[QUOTE="dw31583, post: 4158700, member: 488869 I simply cannot understand why do you come with this East & West bullsh*t all the time. There's nothing to do with this when it comes to information exchange. China already exchanges information with US automatically so it's not a huge step from there. It's called Common Reporting Standard (CRS). .[/QUOTE] Sure China does , especially in case of lawsuits (lol): http://news.yahoo.com/us-inconsistent-pressing-chinas-banks-secrecy-082400464.html "The banks do not dispute that the accused counterfeiters held accounts, but refuse to comply with U.S. court orders to freeze funds or disclose information about accounts in China, saying that would violate bank secrecy laws. The banks say they are committed to fighting counterfeiting, have broken no laws, and are caught in a jurisdictional dispute between China and the United States. Chinese regulators say the only legal ways to freeze funds or get information about accounts in China is through Chinese courts or the Hague Evidence Convention, both of which critics dismiss as too cumbersome." In UAE, stick with banks under local laws, not those from the DIFC. And when I say China I don't mean HK but Mainland China. And I stress the East vs West issues because while the West tries to armwrestle foreign countries to comply to their whims, some middle eastern and eastern countries are strong enough to resist the pressure. Besides I have quite a bit of life/business/banking experience in those areas, especially the far east
Now you can Google yourself more information about UAE, China, or Taiwan secrecy laws, and checking further about the problems expats get in Dubai because of their extramarital adventures won't hurt either
@luisHK : Ahh now finally I understand what you don't. The link you've posted is not about banking secrecy, it's about recognition of foreign judgements. It's a whole different topic. In this matter Cook Islands is the best by the way. Furthermore you also mix the present with the future. We DO have banking secrecy at the moment in China but we'll lose this in 2017. Could you please link something that states that China won't be obligated to exchange information from 2017? You would make my day!!!
If you are ready to move about anywhere, including to Brasil, to live peacefully and tax free, again many countries which tax only local sourced income should work. You can look up the Malaysia second home program btw, pretty easy to qualify, and you'll live tax free there but there are a bunch of similar developping countries that would work but i'm starting to Wonder if you are here to find tax free oportunities or just trying to stir fears in the westerners who think of leaving their haven of freedom for friendlier skies.
You're thick ain't you ? "but refuse to comply with U.S. court orders [] disclose information about accounts in China, saying that would violate bank secrecy laws." So it's not about bank secrecy laws ? I'm sure you are articulate enough to gather more links on chinese bank secrecy or cooperation with foreign governments. Besides the onus is more on you to show China will disclose automatically (or Under court orders for that matter) information on bank account holders to foreign authorities, which you have failed so far (you can reread Hittfeld posts as well on the topic) On the same vein you could ask me to look up and post proof the Sun won't implode in 2019, but it's more logical you back up the contary proposition first.
As of opening a Dubai account remotely, why not, I heard when Swizerland got into a lot of troubles with its own bank secrecy, lawyers and agents there were recommending (and organising remotely I suspect) the opening of accounts in Dubai. But for your information, western banks in Dubai are regulated by the DIFC. You need to grasp the difference between the DIFC which follow a western friendly set of rules, and local banks (then possibly hop in a flight to Dubai), although again I have doubts about the veracity of your claims. Hsbc seems to have a different status there btw, as it's also regulated by Jersey, and afaik has a horrible reputation in Dubai.
@luisHK : Again, you're talking about the present! I'm talking about 2017 and 2018! Proof: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Reporting_Standard "China, Hong Kong and more than 80 countries have agreed to become signatories." I've proven this several times. However every time you read the facts you come with some Western - Eastern nonsense despite the fact that China WILL exchange informations automatically. So it looks like you simply don't want to accept this however it's true whether we like it or not.
@luisHK : When you should come up with some facts then you behave like this. Lets imagine the following case. You live in a European country. You have untaxed money offshore and you want to purchase a real estate in your country with that money. According to you it's really easy. Create a local company that will be owned by an offshore company. Then open an account for the offshore company in China, transfer your money there and then invest into the local company via the nominee offshore company. Personally I would not risk this after 2017. http://www.pwccn.com/webmedia/doc/635470745437040723_hktax_news_sep2014_10.pdf
According to me it's not easy at all. It sounds very risky indeed, starting because the country where you invest might ask to know the ownership of the company investing, even if they don't get all the information, it will not fly well in some european countries where such information disclosure might be mandatory - but note that until the end of this year at least european authorities still don't get information on ownership of Luxembourg holdings, I heard very recently of 2 lengthy audits in France on significant amounts of money where french authorities couldn't prove the french resident was skimming profits via his Luxembourg holding (they still had to pay up though, one of them quite a bit). I understood the law will change very soon in Luxembourg, but corporate ownership secrecy will remain in other countries for a while longer ( a country like France doesn't take well any expense invoiced from companies based in tax havens though, so what worked from Luxembourg wouldn't work via a BVI company for instance. Anyway I definetely haven't advised the set up you mentionned, nor claimed the money parked offshore would be easy to invest in Europe if you are residing there and hiding money from european tax authorities. Also I think if you live in the West, trust only Western banks and investments in western countries, than yes it will be more and more difficult and risky to hide money from your tax department.