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David Tanzer is a lawyer in Vail, Colorado, limiting his practice to asset protection planning. He is the author of the new book and video package "How to Legally Protect Your Assets," which can be found at  AssetProtectionPlanning.net  or by calling 800-220-6777. You can reach David Tanzer through his web site, or by calling USA 970-476-6100.  Additional Resources Expat Search Tools  Second Passports  Tanzer's Book and Video

At tax time, you were probably pulling out your hair completing this year's tax work, so I couldn't think of a better time than to send to you a selected topic from my new book "How to Legally Protect Your Assets." If you are looking for the ultimate and final step to finally get US tax burdens off of your shoulder, forever, then this might be for you!

The Need for the Ultimate Tax Savings Maneuver

As you know only so well, taxes take a major bite out of your assets. Not so surprisingly, the top 2% of the major wealth holders pay over 30% of all taxes in the US, and the top 15% or so pay around 60% of all taxes. Seems rather unfair, don't you think?

With tax loopholes mostly long gone from the earlier versions of the forever changing tax code, there is generally little you can do to shelter your income once your assets are income producing. However, if you are willing to make a significant change in your lifestyle, and perhaps ready to 
move to that perfect island paradise you have always dreamed about, then there is an option available to you to help protect and preserve your assets from US tax burdens.

Is Retiring Abroad Right for You?

For some Americans, the American dream is being realized abroad. These individuals have pooled their money and taken their skills to over 100 different communities around the world. According to the U.S. State Department, more than 3.8 million Americans live aboard every year.

An estimated 250,000 Americans move out of the US each and every year, but most of them are not true tax exiles. The vast majority of the individuals qualify for tax-free income (under IRC 911).

Why are So Many US Citizens Leaving Their Homeland?

The US is facing a brain drain: 60 percent of Americans state that the US quality of life is degenerating and expatriates seek better lives; expatriates include some of America's wealthiest and most educated native born citizens; approximately 25% of college educated and 25% of income earners above $50,000 per year have considered leaving the US; more skilled workers are leaving the US than are entering. Increasingly, these individuals are searching for the American dream elsewhere.

Expatriating is Always an Option

The option of expatriation is the final step for the US citizen who is so completely fed up with US taxes, litigation, and severe limitations on privacy, that they are willing to leave this country. The only way that a US citizen can legally eliminate all US income tax and estate taxes, is by completely eliminating all connections to its greedy tax consuming Uncle Sam. In other words, you can expatriate yourself altogether from the US.

Those that have gone the final distance include businessman John Templeton, of Templeton Funds, when he moved to the Bahamas and saved more than $100,000,000 in taxes in his well known investment fund. Other well known individuals include Campbell Soup heir John Dorrance
III moving to Ireland; and Michael Dingman, chairman of Abex and a Ford Motor Company director moving to the Bahamas; Kenneth Dart, heir to the billion-dollar Dart Container fortune moving to the Bahamas; Ted Arison, head of Carnival Cruise Line moving to Israel; and the head of Locktite
Corporation, Fred Kreible, moving to the Turks and Caicos. The list goes on and on. Why do they do it? The reasons are vast and many, but often these individuals are motivated by the unfair burdensome US income and estate tax laws.

Becoming an expatriate means moving abroad so that you are no longer a US resident for federal income tax purposes. This also means that you will need to change your domicile to a suitable foreign country so that you are no longer a US domiciliary for tax purposes. And, you will need to give up your US citizenship so that you are not subject to income taxes on your worldwide 
income or estate taxes.

Other factors to consider will include making certain that your status is not tainted by the status of your spouse. In other words, your spouse should take the same steps as you do to make sure that your jointly owned property is removed from the jurisdiction of the US. You will then want to make sure that all of your income is derived from foreign sources and that your property is owned in the countries other than the US.

Importantly, you will need to consider the timing of making these property transfers, and consider how it will affect your status as an expatriate. You will need to give consideration as to the beneficiaries of your estate and the tax impact on them if they do not become tax exiles.
 

Obtaining Residency in another Country Unless you are already living abroad, you will need to find a country that is willing to accept you as a resident, in which you and your family will call home. Some countries require a time period to obtain residency, others will require work permits, and in others, you can purchase residency for a set dollar amount or investment into the country. The amounts and rules vary from country to country.

Once you have removed yourself from the tax and privacy concerns you have, you can in many jurisdictions around the world live tax free, in relative privacy without onerous reporting burdens or concerns of litigants trying to remove your money from you. Expatriation can offer you the best of all worlds and an exotic lifestyle.

Your Choice of Paradise

For some individuals, and maybe you are one of them, picking up and leaving the US, whether as a US citizen living abroad earning tax free income from a foreign source, or going the final distance as an expatriate, can offer an exciting challenge to your life. 

Whatever you choose do to, you should be aware of your options. Only when you are educated about the alternatives and make a voluntary choice based upon the options, can you be said to be living a free life to its fullest. Maybe that choice is at home, or maybe that choice is abroad on your island paradise. Maybe its a combination of both. Whatever you do, take the necessary steps, to protect and preserve your assets. "How to Legally Protect Your Assets" sets forth many options for asset protection planning, some of which cost you little or nothing to implement. Better yet, 
failing to use these legal techniques might cost you big time.

Remember, the goal of wealth preservation is not simply the end result of hoarding money. Instead, it is the preservation and safety of that money that allows you the independence and freedom to make the choices in life that you wish to make.

In the book and video package "How to Legally Protect Your Assets," you can learn many asset protection tools to help protect and preserve your hard earned assets, both stateside and offshore.  The book and video package gives advice about: the right way — and wrong way — to set up an offshore trust; what the very wealthy have been doing for years to whittle their tax bill to nothing; how to slash your visible net worth by half or more; an easy way to determine whether or not offshore estate planning makes sense for you; the best places in the world to open offshore bank accounts, international business corporations, and offshore trusts; and much more, including information on insurance, wills, IRS audits, avoiding the courtroom, handling debt, owning property, prenuptial agreements, trusts, business structures, bankruptcy, the best offshore havens, the best offshore banks, second passports, living overseas, expatriation, privacy, limited partnerships, and planning for the elderly, to mention a few.  To order this book directly from David Tanzer - Click Here -