While domestic LLCs offer a margin of asset protection, they are still under the jurisdiction of the U.S. court system. As such, almost any United States court – in any jurisdiction – can pierce the corporate veil to examine book, seize funds and/or assets in the event of unfavourable court rulings against the corporation.
In this regard, offshore LLCs offer two measures of additional protection: 1. LLCs formed in countries sponsoring favorable LLC business legislation for outside companies or individuals offer tightly structured secrecy laws regarding a company’s funds or investment portfolio; 2. Companies formed in selected countries are not under the jurisdiction of the United States Court system.
Forget what you’ve heard about hiding money offshore. While it can be done fairly easily, if you ever get into court and are asked if you have money offshore, you must declare it.
Why worry about that when there are so many legal ways to protect assets offshore. Most center around starting a business or fund offshore such as an IBC (Independent Business Corporation), LLC (Limited Liability Company) or Trust in a foreign country, preferably one that has favorable secrecy and asset protection laws.
The reason a foreign country is selected instead of creating a domestic business entity is records of account information are not subject to the United States court jurisdiction. Court requests for balances, credits, assets or any account information is restricted -some are stringently protected by the foreign government’s laws.
Perhaps you’re familiar with the secrecy of Swiss bank accounts. The Swiss have had financial secrecy laws for over half a century. Today, small offshore havens have taken the Swiss model for financial privacy and security and improved on it with a set of even more protective laws, and even more favorable legislation. Individuals and businesses that wish to have their assets securely protected in the event of attack by predators, malicious litigation, divorce proceedings, perceived back taxes, or frivolous lawsuits now have an surprisingly good array of options and countries that offer these favorable laws.
Next month we’ll take a look at the country of Nevis. A small independent country in the Caribbean that makes it easy to start an LLC (Limited Liability Company) in just a few days – with some surprisingly simple laws favouring secrecy, security and corporate impenetrability.
Photo credit: rustyruth1959 via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-ND
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