Offshore Banking NB

[cloudnine]

Who can point me in a direction for info.
Questions are

just how secure is it i.e. once my dosh is in there I want to be absolutely certain that no-one, but no-one, but me can get their sticky fingers on it, including Tony et al?

any recommendations for particular institution/location?

what is typical cost/admin aggro in setting up?

is the ability to use worldwide ATM's commonplace or is it only certain banks/accounts?

how long should it take to establish?

I've been on the web and typed in Offshore Banking but can't quite find the definitive answers.

Thanks


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[BrendanS]

Many of your questions are answered here. Most large banks globally will provide very similar services

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.wealth.barclays.com/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?task=articlewealth&value=135&target=_self&site=int>http://www.wealth.barclays.com/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?task=articlewealth&value=135&target=_self&site=int</A>

Hard to give definitive answers, as there are many types of offshore banking

<hr width=100% size=1>Me transmitte sursum, caledoni

 

[jfm]

C9 there are loads of misconceptions about offshore banking.

If you are a normal Brit (ie resident and domiciled in UK - there's some technical stuff in the definition of those words, obviously) then you pay income tax on your interest income whether your cash is deposited in an offshore bank or a regular UK bank.

Some people will say that you dont, especially in the pub, but they are normally relying on just not putting the figure on their tax return and hoping not to get found out. This has pretty huge risks re penalties if you are found out

There are some more marginal tax advantages. Eg the interest is all paid to your account, 20% is not deducted at source. So you get to pay the tax somewhat later. Unless you have a huge pile of cash the £££ benefit of this timing benefit is peanuts, at today's interest rates. Offshore banks also tend to have plenty of rollup products so the interest and tax are paid only when you withdraw the money, and that has a timing benefit, but again you need a lot of cash for the timing benefit to be significant

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[Koeketiene]

Have experience with:

- Citibank (Channel Islands): flexible, but hard to get the thing set up (lots of paperwork)
- NatWest (Gibraltar): easy to set up, not flexible, not user friendly, PITA

<hr width=100% size=1>Experience is a good teacher, but she sends in terrific bills.

 

[jimboaw]

More trouble than it's worth unless you are mega rich in which case why worry? However you could consider a foriegn currency acc. which you can open at your local Barclays with minimal fuss.

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[ParaHandy]

ring the Inland Revenue ... mention the Mapely Steps "offshore tax avoidance" scheme .. there's bound to be a "how to ... " pamphlet published that they can give you ....

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[DepSol]

Not quite. you can keep the money there for as long as you like and not declare it on your tax however, anything that you bring back onshore the interest earnt on that amount is taxable. All said you are quite right that you should actually notify your tax man that you have this account and the intereest you are earning on it however, if you deposit say £20k offshore and you only use it when you are away from blighty then there is no real reason to alert the tax man.

The most common system for bypassing this is to put loads of dosh offshore then get a credit card with the same bank. You use the credit card where you like and the amount gets debited from your card and every month the bank transfers enough to clear that card.

So by using the card it is not as easily recognisable that you are bringing money onshore as it is not an easily traceable transaction. It is still tax fraud but tats how alot of people do it and get away with it. I am not advising you to do it just merely pointing out a way it can be done.

Open an account with someone like the Royal Bank of Scotland International (Guernsey). You will need various forms of Identification and the forms are quite long and enquiring into your personal life. You will also need to prove where those funds come from and may have to give an indication of what you will be spending from that account and to where.

Anti Money Laundering Regulations are very high in the Channel Islands so be prepared to be asked questions, however, it can be a very smple process it all depends on how much money and your nationality.

<hr width=100% size=1>Dom
watch this space

 

[Birdseye]

Even Swiss banks arent totally Tony proof these days - you would probably need to go to South America to be absolutely sure.

And once you go down this route, you cant tell anyone, not even your wife / partner. Most tax evaders get shopped by someone (like an ex wife) with an axe to grind.

And you are not "innocent until proven guilty" with the Revenue. Its the other way round. If they get a suspicion, they usually levy an outlandish tax demand and then say "prove you dont owe it". I know - my father upset them once, and it took him 5 years and a pile of accountans fees and lwayers fees to get them off his back and his offense was refusing to cooperate (and being a bit, shall we say, blunt), rather than evading anything. In the end he owed no tax but his life had been a misery for 5 years.

<hr width=100% size=1>this post is a personal opinion, and you should not base your actions on it.

 

[DepSol]

Guernsey is Tony proof unless your an ex tory PMs son who is trying to overthrow the government of a small country.

You dont need to keep it a secret unless you are bringing the funds back onshore. Then the interest earnt on those are taxable. If you have records should be easy to prove you werent evading.

<hr width=100% size=1>Dom
watch this space

 

[jfm]

Dom, you are quite wrong re you can keep the money there for as long as you like and not declare it on your tax however, anything that you bring back onshore the interest earnt on that amount is taxable

A UK resident is required to declare the interest income from all sources worldwide and pay UK tax on it, and it is utterly irrelevant whether he/she brings the capital back onshore or not.

