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Even though our web site is high in the ranking for offshore investments we do not emphasize offshore investments.  In fact it is the area about which we make the least recommendations.  We don't like to give economic advice and we don't like to recommend offshore firms. People lose money offshore and we don't want to be responsible for anyone losing their money. As for the lack of advice the main reason we don't write much about offshore structuring is that there isn't much to say.  Most websites that are 'asset protection specific,' are pretty boring websites, because there isn't much to be said after the basic facts that sheds any new light on asset protection.

Liken it to bowling.  For years bowling did not have a successful magazine because after you bought your bowling ball and your bowling shoes there was nothing left to buy.  How do you support a magazine if there are no products to promote?  Of course now days you can have a successful bowling magazine because the world has changed.  A good bowling magazine can promote health food, shoes, shirts, tournaments, and so on.  (The fact remains, that to bowl, you only need a bowling ball, but in the modern world of modern hype any venue can engender profitable spin-offs.) You don't just watch the movie Jurassic Park and go home like one did after watching High Noon. (Circa 1952)  Nope.  Today, after the flick you have to get your kids Jurassic Park toys, eat Jurassic Park hamburgers, wear Jurassic Park tee-shirts and put Jurassic Park bumper stickers on your car.

The reason that 99% of the offshore asset protection websites are so ungodly boring is that there isn't anything to say that couldn't be explained in simple layman's terms in a few well-worded paragraphs. The few magazines on the subject are not successful ventures and their only readers are those who are in the industry. The subject matter involves the 'how many angels can stand on the head of a pin' type of article. Is Bahamas better than the Isle of Man?  The actual process of going offshore is simple. It is purposely kept convoluted and obscure so that the average client believes they need expensive advice.
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The author is holding a Panamanian International Business  Corporation . Note that in the photo above the author is holding an International Business Corporation (IBC.)  In the photo on the right is the same IBC.  The IBC, the man and the woman are three separate entities.  It is this factor which gives an IBC its special capacity to protect assets from monetary predators.  An IBC is a paper interface that acts to separate an individual from direct ownership of assets.

Gabriela Displays The Same Corporation

Each of the objects in the two photos above are separate entities. One is the head of a man the other is a book in hand.  The man can be taxed if he earns anything, the book cannot be taxed no matter what it earns.  The book is an International Business Corporation capable of doing business worldwide.

The fact that the IBC is a legal entity means that it can conduct business, just as if it were a man, or a group of men. One might say that the IBC has all of the rights that a man does, but actually an IBC has more rights. (Greater liberties in the world of commerce.)  The man might be from Libya and be subject to very strict Libyan and Islamic laws.  The IBC may be Panamanian and have no such restrictions on its business behavior.  If the Libyan man benefits directly or indirectly from the activities of the IBC he can do so without being attached to the IBC. In fact a man can control an IBC even if he does not own it, but we'll get to that in a moment.  What is crucial to understand is that an IBC is a legal entity that can conduct business and that it can do so on an international scale.  There are residual benefits of this process that are important byproducts.  An IBC operates under the laws of the jurisdiction in which it was formed. (Just as if the man lived there.) Each jurisdiction has a different set of laws, and much of the hoopla on typical asset protection websites involves the differences between these laws.

If an IBC is formed correctly, (and you'd be surprised how many are not,) the board of directors are all Panamanians, and the name of the person who actually controls the IBC does not appear.  If our Libyan friend Mohammed Averroës has his name on the IBC, then it could be construed that he was the owner, and thereby subject to the scrutiny of Colonel Quadafi.  In most so-called free nations it is not illegal to own a foreign IBC, but I suggest that it is sensible to keep ones taxable self intelligently separated from an untaxable modality like an IBC.  In Averroës case, if the IBC is structured correctly, the Colonel will never be able to determine that Averroës is connected to the IBC.  So Averroës search is for an honest company (and attorney,) to set up his IBC correctly to protect Averroës privacy, his assets and his peace of mind.

While it is not illegal to own an offshore IBC, I still recommend that we do not appear on the board of directors.  What we want is control over the IBC and its assets without public record of ownership. How do we accomplish this totally legal slight of hand?
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Stealth Asset Protection A correctly formed IBC has three Panamanians on the board of directors.  Once the IBC is formed, the members of the board of directors resign. Their resignation is not placed in the public registry.  The attorney who forms the IBC drafts a 'letter of representation' which is assigned to a designated representative who will control the company.  (That is you.) The members of the board of directors sign this letter, which is notarized and presented to the 'representative,' along with their notarized letters of resignation. What you then have is the following: An IBC in whatever name you want, that has three directors on its board as recorded in the public registry. Three notarized letters of resignation, one from each member of the board. (Not publicly registered but entirely legally binding.) A notarized letter signed by the board of directors prior to their resignation, assigning you full 'power of representation,' which grants you total legal control of the IBC and all of its assets. (Not publicly registered but entirely legally binding.)  With this combination of documentation you can open  an offshore bank account, a brokerage account, a business, a website, buy real estate, a boat, or anything else that you may care to.  Because all of the assets earned and owned by the IBC are not taxable.

A Correctly Formed IBC is like a Stealth Aircraft, Your enemies don't know it's been there until after it has passed them by ~ The Stealth Investor uses the latest innovations to avoid enemy ground fire

The rip off corporation is one of the most common scams on the internet.  Don't get short-changed on your Corporation. Most so-called offshore service providers sell 'hot cake,' corporations, that lack proper apostilles, proper stamps, have unpaid taxes, unpaid subscription taxes, and are merely 'shell documents,' not legal corporations. i.e. They sell you the document, but it is not legal in Panama. If you wish to do offshore banking, brokerage or eCommerce it will require that you have a fully legal Corporation that meets Panamanian law. 

Panamanian fees & taxes must be paid from day one, not at the end of the year.  (The fees are minuscule, consisting of only a few hundred dollars.) Many so-called Offshore Service Providers do not pay the taxes, even in subsequent years, although they will charge you for it. They don't care, they figure you'll never come to Panama, never investigate and therefor never know.  This is part of what soured me to promoting offshore firms. Some firms go even beyond that level of dishonesty and run what are called Ponzi schemes, using other investors money to pay you high interest on your investments. (Like a chain letter.) Once they've collected enough money they disappear.

In eCommerce, (internet commerce,) the one area I am recommending, you control your own assets, you control your own website, you control your own bank account. 

We are not interested in helping people evade taxes, our goal is to provide the legal means of doing legitimate offshore eCommerce, whether in international trade, import & export, online eCommerce, product sales, software sales, and/or any of the many forms of international online eCommerce that will benefit from the utilization of an offshore jurisdiction.

The most important tool, and the first tool one needs for offshore eCommerce is the IBC.
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