I saw an article in the USA Today that I thought was interesting and worthy of a newsletter from the APS™.
However, before, I get to the topic of this newsletter, I wanted to remind everyone of two upcoming events.
1) The next Certified Wealth Preservation Planner (CWPP™) seminar will be held in San Diego, CA on the 10-12th of September. I know many advisors have been waiting for me to announce that date. To learn more, please click here.
2) The 2nd Annual Asset Protection Society Forum on October 6-7th. We had over 160 people at last year’s Forum and I think the list of speakers and topics is better this year. Also don’t forget, this seminar was built for an advisor to bring their best client to motivate him/her to move forward with the advanced planning structures you know are needed. To learn more about the 2nd Annual Forum, please click here.
One of the main reasons the APS™ was created is to WARN advisors and the general public about asset protection scams or any scam for that matter.
One of the age old scams is moving your money offshore to “avoid” taxes. Generally speaking, U.S. citizens are taxed on worldwide income wherever it is generated. Having said that, every year there are multiple scams that advisors dream up to either gather money under management to make fee or transaction income from unsuspecting clients or simply to defraud people out of their money.
The recent article in the USA Today is about tax evasion and since it also involved what most would think is a very reputable company (UBS), I thought it would make for interesting reading and to remind everyone that just because a tax scam comes in a nice package with seemingly credible players, it may still be a tax scam that needs to be avoided.
The article was dated: 7/18/2008. It points out that the IRS asked the Swiss government for help in probing for a $100 Billion that the U.S. thought was being “hidden” offshore to avoid taxes. What really makes the article interesting is the fact that the probe seemed to revolve around U.S. clients of the very well known and respected UBS firm.
The article gives several examples of U.S. clients who have been using various offshore structures to avoid taxes. The article says that the IRS was given permission by a federal judge to serve UBS with legal papers and that UBS is also the subject of a U.S. Senate subcommittee report on tax havens. The claim is that UBS and LGT (a large bank in Liechtenstein) have helped U.S. citizens evade federal taxes. The article focuses on UBS and LGT but claims that the “Senate report claims that wealthy U.S. investors evade about $100 billion in taxes annually by hiding assets in foreign banks.”
The article goes into detail about how the clients new that they were being counseled on tax evasion yet choose to work with the various lenders, UBS and LGT in general, to avoid paying taxes.
To read the article, click here.
Why did I choose to write about this article?
Just remember that you should not be using offshore structures to avoid taxes.
You should use legal and compliant offshore structures to protect significant liquid wealth through the use of international LLCs or offshore asset protection trusts (to learn more about both, please click here).
Also, don’t forget that if you can avoid taxes with a U.S. structure, you can also do so with similar international structures. The main ones being cash value life insurance policies and captive insurance companies.
If you would like to learn more about legal, tax favorable strategies, please visit www.thewpi.org/cwpp. If you would like to learn more about asset protection, please visit the Asset Protection Society, www.assetprotectionsociety.org, or to take the Certified Asset Protection Planner course, please, visit www.thewpi.org/capp. For the latest in Asset Protection you should come to the APS™ 2nd annual Asset Protection Forum.
Roccy DeFrancesco, JD, CWPP™, CAPP™, or CMP™
Click here to view a flash presentation explaining the benefits of becoming a CWPP™, CAPP™, or MMB™ advisor.
Author of The Doctor’s Wealth Preservation Guide; The Home Equity Management Guidebook, and The Home Equity Acceleration Plan.
Circular 230 disclaimer: To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS, we inform you that any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.