Offshore News Digest for Week of April 16, 2001

TOP 10 REASONS TO GO OFFSHORE IN 2000

1. To completely anonymize your assets and business dealings
2. As a safeguard against bankruptcy and other entrepreneurial liabilities
3. As a safety measure against confiscatory action by law enforcement agencies
4. To avoid dealing with local bank employees who are required by law to spy on you
5. To stash away some bucks for hard times like civil upheavals or new militarist, fascist, authoritarian governments
6. To hide some money from criminals and intrusive snoops
7. To benefit from strict offshore privacy laws
8. To pass on wealth to heirs safely and without anyone having to know about it
9. To profit from higher interest rates in foreign currencies
10. To have some money handy, safe from tax department snoops, greedy relatives or disgruntled business partners trying to sue you to doom till kingdom come.

OFFSHORE TAX SCARE TIME

The Los Angeles Times just noticed that the IRS is cracking down on the use of offshore bank accounts to evade income taxes.

If you have a dirty secret about an offshore trust, FORBES says it may not be too late to fess up and avoid prison. Very interesting!

And Forbes claims the IRS still does not have those Caribbean bank credit card records[s] ordered by a Miami US Court to be turned over.

And watch out for Internet tax fraud schemes. They're everywhere!

O.E.C.D. ILLOGIC EXPOSED

JERSEY’s Edmund BENDELOW, head of the Offshore Institute, rips the hide off the OECD's economic ignorance.

LIECHTENSTEIN’S EXAMPLE

VADUZ. The Economics minister explains why the principality provides an example of outstanding free market economic freedom.

FINANCIAL TIMES SPECIAL REPORTS

ON MID-EAST BANKING: account surpluses in Gulf countries are at a phenomenal US$68 billion, compared with a deficit two years ago.

ITALIAN ELECTIONS

On May 13 will the Right win?

IRISH TIMES LOOKS AT CAYMANS

An Ansbacher opinion report: "Liberal tax laws transformed a group of squalid islands off Mexico into a wealthy [Irish]man's tax haven."

B.V.I. CHIEF MINISTER MEETS U.S. GROUP

ROAD TOWN, British Virgin Islands. The CM thinks the new Bush folks in Washington will not back the OECD anti-haven campaign.

NEVIS FINANCIAL SERVICES

BASSETERRE. One of the last of the unrepentant offshore tax havens beckons to you. All the considerable facts at

URUGUAY WANTS YOUR BUSINESS

MONTEVIDEO. Not on any blacklist and no taxes, wide open for offshore business and welcomes high net worth expatriates.

US INTERNAL REVENUE - FEEBLE OR FIERCE?

As US annual tax day passes, the IRS is said to be a weak sister forgiving (thank you!) $2.5 billion in back taxes,

And also ready to put the audit screws to many more ordinary Americans.

On average, Americans must work until May 3 this year to pay their taxes. After that, what's left is theirs.

BERMUDA TAX AVOIDANCE BONANZA

HAMILTON. How the super rich use Bermuda as a base for the great hedge fund reinsurance tax game.

CRIME & TAXES DOWN UNDER

SYDNEY. Australians are said to have had a love affair with crime ever since British convicts kicked off a white settlement 213 years ago with a no-holds-barred orgy.

But Australia is cracking down on "tax avoidance schemes."

JOHANNESBURG. The South African government seems determined to do all it can to discourage badly needed foreign investment.

NO GLOOM ON MAIN OR HIGH STREET

World consumers are cheerfully ignoring the gloom on world stock markets.

U.K. LIBERTARIANS PROTEST EURO

Libertarians picket businesspersons who favor the euro.

FREE TRADE FOR THE AMERICAS?

April 20-22, heads of 33 governments meet in QUEBEC for the Summit of the Americas. Is an American free trade area now possible?

BILLIONS LOST IN NET SCAM

LONDON. Investigators shut down a banking scam that used the Internet to sell fake securities and investments estimated at $3.9 billion.

KEEP THE CHANGE!

NEW YORK. Calling unneeded attention to himself, a London stock broker leaves a US$16,000 after dinner tip.

NESTMANN’S NEW COMPUTER PRIVACY REPORT

Use a PC to surf the Net & you leave a trail of semi-deleted files and "cookies" that gives those who know where to look a detailed picture of the sites and newsgroups you visit, files you create and a lot more. Here's a new report that reveals practical strategies to protect your PC & Net privacy with Windows-based total file deletion, easy encryption, how to use PGP and steganography (hidden files) and much more. Protect your PC privacy! Click here now,

BAHAMAS FINANCIAL TURMOIL INTENSIFIES

NASSAU. Business and financial leaders finally admit the major damage done to the islands financial sector by hasty new laws designed to appease the OECD and the FATF.

And a Bahamas supreme court judge rules the new IBC regulatory law does not give the government power to revoke IBC corporate charters.

BERMUDA’S STRICT COMPLIANCE RULES

HAMILTON. A description of the highly intrusive rules that all but end strict financial privacy in this formerly top ranked offshore haven.

CHANNEL ISLANDS SECURITY LAX

JERSEY and GUERNSEY have major e-commerce security problems.

If you're planning an offshore e-commerce business, read this first.

CHILE WANTS FOREIGN INVESTMENT

SANTIAGO. The Chilean government proposes sweeping tax and exchange reforms to encourage foreign investment.

PERUVIAN CASH HUNT

PANAMA joins Switzerland and the Cayman Islands in the cash hunt by Peruvian investigators seeking ex-Prez Fujimori's corrupt loot.

A TEXAS VIEW OF OFFSHORE

Texas lawyers view the IRS crack down on offshore trust scams.

ON THE O.E.C.D NEWS FRONT

Tax haven nations create a new international group for self defense.

GIBRALTAR may sell out to OECD tax demands.

Tax Notes gives the pros & cons of the OECD "harmful tax competition" campaign and where the Bush administration may (or may not) stand.

The International Herald Tribune takes note of a growing anti-OECD reaction.

US Senator Judd GREGG (R-NH) controls US funding of the OECD, and he does not like its anti-tax haven campaign.

Jack KEMP says the OECD threatens prosperity in the US.

CANADIAN PASSPORTS

If you need one, or to renew one, here all the 'how to' facts.

AMERICAN HIGH EARNERS TAX HIT

Amity Shales explains how and why top US earners (who pay most taxes) get hit hardest by the US tax system.

There's a direct correlation between where IRS audits occur and the districts of Members of Congress who oversee the IRS.

More about the valuable US "Foreign Earned Income Exclusion".

EUROPEANS SELLING TONS OF GOLD

A major sell off of gold bullion and coins.

MANX MONEY MANAGER SINGS

A New York financier is convicted of bankruptcy fraud. His ISLE of MAN financial agent testified against him.

OFFSHORE CREDIT CARD PROBLEMS

A look at why the IRS wants Caribbean bank credit card records from MasterCard and Amex.

HOW BANKS DETECT MONEY LAUNDERING

Pinstripe suits instead of stripes on prison suits.

NEWS FROM DOWN UNDER

AUSTRALIANS need to invest more offshore.

NEW ZEALAND chases tax avoidance schemes.

All you need to know about SOUTH AFRICAN taxes.

South Africa's OLD MUTUAL expands offshore private banking.