I recommend regularly that you have at least one bank account offshore…and that opening a bank account offshore can be the easiest first step to diversifying and internationalizing your life. But why? Why is a bank account in another jurisdiction such an important thing? First, a clarification. When I speak about having a bank account […]
Understanding IRS Form 8938 (Good Luck) Tax season is over, but many U.S. taxpayers remain confused about the new IRS Form 8938...including many tax professionals, it seems, given the number of e-mails I'm getting from readers asking questions to make sure their tax preparers completed their forms correctly. This new form is a catch-all intended [...]
Team USA--Pissing Off The World's Banks For Nickels And Dimes We've been reporting on the 2010 Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA) requirements since the bill was introduced two years ago. Now, the implications and consequences of what amounts to one of the most arrogant and extra-territorial pieces of legislation in history are beginning to [...]
I’d say that a second passport is a more critical piece of your global diversification plan right now than ever before.The U.S. Senate has passed a transportation bill that includes a section giving the IRS the power to revoke the passport of any American who the IRS decides might owe US$50,000 or more in taxes. […]
"Why Would I Do That?" An Irish reader was incensed by my Monday letter. He took offense specifically to my comment suggesting that the Irish electrician who didn't show up until weeks after the appointment he'd set only showed up after he'd run out of pub money. My new Irish friend didn't take the position that [...]
Living an international lifestyle used to be for the rich and famous only.Travel was expensive, but, more important, moving money around was also expensive…and complicated. When I took my first trip to Europe more than 25 years ago, I didn’t have a credit card. Even if I’d had one, it wouldn’t have helped me much. […]
There's No Such Thing As The "Best" Way To Go Offshore I have a friend who is pursuing multiple residency options concurrently. He's in different stages of trying to establish residency in several different countries with an eye to eventually obtaining citizenship in each one, as well. He figures that at least one of the [...]
Take Action Now...Before They Change The Rules On You In my Monday dispatch to you, I suggested Barclay's international branch in London as a place to take a first step in diversifying yourself offshore...by opening a bank account there. A reader wrote in Tuesday to tell me that the boilerplate at the bottom of the website [...]
I Make No Guarantees (And Neither Should Anyone Else) If re-elected, President Sarkozy of France is promising a new global tax on French corporations. He's also alluded to changing the country's approach to personal income tax, so that French citizens would be taxed on their global income, as U.S. citizens are. If you're shopping for [...]
Incremental Degradation Civil rights took another hit in the United States last week, as the incremental degradation of the average American's right to privacy marches on. Last week, Obama signed new guidelines allowing the "intelligence" community to retain electronic data believed potentially useful in the "War on Terrorism" for five full years (up from the [...]
Offshore Living Letter is a publication of Live and Invest Overseas. Our goal is to provide timely, actionable information on all things offshore, including: how to go offshore, diversifying your portfolio, wealth creation, protecting your assets, and much more.
