Corporate and Personal Tax Shelters

Corporate and Personal Tax Shelters

When people consider tax shelters the minds eye brings up images of idyllic islands in the middle of nowhere.   However, the complexity of the matter eludes most individuals and many corporations.   Ignoring the benefits of protecting earnings through legal sheltering processes can prove to be disastrous from a competitive standpoint.  

Setting up a tax shelter is not just a matter of traveling to a destination that enjoys tax advantage and setting up a registered company.   Rather it involves careful compliance with national and international legislation and regulation as well as intricately drafted contracts to keep you within legal thresholds.   Once established be prepared to commit the appropriate degree of finance department resources to the shelter to keep it legal as tax laws evolve.   The benefits that accrue from tax shelters will vary according to the scope of the business that you or your organization undertakes.  


Advantage Individual
Offshore asset protection is no longer only available to the extremely wealthy.   Rather online and local organizations have sprouted up forming a mini industry targeting the average individual seeking out shelter from onerous taxation laws.   Asset protection services promise to all but eliminate your tax burden.   Is this too good to be true?   Yes and no, the onus remains on you to do your due diligence and not set up a tax haven that can turn into a legal nightmare.  

The practice of placing assets in offshore trusts is not illegal in and of itself.   What you must consider is where the control lies with respect to those assets.   If you transfer assets offshore to avoid federal, provincial or state, and local taxation whilst retaining control of said assets you start to step into questionable territory.   This is territory that your country’s tax and revenue services may be eager to investigate.   With the right structure you can still protect your assets while allowing for the appropriate amount of control to...