“The Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong was once the densest place on earth, a virtually lawless labyrinth of crime, grime, commerce and hope. A Wall Street Journal documentary tracks its colorful legacy and brings the place alive 20 years later.”
“Puerto Rico is really a unique situation for Americans, because it is part of the US—there’s no expatriation nor renunciation involved in coming here. For some people, this is a negative. Some people have objected and said ‘I’m not really getting away from the US.’ And that’s true; there’s no denying that—if you move to Puerto Rico, you’re still in the US. But this is a positive for people like me who need to stay in the US for family or other reasons. In my own personal case, that was definitely a factor because my wife is in the green card process, and she needs to stay in the US. Maybe this matters less to Canadians or Brits or others who can just move to lower their taxes.”
“Billionaire hedge-fund managerJohn Paulson said today that Puerto Rico’s economy is at the beginning of a turnaround and predicted the island will become the Singapore of the Caribbean. Paulson, speaking today at the 2014 Puerto Rico Investment Summit in San Juan, a conference designed to promote the territory and attract investors, said he’s building a home in the commonwealth. The hedge-fund manager, who last year considered relocating to Puerto Rico to take advantage of new tax laws, said opportunities to buy real estate in the region won’t last much longer, and he’s looking to purchase sites that can be developed to serve people he expects to move here.”
“Savers who stash money in offshore accounts are more likely to be prosecuted under government plans to get tough on tax evasion. The Treasury unveiled plans last night to simplify laws and make it a criminal offence for Britons to hold undeclared income overseas. Currently, HM Revenue & Customs can only secure a conviction if it can prove that an individual was trying to hide money from the authorities. But George Osborne will shift the ‘burden of proof’, meaning that accused individuals under investigation must demonstrate that this was not the case. Convicted criminals will pay a hefty fine or face jail under the plans.”
“Consider the case of Mary Estelle Curran, a 79-year-old widow who faced six years in prison and over $20 million in fines. Curran inherited a number of offshore accounts worth around $40 million from her husband after he passed away and was allegedly unaware of how to properly file the required FBAR forms. I don’t know how any decent human being could look at themselves in the mirror again after helping to put away an old widow—or anyone for that matter—for a make-believe ‘crime’ like not filing an FBAR. If throwing an elderly widow in a cage for six years for not properly filling out a government form is not cruel and unusual punishment, then the phrase has no meaning.”
http://www.internationalman.com/articles/cruel-and-unusual-is-the-only-way-to-describe-it
“You can jettison ALL United States tax on interest, dividends, and capital gains. This is possible because Puerto Rico, while a commonwealth of the United States, is treated as separate for tax purposes. By moving to PR, you can opt out of the Federal tax system and in to the PR tax program. Retired? Puerto Rico does not tax social security or unemployment income. Capital assets (such as land, stocks, bonds, etc.) acquired after moving to PR are tax free. As for property acquired prior to becoming a resident, special provisions can result in a 10% long term rate from the day you qualify and a 5% tax rate applies to property acquired prior to becoming a resident and held for at least 10 years.”
http://premieroffshore.com/move-puerto-rico-pay-zero-capital-gains-tax/
“If you deal mainly with physical products that stay within UK borders, then it’s probably not what you want. If you export or if you deal with intangible services then it might fit the bill. Once you decide an offshore company is for you, start researching a formations company to use. Ask around in some online forums as there are plenty of people out there that have had good and bad experiences and who are more than willing to give pointers. A point of massive importance is the actual jurisdiction that you decide to incorporate within — all have their own rules and nuances, so read about them carefully and find the one that best suits what you want to do.”
http://www.internationalman.com/articles/e2-80-9cwhy-i-set-up-an-offshore-company-e2-80-9d
“One very critical point to understand is that you should NEVER state that you are expatriating to avoid taxes. It could end up complicating matters if you ever intend to return to the US. If your dossier with the US government states that you renounced for tax purposes, that information should be assumed to be readily available to any number of agencies—including those dealing with visas and immigration. Although the authority to exclude a person from re-entering US on that basis is of questionable validity, and formal regulations on this have never even been proposed, State Department guidance to overseas posts does explicitly state this as a reason to reject a visa application.”
http://www.internationalman.com/articles/how-i-renounced-my-us-citizenship-and-why,-part-ii
“Once I officially move to Puerto Rico, then I can get tax-free dividends on Puerto Rican-sourced income, which would include my business that has moved to Puerto Rico. I can also make investments in the stock market and enjoy zero capital gains tax. Once I move to Puerto Rico, I can trade IBM as often as I want, and no matter how much money I make, I pay zero capital gain taxes in Puerto Rico, and I pay zero capital gain taxes in the United States. So pretty much anything that you can do via the Internet, via the telephone, if you do it from Puerto Rico, you’re going to hardly pay any income tax, which is kind of the way it used to be in America.”
http://www.internationalman.com/articles/peter-schiff-goes-to-puerto-rico
“Never before have such incredible tax incentives been available to Americans so easily. You see, to spur job growth and economic activity in general, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico introduced these enormous tax incentives for incoming residents and service businesses. Specifically, for Puerto Rican residents and businesses that qualify—mostly expatriates from the US mainland or their enterprises—the recently enacted Act 22 and Act 20 provide for a zero tax rate on capital gains and certain interest and dividends earned by individuals. And, if you a run a business that exports services like I’m doing here, they also provide for low single-digit tax rates on your profits.”
https://www.caseyresearch.com/cm/pocket-enormous-tax-savings-in-puerto-rico