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JUST RELEASED: 2010-11 T-8 Annual List of the World's Best Tax Havens and Offshore Banking Centers—Just Released
3rd ANNUAL T-7 LIST OF THE WORLD'S BEST TAX HAVENS
2nd ANNUAL T-7 LIST OF THE WORLD’S BEST TAX HAVENS
Author, Hoyt Barber, Announces Release of Two New Books
“T-7” Tax Havens List of the Safest Offshore Havens Released by Authority and Author Hoyt Barber
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: September 15, 2010
- Contact:
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Hoyt Barber
Vancouver, B.C.
604-657-8689
2010-11 T-8 Annual List of the World's Best Tax Havens and Offshore Banking Centers—Just Released
Tax havens and offshore banking authority and author, Hoyt Barber, releases his 4TH annual "List of the World's Best Tax Havens and Offshore Banking Centers," also known as "The Green List."
In 2010, Barber expanded his annual tax haven rating, known as the "T-7 List" from seven tax haven countries to eight, eliminating Uruguay which is soon likely to compromise their once strong bank secrecy laws, and has added two additional jurisdictions—St. Vincent and Anguilla—for their attractiveness and ease for conducting financial business.
The 2010-2011 T-8 List reflects the best of no-tax or low-tax jurisdictions, money and asset havens and/or offshore banking centers. The carefully selected venues are based on Barber's twelve criteria for evaluating the overall worthiness of an offshore financial center, including the requirement to have strong bank secrecy laws and no Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with the United States, or Canada, with exception of St. Vincent and Nevis, neither of which has signed with the U.S., while both have signed with Canada.
The twelve criteria include: 1) tax structures; 2) political and economic stability; 3) exchange controls; 4) treaties; 5) government attitude; 6) corporation and trust laws; 7) communication and transportation; 8) banking and professional support services; 9) legal system; 10) secrecy and confidentiality; 11) investment incentives; 12) location.
As a result of recent financial and political developments over the past couple of years, the T-7 list had a number of significant changes in 2009-10 from previous years. European banking centers, in particular, find themselves today under extreme pressure from outside forces like the United States, the United Nations, the European Union, the G-20, the OECD, Germany and France and other international organizations.
European banking centers such as Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Andorra, Monaco and Belgium have already either agreed in principle to compromise their bank secrecy laws or in the process of compromising them. In the meantime, many banks in these "target" countries are refusing to do business with new and existing clients, asking them to take their business elsewhere, particularly zeroing in on taxpayers from the United States and Canada.
Two years ago, in 2008, the T-7 list was comprised of Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Andorra, Panama, Belize and Nevis.
According to Barber, "Fortunately, there are still excellent alternatives to European banking centers that offer the strongest bank secrecy in the world, have no taxes, or low taxes that would impact foreign investors, and that simultaneously provide maximum asset protection."
Then, this past year, in 2009-10 the T-7 list was changed to include Belize, Panama, Cook Islands, Nevis, Switzerland/Liechtenstein, Hong Kong and Uruguay.
Barber points out that the order of the list does not necessarily reflect preference, as much depends upon the specific scenario and goals of the individual who is choosing a venue.
Barber's new 2010-2011 expanded T-8 Annual List of the World's Best Tax Havens and Offshore Banking Centers are as follows, together with the specific merits and advantages of each jurisdiction:
- Belize—Asset Protection Trusts (APT's); International Business Corporations (IBC's); offshore banking; investment management; e-commerce and offshore business; and the Qualified Retirement Program (QRP); strong bank secrecy; no TIEA with the U.S. or Canada.
- Panama—Foundations; offshore corporations; offshore banking; investment management, flag-of-convenience; strong bank secrecy; no TIEA with the U.S. or Canada.
- Cook Islands—APT's; IBC's; offshore banking; investment management; offshore annuities; strong bank secrecy; no TIEA with the U.S. or Canada.
- Nevis—APT's; IBC's; Limited Liability Companies (LLC's); offshore banking; excellent economic citizenship program; strong bank secrecy; no TIEA with the U.S.
- St. Vincent & the Grenadines—IBCs; offshore banking; private offshore bank licensing: flag-of-convenience; strong bank secrecy; no TIEA with the U.S.
- Anguilla—Offshore companies; strong bank secrecy; no TIEA with the U.S. or Canada.
- Switzerland/Liechtenstein—Offshore annuities; portfolio bonds; life insurance; and private banking, if bank secrecy is not required, with a minimum US $1,000,000 under management; low tax jurisdictions. TIEA's are being negotiated with the U.S., Canada and others.
