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A great number of factors go into making a decision between protecting your assets in Panama vs Switzerland. Although Switzerland was once the offshore asset protection capital of the world, it has caved in to pressure from the US and other countries. Switzerland now regularly co-operates with tax authorities from other countries under myriad of tax treaties. It also co-operates with tax evasion investigations. Bank secrecy in Switzerland is all but gone. Panama, however, having no tax treaties, does not co-operate with any other countries inquiries. Panama does not consider tax evasion a crime and as such does not help other countries in their investigations. This includes MLAT requests. Switzerland minimum balances are $10,000 for a small bank, $25,000 for a medium bank, and $250,000 for a large well established bank. Panama banks on the other hand expect a very small minimum deposit. Swiss bankers do not like a declining balance over several months. If you operate your account in this way, depending on the age of your account, you may be asked to close your account. This is a very snobbish attitude, but very real. A new Swiss bank account holder should be wary of this restriction. Panama banks do not take issue with a large deposit followed by regular withdrawals. Swiss banks are stable and well respected, but it comes at a price. In fact a Swiss bank require US citizens to provide their social security number! Such a requirement make bank secrecy almost a joke. Banks in Panama, on the other hand, have no such requirement. Swiss financial institutions co-operate with tax authorities from other countries for tax evasion type cases. Panama does not consider tax evasion a crime and as such does not co-operate with any such investigations. Swiss banks are larger than Panama banks, with respect to the amount of money under management. This makes little difference, considering that the Panama banks also manage huge sums of money.
Article Source: http://www.new.citynewslive.com
If you are thinking about setting up an Asset Protection structure in Panama or Switzerland please consider look over other OffshoreLegal.org information on www.offshorelegal.org/asset-protection/panama-offshore-asset-protection/panama-asset-protection.html This and other unique content Panama articles are available with free reprint rights.
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