Bank accounts - Asset protection

[ms20]

It's more hypothetical.

If person A live in country B, holding a passport of country A.
The government of country A (or any other country) considers that you have some tax debts or penalties.
Assuming that the country can get informations of all bank accounts person A has worldwide with a request to country B or other ways of AEOI/CRS.

Are there any banks in any jurisdictions, which would reject to freeze the accounts on demand of country A?
Any other methods to protect assets? (gold & cash in under the mattress or in bank deposit box?)
A foundation might be a legal construct for it, but is easily challenged by a government body?
Given the effort a government body has to "invest" overall and per bank account in a different jurisdiction,
do you think there is a certain minimum amount before they would consider it worth doing all the effort?

 

[Martin Everson]

You need to explain which country is country B and which is country A -‌ very important to answering such a question. You also need to consider if there exists‍ a Double Taxation Agreement or any information sharing agreement (AEOI etc) between country A and⁠ country B. i.e if you owe money to your government and live in an EU⁤ country then rule out running to another EU country period. They will pursue you with⁣ ease once they pass it to the debt collection agency.

There is no jurisdiction that⁢ would outright reject in 2018 a claim by a foreign government unless the government requesting︀ assistance is a tin pot rogue country. Most countries have committed to fight tax evasion.︁ The Swiss with their secrecy back in 2009 could not reject a US claim to︂ details on 4000 US accounts and we are in 2018 now and the fight against︃ tax evasion has moved on substantially.

No legal construct will help you long term if︄ it involves use of a financial institution (FI) to hide assets.

Cash under mattress works︅ but not in this guys case below smi(&%

US mattress conceals $20m in cash

 

[Milky Moon]

Switzerland normally does not allow asset seizures for tax 'reasons'.

 

[Martin Everson]

Why does the taxman need to seize anything once they know about your assets‍ held in Switzerland...lol?

 

[Milky Moon]

Well you can move them to an other country and travel outside the reah of‌ the taxman.

 

[countryfree]

There are still several countries which are out of AEOI and FATCA.
Besides, there's bitcoin.‌ Otherwise, you may find a beautiful girlfriend, and give her all your wealth, which she‍ will be happy to share with you for the rest of your life. There's some⁠ risk in this plan, though.

 

[proples]

Which countries are out of⁠ AEOI and FATC that I can incorporate offshore?

 

[OTR365]

https://www.oecd.org/tax/transparency/AEOI-commitments.pdf

 

[proples]

Thank you. The thing is, giving this list, which‌ one these countries has a proper banking system, open to foreigners and with a relatively‍ stable economy:

EVELOPING COUNTRIES HAVING NOT YET SET THE DATE
FOR FIRST AUTOMATIC
EXCHANGE (⁠
Armenia, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti,
Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt,⁤ El
Salvador, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Gabon,
Georgia, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya,⁣ Lesotho
, Liberia, Madagascar,
Mauritania, Moldova,
Mongolia,
Montenegro,
Morocco, Niger, Pa
pua New Guinea, Paraguay,⁢
Philippines,
Rwanda, Senegal,
Serbia,
Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine)

 

[JohnLocke]

Montenegro and Moldova has been mentioned on this forum a few times in regards to‌ banking as well as company setups, it may worth to look into.

FBME bank which‍ was located in Cyprus as well as Tanzania was a well established bank until they⁠ got their license taken in 2017.

 

[OTR365]

The countries on that list that have proper banking system, are open to foreigners and‌ have at least somewhat stable economy, are too many to mention. Not being part of‍ AEOI does not mean they won't freeze your account. All banks have a compliance/AML unit,⁠ which will react one way or other if contacted by foreign law enforcement/tax investigators. Small⁤ clients will get thrown under the bus given enough heat from the officials.

The thing⁣ to watch with countries like Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia etc. is them getting closer to an⁢ EU membership. This will mean they'll join AEOI. A country like Moldova, known for shady︀ banking, would definitely be required to clean up their act before joining. So, the list︁ gets shorter every year. A country like Armenia is not going to join EU anytime︂ soon.

 

[Martin Everson]

One thing we must remember those countries that do not make moves to join CRS‌ will simply end up on the OECD blacklist.🙁

 

[Mark Rucken]

Serbia is already on FATF grey list ... and Serbia is not planning to join CRS‍ anytime soon, so that might be connected.

 

[negon]

Even if they end up on the OECD blacklist there will still be option to‌ use such entities with some sort of banking with an EMI!

 

[Milky Moon]

Well visited Moldova some weeks ago. If you would like to get a‍ glimpse of former Eastern European life under communist rule, book a ticket now.

* opening⁠ a non-resident bank account: "impossible", you need to have a work contract. (that can be⁤ fixed, find a EU project that includes/focusses on Moldava, make/create the paperwork and off you⁣ go). (finding a decent English speaker at any bank office was a challange also, in⁢ the end you need a bank where the manager speaks english, otherwise the default answer︀ to anything is 'Njet')

I had diner with a lawyer who was amused I was︁ even considering Moldova for business, due to level of corruption and paper hurdles in doing︂ business.

The whole setup did not feel like one I would be comfortable with using︃ , so I did not investigate further.

So cross Moldova off of the list.

 

[jackfrost]

I think a problem a lot of times really are your local laws. E.g. there‌ are a few EU countries which i believe will not carry out seizures of assets‍ because of tax, insolvency whatever reasons in another country e.g,. Liechtenstein made it very difficult⁠ in the past although they agreed on assistance in general. They will assist in some⁤ cases and share information but either not cooperate at all or make it very difficult⁣ to actually get at your money.

That does not help you with your local country⁢ though which probably makes it a crime to not hand over / declare etc assets︀ that you hold in these cases. It is kind of like "well if you dont︁ give us you password enjoy jail until you comply"... either way you are kind of︂ fucked.

 

[countryfree]

I'm not expecting Montenegro to join the EU before 2025, so it probably remains the‌ best option for the foreseeable future. Looking further, I may travel to Armenia to see‍ what are the opportunities there.

 

[Martin Everson]

No need to travel to⁠ Armenia you can open an account with ameriabank online.

www.ameriabank.am

 

[countryfree]

Thanks for info. It's a very positive sign for Armenia that opening an account remotely‌ is possible for a foreigner.

 

[ms20]

Any experiences with the jurisdictions Montenegro and Armenia (and Ameriabank)?