• About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
FREE REPORT
BEST PLACES TO RETIRE
*No spam: We will NEVER give your email address to anyone else.
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Portugal
      • Panama
      • Belize
      • France
      • Colombia
      • Dominican Republic
      • Thailand
      • Mexico
      • Spain
      • Argentina
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
    • Our Latest On Coronavirus ⚠️
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
Live and Invest Overseas
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Portugal
      • Panama
      • Belize
      • France
      • Colombia
      • Dominican Republic
      • Thailand
      • Mexico
      • Spain
      • Argentina
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
    • Our Latest On Coronavirus ⚠️
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
No Result
View All Result
Home Offshore

Offshore Banking In Panama

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Jan 06, 2011
in Offshore
0
The Tax Advantages of Operating A Business Offshore can be plenty in a country like Panama.
208
SHARES
3k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

TIEA’s And WikiLeaks–What’s Going On In Panama?

Panama is much discussed on the international stage these days, but, for a change, the news right now is not all good.

First, on Nov. 30 last year, Panama signed a tax information exchange agreement (TIEA) with the United States, ending, for all intents and purposes, this country’s tradition of bank secrecy. Even today, more than a month later, bankers and others in Panama are not certain how the terms of the treaty will be interpreted or applied, but, bottom line, an American should take for granted now that, if he has a bank account in Panama, the U.S. government will know about it.

Does this mean that Panama is no longer the appealing offshore haven we’ve been reporting it to be for years?

No.

This new TIEA treaty (signed by Panama’s President Martinelli, we understand, because U.S. President Obama promised he’d support the U.S.-Panama free-trade agreement Martinelli has been pushing for) means Panama is no longer a jurisdiction offering bank secrecy. That’s it.

It doesn’t mean that Panama is no longer the world’s top retirement haven (it is). It doesn’t mean that Panama is no longer the best place in the world to launch and to run an international business (it is). It doesn’t mean that Panama is no longer one of the best places on earth right now to invest in beachfront and productive land (it is).

Panama remains everything we’ve been telling you it is…with one (maybe to you important) change: It’s no longer a place to open what you hope to be a secret bank account.

I hate to be the one to break the news to you, but the days of secret bank accounts are numbered. Bank secrecy is dead in Switzerland, formerly the world’s premier bank secrecy haven. It’s now dead in Panama, one of the final hold-outs to U.S. and other international pressures to abandon its tradition of privacy. I predict that other jurisdictions still preserving bank secrecy will cry Uncle, too, in time, as Uncle Sam and the OECD, among others, continue to push their way into peoples’ business.

If you’re an international drug dealer or involved in some other illicit activity and have been parking illegally gotten gains in offshore bank accounts, you’ve probably got a problem.

If you’re an average American choosing to keep some (or even all) your money in offshore banks, in practical terms, this change of situation in Panama doesn’t have to be a big deal. Right now, in the wake of the new treaty, Uncle Sam can find out about your offshore account in Panama by making inquiry in Panama. But, the truth is, you were meant to have told Uncle Sam about your offshore account in Panama yourself. Every American is required, by U.S. law, to report any offshore bank account (or accounts) with more than US$10,000 in it as part of his annual IRS tax filing.

In other words, if you’ve been complying with U.S. law, you’ve been reporting any offshore accounts that you were meant to be reporting all along. Meaning the new TIEA doesn’t really mean much for you.

Then, while the dust was still swirling thick in the wake of this unfortunate turn of events, Panama’s President Martinelli was again in the news, this time as part of the ongoing WikiLeaks debacles. WikiLeaks has made public cables between Marinelli and members of the U.S. DEA that have Martinelli asking for help with wire taps to bug his political enemies and others within Panama. Martinelli is claiming the cables are being misinterpreted, while the political opposition in Panama is making great hay, saying Martinelli has been outed as the bully he is.

I won’t try to interpret all this. You can think for yourself. Certainly, it’s an embarrassing situation for the otherwise hugely popular Martinelli to find himself in at the start of this new year.

What does it mean for you, the would-be investor, retiree, or entrepreneur in Panama?

Again, I’d say very little. We take no political sides here at Live and Invest Overseas, and, ordinarily, we don’t report political happenings.

