We have also endeavoured to remove much of the mystery of going offshore. In reality, an offshore company is nothing more than a normal limited liability company, which just happens to be outside you home country. The only difference lies in that it usually has some very beneficial tax advantages that are unavailable in to local domestic companies, but more on that later, if we concentrate on the normal routine uses, you will see that organisations and individuals can use them legally - world-wide - to conduct day-to-day business and achieve massive reductions in both tax and operating costs.

Examples of the uses of an offshore company includes owning assets, controlling bank accounts, owning an offshore company in countries such as the UK and Canada, purchasing vehicles, holding title to real estate and conducting business in the same way as any domestic company.

So lets now look briefly at how things should be done and the way they might be set up, more importantly we will examine where the best locations are. We need to keep in mind that many offshore jurisdictions that are known for zero tax, total privacy, rigid asset protection and impenetrable banking laws are also prime suspects for money laundering and other financial crimes. Your name on a bank account in places like Liberia or Lebanon potentially raises red flags for suspicious bureaucrats in the country where you live. If privacy is the goal - the only exception being numbered accounts - never use your own name. Instead, set up an offshore company which is under your control. Also keep in mind that an American LLC does not have to bank in the US, just as a Belize company does not have to bank in Belize. The offshore world has changed, these days we regularly set up a Belize based company with banking in Cyprus, a credit card merchant facility in Canada and phone lines in the Virgin Islands.

The way to look at things is to view countries as service providers, use what works, and reject what doesn’t. For example, the UK has a great range of low cost communications options but its banking system is incredibly intrusive and obsessed with money laundering, even worse its security services monitor e-mail like virtually nowhere else under misguided legislation called The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, often known as RIP. On the other hand China offers excellent facilities in many areas but its human rights record is appalling! Italy is a bureaucratic nightmare but excellent as a place to live if you operate from somewhere else. Hopefully you get the picture. The name of the game at the beginning of the 21st century is Mix and Match! Our job is to package everything together and assist you in getting it right.

The key to offshore banking privacy is to establish you offshore account in a major finance centre where privacy is well protected, examples are Luxembourg or Switzerland. Numerous potential locations for your account come to mind but if your government becomes aware of an account in, for example, Germany or Austria it will be much less suspicious than if it spots a facility in a country which is known solely as a tax haven such as the British Virgin Islands, or Isle of Man. If you set up a mailing address and phone line in an established international finance centre, such as Switzerland, Austria, Hong Kong, Australia or South Africa, your bank dealings will not really attract much attention, you will be just one of thousands of foreigners who have accounts there. If you create your own ‘low profile offshore structure’ out in the open, instead of going to a small bank in some bizarre location you financial security may well be much better protected.

Keep in mind that regardless of the pressures from the OECD and EU rock solid banking secrecy still exists in many reputable jurisdictions such as Austria, Luxembourg or Switzerland. Other tax havens such as Panama, Nevis or Cyprus also have strict banking privacy laws, waiving protection only in extreme situations under court order. Unlike the US or UK, where bank employees are now effectively government informers under threat of draconian penalties for failure to inform the government of even trivial irregularities, this is the opposite of many offshore jurisdictions which impose heavy fines and prison sentences on bank employees who breach the privacy of account holders.

We are often asked about 100% anonymous accounts, but in reality no such thing as a totally ‘secret’ bank account exists in any reputable jurisdiction as we will see later on. Even in countries with the most rigid banking privacy laws, such as Liechtenstein or Switzerland, an account holder’s name is on record somewhere in the bank. Even an account in the name of a corporation or a trust has a ‘paper’ (or computer) trail which can be traced to an individual but this is only likely to happen if a government seeks a court orders to gain information in relation to serious criminal activities.

For people who are not criminals and are just seeking greater financial privacy, the services and facilities which you need can still be found in many offshore locations. Although certain things have changed in the last five years, some for the better and some for the worse, it is fair to say that overall the offshore world is not in bad shape. Fortunately whatever your needs, we can help you set up the correct facilities, in the location that would fulfil your requirements.

ORCA Offshore Innovations is your ultimate source for company formations, asset protection, offshore communications, privacy related and legal tax reduction resources. We can provide you with the latest inside information, products and services. Best of all, after over 22 years providing offshore services whilst both living and working offshore ourselves, we know exactly what works and what doesn’t. After all if an offshore company formations agents in your own country is offering you services the question is why are they not offshore themselves? In our opinion it is akin to a Priest being an atheist; it would be nonsensical to recommend one thing and then do another!

Finally, before we wrap up the introduction a brief word from the founder of ORCA. This passage comes from a seminar in 1981. As European manager for ORCA Offshore Innovations I felt it should be included, because to me it embodies the whole spirit of what we should all be seeking to achieve, amongst the many pages of text that the founder of the company has written, this is one of my favourites, is it still relevant? You decide!

“Deciding to move offshore and leave you old life behind is technically very simple, just chuck in your job, pack a case and leave. Doing it successfully is another matter, my goal is to show you the insider secrets of making it work. I will show the way to create the lifestyle you have probably dreamt of, but thought you could never really have. During this seminar I will keep things simple because unlike your accountant or lawyer, what I have to say isn’t intended to be incomprehensible, shrouded in mystery or difficult to implement because that would be completely at odds with everything I believe in.

Achieving freedom and prosperity should be fun, the journey along the path to personal liberation and the casting off of the shackles that bind 95% of the worlds population to the daily grind of a 9 to 5 routine should be a learning curve that enables you to see things from a different perspective whilst helping you to realise your goals quickly, it is irrelevant whether you are 25 or 55, the aim is to achieve freedom and success whilst paying the absolute minimum in confiscatory taxes along the way. I am often asked what is freedom? How do you define it? How much freedom makes a person free? The answer is simple, being partly free is not possible, unlike other things in life, freedom is not divisible, you have it all or you are not free, it's that simple! This seminar will open your eyes to possibilities for increased earnings, and a life of freedom, fun and opportunity you probably never imagined was always just sitting there for the taking.”

Holiday Inn: Daytona Beach Florida, Summer 1981

oOo

For further advice, you can e-mail us of call us: Whatever you seek to accomplish. Just ask and we will do our best to advise. We have offices or agents in Argentina, Australia, Belize, Canada, Germany, Gibralter, Liechtenstein, Spain, Switzerland and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Staff are available who speak English, German, Dutch and Spanish.

e-mail: info@orca.vg or mail@offshoreresources.ws

TELEPHONE NUMBERS

FAX NUMBERS

EUROPEAN HEAD OFFICE

ORCA EUROPE
Büro 201
Markgrafenstraße 56
10117 Berlin
Germany

ORCA have 10 offices and agents world-wide, so please contact us. We can also advise you of your nearest office should you need to mail anything to us.