Last month PricewaterhouseCoopers added their voice to the anti-offshore campaign saying that “the use of tax havens to avoid tax will soon become unacceptable”, increasing pressure on high net worth individuals looking to minimise their tax liabilities. The Asset & Wealth Management report highlighted the hostility of the public and regulators to the wealthy people who are not paying their fair share of tax. Read the full article

In response to this report and the ever-changing regulatory, legal and fiscal environment, CEO of JP Capital Investments Axel Von Schubert has produced a white paper on offshore banking which defends our rights to be able to manage our tax affairs.

In the interesting report on this very sensitive subject, Von Schubert highlights the difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion, stating that investors and regulators should be able to separate a legal mechanism to structure your affairs, from an illegal practice which should be stopped. He warns against blurring the two and penalising good tax planning – “To criminalise Tax Avoidance, because it ‘shouldn’t be right to pay that little in taxes’ and ‘everyone needs to pay their fair share’, is extremely perilous and undermines our very legal system.”

“Laws and tax laws are made for providing clear legal and binding guidance in an objective fashion as to the amount of taxes each tax payer, private or institutional, is legally obliged to pay. Screaming for ‘fair shares’ and ‘morally and ethically acceptable tax payments’ is completely wrong and above all, highly subjective. Who determines and quantifies a ‘fair’ share? The obliging public media, ever eager to brainwash the public by twisting the facts and spin-doctoring their stories to the tune of their Governments and ever more desperate tax authorities, is causing enormous damage and creating uncertainty.”

JP Capital Investments will continue helping their clients to protect their wealth with intelligent tax planning, while ensuring that all legal requirements are met. The SMART Fund legislation in The Bahamas offers an efficient and rather cost-effective management of one’s offshore affairs. It was designed to provide industry with a new private wealth management tool with the flexibility to find application within areas not traditionally associated with investment fund administration. The primary facility offered by the SMART Fund concept is an open architecture which allows practitioners to design innovative structures, akin at times to special purpose vehicles, without reference to inflexible regulatory criteria predefined in legislation.

We investigate all the options to help you with asset management and asset protection and will consider offshore finance if it suits your needs. JP Capital Investments has the advantage of being independent, unbiased and completely offshore, so we can be flexible and creative to optimize our clients’ personal and business affairs across the globe. Should you wish to discuss your tax liability with our financial advisors, please email nassau@jpcapinvest.com or call our Bahamas office on +1-242-427-1407. We look forward to hearing from you.