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> I recently received a spam re: a "business opportunity" which was
> a MLM system selling seminars on setting up offshore investment
> accounts to avoid taxes.
I think it's safe to assume that **IF** "high yield investment
programs" actually exist, and are actually somewhat legitimate, they
would NOT be promoted with spam and MLM setups. They would be a
closely-held secret, and you wouldn't be able to get into one unless
you knew somebody who was already doing them. And likely it would
cost you bigtime to enter into the "inner circle," if you could get
in at all. Anything that is MARKETED or PROMOTED in any fashion must
be, IMHO, a scam.
That said, do such things exist? I've heard things that make me
suspect they might, but I have no proof. In any case I strongly
suspect they are very questionable or outright illegal -- at least in
the U.S., given our tax laws &etc.
> After paying what I feel was an outrageous amount of taxes, I
> looked into doing something offshore several years ago. I forget
> the exact details - and there are many of them - but the main point
> was that you can have an offshore account but, IMO, the risks are
> HUGE.
Agreed. I investigated several "specialists" in tax reduction.
These are big respectable-looking companies with large staffs of
lawyers and experts, often some with impressive credentials.
(http://www.merrillscott.com is one I looked at. If I remember
right, one of their principals is a past head of the Utah Bar.)
But it all seems to be an elaborate shell game aimed at making your
money "invisible" to the IRS. Not "unreachable," not "untaxable,"
just "not visible." If the IRS finds out about it, you are likely to
be in deep doodoo. The IRS has very long arms and can grab almost
anyone or any institution by the gonads until they cough up your
money. I've read of several cases where this happened, and I'm sure
there are many more.
Even if the IRS doesn't catch you (and do you want to spend the rest
of your life looking over your shoulder, worrying that the IRS will
finally nail you for that tax evasion you did 30 years ago?), you
have all the problems Michael wrote about -- the money IS NOT YOURS.
You gain tax savings and liability protection by GIVING YOUR MONEY
AWAY to another entity. If you have ANY control over it, then the
IRS or any good lawyers trying to sue you will be able to get at it.
You have to GIVE IT AWAY to some trust or something, and hope they
are honest. Because THEY OWN IT, not you, and if they walk away with
it, and you won't have a leg to stand on.
Even if they don't rip you off, there's the "interesting" problem of
getting AT this money you gave away. It's possible you might be able
to move offshore and access the money as an expat, though that's
probably illegal too. As far as I can tell, if YOU ever get control
of any of the money, then the IRS will find a way to get its
meathooks into it (and you). So you're right back where you would
have been if you hadn't done all this shady fancy-dance in the first
place.
Taxes suck. But they seem to have knitted the net very well over the
years and patched up all the obvious holes. I don't think there are
any magic loopholes available to "normal people" like us any more.
Gary
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