- Hong Kong—Offshore corporations, offshore banking; strong bank secrecy; no TIEA with the U.S. or Canada.
Hoyt Barber has ten published books, several on the topics of offshore and personal finance, including two current titles published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. These are Tax Havens Today: The Benefits and Pitfalls of Banking and Investing Offshore (2007), and Secrets of Swiss Banking: An Owner's Manual to Quietly Building a Fortune (2008). A new book is scheduled for released in the Spring of 2011 entitled Freedom Without Borders: How to Invest, Expatriate and Retire Overseas for Personal and Financial Success. Barber is also President of Barber Financial Advisors, provider of offshore financial services. For further information, please visit www.barberfinancialadvisors.com and www.hoytbarber.com.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: December 15, 2009
- Contact:
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Hoyt Barber
Vancouver, B.C.
604-657-8689
2009-10 T-7 Annual List of the World’s Best Tax Havens and Offshore Banking Centers Just Released
Tax havens and offshore banking authority and author, Hoyt Barber, releases his 3rd annual “T-7 List of the World’s Best Tax Havens and Offshore Banking Centers.
The 2009-10 T-7 list reflects the best of low or no-tax jurisdictions, money and asset havens and/or offshore banking centers. The carefully selected venues are based on Barber’s twelve criteria for evaluating the overall worthiness of an offshore financial center, including the requirement to have strong bank secrecy laws and no Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with the United States.
The twelve criteria include: 1) tax structures; 2) political and economic stability; 3) exchange controls; 4) treaties; 5) government attitude; 6) corporation and trust laws; 7) communication and transportation; 8) banking and professional support services; 9) legal system; 10) secrecy and confidentiality; 11) investment incentives; 12) location.
As a result of recent financial and political developments over the past year, the T-7 list has a number of significant changes from previous years. European banking centers, in particular, find themselves today under extreme pressure from outside forces like the United States, the United Nations, the European Union, the G-20, the OECD, Germany and France.
European banking centers such as Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Andorra, Monaco and Belgium have either agreed in principle to compromise their bank secrecy laws this year or are attempting to postpone what appears to be the inevitable, which will likely come in 2010. In the meantime, many banks in these “target” countries are refusing to do business with new and existing clients, asking them to take their business elsewhere, particularly zeroing in on taxpayers from the United States and Canada.
Barber points out that the order of the list does not necessarily reflect preference, as much depends upon the specific goals and scenario of the individual who is choosing a venue.
In 2008, the T-7 list was comprised of Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Andorra, Panama, Belize and Nevis.
According to Barber, “Fortunately, there are still excellent alternatives to European banking centers that offer the strongest bank secrecy in the world, have low or no-taxes that would impact foreign investors, and that simultaneously provide maximum asset protection.”
The newly released 2009-10 T-7 list, specifically intended for use by North Americans, follows here, and lists each country along with its most attractive purposes:
Belize—Asset Protection Trusts (APT’s); International Business Corporations (IBC’s); offshore banking; investment management; e-commerce and offshore business; and the Qualified Retirement Program (QRP).
Panama—Foundations; offshore corporations; offshore banking; investment management, flag-of-convenience.
Cook Islands—APT’s; IBC’s; offshore banking; investment management; offshore annuities.
Nevis—APT’s; IBC’s; Limited Liability Companies (LLC’s); offshore banking; alternative citizenship/passport.
Switzerland/Liechtenstein—Offshore annuities; portfolio bonds; life insurance; and private banking, if bank secrecy is not required, with a minimum US $1,000,000 under management.
Hong Kong—Offshore corporations, offshore banking.
Uruguay—Offshore corporations; offshore banking; investment management.
Hoyt Barber has ten published books, several on the topics of offshore and personal finance, including two current titles published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. These are Tax Havens Today: The Benefits and Pitfalls of Banking and Investing Offshore (2007), and Secrets of Swiss Banking: An Owner’s Manual to Quietly Building a Fortune (2008). Barber is also President of Barber Financial Advisors and Barber Financial Advisors with offices in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: December 10, 2007
- Contact:
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Hoyt Barber
Vancouver, B.C.
604-657-8689
JUST RELEASED: 2nd ANNUAL T-7 LIST OF THE WORLD’S BEST TAX HAVENS
Renowned tax haven and offshore banking specialist and author of ten published books, Hoyt Barber, has released his 2nd annual T-7 list of the best tax havens and offshore banking centers.
