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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (103074)	2/2/2008 1:37:47 PM
From: Travis_Bickle	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 306849

There is nothing illegal about an offshore trust, what may be illegal is what you do with it. Offshore trusts have asset protection advantages (though probably not as much as the people selling them tell you). It is much more expensive to sue you in the cayman islands than in new jersey. The problem is that they are often used for tax avoidance, and the people who sell them are often crims. A US citizen/resident alien is taxed on his/her worldwide income, doesn't matter what country your money is sitting in. The problem is that for the IRS to prosecute you for evasion (the big tax crime) they have to prove that you WILLFULLY evaded taxation ... as we have seen with snipes, that can be hard to prove to a jury of laypersons ... by transferring assets to a foreign trust and not telling the IRS about it (as you are required to do), you have made their case for them ... if you decide not to pay your taxes you are better off doing so as openly and honestly as possible attempts to hide assets will result in your being interviewed by the FBI. I may well take some assets offshore as I approach retirement ... but if I do I will report it and also include an attachment typed in 24 pt type saying "I AM TAKING THESE ASSETS OFFSHORE" just so they know I'm not up to anything.