Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Bank Account - One of the first places to start with asset protection is with an offshore bank account in a favorable jurisdiction. A favorable jurisdiction is one in which bank secrecy laws are in place without a lot of loopholes found in many formerly good jurisdictions that have gone bad. Bank secrecy laws in Panama call for prison sentences and/or fines for any bank employee, officer or owner who divulges any information about a bank account or account holder(s). This generally tends to curtail any leaks of information. The only way the bank can legally divulge any information about you or any bank account associated with you is by court order from a court in Panama. Panama has no tax treaties with any country, does not allow any fishing expeditions from foreign governments, all tax offenses in Panama are civil offenses not criminal and Panama does not pursue fiscal offenses.
In the USA most private detectives have little or no trouble getting bank account information for clients. Their methods are highly illegal but we never hear of any of them getting prosecuted. There are some offshore jurisdictions which tout bank secrecy but there are no laws on the books concerning this matter. This is the case with a fairly popular Caribbean jurisdiction, Belize.
For more information on Panama Bank Accounts click here:
http://panamalaw.org/offshore_bank_account.html
Panama Anonymous Bearer Share Corporation – This is your second layer of protection. In Panama there is no recording of the owners of the bearer share corporation anywhere. There is no registry to look such things up in with or without any court order. The ownership of the corporation is based on the physical ownership of the stock certificates. These corporations are 100% anonymous. This means when wires travel through the various wire systems no one can determine who the natural persons are behind the corporation. If you title real estate to the corporation it makes the real estate anonymous. The corporation can also own boats, cars, collectibles, and stock trading accounts in addition to bank accounts.
For more information on Anonymous Panama Corporations click here:
http://panamalaw.org/bearer_share_corperation.html
Panama Private Interest Foundation – The third piece of your asset protection structure is an anonymous Panama Foundation. One of the nice things about Foundations is they have no owner. They are anonymous and the foundation can have confidential instructions to carry out the detailed wishes of the founder. It is like a will and trust in one only better. If you have your Panama Foundation own your bearer share corporation it positions you to say you do not own the corporation because the Foundation does and you could say you do not own the Foundation as well. Remember the other side would probably never figure out who owns the corporation, in other words they may never have any idea that the foundation exists. If the foundation has a name unrelated to you why would they assume it is yours? In Panama the assets of a Panama Foundation are not subject to sequestering, which means the bank account can not be frozen pending some court case.
For more information on Panama Foundations click here:
http://panamalaw.org/panama_foundations.html
http://panamalaw.org/bullet_proof_asset_protection.html
Governmental Pursuit of Funds
What happens if the government of some country attempts to attach your money in Panama? The world is full of dictatorships and non-democratic regimes. Well this again is a different matter. These cases start with a request for information. The request is made through the embassy officials in the bank's country. It is a formal procedure requiring the requesting country to cite specific reasons for the information which usually means providing evidence of a criminal case filed in their criminal court system pertaining to a handful of serious crimes in cases concerning Panama (real serious money laundering, narcotics trafficking, child pornography and terrorism). The country would have to show Panama why they need this information, why it is essential to the case and explain why the information can not be obtained any other way. These requests are not favored by Panama and they will comply if the T's are crossed and the I's dotted. It usually takes from 6 months to two years for such requests to be granted, if they are granted at all. Granting such requests for a non-criminal case does not fit the terms of the MLAT. The offense concerning the criminal case in the courts of the requesting country must also be a crime in Panama. All tax offenses in Panama are civil, not criminal.
The courts in Panama would eventually issue an order if they felt the requirements were satisfied which the Panama police would fulfill by getting the bank records and they would deliver the information to the requesting country's embassy. An order typically is for information only. A request to actually tie up the funds in the bank is much rarer and harder to obtain. Panama would not respond to a government that is not a national government such as a city, state or province, or territory. Let me give you a hypothetical example. The bank officer gets a phone call from an attorney representing the state of Texas. The state attorney says he is inquiring about a Mr. John Brown bank account and identifies the John Brown he is interested in. The bank officer then says Sir I am sorry but if I even acknowledged that we did or did not have an account for such a person I would be a criminal under the laws of my country and then politely gets off the phone fast. Or the bank employee can say something like “You don’t want to make me a criminal, do you”. The flustered state attorney would then say well I have a court order for this information, to which the bank employee would respond that the order has no authority in my country or at this bank. See how it works. If the attorney sends the bank a subpoena it winds up in the shredder with no contact to the agency sending the subpoena. If pushed the bank would say they had no idea who sent the subpoena, whether or not is was counterfeit or real, and their laws do not require them to respond since the subpoena was without authority in Panama and it would thus be illegal for the bank to respond. They would not even respond to say they are not going to respond. So if a national government requests information regarding a serious criminal matter (that is also a crime in Panama) using the proper channels in government on both sides and it is one of the four categories of crimes, then it has a chance of eventually being complied with assuming they push hard enough. In Panama all tax violations are not crimes just civil offenses. If it is a civil matter from another country, it will almost assuredly never result in any information being produced. If private attorneys or local (non-national) courts request information or action the chances of anything coming of it are just about zero.
