Offshore Bank account in Switzerland

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1 OBS E-Commerce Consulting Ltd Lower Ground Floor, St. John Street, EC1V 4PW London - United Kingdom Tel.: Mobile/WhatsApp: ID Skype: info@offshore.finance mailto: info@offshore.finance Offshore Bank account in Switzerland Offshore bank account in Switzerland: When we start talking about offshore bank accounts, we should ask first what are the territories of low or zero taxation? What is an offshore bank account? As its name indicates these are countries or territories that bear little or no tax on individuals and companies. These countries tend to be of a small territory or separate island, whose tax scheme attracts customers of the worlds leading powers. Moreover, these enclaves have a high degree of legal certainty and anonymity and from a financial point of view, are the safest ones to open a bank account. Following are some of the examples of these jurisdictions: Panama, Nevis, Belize, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Hong Kong, Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man, St. Vincent, Costa Rica. Characteristics of offshore jurisdictions: Low or zero tax for both residents and non-residents. Banking and commercial secrecy established by law. In the majority of jurisdictions it is punishable with imprisonment and heavy fines if there's some kind of breakdown of bank secrecy. Few requirements are needed for the opening of offshore companies and bank accounts. There is no exchange control and there is great freedom in the movement of capital. Few banking regulations. Flexible Legal System. Great political and economic stability: In order to attract high profile investors offshore jurisdictions establish a secure political atmosphere in the country. In these jurisdictions there are no conventions to exchange tax information with the countries of high taxation. These countries possess good communications and in particular telecommunications. The staff of on-line banking is multilingual: English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese, with turndown service 24h, 365 days a year. Reasons to open an offshore bank account and perform operations on the outside: A) International business and investment diversification. It is much more advantageous to invest in an offshore territory. B) Tax Savings: tax rates in offshore countries are generally much lower or equal to zero comparing to onshore countries. 1

2 C) Protection of property and search for security and privacy: in a case of divorce, litigation, civil liability, threat of jail it is much better to have it all planned and regulated. Through foundations and offshore companies one has a chance to minimize the impact of these everyday problems. The factors that affect the selection of the jurisdiction for bank account opening and offshore company formation: Commercial Activities carried out in offshore country: commercial activities (sales), tax saving, cash flow, benefits of intellectual property rights, inheritance, life insurance, in stock market investment, purchase of real estate etc. The Heritage and its amount that one possesses can be determined by the jurisdiction where the savings are kept. Legal exposure may opt for complex schemes of double taxation treaties, schemes based on Holding companies and family businesses. The main thing for the client that wants to perform operations on the exterior is privacy and tax savings. The key is to look for a jurisdiction with the highest banking secrecy, freedom of movement of capital, good and reliable banking services, good communications and ease of contact languages, anonymity in all the accounts and companies that the customer may have, good reputation of its legal system, political stability, and banking costs of constitution of offshore companies. Examples of specialization Traditional banking centers: Switzerland, Luxembourg, Cayman Islands, the Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Panama, and Hong Kong. Banking Secrecy: Austria, Luxembourg, Panama, Switzerland, Hong Kong, the Bahamas would be less respectable, Singapore. Deposit of fortunes: Switzerland, Andorra, Monaco and the Channel Islands. Interposed companies: Channel Islands, Gibraltar, and British Virgin Islands. Foundations: Panama, Austria, Bermuda, and Jersey. Investment Funds: Luxembourg. Benefits for "holdings": Luxembourg, United Kingdom and Spain. Insurance Companies: Bermuda, Cayman Islands, and Channel Islands. E-commerce: Panama, Belize, Nevis, Costa Rica, Dominica, Isle of Man, Jersey, Cook Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Gibraltar. Offshore Bank accounts: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Samoa, Vanuatu and New Zealand. Center for Islamic clients: Labuan. Selection of an Offshore Bank Any person who is interested in engaging in commercial activities in countries of low taxation may come up with the following question: Is it legal to open a bank account or company in an offshore jurisdiction or low tax zone? The answer is Yes. Everyone can open accounts abroad. The illegality arises when the recipient of such accounts and offshore companies has not informed his tax agency in the resident or high tax country (onshore). As we saw previously one of the main 2

