I'm from Italy looking for super secret Offshore company to open?

[tiea-hunter]

Can you help me to learn where to open the offshore company and why you say that country?


Sorry for me English I hope you understand..

 

[wosniak]

Well to hide you from the new tax regime in Italy I think you will need to run far far away Okay, no BS, consider the Seychelles for a company, I did it successfully, the privacy protection is awesome.

 

[dwilson]

Hi Tiea-hunter,


The British Virgin Islands, Belize and St. Kitts & Nevis are great places to incorporate an offshore company. The governments and economies are quite stable and there is a general track-record of maintaining confidentiality and secrecy. Company accounts/ financials are not filed locally and the company officers and beneficial owners identity is not released into the public domain.


Happy to offer you additional feedback if you'd like.

 

[tiea-hunter]

Can you tell me what TIEA's these countries have signed? You mean I don't need any nominee director or shareholder if I take a Belize, St. Kitts or BVI company, my personal ID will be protected anyway?

 

[dwilson]

I'm pretty sure this information is posted on the regulator's website for each respective jurisdiction. I am certainly not advising you not to engage in nominee services, but I would certainly need to hear more specifics on your needs. In addition, while working as a compliance manager I was actually able to "fight" these requests and local governments were happy to entertain my justification.

 

[tax-haven]

Well Belize, St. Kiits and Nevis have signed several TIEA's, DTA's with many of the European countries, I'm curious to know how these offshore jurisdiction you mention can protect someones privacy any longer.


Please find the list from OECD here, Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs)


It's an honest question not ment to start a fight or something.

 

[dwilson]

Just to clarify a few misconceptions/ notions.


1) A TIEA does not give an enquiring country the right to create a phishing expedition. There must be a legitimate tax query and it takes a lot of specific evidence to support a tax query.


2) In the countries listed by tax-haven, governments/ company registries DO NOT hold information on company officers (client information) unless the client has requested that this information be registered at the Registry.i.e Registers of Directors/ Shareholders. They only have access to the company name!


3) Licensed service providers hold client information and are required to volunteer information should a regulator/ court request this information.


4) A service provider is not required to store information about a client's bank account but must provide it if this information is held on record. Again, from my personal experience.


5) The majority of service providers include a clause in their Terms and Conditions that seeks to indemnify the service provider from any cause/ action brought by a client to remedy damages suffered by the client due to tax evasion/ penalties. This is because it is always the client's responsibility to seek tax advice from a licensed professional. Clients should take time to get this advice if they seek legitimate means of tax exemption.


6) Please note that a country can still investigate an individual for tax-evasion without a Tax information Exchange Agreement. The process is much more difficult re: court process, man hours spent, etc. The TIEA is a way to implement a measure of cost control.

 

[tiea-hunter]

Thank you dwilson for clarification. I have more questions.

1) A TIEA does not give an enquiring country the right to create a phishing expedition. There must be a legitimate tax query and it takes a lot of specific evidence to support a tax query.

What if asking country say it is Money Laundering they think the company do?

2) In the countries listed by tax-haven, governments/ company registries DO NOT hold information on company officers (client information) unless the client has requested that this information be registered at the Registry.i.e Registers of Directors/ Shareholders. They only have access to the company name!

Please explain what you mean, say Germany - British Virgin Islands (in the list) Im sure they have all ID etc. so government can lookup in both countries.

 

[dwilson]

You are most welcome tiea-hunter! Now to answer your next questions.


1. Money laundering requests would normally be handled by a local regulatory authority, specifically a special branch commonly referred to as a financial investigation agency/unit [FIA/ FIU]. Information regarding money laundering investigations/ offences are not facilitated through TIEAs. All Service Providers are required to volunteer the requested information on companies being investigated.


2. Ordinarily, Company Registries store information on a company and its officers (directors, shareholders and secretaries). This information is then made available for public scrutiny. ie. John Smith can pay the Company Registry to get information on ABC Company and its officers.


In an offshore jurisdiction, the Company Registry maintains basic information on a company, but NOT its officers. That information is stored with a service provider. The Service Provider is regulated by a government agency empowered by local legislation that allows it to request this information from the serivce provider under special circumstances, such as a money laundering investigation, etc.


I hope that this helps.

 

[wonderwilly]

Reading you dwilson correct then you say we don't have to worry about the TIEA or DTA if we register the company in BVI, Seychelles or Belize, please confirm?

 

[dwilson]

What I am saying is that a TIEA is an instrument used to facilitate the exchange of information between Governments for a specific tax offence. In addition, because the officers of the company (and the UBO) are not kept in the public domain (even if a company is struck-off), unless you are linked to an offshore company inadvertantly, they would still be of no use. Normally such a request is sent to the RA asking if person X is involved in company Y. If that is not the case, then no information is provided. Even if person X is involved in another company, that information cannot be volunteered!

 

[dwilson]

I should clarify that I was referring to BVI, Belize, St. Kitts and Nevis regarding my comments about officers of the company and the UBO not being kept in the public domain even if a company is struck-off.