Thread: offshore corporation, foundation, bank accounts etc...

Hi there,

I am new to the forum. I am a french citizen, and have not lived in my country for the 10 last years, working for multinationals all over the world. Most recently, I was resident of the UK, being employeed by a UK firm. Then got fired... :-(

I am now based in Bogota, Colombia, mostly on holiday and very bored to be so.

I am thinking of setting up a foundation owning a corporation ( bearer corp with nominee director?) in Panama, even though I wont be living there, but in Bogota and in the future Spain.

The company would be trading legal goods between South america and Europe. I have even thought of opening a bank account in Uruguay ( that has secrecy as well), to soothe suspicious customers who could potentially find it weird to pay a panama account - you know how europeans are suspicious...

After having read much of your forum and many attorney websites, I still have a set of questions before getting to a real attorney - could you please share your views?

1. Is that possible to incorporate in Panama, not being resident in panama, living abroad? (i can fly in to sign paperwork but will not live there)

2. Can i buy a home in Spain and avoid paying tax? (am french with panama corporation)

3. If my name never appears on the foundation or corporation ( neither beneficiaries, not director, not owner nor founder - which is great, how can i control and make sure that the 3 lawyers representing me take over all my assets? (which a bit of cash)

4. Can i be employed by the panama corporation and live and get paid in Spain or Argentina or Colombia ( the country i guess doesnt matter)? I guess I d pay tax on the salary/ bonus in the country i am in.

5. Do you know if Uruguay is a tax haven as well and if a panama company can easily open an account in uruguay?

6. What about a loan from the corporation to myself to buy a home in another country? albeit I d pay an interest to the corporation? ( I read this in several websites)

7. do I really need to set up a fundation or can just a corp make the deal? I dont have much asset to hide, just thinking of optimizing tax by setting up a corp, I am wondering how to think about the privacy - never thought about it

8. Can I have both personal funds in the foundation (or the corp?) and the corporation in operations? how Can I separate both but still have both in Panama?

9. My funds are currently in the UK. How can I trasnfer them to Panama or uruguay wihtout the UK asking me where the cash is going? mmm is this a stupid question? haha dunno, cant think about it actually, this is too new

I know that I should ask this to lawyers but I am not yet in the country and wanted to make sure I have a "basic" knowledge so bad lawyers have a limited access to ripping me off

thanks a million for your time
Ilolay