Last paradises In Puerto-Rico and Georgia in Caucasus

Last paradises In Puerto-Rico and Georgia in Caucasus

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Modification date: 2018-11-08 / View count: 1065

An "offshore" account is a bank account opened abroad, usually in a tax haven. Are these offshore bank accounts legal? Yes, if they meet the requirements of the tax authorities of your country of residence, which in many cases requires this type of account to be declared. If this is the case, our duty is to tell you that opening an offshore bank account and not declaring it can be considered illegal.

The personal offshore account is opened in his name and is used for various personal transactions, the bank account of a company or corporate is linked to an offshore company and its activities.

AEOI or the tracking of banking information

Many international measures, TIEA, AEOI, FACTA, have been put in place to try to ensure that bank accounts opened abroad are reported to the tax authorities of the country of residence of the account owner. If you are a European resident and you open your offshore account in the European Union, then the country in which you open the account is required to declare its existence to your country of residence.

AEOI, the OECD's Automatic Exchange Of Information, concerns its member states, as well as the so-called partner countries. The AEOI requires each signatory country to declare, once a year, the bank accounts opened by foreigners on their territory. This exchange is automatic, i.e. there is no need for one country to request information from another, as was previously the case, the second is that this exchange of information is systematic and aimed at all other member countries. Is this measure very effective? This is not certain, some analysts say that AEOI will put an end to international banking secrecy, others that it is rather there to frighten and that exchanges between signatory countries are far from having the desired effectiveness. And although many countries are signatories to the AEOI, there are still countries in the world that have not yet joined the AEOI, such as the United States, which is de facto becoming the largest tax haven in the world, and Georgia in the Caucasus.

Georgia remains one of the few countries where the opening of an offshore personal bank account is possible in a simple and reliable way. If you travel to Georgia with your passport, it only takes about ten minutes to open a bank account at one of Georgia's many banks, but this can be done remotely via a Power of Attorney that you entrust to a bank introducer resident in Georgia.

Why open such a bank account?

For an individual, opening an offshore personal bank account has several interests and advantages. It can be opened to protect capital. Sheltered because these tax havens are economically stable jurisdictions, where your money will be safe and for example, to put money out of the reach of the justice system in your country of residence. If the State is not aware of the existence of some of your assets, if they are kept in a stable country, where banks enjoy a good reputation, then these financial assets cannot be seized or frozen by the courts in your country of residence.

The second reason for opening a personal bank account in Georgia or Puerto Rico is that these countries have very flexible banking legislation. The aim of these offshore jurisdictions is to attract foreign capital, to this end everything is done to make banks as attractive as possible. One advantage of offshore bank accounts is the cost of account maintenance. There is a tendency to think that an offshore personal account, because of its specialization and confidentiality, is extremely expensive. In fact, this is not true: simple offshore or personal accounts are cheaper than those of European banks, for example. For Georgia, not only has this jurisdiction radically simplified its bank account opening processes, it also allows remote opening without the need to travel to Georgia, but the bank account maintenance fees, transfer fees, mastercard / visacard debit card fees, e-banking service fees are ridiculously low.

Similarly, interest rates in tax havens are much higher than those you can find in European banks. Georgia offers very high interest rates on 6-month deposit accounts of 10% in Laris! Be careful when there is doubt as to the origin of certain funds, this can be verified in some cases.

Another advantage is that tax havens are known for their high banking secrecy and the confidentiality of fund exchanges. Leading names in offshoring have joined the AEOI, sometimes under pressure and forced, but others still benefit from a very strong banking secrecy. Thus the United States, Puerto Rico, Georgia, are not signatories to the AEOI. A strong banking secrecy, allows to protect the most precious thing that exists in offshore, your name. For information, Switzerland, world champion in banking secrecy, creator of the secret account par excellence, the numbered account, is now subject to the Automatic Exchange Of Information.

Offshore accounts also offer the advantage of offering banking services that can also allow you to make investments that would not be possible elsewhere. Of course, as there are several tax havens, there are several legislations, and you will not all find the same advantages, regardless of the destination in which you decide to open your account.

The last major advantage is of course the taxation applied to the account. Georgia does not tax foreign bank accounts. If we add this absence of taxation, with much higher annual interest rates and ridiculous account maintenance fees, if the sums deposited on the account are large enough, it is possible to achieve significant capital gains.

 

Article written by : BGG Press Office
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