For further information click here:
http://panamalaw.org/usa_asset_protection.html
http://panamalaw.org/compare_offshore_jurisdictions.html
Panama as a Tax Haven Considerations:
Another aspect of a favorable jurisdiction like Panama is that there is no income tax applicable to you, your corporation, or foundation if you chose to use one. In Panama there is no income tax corporate or personal for offshore derived income, no inheritance tax, no probate tax, no capital gains tax, etc. This of course eliminates any filing requirements with Panama and by default eliminates any chance of a return being audited. Panama companies which do not carry out activities within the Panamanian territory and which do not obtain income from a Panamanian source, are only subject to the payment of a fixed annual tax of $300.00 dollars. It doesn't get any better than this and even if you have an office in Panama, Phone in Panama, Bank Account in Panama etc. this does not change anything as long as your income is derived from outside of Panama. Examples: You have a website and conduct e-commerce and sell goods/services from a Panama Server but to people who are all not in Panama then you are good in that all your income is offshore derived, you are just collecting it in Panama but it is coming in from non-Panamanian sources. You have a restaurant in Panama - whoops no good now you are conducting business in Panama and your income is from Panama people. Where your company is domiciled is not the key, the key is where your income comes from.
For more information click here:
http://panamalaw.org/attributes.html
Banking Privacy
One of the greatest advantages of having an offshore bank account in a favorable jurisdiction like Panama is that no one needs to know it exists. The bank does not check with any credit bureaus or like agencies since that would violate the bank secrecy laws of their country. So the chance of anyone knowing you have the account is pretty low especially if you check your statement online. We always advocate never having bank statements mailed to your home country. Panama bank secrecy is very tight, actually the best in the world right now. If a Panama Bank were to release any information pertaining to you and or your bank account without your authorization it would be a criminal and civil penalty they would be facing plus you could sue the bank for any damages as a result of such an occurrence.
For more information click here:
http://panamalaw.org/offshore_bank_account.html
http://panamalaw.org/tutorial_offshore_bank_account.html
Personal Bank Accounts
Today you will need to show some form of identification to any bank in the world to have your name as a signatory or beneficial owner on any bank account. This is a universal treaty that is complied with all over the world. The ID required typically takes the form of a photocopy of a passport and is notarized. Sometimes it can be faxed in, sometimes mailed or courier sent, all depending on the bank involved. The days of unidentifiable numbered bank accounts are long gone. If you hear of a bank that will open an account without identification rest assured it is not a real bank. The same for Visa or MasterCard, they always require the same type of identification as the bank account. Anonymous Visa or MasterCards is something that no longer exists. Same with corporate credit cards. Now they always have to have a persons name on them in addition to the corporate name. This is mostly so a store clerk can ask for ID to prevent use of stolen credit cards. ATM cards are often issued anonymously with no name on the card. Some do use this type of account as a sort of anonymous bank account having funds wired into these ATM accounts but this is not a solid solution and does not take the place of a real bank account since funds can only be taken out via ATM machines and your ATM account is normally just a sub-account of the master account holder who really has control over your money. It is always safer and easier to open up a bank account using a corporation. Remember the money in the corporate bank account belongs to the corporation in Panama and it will be difficult for a financial enemy to attempt to transfer a personal debt over to a corporation. Just proving you in fact do own an Anonymous Panama Bearer Share Company can be a major hurdle that stops a lot of litigation before it starts. Having a Panama foundation own the corporation makes this even harder for potential financial enemies since you could then say you do not own the corporation and since a Panama Foundation has no owner you would not be lying. They will face a tough burden of proof, a statue of limitations, substantial legal expense, years in court and many other obstacles trying to collect personal debts from a Panama Corporation or Foundation, especially when both are used. Remember assets like bank accounts belonging to Panama Foundations are not sequesterable in Panama which means the other side can not post a bond and get the judge to freeze the bank account pending the outcome of the trial. So this means the other side comes to Panama, hires an attorney here (expensive) starts the action and then guess what, you may be inclined to move the Foundation assets elsewhere during the trial so if the other side gets a court judgment in Panama and you no longer have assets in Panama what good does the judgment do them? Now this is assuming your financial enemies even know about the Foundation. It is not common to see such lawsuits.
