USA offshore accounts?
 

Hi,

Is there an equivalent to the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands for the USA? With my Isle of Man HSBC account I can withdraw cash world wide but people in the UK can pay money into my account as if it was a UK based account (i.e. it is part of the British Banking system and no wire transfers are needed). My Isle of Man account is tax free.

I won't be living in either UK or USA. I just need a personal account and also one for business.

Cheers

Neil

Re: USA offshore accounts?
 

Re: USA offshore accounts?
 

Cheers Ray.

Neil

Re: USA offshore accounts?
 

Why do you want an offshore account? If you're receiving payments from the US and don't want to pay incoming transfer fees, then get one in the US (and check the terms) or tell the senders to pay the costs.

Re: USA offshore accounts?
 

a tax free dodge? having a laugh there ain't ya?

Re: USA offshore accounts?
 

I live in the third world. Like many countries, where I'm living tax is only payable on a remittance basis. So I keep income which I earn abroad out of this country.

For my British pounds income I have an account in the Isle of Man. I could open a US dollars account in the same place but it is quite expensive. For a company account you have to have local management in the Isle of Man which is really expensive.

I want to set up a business which would earn income from US customers (actually telephone companies) for services delivered from outside the US. If I set up a US account the Americans are probably going to want to tax me on this income. If I have an account outside the US there is no question of the US taxing me.

An offshore corporation, e.g. in Panama, would sit between service rendering companies (my companies in various countries) and the service receivers in the USA. The offshore company charges the service receivers and pays the service renderers. The difference between the two payments (basically the profits of the operation) accumulates offshore.

Re: USA offshore accounts?
 

The US taxes worldwide income, and the IRS looks very poorly on any attempt to hide income from them in offshore accounts. If you're resident in the US then you're liable for taxes on your income, regardless of where it's earned. I take it your "I live in the third world" comment is genuine, and not a sarcastic comment on living in the US? :)

Re: USA offshore accounts?
 

My late father used Bermuda and Luxembourg, might be worth looking into, and they were HSBC accounts, well for sure the Luxembourg one was as I had to deal with him and sort the estate out.

Re: USA offshore accounts?
 

As was mentioned, US citizens and green card holders are taxed on income no matter where they live, and as such, there really hasn't developed a market for 'off shore accounts' like what you see in the UK. USC are also required to report any bank account they hold overseas, so unless you are being nefarious, there really isn't that much of a market for the offshore banking products.

You might want to shop around a few other major banks (like Citibank UK) that also have dollar accounts.

Re: USA offshore accounts?
 

Are you sure about that? Non-US resident taxable on non-US income? I have no idea.