forming an anonymous company (thinking about Hong Kong)

[tjeerd]

A friend of mine would like to start trading in the software services business.


The idea would be to start an anonymous company with full protection of his identity and of course a bank account for incoming/outgoing transactions.


My friend has Dutch nationality.


The main critical points are:


a. The company needs to be in a country that doesn't raise eyebrows since the clients would be clients in the EU and they don't like doing business with companies in weird countries.


b. Since this company is dealing in software services - it must also look logical as far as the country goes. Hong Kong sounds very logical for software services.


c. The shareholder (my friend) must be kept confidential at all times.


My friend was thinking about opening an anonymous Hong Kong corporation and an anonymous Hong Kong bank account.


There are websites which claim to do exactly the above - for example:


Anonymous Hong Kong Corporate Banking Package


Package includes the company and bank account opening as above plus nominee director and shareholder service for complete anonymity, all for $xxx





“Bullet Proof” Anonymous Hong Kong Corporation combined with Panama Foundation package


As above, except instead of the nominee shareholder service a Panama foundation is set up with a separate bank account to act as sole shareholder giving you direct control of the company through the foundation. Company income can be “donated” into the foundation and the foundation used for a myriad of purposes.


Does the above look like a viable option or is this a false promise?


What in your opinion is the best way to go? Hong Kong ? Dubai ? and how?


Thanks so much in advance ! :thumbsUp:

 

[JohnLocke]

Hi, welcome aboard.

As the best of my knowledge the below statement is not true:‌

Hong Kong has no banking secrecy that apply towards International Authoritiy︃ requests nor are they able to protect you from any TIEA'S or DTAA which may︄ be the key to access anyone's bank account information in this so called offshore jurisdiction.︅ Let it be say... you MUST find a country that at least has the banking︆ secrecy withhold in their constitution or a country that has both the banking secrecy and︇ signed NO TIEA or DTAA - both don't apply for Hong Kong.

 

[orangeye]

Hong Kong company has no privacy / beneficial owner information protection as I read so‌ it can't be safe to go offshore in Hong Kong if privacy matters 🙁

 

[JohnLocke]

That's correct you can't gain any anonymity or privacy with a company located in an‌ offshore jurisdiction that has signed so many TIEA's, DTA, DTAA and most important that have‍ a public company register of companies.

 

[bermudashorts]

Hong Kong seems not to be on the OECD list of TIEAs.

You may google‌ for "Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs)" and see the list "Bilateral agreements (by jurisdiction)" or‍ "Recent bilateral agreements (by date of signature)".

They have, however, signed Mutual Legal Assistance Agreements⁠ (MLATs) which can be found on www legislation gov hk table3ti htm.

Citation from the⁤ MLAT between HK and Germany (CAP_525U_e_b5.pdf):

Art. 1 - Scope of Legal Assistance


(4) Assistance⁣ under this Agreement shall include assistance in relation to taxation offences.


and

Art. 4 -⁢ Refusal or Postponement of Assistance


(1) The Requested Party shall, if required by its law,︀ refuse assistance if:


7. the main purpose of the request is the assessment or collection︁ of tax;

 

[JohnLocke]

That's actually good news, but is this only applicable for Germany?