Capital gains taxes and income taxes are quite high where I live - I want to set up a bank account in the United States (where I travel often) or in a third country where
1. Capital gains are taxed lightly or not at all
2. Costs of maintaining an account are low AND transparent (transparency is vital)
3. Equity, debt, derivative and commodity trading is free or near-free (ie. few or no transaction costs - relates to transparency).
would still have to pay income tax on my salary where I live, but essentially, I would avoid further taxation of it by keeping it elsewhere. I have also been lead to understand that if I am NOT a US resident, I do not have to pay capital gains taxes. Can someone confirm or deny this? I have US citizenship and a US address (registered voter), but not residency seeing how I live abroad.
I would have a credit card or debit card I would use for buying things online or financing travel to enjoy the fruits of these investments. This way, I avoid the danger of the tax authorities here tracking me down. They are VERY stringent and live to bust people like me. I don't believe they would be able to track my accounts once the money had left the country - do US banks EVER provide foreign tax collectors with information pertaining to their clients? For instance, under some of the current anti-terrorist legislation I could imagine they would use that to bust people avoiding taxes.
I am also hoping being a US citizen will remove a lot of the red-tape I could face by opening an account in a place where I'm not a resident. I'm from California, but if there is a BETTER state, I'd look into that.
(I heard New Hampshire is still the live free or die state - some of those praire states are also supposed to be pretty good)
1. Capital gains are taxed lightly or not at all
2. Costs of maintaining an account are low AND transparent (transparency is vital)
3. Equity, debt, derivative and commodity trading is free or near-free (ie. few or no transaction costs - relates to transparency).
would still have to pay income tax on my salary where I live, but essentially, I would avoid further taxation of it by keeping it elsewhere. I have also been lead to understand that if I am NOT a US resident, I do not have to pay capital gains taxes. Can someone confirm or deny this? I have US citizenship and a US address (registered voter), but not residency seeing how I live abroad.
I would have a credit card or debit card I would use for buying things online or financing travel to enjoy the fruits of these investments. This way, I avoid the danger of the tax authorities here tracking me down. They are VERY stringent and live to bust people like me. I don't believe they would be able to track my accounts once the money had left the country - do US banks EVER provide foreign tax collectors with information pertaining to their clients? For instance, under some of the current anti-terrorist legislation I could imagine they would use that to bust people avoiding taxes.
I am also hoping being a US citizen will remove a lot of the red-tape I could face by opening an account in a place where I'm not a resident. I'm from California, but if there is a BETTER state, I'd look into that.
(I heard New Hampshire is still the live free or die state - some of those praire states are also supposed to be pretty good)