For more information, please visit:
http://www.panamalaw.org
Start you own business in a easier way
More people are going into business. However, many are not mentally prepared. Many are lacking the business knowledge when they first start their business. You can get some key points here in starting your own business.
1. Watch your cashflow
Cashflow is the bloodline of your business. Most business fail because they ran into cashflow problem. Most new business owners start to spend lots of money before the businesses start making money.
Spending money on renovating luxury offices, buying unnecessary things or renting too big an office space. Even buying small items can bring huge burden to your to your cashflow.
If you are not someone who is good at managing cashflow, get someone who is good to do it for you. My business partner is good at that, she is the one who manages all the money in the company.
In the first year of our business, she had stopped me numerous times in buying unnecessary things.
Learn to watch your cashflow. Your business depends on it.
2. Marketing business
When I was young, someone told me this, "as long as you start a business, they will come and you wil be rich." That may be true many years ago. But it's no longer true now.
When you start your business, you must make known to the world. Tell everyone about your business. Learn to do effective marketing not just marketing that everyone else does.
All businesses are in the business of marketing. If you sell pens, you are also in the business of marketing. Just that you are marketing pens.
Marketing is a huge subject. Many business owners start business without knowing even the basic of marketing. I done lots of test about marketing. I started to learn about marketing five years ago. Only in the last years, I discover I had moved to a deeper level in understanding marketing.
3. Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate
Learn this skill and you can get many good deals. You may even get people who's willing to work for you free. A tip for you before going into a negotiation is to understand what the other party wants. Know that and you'll find your negotiation goes much smoother.
Understand this point, negotiation is about win-win. Creating a win-win deal in a negotiation. If a negotiation turns to win-lose, one party will definitely walk away from the deal.
4. Taking care of your customers
You have to think your customers as long term friends. If you take care of your customers, they will take care of you. Build trust and rapport with your customers, they will buy from you for a life time.
Build a system so that you can always keep in touch with your customers. When your business grows, you do nt have the time to keep in touch with all of your customers. That's when this system will come in handy. Build it early, so you will not lose any customers.
Get yourself prepared for a new business. Be mentally prepared, physically prepared too. You will find great success in your business if you are prepared.
Government benefits – helping you through injury or illness
If you’re incapacitated for any reason and are unable to work, you may
qualify to receive certain benefits from the government to assist you.
This is one of a series of guides to government benefits, in which
you’ll find practical information on the range of benefits that may be
available to you.
Statutory sick pay – this benefit is paid to people who are
in employment but are unable to work due to illness. It’s currently
paid at £70.05 per week for up to 28 weeks of illness, and can be
claimed after four or more consecutive days of being sick. (If you’re
still unwell after 28 weeks, you can apply for incapacity benefit.) To
claim statutory sick pay, you’ll need to inform your employer (either
by phone or in writing – you don’t have to speak to them in person)
within one week of falling ill. Some employers offer their own sick pay
schemes instead of statutory sick pay. Check your terms and conditions
of employment.
Incapacity benefit – if you have an illness or injury and
have been unable to work 28 weeks or more, and/or your statutory sick
pay period has ended, you may be eligible for incapacity benefit. The
rate increases the longer you receive this benefit, currently going up
to £78.50 per week for long-term illness or injury (over 52 weeks of
incapacity). When you apply, either online or at your local jobcentre
plus, you’ll be asked to go for a personal capability assessment and
you may need a medical examination by a doctor. If you’re deemed
eligible, you’ll receive flat-rate weekly payments directly into your
bank account. You’re not automatically barred from working while
claiming – you may be allowed to work up to 16 hours a week or earn a
small income, depending on the nature of the job. If you do work,
though, you may be required to pay income tax.
NHS costs – most of the treatments provided on the NHS are
free, but there are some that you must pay towards. If you’re on a low
income or unable to work, you may be able to apply for free treatment.
This includes dentistry, prescriptions, travel to and from hospital,
eye tests, vouchers for glasses and contact lenses, wigs and supports.
Again, you won’t be eligible if you have more than £16,000 in
savings.
Community care grant – this is a sum of money awarded to
people who need help to live independently in the community. You can
apply for it if you are receiving other benefits such as jobseeker’s
allowance or incapacity benefit. It can help people who need financial
support after leaving care, or who need financial support so that
they don’t have to move into care. In some circumstances, people who have
gone through a difficult period in their lives or have suffered a
family breakdown may be eligible, and it may also be granted to people
who care for someone else. If you have savings of over £500 (or
over £1,000 if you’re over 60) you may not qualify for the full
amount. The grant will be paid into your bank account as a lump sum.
You won’t be required to pay it back and it isn’t considered as income,
so it won’t affect any other benefits you receive or apply for. Apply for it at
your local jobcentre plus.
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