Worth it to form a USA LLC?

[FREE CITIZEN]

Good day.
I am Canadian, recently retired, mid 50's, looking in the next year to become a non resident of Canada and become a tax resident in another jurisdiction with lower taxes and cost of living. I have a corporate pension, and sold my 2 homes so a reasonable amount of cash on hand to invest as well. I am thinking of forming a LLC in the USA and I wanted to ask a few questions and get some guidance on the pro's and con's and get a general idea if forming a company would be worth it.

Some of my reasons for wanting to form a company are:
-asset protection
-a level of anonymity
-removing my assets from my personal name.
-tax benefits?
-What other benefits could be enjoyed?

Essentially, I would love to buy at least one house overseas to live in and rent out, I would like to use the LLC to obscure my ownership of the house. I am looking for a level of asset protection as well and wondering if that could be achieved with a LLC? I also am considering trading securities with my LLC, would there be advantages or disadvantages with a LLC?

So lets say I move to another country and become a resident. Can having a LLC registered in say New Mexico offer a level of anonymity of my assets to the new country? Say if I moved to Thailand with the new tax rules, would there be a way to lower my tax bill or obscure my income utilizing a LLC? Would a foriegn government be able to know about my LLC? As a canadian forming a USA LLC what kind of information is shared between Canada and the USA? Is it better to wait till I become a non resident of Canada to form?

Are there new rules coming in the new year for USA LLC's? Better to form before the new year to avoid the new rules?

Sorry for all the questions, I am just putting out ideas and trying to form a game plan, and learning from all the knowledgable experts and in the know poeple out here.

So what say you?

Thank you for your time.

P.S. Any recomondations on places to become a tax resident of?

 

[Cloudbanck]

In the US it's great owning real estate and other assets in an LLC for anonymity and asset protection.

In much of the rest of the world owning real estate in a US LLC is less advantageous, because:

-In some countries it's just not allowed to buy residential real estate with a foreign company.
-Using a foreign LLC is seen as suspicious.
-Often higher fees and taxes when buying with foreign company.
-In many countries the public can't look up who owns what anyway, so there is less need to keep one's name off it.
-Most of the world isn't as litigious as the US, so you don't have the issue of having to shield yourself with an LLC.
-More difficult if not impossible to get a mortgage when buying with a foreign company.

However, as a Canadian living in a low tax / territorial tax country with a US LLC, the tax benefits are fantastic, assuming you use it to run a profitable business.

As to if the foreign government would know about your US LLC. Well, the US has information sharing agreements with other developed countries, so if you live in like France, Spain, Japan, the UK or some country like that chances are high the foreign government would know about it. For other countries chances are lower, but you have to tell the US very year where you are a tax resident, and who knows what happens with that information.

And there is this UBO registry coming in the US for US LLCs , meaning it will be easier for US authorities, and possibly foreign authorities to look up the UBO, but the public still will not get access. Anyway, there are many countries where it's totally fine to have a US LLC, you dont nee dto hide it.

 

[Marko Krassus]

Some countries have exchange controls that restrict the movement of money into and out of the country. LLC owners who reside in said countries may need to obtain special permission from the government to move money into and out of their LLC's bank accounts as well.

 

[FREE CITIZEN]

In the US it's great owning real estate and other assets in an LLC for anonymity and asset protection.

In much of the rest of the world owning real estate in a US LLC is less advantageous, because:

-In some countries it's just not allowed to buy residential real estate with a foreign company.
-Using a foreign LLC is seen as suspicious.
-Often higher fees and taxes when buying with foreign company.
-In many countries the public can't look up who owns what anyway, so there is less need to keep one's name off it.
-Most of the world isn't as litigious as the US, so you don't have the issue of having to shield yourself with an LLC.
-More difficult if not impossible to get a mortgage when buying with a foreign company.

However, as a Canadian living in a low tax / territorial tax country with a US LLC, the tax benefits are fantastic, assuming you use it to run a profitable business.

As to if the foreign government would know about your US LLC. Well, the US has information sharing agreements with other developed countries, so if you live in like France, Spain, Japan, the UK or some country like that chances are high the foreign government would know about it. For other countries chances are lower, but you have to tell the US very year where you are a tax resident, and who knows what happens with that information.

And there is this UBO registry coming in the US for US LLCs , meaning it will be easier for US authorities, and possibly foreign authorities to look up the UBO, but the public still will not get access. Anyway, there are many countries where it's totally fine to have a US LLC, you dont nee dto hide it.

Thank you for the detailed response. If I form a LLC before the UBO registry comes in to play would i be grandfathered or would information retroactively have to be produced?

Also how hard is it to set up a trading account for a LLC with say IBKR (or any other recommended broker). How would one fund that? Say I have money in a private IBKR account, can the funds just be transferred or would one have to open say a mercury or wise account and transfer the funds there first?

For privacy's sake is there a way to "unlink" my private funds from being associated with my LLC for more asset protection against any possible lawsuits etc?

Why would there be higher fee's for buying a house with a LLC? Who is charging the extra fees and why?

Can you explain in a little more detail why a Canadian living in a low tax or territorial tax jurisdiction with a USA LLC makes for fantastic tax benefits? Can you cite some examples? (just trying to learn).

Some countries have exchange controls that restrict the movement of money into and out of the country. LLC owners who reside in said countries may need to obtain special permission from the government to move money into and out of their LLC's bank accounts as well.

So you are saying there might be rules the limit foreign companies from moving money in and out of a country that do not apply to personal funds?