As for the rest of your post, I dont doubt that some of the things you say happen in practice. Indeed, much tax is evaded just by people not declaring stuff on their returns. But we have to separate legal tax avoidance from cheating/evasion, and getting back to the original post putting money in an offshore bank saves zero UK tax legally.

All the above and my earlier post apply to normal UK resident people. There are different rules if you happen to be non-UK domiciled but I wont cover those unless it's relevant to anyone

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[jfm]

Again, this post is quite wrong Dom, see my other post

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[DavidofMersea]

I know that you are talking about offshore banking, but if your purpose is to legally avoid Tony, and you are prepared to take a little risk, why not buy some dollars, they are very cheap just now.

I believe (and I may be wrong) that in a few months, your dollars will be worth a lot more than you paid for them

You can put them in a dollar account, and you will have to pay tax on the interest earned, but not on the capital growth from improving exchange rate - and it is all legal.

Several years ago I was in a business partnership with my accountant. I made a lot of money, but he didn't. The revenue was convinced that I was on the fiddle, which I wasn't, and carried out a vast investigation. Although I had done nothing wrong, I would not wish to go through that again, so my advice is don't try and be clever with the IR

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[jfm]

cureency gains are subject to CGT

Eh David? Assuming you are a UK resident and domiciled, if you buy dollars now, and sellem again when they've appreciated, the gain is subject to capital gains tax. It isn't tax exempt. OK, the first £7,800 (or whatever the number is) per person per year is tax free, maybe that's what you meant?

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[DepSol]

Yes the law requires you to declare all income and earnings even outside of the UK but if you were Expat for 10 years and accumulated £100k in an offshore account and were earning interest on it when you returned and were working in the UK then yo can decide not to declare it. It only becomes an offence when you use the proceeds of that cash in the Offshore account whilst you are in the UK as you are bringing the Funds back.

This is how we wee taught to divide these funds when making certain enquiries on accounts.

<hr width=100% size=1>Dom
watch this space

 

[BrianJ]

Re: Just send

Send any money to me here in OZ. under the BJ retirement and new boat fund... very secure .......................
BrianJ

<hr width=100% size=1>BrianJ

 

[bedouin]

No - Swiss banks are still totally Tony proof, if you don't declare it (and no one shops you) then the UK authorities can't find out.

What's more the Swiss banks are going to ask fewer questions than any other reputable banking centre - I believe it is still possible to have an anonymous account in certain Swiss banks.

If I wanted to use an offshore account as a tax evasion method (illegal) then I would choose a Swiss bank. If my intentions were more honest then there are plenty of good accounts based in CIs - I particularly like the offerings from Royal Bank of Canada in Guernsey

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[jfm]

Look, this is all mixed up and you are making it much more complex than it is. If you are expat (ie NOT UK resident) then of course your offshore bank interest income is not UK taxable. The moment you come back to UK and become UK resident again the interest you receive from that day onwards is taxable in the UK. Dead simple.

You cannot legally decide not to declare it. And when you use the proceeds of the offshore account in the UK there is no offence, you can do what you like with the money. The only offence is receiving interest income while a UK resident and not declaring it.

I dont care what you were taught!

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[webcraft]

Gentlemen,

You are discussing tax avoidance and tax evasion, both words I am sure the IR spiders regularly trawl the web for, in a public forum.

I really do believe that this is the type of thread that gets yachties a bad name. If I was Mr. Brown or one of his minions looking for an excuse to squeeze the boating fraternity (something you all seem to be paranoid about) then this would provide useful material to support the case.

I suggest you post coarse fish of this nature on a financial forum or somewhere more appropriate.

- Nick

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[jfm]

Nonsense imho. The original poster asked if he could save tax by depositing his cash offshore. Much as I dont like to pass on bad news, I have told him he can't, legally. IR bods will have no quarrel with that. IR bods also can't obtain our identities from this forum. You exaggerate substantially when you say this thread gives yachties a bad name, imho

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[webcraft]

This thread makes it seem that yachties are people with too much money who want to hide it from the taxman.

If you don't think that gives a bad impression then you are a little detached from reality IMHO - the same as the people who think they should get cheap red diesel so they can burn hundreds of gallons of it on their weekend jollies and can't understand why Joe Public might object.

I obviously live closer to the grass roots than you. I occasionally. for example, do some teaching for the English departmenet in the local High School. The head of dept. is a well educated and well informed man, honours graduate of a good university etc - but it is taking him a long time to convince him that I am not a fascist oppressor from the chinless classes because I own a yacht. Even when I point out that my yacht cost less than his car that is not the point. It is the very fact that I own one.

So . . . I really do not think that you lot waffling on about the joys of offshore banking and tax avoidance on a yachting forum is very productive in terms of PR, and if you can't see that then it is bad news for boating - all IMVHO of course.

- Nick

(Puts on tin helmet and takes cover)



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