The Perfect Business Model
 

It has been four years and now I am ready to share something I know works. A corporation in Panama.

1. Easy to create, under $2,000 in legal and government fees.
2. Pays no income taxes to Panama on income earned outside of Panama. ( Does have about $500 in other fees)
3. Can have bearer shares, meaning the ownership is anonymous
4. Can have directors hired in country who are paid a small annual fee to have their name, not yours in the public registry.
5. Can have a US dollar based bank account in Panama
6. Even US citizens only pay taxes on income paid out to them from the corporation

Almost a perfect business model to pay reduced taxes, protect identity and do business internationally.

If you are interested I can connect you to a good, lawyer in Panama. I know several and I live here so i can help you make the connections in person if you wish.

that's not a business model eh.

Not a business model though, I'd call that a tax scheme.

what keeps that foreign director from just taking control of the company and its assets including the bank acct?
what makes this a business model?

hit me up Lee, interested.

Sorry if you don't think it is a business model. Reality is that it is a model to keep your money legally. The directors have no control, the person with the shares owns the biz.

Thumblord, how the hell are oyu. You know you are always welcome here in the hills. You still have my ICQ and email?

I am fine, I will be in Portugal soon to try to fix the teeth problem but will contact you asap.
please get this info on the board I own as well.
it is not protected/invite only anymore so .....

Just going to throw my 2 cents in....

1) Don't have a corp and your bank in the same country.

2) US citizens still need to be careful because if it can be proven they control the company, it's their ass. Regardless of a nominee, someone controls the company.

3) Setting up a company is easy and not the issue. It's the bank account you need to worry about. Who's passport is used for the bank account? That's where the real liability and risk lays.

With that said, YES, there are smart ways to do this to seriously lower your tax burden. You just have to be very careful how it's done. Of course someone could also structure it in a manner to totally avoid taxes, if done correctly and if one were so inclined. But that is not recommended, as it would be illegal, and we all know how the GFY crew feels about illegal activity. We simply don't tolerate it.

It sounds like 1 person connecting a 2nd person to a 3rd person.
In other words, Probono is a middle man of some kind.

as the authorized person you don't need to report your bank accounts to anyone. stick to different countries for the company and bank account(s) and you are good to go. you will be the only one in charge of the money...

If you want to protect your bank account you need to operate out of Guatemala. :1orglaugh

panama will give up ur info in a heart beat.. just letting u know

It is my understanding that if are you in the US and the IRS finds out you going to pay income taxes on all of the money discribed in your setup. Uncle sam wants his moonney!

I have direct merchant account solutions in Panama. I don't recommend them except as banks of last resort. There has been a previous history of merchant bank program closures that make me nervous about putting clients there.

In order to provide merchant services, my clients have to establish a Panamanian corporation. This requires at least one (1) director who is the beneficial owner of the corporation (usually the U.S. owner) and then two (2) local nominees who establish the residency requirement.

My understanding, based on several visits, is that Panama has no local currency and its economy is entirely based on the US Dollar. Therefore all accounts are US dollar accounts.

I've seen many dodges going out of Panama, including the Panamanian corporation paying a US "shell" of the owner for consulting services (I believe that's how the Girls Gone Wild guy got in trouble).

If you're doing business in Panama the corporation is a must have, but better to just consult a tax attorney and pay the minimum you have to to stay legal.

Finance Vice-Minister Frank De Lima announces new law banning bearer share secrecy.
The resident agents (the lawyers) will have a register of who owns what. This register will be accesible to TIEA requests so bearer shares won't be anonymous anymore to foreign tax agencies.
There will be penalties for resident agents failing to keep ownership records.
This is also the end of attorney-client privilege for tax purposes in Panama.
http://mensual.prensa.com/mensual/co...os/2359907.asp

That's awesome, except for the fact that Panamanian banks are now requiring two bank reference letters, which are being reported as "suspicious transactions" by US-based banks. :2 cents:

For those in the EU, the legal way to do it here is (as far as i know anyways):

Register a corp in your own country
Register a corp in cyprus owned by your corp
Cyprus has a much lower tax rate, and you can move your funds from one corp to the other without it getting taxed again because of double-taxation laws.