3 features that offshore jurisdictions have is privacy and not a disclosure of tax information of their customers. When choosing a bank we need to highlight the following: Bank solvency: When we invest outside of our country of residence what we are looking for is security to invest in secure products and institutions. This suggests that we need to look for stable and respectable banks. There are basically 3 types of offshore Banks: A). Small banks that do not have branches in onshore countries. These banks represent the maximum protection and privacy and the only downside is that it has little range of financial services. A clear example would be Swiss banks, Liechtenstein, Panama, Channel Islands, Andorra, Luxembourg, Isle of Man etc. B). Subsidiaries of large banks and major branches in the country of residence. The services offered by these banks are quite sophisticated and the privacy is excellent, but if a customer is having a fiscal persecution in his country of residence (onshore country) by its tax agency, this will put pressure on the bank and its subsidiary in the offshore jurisdiction. Even in this case the banking secrecy won t be revealed but everything depends on the scope of infraction. Greater it is, more possibility there is for a release of information. However, the examples of these cases are only terrorism and drug/human trafficking. C). Finally par excellence we have the offshore banks. These banks usually don t carry out any activity in onshore countries, but only accept the deposits from non-resident clients allowing them to open an account asking for minimum requirements. Generally they do not have branches in countries of high taxation, they are not strict with their customers and often work with other entities as a correspondent bank. In order to be a successful offshore investor or businessman it is advisable to use multiple jurisdictions and currencies, thus the money will be invested safely. Another major feature that a good bank has to have are the communications that this establishes. Today almost all the banks work on-line allowing to a client to make wire transfers from home to any country in the world, in addition it has to have a good language support. Although the preferential language in the offshore banking is English, the majority of banks have customer support in English, French, German, Russian and Chinese. The offshore banks generally provide the same services and products as onshore banks that operate in high tax jurisdictions, which are: easy and quick wire transfers, 24 hour customer support, variety of currencies for bank accounts, regular bank statements, checks, credit and debit cards, electronic banking. The usual services are: Current accounts, with checks and checking long term account. Custody of property, documents, securities, deposits, gold, coins, art objects or collections. Safety deposit boxes are at the disposal of the customers. Stock-based investments throughout the world. Investment Funds. Savings Plans and pensions. Life Insurance. Travel and Accidents Insurance. Mailbox of convenience or "maildrop". Advice on tax matters. 3

4 Types of bank accounts and deposits A). Deposit Accounts, also known as "instant access deposit accounts", "call deposit accounts", "deposit accounts or savings accounts", the main features are: Are offered in different currencies with the interest rate of each currency. Can dispose of the money immediately or in a couple of days. Interest is paid from a minimum amount or minimum deposit. Interests vary depending on the amount reflected on the bank account. B). Current accounts also known as "checking accounts" or "check accounts". This is the most classic type of accounts and the most commonly used thanks to its flexibility, speed of wire transfer operations and possibility to obtain credit or debit cards in several currencies. C). Fixed term accounts also known as "fixed term deposit accounts". As the name indicates, the money is deposited on fixed-term obtaining a high interest from it. In case a customer wants to withdraw the money from the account he would have a penalty and obviously with this type of accounts the more money you have on it, the more interests you can obtain. Suiza Banca Offshore Switzerland is a central European country, where the official languages are French, German and Italian. Switzerland remains true to its traditions and has not entered the UN, nor the EU. These 2 factors has not hindered at any time the entry of foreign capital in the country but quite the contrary has considerably increased foreign exchange earnings from abroad. Switzerland has been characterized by accommodating only people with a high purchasing power level and anyone who decides to stay in Switzerland without proper papers can end up spending up to one year in a jail. The Swiss banking services are among the best in the world both by the range of services that it offers and also because of the banking privacy and anonymity. Even though its services are the most expensive, the Swiss franc remains the value of gold and is one of the strongest and stable currencies. The Swiss banks are mainly specialized in private banking services and wealth management. The 35% of all private deposits made by companies and individuals invested in offshore entities are in Switzerland. Switzerland is a tax haven par excellence where the banking secrecy law exists since the beginning of the XX. In recent years, due to the international agreements of money laundering, the famous numbered Swiss account was removed from the list of the services offered by the banks of this jurisdiction. And even though now there is another type of numbered bank accounts that a client can open the level of privacy is not the same as before. The Swiss banks are very strict when it comes to identification of the clients and documentation. When opening the bank account it is advisable to use the service of law firms and in addition to be ready to make an initial deposit equal to 2,000-5,000 Euros depending on the entity where the customer wants to open your bank account. In Switzerland as in all the tax havens the avoidance of taxes is not persecuted, therefore the Swiss government will never collaborate with any country of the 4

5 residence of its clients. However, the bank itself, as a financial institution, has the right to withhold the funds deposited on the account of a suspicious client if those come from illicit origin. In summary, Switzerland is a great jurisdiction with a very strict banking secrecy and favorable laws. The only downside is that banking sector of this country is mainly directed to large investors with a high financial status. All the process of the bank account opening doesn t require the physical presence of the client in the country, all efforts will be made through and / or mail. Offshore Bank Account in Switzerland Personal and Corporate bank account opening in Switzerland without physical presence. Bank account in different currencies: Euros, US$, GBP, CHF, JPY, AUD or CAD. Current or Saving Bank account. Debit and Credit Visa, MasterCard o Maestro cards. Online banking access 24 hours. Client support in English, German, French, Italian and Russian 24/7. Price for Offshore bank account in Switzerland 695 GBP OBS E-Commerce Consulting Ltd Lower Ground Floor, St. John Street, EC1V 4PW London - United Kingdom Tel.: Mobile/WhatsApp: ID Skype: info@offshore.finance mailto: info@offshore.finance 5