The list currently reflects the best of the low tax jurisdictions, money and asset havens or offshore banking centers, all with superior bank secrecy laws, based on his criteria for evaluating the overall worthiness of an offshore financial center. “In fact,” Barber states, “none of these seven venues have signed a Tax Information Exchange Treaty (TIEA) with the U.S., further making them excellent choices for financial privacy reasons.”
The spectrum for evaluating the T-7 include: 1) tax structures; 2) political and economic stability; 3) exchange controls; 4) treaties; 5) government attitude; 6) corporation and trust laws; 7) communications and transportation; 8) banking and professional support services; 9) legal system; 10) secrecy and confidentiality; 11) investment incentives and opportunities; 12) location.
Last year, the 2006-07 T-7 included: 1) Switzerland; 2) Liechtenstein; 3) Austria; 4) Panama; 5) Nevis; 6) Belize; 7) Hong Kong. Due to political factors and changes in the individual merits of the T-7 tax havens, Barber has re-evaluated the T-7 for the 2007-2008 year. The current T-7 tax haven list, also known as “the green list,” is as follows: 1) Switzerland; 2) Liechtenstein; 3) Andorra; 4) Austria; 5) Panama; 6) Belize; 7) Nevis.
Andorra, the co-principality located between France and Spain in the Pyrenees Mountains, is new to the list, and it has been placed third between Liechtenstein and Austria, while Hong Kong was removed from the current list. Andorra has very attractive banking and asset management features worth consideration by serious investors. As for Hong Kong, the former British enclave, Barber states, “It is still a very attractive tax haven and offshore financial center, particularly if doing business in Asia. However,” he continued, “it’s future and attractiveness hinges on the attitude of communist China.”
Barber points out that the order of the list does not necessarily reflect preference, as much depends upon the specific goals and scenario of the individual who is choosing a venue. However, even so, Barber also made a third change to the T-7 list which was to elevate Belize to a position ahead of Nevis. Excellent banking and business support services in Belize were the significant reasons for the change.
Barber’s latest book entitled Secrets of Swiss Banking: An Owner’s Manual to Quietly Building a Fortune, will be released in mid-January by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Switzerland is discussed in detail, and the other T-7 offshore financial centers are reviewed and presented as the best alternatives to Switzerland available today.
Hoyt Barber is President of Barber Financial Advisors, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Their website is www.barberfinancialadvisors.com. Barber’s author website is www.hoytbarber.com.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: (Scheduled for release to the media in the Fall 2006)
- Contact:
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Hoyt Barber
Vancouver, B.C.
604-657-8689
Author, Hoyt Barber, Announces Release of Two New Books
Hoyt Barber, 50, an authority on tax havens and offshore banking and a provider of offshore financial services through his Vancouver company, Barber Financial Advisors, has announced the scheduled release this Fall of his two newest books. Barber has authored nine books, one is his seventh non-fiction title, and the other is his first novel, an international thriller.
Tax Havens Today: The Benefits and Pitfalls of Banking and Investing Offshore (ISBN #0-470-05123-X) is being published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, a venerable house that will celebrate its 200th anniversary next year. This book brings the reader current on the state of tax havens today and explores the tax and money-making advantages of “going offshore,” while also warning of the pitfalls to avoid.
This comprehensive guide is divided into four parts: 1) The Offshore Controversy; 2) Building a Solid Offshore Financial Fortress; 3) Today’s Tax Havens; 4) Resources—The Big Picture and Beyond. Top offshore and investment strategies are illustrated for those who wish to gain tax benefits while simultaneously protecting their assets and planning for the future. Over forty tax havens are profiled and over 500 professional and financial contacts are provided, including names, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail addresses and websites. Special coverage is also given to ninety-five potential offshore retirement havens.
Barber’s previous offshore work, Tax Havens: How to Bank, Invest and Do Business Offshore—and Tax Free was published by McGraw-Hill, New York for over ten years through nine consecutive printings.
From Hell to Havana (ISBN #1-930754-92-2) is an international thriller and is Barber’s first novel to be published. It is also scheduled for release this Fall and is being published by Durban House Press, Inc., Houston, Texas.
International financier Clifford Blackwell has more money than he can spend, a beautiful girlfriend, and a new yacht—so everything’s terrific, right? Right. Except that just below the surface, his life is a brewing fright show. A previous business adventure has left him beholden to the CIA, of all people, and now they interrupt his vacation in Monte Carlo with a demand to meet them in Washington. To protect small details like his freedom and his life, not to mention his immunity from prosecution by the feds, those double-dealing bastards, Cliff hurries back to the states and walks into a meeting that slams his life upside down and threatens to snuff it, again.
