|
Why do People Move Money and Assets Offshore - Many will first think taxes? Well you'd be wrong. How many dictatorships are there in the world? Quite a few. They are ruled by kings who are in office for life. They can confiscate funds at will from anyone in the kingdom. How many military coup governments are running countries? Quite a few and they too can grab money from anyone in their jurisdiction at will. How many countries practice religious persecution? Many with even death penalty for infractions. Confiscation of wealth is a popular penalty involving religious persecution. How many countries practice political persecution? Many. How many countries have criminal gangs and organizations that are almost as powerful or as powerful as the government in power? Quite a few and they often grab bank records in their country to see who to rob, kidnap, extort or otherwise victimize.
Then we can get into countries with out of control civil litigation systems where lawyers can strip you of all your assets in an unfair system that is out of control. Then we get into countries where kidnapping is prevalent and we could keep going on and on. There are numerous reasons for moving funds offshore where they can be safe other than tax implications. High tax governments want you to think that offshore banking and asset protection is only about tax avoidance but as you can plainly see it protects people from a lot of evils the high tax governments can care less about protecting people from.
Taking Cash Out of the Bank - Well this is the first thing that comes to mind with most people. Let me take the cash out and then transport it and deposit it into the offshore bank account. This perfectly guarantees that there is no trail to follow. Will this work? Sure and moving cash by itself is not intrinsically illegal as long as you report it correctly but there are some pitfalls to watch out for.
First of all many but not all governments want you to declare when departing their country with any amount of cash or negotiable instruments over $10,000. They word these forms as to be unclear if it is $10,000 per person or family. Usually per person, but do inquire. You can always have family members take separate flights to avoid get snagged by vague interpretative errors regarding the way the law was written. Do minors count - usually not. Today with all the inspection machines and other screening devices it is best to fill out the declaration form if required to do so, when departing lest you have the funds confiscated and face arrest. You may have to supply a source of funds statement, which is to say where the funds were derived from. In some police states it is really best not to move cash out since you may face a lot of questioning. This also depends on the amount. If you say you are going to a country to gamble at a resort and have $35,000 cash that is one thing. If you say that you are going to buy a hotel for cash and have $5,000,000 that's is going to be another story altogether. Other factors are where you are going, who you are, where your passport is from, what profiles the country has on you etc. In some countries removing large amounts of funds will trigger responses. The bank will tell you they have to order in the cash and that will take one or two days by armored car. Then they file suspicious transaction reports with the government to see if they want to confiscate your funds or arrest you or something. If it is $40,000 and you said you were buying a boat or car from a private party for cash that might not attract too much attention. If you tried the same thing with $900,000 it would not be plausible and thus more suspicious. If the figure was $3,500,000 even more suspicious. See how it works. In some countries large cash movements are common and the banks do not pay much attention to it.
Continue reading How to Move Money Offshore | 