First, that’s not our beat. Second, ordinarily, local political happenings have little or no effect on foreign residents, retirees, or investors. We watch now, from front-row, in-country seats, as local politics play out before us here in Panama…as we watched in Ireland years ago and then in Paris. But we try to stay focused on the point.

Martinelli is taking a beating for having said and requested things he shouldn’t have. Politicians often do. Again, that’s not our beat.

Our beat is not intrigue, strife, trouble, or drama. Our beat is opportunity.

And, as we stand today on the threshold of 2011, I look around little Panama, and I see, still, tremendous opportunity.

This remains a country on the fast track. A country open for business. A country pushing ahead toward First World status.

No, you can no longer open a “secret” bank account here. And, yes, Martinelli has taken a big misstep.

On the other hand, Panama’s Pacific coastline is as dramatically beautiful as ever, and the sun is shining, still, warm and bright, above it. The cost of living in this country can be wonderfully low, the tax advantages significant, the way of life comfortable and full of the unexpected.

Lief and I have spent the past three weeks traveling in the United States, enjoying the holiday season with family and old friends, who have asked, often, what is your plan? How much longer do you intend to be based in Panama?

Indefinitely is our reply. We could be anywhere in the world at this point in our lives, and, long term, our plan is to divide our time among several destinations we most enjoy, including Paris, Istria, Buenos Aires, and, yes, Panama.

Two-and-a-half years ago, we chose to move from Paris to Panama City because we knew that, while France is no place to start a business, Panama is as good as it gets for the international entrepreneur.

It’s also a great place to raise a family and an interesting, never-dull, bubbling-over-with-opportunity place to be at the start of this 21st century.

As far as we can tell, none of that has changed. We remain happily at home here.

Kathleen Peddicord

Tags: 'Banking Secrecy''President Martinelli''Privacy''Tax Information Exchange Agreement''WikiLeaks'Offshore BankingPanamaretire to Panama
Share83Tweet52
Previous Post

International Currency Exchange

Next Post

Starting Your Retire-Overseas Thinking Process

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.

Related Posts

Christopher Columbus Palace on Plaza de España in the historic center of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic

Santo Domingo: Dominican Republic’s Colonial Capital

by Kathleen Peddicord
July 3, 2022
0

White-sand beaches, swaying palm trees, warm turquoise water, year-round sunshine—you'll find them in abundance here in the Dominican Republic... and,...

Read more
Adobe Stock/dudlajzov

My Biggest Regret After Living In Bellapais, Northern Cyprus

June 21, 2022
General view of apartments for rent in Portimao, Algarve, Portugal

The Best Property Deals To Expand Your Portfolio Offshore

June 10, 2022
Panama City, Panama to theleft and Tavira, Portugal to the right

Panama Vs. Portugal: Comparing The Five Flags

April 18, 2022
Sunset in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Assessing Your Best Overseas Residency Options

March 1, 2022
Sunrise view of old town skyline in Paris

Will Living Abroad Make You Happy?

February 14, 2022
Beautiful afternoon in Porto, Portugal

You May Be Surprised At How Low Taxes In Europe Can Be

February 10, 2022
Next Post
Arenal Volcano Costa Rica

Starting Your Retire-Overseas Thinking Process

Start Your New Life Today, Overseas

A world full of fun, adventure, and profit awaits! Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we’ll send you a FREE report on the 10 Best Places To Retire In Style Overseas Today.







LIOS Resources


  • New To LIOS
  • Ask An Expert
  • Media Center
  • Contact Us
  • FAQs

Quick Links


  • Best Places To Live
  • Best Places To Retire
  • Finding A Job Overseas
  • Real Estate

Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and get your FREE report: The 10 Best Places To Retire Overseas In 2022

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe

© 2008-2022 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Countries
  • Budgets
  • Archives
  • News
  • Events
  • Bookstore
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Members Area
  • Contact Us

© 2008-2022 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

Sign up for FREE and learn how to live the good life on a modest budget, find bargain property, and more. Plus, check out our free report on the 10 BEST PLACES TO RETIRE.

RETIRE OVERSEAS AND LIVE LIKE ROYALTY

The World’s Best Places To Be In 2022?

Discover Them Here…