Events quickly spin out of control as Cliff uncovers a complex and chilling web of international intrigue. The Chinese want to invade America before the terrorists manage to grab it for themselves, and to triumph, they are engaging their Western ally, Mr. Fidel Castro. But the plan is thwarted in the eleventh hour by the Chicago Outfit, who is hired to do a clandestine dirty little job, one that incriminates a U.S. government agency and may reach as high as the White House. But does it?
Who is in control here? In a mind-blowing struggle to avert a nuclear attack on the United States of America, and to save his own hide, Cliff chases the biggest surprise of all: who and what are really behind the unfolding horror in the red-hot zone between hell and Havana.
From Hell to Havana is a vivid, timely and stunning portrait that might be eerily close to America’s next big nightmare.
Visit the author’s website at www.hoytbarber.com.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: (Scheduled for release to the media in the Fall 2006 release)
- Contact:
-
Hoyt Barber
Vancouver, B.C.
604-657-8689
“T-7” Tax Havens List of the Safest Offshore Havens Released by Authority and Author Hoyt Barber
Tax haven authority and author of numerous published business and investment books, Hoyt Barber, has just released his “T-7 Tax Havens List,” an accounting of what he deems to be the top seven of the world’s safest and best tax havens for salting away your money and assets and planning for your future. Barber will release the list in the Fall of each year.
Barber, with over two decades of offshore business experience, decided it was time for a list which reflected the current best of the lowest tax jurisdictions and/or money and asset havens, based on his twelve criteria for evaluating the worthiness of an offshore financial center. These criteria include tax structure, political and economic stability, exchange controls, treaties, government attitude, modern corporation laws, communications and transportation, banking, professional and support services, legal system, secrecy and confidentiality, investment incentives and opportunities, and location.
“Too much emphasis has been placed on the thirty-five countries that were blacklisted in June 2000 by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF),” Barber stated. “Almost all of those were tax havens.”
The blacklisted countries were accused of “unfair tax competition,” by the FATF, the anti-money laundering wing of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as it was in their interest to do so. The OECD is a Paris-based group of thirty foreign nations who wish to impose their will over sovereign nations and tax haven jurisdictions, including the United States. The leadership within the organization is mostly composed of former tax collectors from high-tax industrial nations who feel that they are not maximizing collection of potential tax revenue and who also seek a global uniform tax system. As one of the biggest tax havens in the world for foreign investors, the U.S. attracts billions of investment dollars annually from overseas. As such, the United States has given mixed support for OECD initiatives over the past six years.
“The OECD and FATF are not the only organizations using their clout and throwing their weight around,” said Barber. “So does the United Nations, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, and FINCEN--the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Unit--and the G-7. Repressive tax regimes like these have scared trillions of dollars offshore in search of safe havens. Money seeks its own level, like water, and people want to preserve their wealth.”
In a strong move in recent years to collect more taxes, these groups and the high-tax countries of the world are hoping to close the international loopholes that they blame for keeping billions of dollars of tax revenue away from them annually.
“Coupled with newly passed, broadly written anti-money laundering legislation in the name of crime and terrorism,” Barber said, “these countries and organizations are attempting to create an international dragnet to eliminate anyone they perceive as avoiding taxes, not just evading them.” He adds, “This is the next step toward the creation of a single global tax system. When that happens, taxes will really soar.”
The T-7 list, also called the “Green List” by Barber, currently includes Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Panama, Nevis, Belize and Hong Kong. Barber emphasized that among other excellent traits, none of these countries has signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement, or “TIEA.” This agreement, when signed, gives the U.S. Internal Revenue Service unlimited access during the course of a tax investigation to confidential financial and information records which are held by foreign banks and financial institutions on American citizens and companies. “It’s a one-way ticket designed for the sole benefit of the IRS,” Barber said. According to him, “The American public deserves to know which countries in the world are the most safe and attractive for banking, investing and personal financial planning. Otherwise, if they don’t act soon, Americans are in danger of losing aspects of their personal sovereignty at the whims of high-handed bureaucrats.”
Barber has written nine books, eight of which are published or scheduled for publication, including his seventh non-fiction book, Tax Havens Today: The Benefits and Pitfalls of Banking and Investing Offshore (ISBN #0-470-05123-X), John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, and his first novel, From Hell to Havana (ISBN #1-930754-92-2), Durban House Press, Houston, Texas. Both are scheduled for a Fall 2006 release.