Many countries have lax tax rules for capital gains - for example, Singapore has no capital gains tax. Can you - as a US citizen - incorporate a Singapore LLC (with Singapore tax number) and trade via a dollar denomiated FCM in the US; as such, subject only to Singapore tax rules? I understand the implication - if this is legit - in terms of locked up offshore money, etc. If someone has experience with this, please pvt msg me. Many thanks!
It depends if the countries have a tax treaty in place, Singapore and the US do. In the end, if you are a resident of the US and want to remit the money...you will pay US income taxes.
I believe you are taxed even if you don't remit because the US asks you to disclose offshore holdings, and the US broker will ask who the beneficial owner is.
The treaty means if you have paid specific kind of tax in Singapore as a person (say, personal income or capital gains tax), the amount paid will be subtracted from the matching US tax you owe...
I don't think any of the answers above pertain to LLC and US tax. The LLC is a Singapore entity. This has nothing to do with residency of me or anyone else working for the LLC. If I get paid by the LLC - that salary/bonus will be taxed under US rules. But let's assume I get paid $1, and all the profits gets wired to a Singapore account owned by the LLC, then what is the US reach for that profit? I completely understand the remittance issue - locked up money in Singapore. I like to understand the rules around the LLC and uncle sam - NOT me and uncle sam.
Go ahead and try it. The IRS will come after your ass, period. They are aware of the latest LLC tricks by U.S citizens to try avoiding paying taxes to the U.S govt. And singapore will report your LLC info to the U.S authorities, guaranteed. After the tax evasion scandal with UBS, its amazing how people still want to risk going thru all this offshore scheming just to have to look over their shoulder constantly. Makes no logical sense.
The simple rule is if you are using a limited company to do something you could do as a person (such as trading), from the view of tax authorities it's your personal income and not the company's income. I'm sure thre are restrictions and limitations but the company being in a different country is not one of them. If you are planning something like this, teh best thing is to contact a qualified accountant. If you don't have assets in the US and are planning to leave the US forever, I don't know how Singaporean authorities will treat tax demands from the US.