Thread: Panama Bank Merchant Account for Brick-and-Mortar US law office

I apologize if there is a better forum for this.

I have a simple question. I just graduated from law school and am starting my own law office. I would like to accept debit/credit cards BUT without the US government being in all in my business and having secrecy. All my transactions would be face-to-face with me or my secretary, and most likely be at the very least a minimum of $50 per transaction. I do not care if it is swiped or we have to put in the numbers in a website since time is not of the essence. Also, I am not for sure how much debit/credit card transactions I will be having.

So I need a Panama merchant bank account and need a Panama ATM card (or other means) to access my money. Does anyone have ANY suggestions on how to do this? Most things about Merchant accounts are about website businesses. Thanks!

You need to have a Panama corp first. Then there should be quite a few banks that can assist you with signatory based processing.

Best wishes, Ed
PANAMA BANK GUIDE - LIST OF BANKS IN PANAMA

Thanks EdBowers for your time. I didn't know if it was simple to create this or not.

It's probably not a good idea, mostly because it is a violation of the Visa and MasterCard merchant account contract to use a merchant account in a country different than where the business is located. Also, Panama merchant accounts cost far more than US merchant accounts, take months to setup, and the IRS tracks all ATM transactions anyway.

Ok I was wandering about this with the visa/MasterCard agreement. I'm starting to think the cost, time, and risk is not worth the savings. It sounds like I should just get in the cattle business like everyone else does to save on taxes