Frequently asked questions about offshore company formation and bank accountOn this page we explain the most important terms about offshore servicesBearer SharesAny corporation is owned by its shareholders. The corporation's shares are either bearer shares or registered shares. Almost any corporation (us-American or European) issues shares that are registered at a government or government controlled institution. The government knows exactly who owns each share which makes privacy an impossible task. They also know for what price the shares were bought or sold.Offshore corporations usually issue bearer shares, which means the holder (bearer) of the share certificate is the only owner of the share. Therefore you can transfer, buy or sell and even trade bearer shares completely uncontrolled and in protecting privacy. Government feesOffshore jurisdictions' governments usually charge a small fee for opening and registering the offshore company. Those fees are included in our prices.International Business Corporation (IBC)The International Business Company or International Business Corporation is an offshore company. The IBC is formed in an offshore jurisdiction with the protection of liberate laws and with the benefit of paying no tax. The International Business Company is typically allowed to do business worldwide except in its home country. As an instance, an IBC in Panama wouldn't be subject to tax unless it starts doing business in Panama. In an International Business Corporation the same person may act as the company's president, shareholder, board of directors, agent or consultant. An International Business Company can be run by just one person and doesn't have to do business at all or have any employees. Just like a domestic company an International Business Company can have bank or brokerage accounts or own real estate, other businesses, cars, yachts or other goods.Nominee Director FeesEvery IBC must have a board of directors. This board may be just one person, like the founder of the company. The founder may also name himself as the director and sole officer of the company. For privacy reasons most International Business Companies are formed with a nominee as the director. He usually is a citizen of the jurisdiction where he also lives and works. However, anybody can be a nominee.IBC founders prefer the nominee because he can sign contracts and other documents so that their name will not appear in any document. The nominee director has no connections to the company's affairs or bank accounts and can't control or influence the IBC either unless instructed to by the founder. The annual fee paid to that nominee is included in our prices. Offshore jurisdiction or low-tax jurisdiction or tax havenFirst and foremost, the offshore industry relies upon jurisdictions that promise secrecy and anonymity to persons doing business in their territories. At least fifty such jurisdictions are operating in the world today,10 and the extent to which an offshore jurisdiction maintains secrecy laws and practices is typically used as a key selling point for persons considering moving their assets offshore. These jurisdictions typically provide several layers of secrecy protections to persons transacting business with their residents. U.S. law enforcement typically is not even aware that an offshore entity or account exists. Once a regulatory or law enforcement agency does become aware of the entity or account, most offshore jurisdictions require a long and cumbersome process in order to gain access to any important information, such as the identities of an offshore corporation's beneficial owners or a trust's grantors and beneficiaries. In many offshore jurisdictions it is a crime for a bank or other financial institution to divulge the names of account holders or client-specific financial transactions outside of this prolonged process. Moreover, a private party with a claim against an offshore entity, such as a plaintiff with a civil judgment, faces huge legal and logistic hurdles to find or access offshore accounts and assets.Offshore Mail Forwarding, offshore email and website, international telephone numbersJust like any other company your IBC has a normal address in the offshore jurisdiction. Bank and brokerage account statements any basically any type of mail will be send there. Your correspondence will be received, collected and sent to you in a blank anonymous envelope. We highly recommend not keeping any documents that could link you to the IBC. A mail forward is included in our prices.We also set up email addresses and a website upon request. The domain will be located in the offshore jurisdiction of your choice. Again, your name will appear nowhere; we will make this as anonymous as possible. Many banks and institutions look very closely when it comes to an IBC. Therefore we can provide phone numbers in almost any offshore jurisdiction that are tunneled to any place in the world. Completely anonymous. For instance, if your IBC is located in the Bahamas we get you a phone number in the Bahamas and make it possible to receive your calls at home or on your cell phone in the US, Europe or any other place in the world. Even directly onto your computer including voicemail, auto responder and anything a traditional phone line provides. It will look 100% authentic. Offshore TrustA trust is basically an agreement where one party called the settlor manages assets on behalf of another party or numerous parties also called the beneficiaries. An offshore trust is simply a trust that has been founded in an offshore jurisdiction.A trustee manages the assets in the benefit of the beneficiaries. An additional advisor tells the trustee how to manage the trust's assets. That advisor or Protector can remove the trustee if he doesn't manage the trust wisely and simply names a new trustee. Just like the IBC the trust can own assets, other businesses or shares. The trust may own the bearer shares of the IBC, but it cannot influence or even control the IBC. Any information that the Trustee or the protector may have about the IBC is strictly confidential and protected by strict privacy laws in the jurisdiction. Registered Agent feesCertain offshore jurisdictions require that only a local agent or a company can order an IBC at the jurisdiction's company formation office. Those local agents or companies are called Registered Agent All fees that may apply are included in our prices.Secrecy lawsIn many offshore jurisdictions it is a crime for a bank or other financial institution to divulge the names of account holders or client-specific financial transactions outside of this prolonged process. Moreover, a private party with a claim against an offshore entity, such as a plaintiff with a civil judgment, faces huge legal and logistic hurdles to find or access offshore accounts and assets. In addition to corporate, financial, and trust secrecy, the legal regimes of offshore jurisdictions typically place restrictions on assisting international tax enforcement efforts. Most of these jurisdictions impose little or no taxes on nonresidents.Shelf or turnkey corporationA small percentage of individuals and corporations that go offshore want to demonstrate that their offshore company has been in existence for several months or years. A Shelf Company is the perfect solution for this scenario.
Another advantage of buying a shelf company is saving the time involved in taking the steps to create a new corporation. |