Posts Tagged ‘Offshore banking’
Attention: U.S. Expats in or Near Vienna, Austria
James C. Sexton, Jr., LL.M., one of my business partners, will be in Vienna Tuesday, June 5, 2012, to deliver a free presentation in English focusing on the U.S. tax and disclosure obligations for U.S. citizens or long-term residents living overseas. It’s entitled “Tax Obligations of U.S. Citizens Living Abroad“ and will focus on assisting U.S. [...]
Swiss Secrecy Breach: Does the Punishment Fit the Crime?
If you still have the quaint idea that offshore bank secrecy laws have any “teeth” to them, think again. A case in point is the world-famous Swiss bank secrecy law. Article 47 (Art. 47) of the Swiss Banking Act, Paragraph 1 reads as follows: “Whoever divulges a secret entrusted to him or of which he [...]
The Benefits of Offshore Portfolio Management
If you have the equivalent of $500,000 or more to invest (more in some cases), you qualify for the services of an offshore portfolio manager. Some offshore banks reduce this minimum to $100,000 or even less for depositors willing to have their assets invested in a portfolio of offshore mutual funds. (U.S. investors should generally [...]
DOJ/IRS: “We’re Just Getting Started in Offshore Crackdown”
I just returned from a conference in San Antonio sponsored by the American Bar Association’s Section on Taxation. I attended this conference to learn more about plans the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the IRS have going forward in their anti-offshore vendetta, and how the financial institutions and nations affected by it are likely to [...]
Austria Shutters Banking System for U.S. Residents…but the Door Remains Cracked
I arrived yesterday afternoon, May 18, in Vienna for a series of meetings with Austrian banks, lawyers, and financial advisors. Here, the story is much the same as it is in other offshore financial centers: Americans, stay away! Since I published my book Austria Money Secrets in 2007, every bank I mentioned in it (with [...]
Seeds of Hope in Swiss Banking
Greetings from Zurich, where your jet-lagged blogger landed yesterday morning after a grueling 16-hour trip from Phoenix. I’m here to meet with Swiss banks, money managers, and attorneys to learn more about how the Swiss financial industry is reacting to the worst threats against it in 70 years, since the rise of Nazi Germany. And [...]
Stanford Debacle Proves Wisdom of Off-Balance Sheet Investments
One of my standing recommendations to clients is that they hold investments traded on a securities exchange, or securely stored in a vault, rather than on the balance sheet of a financial institution. This strategy largely avoids the possibility of loss if the financial institution becomes insolvent, although it doesn’t eliminate the market risk for [...]
Get Ready for Exchange Controls! [Part III]
In Part I and Part II of this post, I described what exchange controls are, how they operate, and why they may be coming to your country. Unfortunately for the governments that impose them, exchange controls simply don’t work. The longer they’re in place, the more ways clever people find to get around them. To [...]