[hunter1]

I am a lawyer. I got into trading because a large area of my practice was setting up asset protection plans for traders from the Merc and CBOT.. Some of them taught me how to trade and now that's what I do and only do offshore work for a few on the side. Mainly old clients and their friends.

Rule 1 A U.S. citizen must pay tax on income earned anywhere in the world. Trade station will supply the IRS at the end of the year with your trading information.

Rule 1a. You are not required to pay more than your fair share. You are allowed to take any steps you deem necessary as long as they are with in the law to minimize your taxes.

Ex US companies keep earnings earned outside the US in countries with no corporate taxes. They only pay tax if they return the earnings to the US. This is legal.

Rule 2 Tax court does not work like regular court. You are guilty until you prove you are innocent. This means the IRS seizes first then it is up to you to prove they were wrong to do so.

Rule 3 earnings through a US domiciled entity are deemed earned in the US. EX earn through trade station and get taxed by the US. It does not matter where you actually live.

Use non US broker for trading. For example Saxo bank has good operations. I prefer Hong Kong brokers myself.

Rule 4 For asset protection you must be set up and operating before something happens that makes you want the protection. For example to protect from a lawsuit your assets must have changed title before you received notice of a possible suit. To avoid government seizures the same. Once the IRS or Dept. of Labor knock on your door it is to late to legally transfer assets. The courts will hold you in contempt if they find out about it. Same for lawsuits. You will be held in contempt if you transfer after the cause of action arose.

This means that while the government cannot get your money they can hold you until you bring your money back to the US so they can grab it.

Rule 5 transfers can be on paper . Physical transfer out of US is not needed. Once title is transferred to a non US entity, a corp for example, the corp can move assets at anytime. ( To do this and avoid contempt you must use an attorney that really knows this stuff. It is highly specialized and most lawyers even at the biggest firms have no clue how to do this.

Rule 5a You will be deposed. You do not want to lie. You must be set up in such a way that allows you to tell the truth.

Rule 6 A Plan without the use of a trust some where in the mix can lead to problems.

Hope this helps.

[karim0028]

Originally Posted by JBahn »

This is probably more of a question for a lawyer/CPA, but I will see if people on here have some insight.

I currently trade full time from Costa Rica, under a Sole-Prop account that is US based. I have no other income/business in the US, however I am a US Citizen. I have several Corporations in Costa Rica, some which are inactive and only used as asset holders (Bank Accounts). I talked with Tradestation and they said no problem with opening an account under the CR Corporations (known as "Anonymous Societies"). Costa Rica has secret banking laws as well as secret corporate documents (hence: Anonymous Societies).

So TS sent over the application, and in the application it demands my Passport number and SS#. With them having that information, is there still a tax advantage to trading under the corporate name? My wife and I are the only directors of the corporation. I am a US Citizen, she has no US connection.

Thoughts?

I am neither a lawyer nor an accountant; so take it for what its worth... I would say no real advantage... In the US if you are a US citizen there is not such thing as anonymous when it comes to banking or brokerage; essentially anything tied to liquid "digital" assets...

But, if you have a Costa Rican Passport (ie. dual citizen), then you would have an advantage in that no one in the US would have any idea about your financial accounts; as you would be listed under a corporation with a foreign director... You can report tax any which way you please; but as a US citizen you are obligated to report income especially since you are in the US.. If you are outside the US, i think there is a tax exemption for the first 70-80K of income...

But, theoretically you would get "anonymity" from any US legal claims; since as a US person you would have no assets in the US... In other words you would be "off the grid"; and if you appear to have no assets less likely hood of getting sued bc some one thinks you are mister money bags...

I always think that if you live in one place it is always prudent to have assets outside the jurisdiction for whatever reason that may come up... Think of it as a business owner would; you are "limiting liability"...

Again, not a lawyer nor an accountant...

[SNYP40A1]

I always think that if you live in one place it is always prudent to have assets outside the jurisdiction for whatever reason that may come up... Think of it as a business owner would; you are "limiting liability"...

Exactly. And I see holding assets in the US becoming a greater liability. It's probably ideal to store assets in multiple countries -- diversify. Just curious, if you buy a real estate in other countries, fully pay for the property and pay local property taxes on it, can the US government step in and seize? I suspect that in some countries they can and in others they cannot.

[karim0028]

Originally Posted by SNYP40A1 »

Exactly. And I see holding assets in the US becoming a greater liability. It's probably ideal to store assets in multiple countries -- diversify. Just curious, if you buy a real estate in other countries, fully pay for the property and pay local property taxes on it, can the US government step in and seize? I suspect that in some countries they can and in others they cannot.

Unless you are bernie madoff, and screwed half a country; i highly doubt it.... Too long and complicated process...

[hunter1]

Your assets can be seized in any country that recognizes US judgments. Question is can they find your assets and do they want to go through the expense of grabbing it.

[SunTrader]

Originally Posted by sicktrader »

Be smart.

Like not talking about such matters on the wide (open) world web.

[karim0028]

No one knows who we are

[randy1953]

Well this is what I have done and it works fine.
Move to Panama we use the dollar here, many Americans here. They have very good residency program. Actually if you can show $1200 a month coming in from retirement or another source but need to be ongoing then you get what' called a Pensionado via which allow you to live here forever and also get all the discount a retire person would get even if your not retired. Down here they treat people different than the US with thi visa you get 50% off on hotel and resort, half off on movie and entertainment and o forth.

Now it i true that you need or uppoe to pay taxes no matter where you live aa a US citizen however in Panama you can go and have a private interest trust made up. It' all legal and give you ton's of tax benefits where you can reduce any tax and reduce it a lot.
Hope that help
Randy