You can never take for granted the renowned advantages offered by private offshore banking services. Secrecy, privacy and anonymity only apply if you execute transactions with banks located in offshore jurisdictions that don’t have treaties with your country of residence.

 

For example, if Sir Robin of Locksley, a noble citizen of Nottingham, had a private offshore account in Switzerland and wired money anywhere in the UK (including the tax havens), sooner or later the Sheriff of Nottingham will discover the atrocity.

 

Our friend Robin would have to flee to the Sherwood Forest, gather with his band of Merry Men, woo the lovely Maid Marian, change his name to Robin Hood (how dodgy is that!), and you know the rest of the story.

 

What Robin of Locksley didn’t realize is that Her Majesty has treaties with Guernsey, Jersey, Gibraltar and Isle of Man that gives her full access to the banking records. Even if Robin was to use his anonymous cash card to withdraw money out of an ATM machine, his name will be registered because he is the beneficiary of such account.

 

Such secrecy flaws have not become a problem because many countries are extremely lenient when surveying such data, but countries are becoming more strict and when they do, they can gather data as old as 1993.

 

The US is a clear example; they have recently straightened their tax policies by straining their relationship with countries like Switzerland regarding the information of 52,000 accounts of American clients in UBS, and there is nothing stopping other countries from doing so.

 

Many offshore jurisdictions in Europe (Andorra, Gibraltar, Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro and Cyprus) have got treaties with an onshore country that may defy offshore secrecy, and if you are a citizen of such country, you might be revealing your safe haven.

 

International banking laws stipulates that the beneficiaries involved in any transaction must be registered. So, if you wire money abroad, or use your “super secret” offshore cash card, debit card or credit card in any way or form, such transaction will be registered forever. So, you might have to consider a corporate offshore banking solution to make sure you are flawless.

 

With a private offshore account, privacy and anonymity is there to protect any government from gathering further information about your account as the beneficiary, but that doesn’t mean they can’t find out your account exists if you used it like our friend Robin of Locksley.

 

None the less, I wouldn’t recommend Sherwood Forest; it’s cold, wet and boring. You might want to consider Bahamas and enjoy the menu: Piña Colada, Mojito, Margarita, Strawberry Daiquiri…