on tax returns. No further repercussions so far, but who knows what will happen next?
There is a lot of speculation in the news regarding this in Portugal, some say you have to report your Revolut, N26 etc on your annual tax return form but the tax office didn't confirm.
 
One banker back in the day told me they are not interested in amounts under 250k EUR ... apparently if you have less than 250k they will not bother with you as you are considered to be a "small fish".

This is for business accounts only probably, because CRS does not require to report business accounts below 250K or 200K if I am not mistaken. Though personal accounts do not have such limit and all must be reported.
But do they report personal accounts opened long time ago, e.g. before 2010 and before all these CRS things were introduced? Does anybody know?
 
@Whirl

$250K USD account balance threshold for exemption applies to old corporate accounts only. If you have offshore corporate accounts from 2014, those are now worth a small fortune. Corporate accounts opened this year can't unfortunately benefit from this loophole :confused:

In 2019, these are a few dumb tricks you can try to avoid a corporate account's CRS report from being submitted:

1) Use 6 nominee shareholders so that each "beneficial owner" has less than 20% of equity.
2) or; Retain Active NFE status. (Read my previous posts about this)

I'd just accept the fact that a CRS report will be sent but try to steer the report to a wrong country.
 
$250K USD account balance threshold for exemption applies to old corporate accounts only. If you have offshore corporate accounts from 2014, those are now worth a small fortune. Corporate accounts opened this year can't unfortunately benefit from this loophole :confused:

What about old personal accounts? Do you know if they are exempted or not? I have a personal account only, though not sure it will have a long life because few months ago I was asked if I have economic relation to the country where I have account.
 
Sorry if i’m answering in this old thread but no sense to open new one.

About Uae Visa residence they will attach to the passport the visa residence that show FZE zone, company name and UAE residence....

I think at least 50% of people are taking visa residence UAE for CRS purpose... but if every time you pass trought customs in your country they can see your VISA on passport this is not so good and make no sense!
 
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Sorry if i’m answering in this old thread but no sense to open new one.

About Uae Visa residence they will attach to the passport the visa residence that show FZE zone, company name and UAE residence....

I think at least 50% of people are taking visa residence UAE for CRS purpose... but if every time you pass trought customs in your country they can see your VISA on passport this is not so good and make no sense!

Good notice! This can cause a series of questions with your home country. Not necessarily at the airport security, but once you swap your expired passport for a new one. Quite a few residency programs involve getting similar stamps. But they put it on the generic 'Visas' page, so you can safely tear it out before you apply for a new passport.

If you don't want any risk of getting questioned about it, tear out the page right after you get your residency documents. The country, either UAE, or someone else, should not care about your Visa stamp if you have a local ID card, but just in case, keep the page separately in your wallet until you've re-entered the country at least once.
 
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Good notice! This can cause a series of questions with your home country. Not necessarily at the airport security, but once you swap your expired passport for a new one. Quite a few residency programs involve getting similar stamps. But they put it on the generic 'Visas' page, so you can safely tear it out before you apply for a new passport.

If you don't want any risk of getting questioned about it, tear out the page right after you get your residency documents. The country, either UAE, or someone else, should not care about your Visa stamp if you have a local ID card, but just in case, keep the page separately in your wallet until you've re-entered the country at least once.

The visa residence on passport it’s a label so it could be removed easily i think but the local counsultant told me that I couldn’t tear out it...

I don’t know why
 
Really excellent stuff, ton of solid information here, much appreciated xzars.

I am currently trying to figure out a way to move funds out of an EU company at the moment and this has helped a lot.

For the proxy residency, why could I not just use my country of birth in the same way? I am a UK citizen, I haven't lived there in many years but I use a friends address there for banking and any time I need to put my residential address. UK has a territorial tax system and they know I am not resident there so doing things this way would be ok?

At the moment I am constantly moving around, but by the end of the year I will secure Panamanian residency whilst still using my British address on everything.

