1. Be sure that you stay within the law
The US tax rules are clear that Offshore Bank Accounts and companies and are legal.
Just be careful! US tax fines for trivial errors or omissions are draconian.
By design, the US government created forms and procedures to overwhelm most ordinary business people. But competent US bookkeepers breeze through the form completion but just pushing a couple of buttons on their laptops.
It makes no sense to cheat the IRS because of fear. We can help.
For every rule in the US tax code, experienced offshore bank account professionals have 3 or 4 legal strategies to minimize the impact on your bottom line. You are in the drivers’ seat if you don’t break the rules and you protect your money in an offshore bank account. The US government won’t waste money conducting audits if they can’t freeze your bank account to leave you defenseless.
2. Have a Good Business Plan
The offshore banks want to make sure that the owner of the offshore bank account is not a criminal who is using someone else to open the account. Bankers want to approve real persons who want to protect their own money and pay minimal taxes on the income from his profitable business.
Why do Offshore Banks care about the details of your Business?
Offshore Banks would make more money if they accept every applicant who wants to open an offshore bank account. Their problem is that they must comply with a list of requirements that have been forced upon them. The large Central Banks will cut them off the SWIFT system if they don’t follow their rules. Additionally, the US Treasury will force them to pay incredibly high fines if their compliance officers don’t follow all of their requirements. If the offshore banks become negligent, they will be closed down.
3. Find a good bank that needs your type of business
Most Offshore Banks and Jurisdictions tend to specialize different Markets. Some banks don’t like opening accounts for Forex Traders while others specialize in this industry and are eager to accept them. Banks specializing in Wealth Management will reject clients operating online businesses. Betting, Gaming and Casino websites have difficulty being accepted unless they find the payment processors specializing in just that industry. The same holds true for Bitcoin, Crypto-currency and ICO business. There are specialized financial entities that are solely focused on payment processing services for Blockchain related businesses.
There are also nationality and geographic factors.
Some banks don’t like US clients and other banks welcome them. The same with Russians, Chinese or Arabs. A US client will be rejected by a Bank that specializes in clients from the CIS or MENA countries.
4. Show that the funds originate from legal sources. We can help.
Unless you use complex legal structures, the banks needs to know where the origin of the money that will be deposited into the offshore bank account. According to the business plan, they also need to know that the payments go towards legitimate expenses, legal suppliers, service providers or investment opportunities.
Not too long ago, it was perfectly legal for a wealthy family to offer $10K to someone who will receive $100K in an offshore bank account and send $90K to a third party. This has now become illegal and such accounts are called ‘pass-through’ accounts. Like everything else, there are several exceptions to this rule and millions of such activities are processed on a daily basis by experienced professionals utilizing legally acceptable methods.
5. Provide all documents the first time that you submit your application to the Bank
Compliance officers working for the better offshore banks tend to become annoyed when they receive incomplete or incorrect documentation. They put the case on their pending indefinitely where they pile up on top of the pending cases from before. They will accumulate more pending cases during the next few days and the stay there inordinately.
Most people have recently recognized that the governments are not our friends. Governments treat better the foreigners who deposit money in the banks than their own citizens. As a consequence, there is a huge demand to open offshore bank accounts in a different country and save taxes.
This is the reason why the Offshore banks are in a “seller’s market”. Don’t expect the reliable offshore banks to roll out the red carpet and bend over backwards to help you open an offshore bank account.
Safe Offshore banks in prime jurisdictions receive thousands of offshore bank account applications. Most of these applications go straight into the garbage. The Banks’ compliance officers will not waste their time conducting compliance on applicants who are not referred from a recognized introducer.
6. Be prepared to make a positive impression when the bank official calls for phone approval
The bank officer will contact you by phone or Skype soon after we notify that you have been pre-approved. To complete the process quickly, you must study your business plan and be well prepared. There should be no contradictions, you must respond to questions without hesitation, stay on the topic and don’t become nervous. Control your enthusiasm and don’t start going on and on about your business or yourself. Everything you say could confuse the banker and open the door for more questions that could end up harming your case. Just answer the questions politely with conviction and credibility and everything will work out fine.
7. Make your initial deposit promptly once the account has been approved
There are important reasons why you should not delay in making your initial deposit. Many banks have a limited number of new accounts that they can open. Once the bankers approve the account, they want them to become operand as soon as possible and show in their performance record that is measured by volume of deposits – not number of accounts. Some clients wait to fund the account after a major deal materializes. That’s acceptable if there is an initial deposit to activate the account and keep it open. Otherwise the bank will close the accounts that have remained unfunded for a longer period of time.
An even more important reason, is the unprecedented economic upheaval that is taking place internationally among the world’s top economies. US Citizens are exposed to great risks as their establishment is divided and pulling in all different directions. It is not prudent to keep their assets unprotected. What used to be a good strategy, has now become a necessity as the experts are warning us of imminent dangers. That extends to all the top world economies that have become highly indebted and accumulated unrepayable derivative debt bubbles.
This problem is not exclusive to the USA. The EU that is falling apart and has unsolvable socioeconomic issues. Trade wars are killing the Chinese economy while Turkey, Argentina and Venezuela are experiencing dramatic currency devaluations.
A day to soon is much better than a day too late.