Question about offshore company and US Stock Dividends

[Confusedxx]

Hi All,


I am a Us citizen and living in Europe. My partner is European and we have a child together. I am thinking about setting up an offshore company and transferring my dividend portfolio to the company. Further my partner and I would put cash into the company each year and through the company buy more stocks. So basically the company would be a holding company and invest our money into Eu and Us market securities. My question is An offshore company excluded from the 30% "non US citizen" dividend withholding tax? Meaning will the company get 100% of a US company's declared dividend or only 70%?


This is key since we are not talking of a very large portfolio so 30% withholding on dividends is a lot.

 

[Zqq]

You may want to read up on FATCA. As I understand it, as long as you have US passport, all your worldwide income must be declared with the IRS and may be subject to tax, even if you live full-time abroad.


For a matter of this complexity, I strongly suggest getting proper legal advise, from a lawyer or qualified accountant.

 

[dwilson]

Just to add to Zqq all US persons must pay income tax on their worldwide income. That means that you should have been filling annual taxes in the US even if you reside outside of it. FATCA just mandates that foreign financial entities are now required to report account information to the IRS. Seeking advice from a US tax adviser is important.


There are some offshore jurisdictions that have zero revenue tax. I believe Belize, British Virgin Islands, Anguilla and Seychelles for starters. However, at some point, the beneficial owner of the company must "benefit" from the company's revenue and herein lies the issue for folks that are tax assessed on world-wide income.


Lastly, I thought that capital gains tax was 15% in the USA? Can someone confirm this?