Offshore Trusts: the Legal Way to Protect Your Assets
| Category: Business Development | Date: 2002-12-04 |
Offshore Trusts can be set up and registered in Belize. This is one of the world’s most flexible and favourable as far as registration and annual fees are concerned.
An Offshore Trust is an agreement where assets are transferred from a person (known as “Settlor”) to another individual or corporate body (known as “The Trustee”) to hold the property for the benefit of a previously appointed persons (known as “The Beneficiaries”). The assets of the Offshore Trust normally include money, property (estates or intellectual rights), stocks and shares, any movable or immovable assets.
What are the advantages of the Offshore Trust?
Asset Protection.
The main advantage of the offshore Trust is the separation of the legal ownership and beneficial ownership. For legal purposes the trustees of the Offshore Trust are recognised as the legal owners of the assets and the beneficiaries are protected by a body of legal rules, which require trustees to adhere to strict duties as to how to manage the Offshore Trust. That is why Offshore Trusts are such an irreplaceable tool for asset protection. Assets transferred to Offshore Trusts are no longer part of the property owned by the settler and cannot be claimed by creditors, litigators, etc.
Tax Planning.
Offshore trusts can be exceptional tax planning tools and if correctly structured produce substantial savings in income tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, stamp duty. As the beneficiary of the offshore trust is not a legal owner of it, the income, capital gains are taxed in accordance with the rules of the residence of the legal owners – the trustees.
Inheritance Planning.
A lot of people these days do not want their assets to pass to the heirs prescribed by law. If you require more complicated arrangements, like providing a source of income to somebody for life or putting money aside for children’s education, Offshore Trusts are ideal tax-planning tools for these purposes.
On death the estate of the person goes through the probate procedure, which is lengthy, expensive and is open to public eyes. Offshore trusts avoid all these problems.
Confidentiality.
Without an Offshore Trust, on asset transfer during probate procedure, the tax authorities need to see the list of all assets owned in order to assess it for estate duty. The details of the assets therefore are open to the general public. It is not wise to disclose the offshore structure, which was set up during the lifetime on death, as it would have negative tax consequences. Offshore Trusts are an alternative legal method to a Will of transferring the assets and it does not have to be included in the Will, hence disclosed to the tax authorities.
About the author.
Offshore Boom
"...easy access offshore banking and asset protection"
"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to
make them all yourself." - anon.
contact@OffshoreBoom.com
http://www.offshoreboom.com
An Offshore Trust is an agreement where assets are transferred from a person (known as “Settlor”) to another individual or corporate body (known as “The Trustee”) to hold the property for the benefit of a previously appointed persons (known as “The Beneficiaries”). The assets of the Offshore Trust normally include money, property (estates or intellectual rights), stocks and shares, any movable or immovable assets.
What are the advantages of the Offshore Trust?
Asset Protection.
The main advantage of the offshore Trust is the separation of the legal ownership and beneficial ownership. For legal purposes the trustees of the Offshore Trust are recognised as the legal owners of the assets and the beneficiaries are protected by a body of legal rules, which require trustees to adhere to strict duties as to how to manage the Offshore Trust. That is why Offshore Trusts are such an irreplaceable tool for asset protection. Assets transferred to Offshore Trusts are no longer part of the property owned by the settler and cannot be claimed by creditors, litigators, etc.
Tax Planning.
Offshore trusts can be exceptional tax planning tools and if correctly structured produce substantial savings in income tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, stamp duty. As the beneficiary of the offshore trust is not a legal owner of it, the income, capital gains are taxed in accordance with the rules of the residence of the legal owners – the trustees.
Inheritance Planning.
A lot of people these days do not want their assets to pass to the heirs prescribed by law. If you require more complicated arrangements, like providing a source of income to somebody for life or putting money aside for children’s education, Offshore Trusts are ideal tax-planning tools for these purposes.
On death the estate of the person goes through the probate procedure, which is lengthy, expensive and is open to public eyes. Offshore trusts avoid all these problems.
Confidentiality.
Without an Offshore Trust, on asset transfer during probate procedure, the tax authorities need to see the list of all assets owned in order to assess it for estate duty. The details of the assets therefore are open to the general public. It is not wise to disclose the offshore structure, which was set up during the lifetime on death, as it would have negative tax consequences. Offshore Trusts are an alternative legal method to a Will of transferring the assets and it does not have to be included in the Will, hence disclosed to the tax authorities.
About the author.
Offshore Boom
"...easy access offshore banking and asset protection"
"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to
make them all yourself." - anon.
contact@OffshoreBoom.com
http://www.offshoreboom.com
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