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Recent Developments In The Offshore World

Constantly Moving Targets

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Nov 16, 2012
in Offshore
0
world flags in line below a mountain trail with blue skys
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Quote of the Day:

“In my lifetime, 13 zeros have been knocked off my country’s currency. Most of the people in this room are Americans. You haven’t had to live through the experience of watching your currency be devalued like this.

“Yet.”

–Argentine economist Steve Rosberg addressing attendees at this week’s Offshore Summit

Perhaps the most important thing to understand about the offshore world, as the speakers at this week’s Offshore Summit in Panama City are reminding those assembled again and again, is that it’s forever changing.

Tax laws and treaties, residency visa requirements, opportunities for obtaining second citizenship, documentation required to open a bank account, currency controls and exchange restrictions…as well as the political and the economic landscapes jurisdiction to jurisdiction, all these things change all the time.

Unibank, a Panama City bank that we’ve been recommending as a good choice for foreigners looking to open accounts in Panama, decided two months ago that it would no longer accept foreign clients who haven’t been resident in Panama for at least two years.

In 2008, Panama made wholesale changes to its residency permit requirements, increasing both the minimum required investment amounts for all categories and the income requirement for the pensionado visa.

Then, earlier this year, Panama created a whole new residency category that amounts to the easiest way anywhere in the world to establish foreign residency. It also provides for a work permit, something that is generally unheard-of. As our Panama legal eagle put it, “If you want to move to Panama, certainly if you’d like to have the option to work in Panama, you should jump on this. This unique opportunity will almost certainly disappear when the current administration is out of office.”

While we were living in the country, Ireland changed its constitution to eliminate automatic citizenship for anyone born on the island. They have also, at various times, changed the rules associated with becoming a citizen through ancestry.

France has changed how the country taxes rental income. Foreign property owners are now meant to pay any associated social charges (although this is technically illegal under EU law).

A few years ago, Costa Rica changed both the minimum requirements and the benefits associated with its pensionado program.

This year, Argentina has imposed stricter currency controls making it very difficult to get hard currency out of that country.

Belize recently passed foundation laws to be competitive with jurisdictions offering foundations as a structures option. Now, in Belize, you can choose a trust or a foundation for your long-term planning.

Etc.

Any list of the World’s Top Offshore Havens is a moving target. In the face of this, how can you make a plan and take action?

By making your plan as diversified as possible. This is the big-picture point of the discussions here in Panama City this week.

Do your banking in one country (where you can feel reasonably secure your deposits are safe), reside in another (where you pay no tax), run your business in a third (where entrepreneurs are respected and incentivized), maybe acquire a second passport elsewhere…

Have gold on deposit in one jurisdiction, keep a physical mailing address in another, and arrange for phone and fax services, again, someplace else…

No, not everyone needs this level of diversification. It depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. My point is that, to protect yourself and to maximize your opportunities, you need to remain open-minded and flexible.

Plant your flags based on your current circumstances and agendas. But don’t plant them in concrete. You might want to be able to move them around from time to time.

Kathleen Peddicord

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Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has covered the live, retire, and do business overseas beat for more than 30 years and is considered the world's foremost authority on these subjects. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 21, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and educated her children in 4.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets across three continents, from the East Coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland... then to Paris, France... next to Panama City, where she has based her Live and Invest Overseas business. Most recently, Kathleen and her husband Lief Simon are dividing their time between Panama and Paris.

Kathleen was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. In that capacity, she opened her first office overseas, in Waterford, Ireland, where she managed a staff of up to 30 employees for more than 10 years. Kathleen also opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France.

Kathleen moved on from her role with Agora in 2007 and launched her Live and Invest Overseas group in 2008. In the years since, she has built Live and Invest Overseas into a successful, recognized, and respected multi-million-dollar business that employs a staff of 35 in Panama City and dozens of writers and other resources around the world.

Kathleen has been quoted by The New York Times, Money magazine, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, the AARP, and beyond. She has appeared often on radio and television (including Bloomberg and CNBC) and speaks regularly on topics to do with living, retiring, investing, and doing business around the world.

In addition to her own daily e-letter, the Overseas Opportunity Letter, with a circulation of more than 300,000 readers, Kathleen writes regularly for U.S. News & World Report and Forbes.

Her newest book, "How to Retire Overseas: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad," published by Penguin Random House, is the culmination of decades of personal experience living and investing around the world.

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