That gives me an idea for a new television show.. Take Miami Vice but
instead of cops have electronics engineers as the main
characters..They investigate copied IP..
Or rip the tv show CSI...and call it IPI...Intellectual Property
Investigation.
Throw in car chases, fights, explosions, endless drama and the show
may survive a first season.
D from BC
http://finance.sympatico.msn.ca/taxes/insight/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4373245
Tax havens of the world
Matt Woolsey and Elisabeth Eaves, Forbes.com
March 16, 2007
Death may be certain, but taxes don't have to be.
It's an international marketplace after all, and there are plenty of nations
willing to welcome expatriates fed up with the taxman.
Countries like the Bahamas make tax haven status an integral part of their
marketing - relocate to Nassau, and you'll fear no tax man. That's because,
for Bahamians and resident aliens there are no taxes on personal income,
capital gains, inheritance or gifts.
"The policy benefits the Bahamas indirectly," says Terrance Bain of FT
Consultants, an accounting and tax planning firm in the Bahamas. "A person
coming to the Bahamas will buy real estate or operate some kind of business.
Most luxury properties are marketed to and eventually bought by
non-Bahamians - it's a very robust market."
Good weather and no audits, it's almost unfair.
The history
Tax havens grew out of the late 19th-century British system that began
granting independent economic governance to protectorates like Gibraltar,
Hong Kong or the Channel Islands, which then became easy places for people
to protect money - hence the term off-shore accounts.
By the 20th century, high net-worth individuals were flocking to small
islands like Monaco and Bermuda, whose governments figured the money they
could garnish off real estate transactions and sales tax made the tax-free
incentives worthwhile.
"Monaco is a luxury destination," says Maguy Maccario-Doyle, consul general
to the United States. "It is a soft tax system, but we do have a value added
tax around 30% on luxury items such as jewelry or restaurants and all the
best luxury people are here within a square mile."
And it works. Six of the Forbes Billionaires reside in Monaco, making one in
every 5,400 residents worth over a billion dollars. The principality's
housing market commands a median price of US$3,000 dollars per square foot,
ahead of Manhattan and London, according to international real estate
analysts Global Property Guide.
Bermuda, though it has only three billionaires, has the highest gross
domestic product per capita in the world at US$70,000 per citizen. Hiding
out in Bermuda is so popular, in fact, that the government makes it
virtually impossible to get permanent residency, and requires that
foreigners buying into the market pay a minimum of US$1 million for their
home and then a 22% transfer fee to the government.
Those may be luxury prices, but it's a small price to pay for the tax
breaks. Non-profit group Tax Justice Network estimates that offshore tax
havens shielded over US$255 billion in global tax revenue in 2006, a number
roughly equal to a third of India's overall GDP.
The catch
Most countries assess taxes based on residency, not citizenship. As a
result, people across Europe who settle down in Switzerland ease into the
moderate tax rates. For Americans, however, there's no escaping the long arm
of the IRS.
Americans living outside the country are exempt on their first US$82,400 of
foreign earned income, but the most recent 2006 tax cuts boosted taxes by up
to 20% for expatriates and made it possible for the IRS to dip into foreign
retirement accounts for the first time. It is the highest such increase in
30 years, and ex-pats pay it on top of their host country taxes.
For Americans abroad, the only way to fully take advantage of tax havens is
to renounce American citizenship, which over 500 people, almost all of very
high net worth, did last year.
Soaking in the sun, watching the Monaco Grand Prix and doing your best Grace
Kelly impression makes for easy living, but comes at a cost. For most it's
difficult to imagine relinquishing a U.S. passport, and that's why some
states offer significant tax relief.
Nevada is the closest thing the U.S. has to a tax haven. No personal income
tax, no capital gains tax, no gift tax, no inheritance tax, no franchise
tax, no inventory tax.
"We do have a property tax," says Shari Chase of Chase International, a real
estate brokerage in Lake Tahoe, Nev. "But compared to the rest of the
country, and our neighbors in California, the property tax is extremely
low - and properties are not reassessed upon purchase."
It's no wonder, then, that the US$100 million Lake Tahoe Tranquility mansion
found itself on the Nevada side of the border.
Avoiding taxes in other states isn't as simple as scooping up a place in
Nevada and claiming residency. Other states levy taxes for income made on
their soil, so retired persons have long been the main benefactors of the
state's tax structure, but that may be changing.
Living the luxe life
But should you choose to relocate to one of the world's tax havens, what can
you expect?
Even when relocating to paradise, moving abroad can be a tough adjustment.
But it can also offer opportunities for you and your family to explore local
culture or take up new hobbies.
Cities like Hong Kong and Geneva offer as many cosmopolitan amenities as you
can expect to find anywhere, with many of the comforts of home, from cinemas
showing American movies to top-notch international cuisine.
Moving to a small island, though, can make it harder to import your
lifestyle - but fortunately the way of life most offer is alluring. Bermuda,
for example, has nine golf courses crammed into just 20.6 square miles and
temperatures that seldom fall below 60 degrees (16 celsius) or rise above 85
(29 celsius), meaning that it's a rare day you can't play. In the British
Virgin Islands, it would be a sin not to work on your skippering skills,
while a move to the Cayman Islands virtually requires an interest in
snorkeling or scuba diving.
Monaco and Gibraltar are among our most miniscule tax havens, but there's no
need to feel confined. If you tire of the gambling, sunbathing and
nightclubbing to be had in Monaco itself - which may take a while - the
French Riviera is just a short convertible drive away. From Gibraltar, visit
Spanish beaches or the Moorish architecture of Andalusia.
That is if you're not glued to your computer. It takes work to make all that
tax-free money, after all.
"With the onset of the internet - doing business like we do business today -
someone can live in a fabulous home here in Lake Tahoe," says Chase, "and do
business around the world."
