Open a holding to hide money

[Sols]

I feel like we've been through this a few times now. Maybe I'm not clear‌ enough in my answers.

No, the question would be: "We⁤ received a report from the authorities in Hong Kong that states that you are a⁣ beneficial owner of a corporate bank account with OCBC Wing Hang for a company called⁢ XYZ Limited incorporated in Singapore with account number 123 and a balance of one million︀ USD. Why wasn't this part of your latest tax return and how come this company︁ hasn't paid taxes in France? Where did this money come from?"

 

[John89]

Thank you. Never overestimate︀ your correspondents! Obviously I am not very smart!

Corporate bank accounts have to register a︁ beneficial owner? Genuine question, because I never opened a corporation, and a corporate bank account.︂ I thought the beneficial owner would be the corporation, which would be owned by Mr.︃ Wong, not by me (John). Or then Mr. Wong would be the beneficial owner in︄ the eyes of the bank? Why would the bank have my name, since I am︅ nowhere in the structure of the company? The corporation would then wire a salary to︆ me (as a secretary), or wire the profits to a company in Switzerland, which would︇ be owned by someone else, and for which I would also work. The Swiss company︈ would pay me a salary.

I am really very grateful to you to try to︉ educate me! As you can see, unfortunately I am not very smart, so I need︊ to be told in simple words. Thank you again!

 

[Thepopo]

Yes that's what we call due diligence for the KYC procedure. Mr︄ Wong is the nominee owner, and you are the beneficial owner. Beneficial owner because you︅ take benefits of the company. Is mr Wong getting the dividend and the net worth︆ from your company shares? No. Who is then? You. So you are the beneficial owner.︇
Basically due to anti money laundering laws, banks must now who is behind a structure,︈ which means that they don't care about nominee owner, what is important is who provide︉ the funds, who give orders to the nominee owner, and get the dividends. If you︊ don't give the information of the UBO (your passport, adress, french tax number, etc) and︋ proof that he is the UBO (so paper of the company formation that clearly show︌ he is the UBO), they won't open a bank account for your company. You can︍ still try to lie to them with fake documents etc, but then they are legally︎ allowed to rob you if they find out.
And btw you are in the company️ structure (and you better be, otherwise mr Wong can easily rob your money since he‌ is officially the owner). When you setp up your company, there is somewhere a paper‍ stating mr Wong is a nominee owner and you are the beneficial owner. We are⁠ no more in the 2000's. This is impossible now. If you want to avoid these⁤ taxes, you have to create substance, have employees, rent office in Singapore, hire mr Wong⁣ as CEO, give him authority for the company choices etc, otherwise that means that the⁢ company is managed by you from France.

 

[Thepopo]

I will just give you a good advice, especially regarding the french taxman. Don't︁ enter offshore with this cocky mentality if you are not a multi-millionaire with an extremely︂ good tax advisor behind you.

 

[Dandyline]

You can be the UBO, just make sure to fix a second residency in a‌ 0% tax country which you present to the bank so that the CRS is reported‍ there. Simple as that.

 

[Sols]

This had been going on since the 1990s but 9/11 really sped things︁ up. As a result, today, all banks are now going to want to know the︂ true ultimate beneficial owner of accounts, including corporate accounts.

If you present Mr. Wong as︃ the UBO, you would today be committing bank fraud. If (when) the bank finds out,︄ they will at best demand to know the true UBO or at worst freeze the︅ account and seize the funds, pending a court order to release them.

There are some︆ very sophisticated, convoluted, and expensive legal solutions that allow you to be anonymous from the︇ bank. Aside from time and money, the biggest drawback is you lose access to your︈ funds. You almost only ever see it with people in positions to store tens of︉ millions there and still keep a large wealth with them personally.

These things aren't obvious and it doesn't help that it︍ gets portrayed poorly (if not downright misconstrued) in most media and by unscrupulous service providers.︎

 

[John89]

Thank you all for trying to educate me.

Yes, but the taxes are levied where I spend more than 183 days⁠ a year.

 

[Dandyline]

Yes, but‍ the bank have no idea where you spend the 183 days.

You just say that⁠ you are resident of UAE, then they will report there.