The company is based in Spain and had paid off all corporate tax and debts from the sale of assets last year.

My idea is as follows:

-Transfer funds from EU company account to EU company Transferwise account stored in USD

-Transfer funds to Georgian personal bank account

-Transfer funds to my Wyoming LLC corporate bank account

-Invest in property through local companies owned by Wyoming LLC

Does that seem like a solid setup?
 
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@ecky

For former residents but present citizens, it's not going to be the easiest proxy residency to pull off. Don't go around telling banks that you're (still) a resident in the UK unless you know that they won't reply with fire and fury like a mad ex wife once they get your CRS reports. Leave smaller end-year balances on your accounts to test the waters... if you're eager to try smi(&%


For moving money out of that Spanish company, your step 2 has the highest risk of resulting in account closure or SAR (Suspicious Activity Report of AML). If you were applying for Georgian residency instead of Panamanian, these transfers would be justified since TW would know that you're moving your life to Georgia. But as a non-resident with no ties, what is your excuse to move significant amounts there? It's not a wealth and investment hub like Singapore or Switzerland, and the only attractive aspect of Georgia is its non-CRS status. The more money you move, the more pressure builds up on TW to ask more about your ties to Georgia.

And don't forget that Georgian banks are stepping up their game too.

I'd recommend at least a few minor changes if you're moving 1M+ (next post)
 
"Central Asia Expansion" smi(&%

1. Start with an empty TW borderless account in the name of your ES company
2. Find a property to buy in Georgia in the name of your Spanish company
3. Book a transfer (eur to usd, or eur to gel - whatever the contract says) in TW to pay for the property. Use the property purchase contract for possible AML checks
4. Open a corporate account in GE in the name of your ES company. You have a real business address in the country so finding a quality bank isn't an issue.
5. Start moving funds from the EU to GE corporate account. Just book eur to usd transfers on TransferWise. Don't store anything in TW, especially not high sums of EUR. They will find a reason to close your account. Only send money there to cover your pending FX transfers.

"Business not profitable. Plans cancelled" :(

1. Open a personal bank account in Georgia as a Panamanian resident. In another financial institution.
2. You no longer need the Georgian property.
3. Take out funds from the business account to your personal account.

From this point, it matters less what you do. I'd recommend a transfer from GE personal account to US personal account. And from there, to your WY LLC account. International transfers attract less scrutiny if they are between your own accounts.
 
"Central Asia Expansion" smi(&%

1. Start with an empty TW borderless account in the name of your ES company
2. Find a property to buy in Georgia in the name of your Spanish company
3. Book a transfer (eur to usd, or eur to gel - whatever the contract says) in TW to pay for the property. Use the property purchase contract for possible AML checks
4. Open a corporate account in GE in the name of your ES company. You have a real business address in the country so finding a quality bank isn't an issue.
5. Start moving funds from the EU to GE corporate account. Just book eur to usd transfers on TransferWise. Don't store anything in TW, especially not high sums of EUR. They will find a reason to close your account. Only send money there to cover your pending FX transfers.

"Business not profitable. Plans cancelled" :(

1. Open a personal bank account in Georgia as a Panamanian resident. In another financial institution.
2. You no longer need the Georgian property.
3. Take out funds from the business account to your personal account.

From this point, it matters less what you do. I'd recommend a transfer from GE personal account to US personal account. And from there, to your WY LLC account. International transfers attract less scrutiny if they are between your own accounts.

I'd be curious to know if you've successfully opened a business account for a foreign company in Georgia, because from what I know, that is very hard/not possible.

Also, you don't need to prove residence anywhere to open a personal account in Georgia. They don't ask for proof of address.
 
@Outlander

Still possible. Show up in person and have a real place of operation in Georgia. Empty shells and virtual office IBCs can't get an account. PM for bank names.

Personal accounts may not require an address proof, but the banks still ask where you live. If you can name a bank that doesn't even ask where you live, that could be useful ;)
 
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