| The Sovereign Society - Some of the world's
best known investment & privacy advisors have teamed up to provide
advice on asset protection. Having the Sovereign Society on your
side is like having the world's best investment advisor multiplied.
A perfect concept from an excellent team. |
|
|
| Index
of Sovereign Society Articles |
| Uncle Sam's
Favorite Tax Haven |
|
| At
financial events, I often define a "tax haven" as a country that welcomes
foreign capital and imposes low or no taxes on the foreigners who invest
there. I then ask the audience if they know where the leading tax havens
are located in the world. |
|
| People
usually guess Switzerland, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, Monaco,
Andorra, Liechtenstein, Bermuda or Panama. (Switzerland is not a tax haven
per se, because it levies taxes on most investors, although foreigners
may obtain refunds under double taxation treaties.) For those in my audience
not "in the know," they are usually surprised when I explain that the world's
two largest tax havens are - (drum roll, please) - the United States and
the United Kingdom. |
|
| Both
of these nations have hypocritical governments which continually criticize
tax havens. The U.S. and the U.K. like to vilify the many small jurisdictions
that are proud to be tax havens. Ironically, the U.S. and the U.K. are
tax havens only for foreigners - they offer no comparable tax relief for
their own highly taxed citizens. |
|
| Poor
Old Uncle Sam Needs Money |
|
| The
U.S. gives virtually tax-free treatment to many hundreds of thousands of
foreigners. Uncle Sam likes to reward these foreigners who invest billions
annually in American stocks, bonds, real estate and especially U.S. Treasury
bonds. Deficit-spending politicians from both parties desperately need
the foreign cash float these tax-free investors so generously provide. |
|
| In 2005, foreign
direct investment in the United States exceeded US$1.5 trillion on a historical
cost basis. That huge amount represented 10% of the total market value
of all publicly traded American firms. |
|
| That huge
number has grown since. Total foreign spending to acquire or establish
U.S. businesses was over US$100 billion in 2006 alone. And with the ever-declining
dollar, you can expect many more "fire sale" purchases by foreigners. |
|
| We
saw this happen earlier this month when Dubai bought a 20% stake in the
Nasdaq, and became the single largest owner of America's technology stock
exchange. |
|
| How America Became the
Tax Haven It Is Today |
|
| The U.S. government
deliberately adopted this generous American tax haven policy in the 1980's.
At the time, many leading U.S. financial institutions verged on bankruptcy. |
|
| The
combination of uncollectible bank loans to the Third World, rampant inflation,
savings and loan scandals and a 20% plus prime interest rate had put billion
dollar holes in bank's and insurance companies' balance sheets. The political
solution was simple and effective: Drop taxes on international capital
and watch the money flow in. |
|
| Foreigners,
(nonresident aliens, as the U.S. government calls them), and foreign corporations
these foreigners control are exempt from most U.S. taxes. They're exempt
from taxes on certain kinds of interest and on capital gains from owning
most types of U.S. securities, bonds or debt obligations. |
|
| U.S. corporate
dividends paid to foreign persons are subject to withholding taxes. But
the tax rate may be low or zero under a treaty between the U.S. and the
foreigner's home country. If a non-U.S. person controls an offshore corporation
that invests in the U.S., then he or she is not required to file returns
with the IRS, unless it does business within the United States. |
|
| The IRS likes
to insist that offshore investing is laced with tax evasion. They estimated
that US$5 trillion in assets worldwide is held "offshore" in tax havens.
They also estimated the IRS annually loses a minimum of US$70 billion in
tax revenue from individuals investing offshore. |
|
|
The
Sovereign Society, headquartered in Waterford, Ireland, was founded in
1998 to provide proven legal strategies for individuals to protect their
wealth and privacy, lower their taxes and to help improve their personal
freedom and liberty.
|
|
|
The
Society's highly qualified contacts recommend only carefully chosen banks
and investment advisors as well as financial and legal professionals located
in select tax and asset haven jurisdictions around the world. The Society
provides advice concerning the establishement and operation of offshore
bank accounts, asset protection trusts, international business corporations
(IBCs), private foundations, second citizenships and foreign residency,
as well as practical safeguards for financial, Internet and personal privacy.
|
|
|
The
Sovereign Society stands alone in fulfilling this singular, international
offshore service role for its members. To learn more about our organization
and how you too can become a member, Click the link below:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yes,
learn what it is that the Sovereign Society can do for you. The Sovereign
Society's highly qualified Council of Experts, consist of carefully chosen
professionals located in select tax and asset havens around the world.
