"Are people with offshore accounts paying taxes ?"
Not necessarily, but it is very difficult to repatriate the funds. In the structures I'm familiar with, different tax attorneys have reached different conclusions about whether the gains are taxable, or, more precisely, about which event triggers the tax liability. And, in no event, will you be controlling the funds personally. The bottom line is that, at least for the structures I'm familiar with, there is little likelihood of ever being able to spend the money in the U.S. on anything that resembles food, clothing, shelter, luxuries, or services.
None of the structures I'm familiar with are simple or cheap. It looked like about $20K/yr in accounting and legal alone, and that's assuming there's no audit.
There are two reasons why people are secretive about these deals. First, their primary use is asset protection. To the degree that the assets or techniques are widely known, their protection is diminished. Second, the people I know utilizing the techniques are, in their opinion (and mine), obeying the law but avoiding various SEC and IRS regulations. The investors are acutely aware that these benefits might disappear if there were too much scrutiny. So there's a "don't kill the goose that's laying the golden egg" mentality.
There's, of course, a whole different, lively industry in ILLEGALLY ducking taxes offshore. Those operations are despised by the people I know, just as any businessman despises threats to his livelihood. |
