International Asset Protection

Using offshore accounts is a great way to protect your assets, but only if they are managed properly. Since there is a great deal of suspicion with regards to overseas banking and other international asset protection methods, it is absolutely vital to ensure that your accounts are structured in a way that is fully compliant with domestic and international laws.

Benefits of International Asset Protection

International asset protection yields a number of advantages to those who use it properly. These include:

• Privacy: With the availability of information being greater than ever before, it’s nice to have some assets kept away from prying eyes. This helps them be more secure should something happen.
• Diversification: A varied investment portfolio is the most secure way to protect assets. Keeping assets overseas provides one more way to diversify your portfolio.
• Protection: Keeping assets away from the view of the general public helps protect them from seizures, making this an effective way for those with high-risk occupations to keep their wealth secure.
• Greater yield: Many countries have higher interest rates than the United States, so keeping some wealth in another country can have some monetary rewards in and of itself.
• Tax benefits: Taxes are not exacted until after you bring your wealth over to the US. Therefore, while you will have to report international assets to the IRS, you won’t have to pay taxes on them.

Foreign asset protection is a perfectly legal way to protect your accounts from being lost due to lawsuits, account freezes, or insecurity of domestic accounts. However, this again needs to be handled within the limits of the law, which is where an attorney comes in. Hart David Carson provides international asset protection counseling, structuring, and representation to those who wish to protect their assets via overseas markets.

Foreign Trust Structures

A trust that is governed by the laws of another country may provide certain advantages to the beneficiaries and grantor of the trust. Those benefits ultimately depend on the country’s laws regarding how trusts are protected. Therefore, ensuring that your foreign trust is maximally beneficial to you is dependent on your understanding of international laws. Naturally, legal assistance is vital here, especially when it comes to determining how foreign laws will impact your trust.

Foreign Corporate Structures

The way an overseas corporation is structured will ultimately determine what tax benefits/obligations you will have—or even whether the corporation worthwhile at all. The structures available to you will ultimately depend upon what is viable as well as legally permitted by international law.

• S Corporation: These are simply not possible overseas since foreign taxpayers cannot be shareholders within an S corporation.
• LLC: There are a number of taxes that may result unexpectedly for owners of LLCs overseas. This is often more trouble than most foreign owners want to deal with, and in some cases, it may not be viable.
• C Corporation: Since the profits of a C corporation do not go to the owners, the tax considerations for having one overseas can be much easier to manage.

Knowing what will work is a highly complex matter, and you will need an experienced international asset protection attorney to help you through the process.

Whether you are looking into overseas banking, foreign trusts, or foreign business ownership, contact Hart David Carson today for a free consultation.