Their experts have spent their careers discovering the best global investments,
the safest tax havens and the most secure devices in which to protect your
assets.
|
|
|
Access
to The Sovereign Society’s Council of Experts is one of the most-cherished
benefits of Sovereign Society members. Their global network of banks, investment
specialists, financial consultants, and legal professionals have proven
themselves, over many years, and to thousands of Sovereign Society members,
as being the best in the business.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Earning
money requires effort. Protecting
it after
you've earned it requires finding those
who have
the right knowledge & experience
in the
field of asset protection. If you're not
an expert
at it you need someone who is.
|
|
|
| But the IRS
and American tax laws welcome the trillions in foreign investment in tax
haven USA. They don't seem concerned about the possible tax evasion by
foreigners. |
|
| The Brits
Do It Too |
|
| The United
Kingdom is also a major tax haven, but with a different twist - the U.K.
gives major tax breaks to wealthy foreigners who actually live there. Under
British tax law, anyone living in Britain and not born there can choose
what is known as "non-domiciled" tax status. |
|
| That means
scores of billionaires who live there only pay tax on the relatively small
amount of money they bring into the U.K. each year. They do not pay U.K.
taxes on their much larger worldwide earnings. |
|
| This law has
made London a tax haven for everyone-- from Russian oil tycoons to thousands
of international investment bankers. The country now has 68 billionaires
- three times as many as four years ago. Only three of its 10 richest people
were born in Britain. |
|
| That special
U.K. tax law is always under attack. It continually presents a political
problem for the new Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The British newspaper,
the Guardian, accuses Brown of having a "love affair with the super-rich." |
|
| The British
trade unions want to end the loophole. For 10 years, Brown regularly promised
reform on the "non-dom" tax issue as Chancellor of the Exchequer. But in
the end, he did nothing. (That's fine with us. We've never met a tax we
liked.) |
|
| This Sanctuary
for the Super-Rich Will Survive |
|
| The International
Herald Tribune thinks the non-dom tax exemption for the rich doesn't make
sense in a highly taxed country. In the U.K., the top income tax rate is
40%. But we agree with their conclusion that "...it is too late to change
it. London and, by extension, the rest of the British economy have become
dependent on the mega-rich." |
|
| There is no
denying the impact the rule has had. According to British Treasury figures,
about 112,000 people claimed non-domiciled status in 2005. They reported
a total of £9.8 billion (US$19.9 billion), in earnings. But their
wealth from overseas income would be much more and they spend a lot of
cash in London. |
|
| Based
on past performance and the politics involved, I predict this U.K. non-dom
tax loophole will survive. If we're wrong, there will be a lot of rich
people fleeing London for other, more secure tax havens. |
|
| The next time
you catch some London or Washington political foghorn blasting those terrible
tax havens on T.V., send them an email and tell them to look in the mirror.
Or tell them to go get lost in the 25,000 pages of the U.S. and/or U.K.
tax code. They might just learn something. BOB BAUMAN, Legal Counsel BaumanBlog.SovereignSociety.com |
|
| P.S. Unfortunately,
these obscure little tax rewards hidden in the 25,000 pages of American
and British tax code don't apply to U.K. or U.S. citizens. But if you're
looking for legal tax avoidance, you can visit other places where you're
the foreigner - and reap the foreigner's tax benefits. Click
here for some ideas on where to look. |
|
|
|
The
Strange Disappearance of 100,000 American Millionaires.
| Last year,
the number of American millionaires fell by 100,000. Yet 200,000
new millionaires showed up overseas. Why? Because hugely profitable
investments are being hidden from you by a cartel of lawyers, regulators
and Wall Street special interests. Like our recommended investments that
gained 797% and 1,794% during the bear market and our other investments
up 85%..117%...177%...225%. Find out what they don't want you to know... |
|
|
|
. |
