Switzerland vs Panama Asset Protection - By: Doug Shiropania

Choosing an offshore jurisdiction in today's offshore banking world can be difficult. Often the choice comes down to Switzerland and Panama when you are looking for a place to protect your assets.

While Switzerland is well respected with a long history, it no longer lives up to it's reputation. Many people struggle with deciding between the reputation of Swiss asset protection, and the many benefits available in Panama today. Panama now offers what Switzerland was once famous for but has now closed down due to pressures from the United States.

Switzerland was once "down to earth", protecting those oppressed by offering them numbered accounts. Those days are long gone. Now Switzerland bankers walk around with their "noses in the air". Minimum deposit requirements are now at a staggering $250K for the well established banks. Even the small banks require a $10k minimum balance.

Swiss banks do not like a large deposit followed by a declining balance over several months. If this happens, by about the 4th month, your account will be closed. A Panama bank will allow this type of behavior without any questions.

Today, the only real advantage Swiss banks have is their overwhelming size and stability. The problem is that they have become so large and respected they are really not an offshore jurisdiction anymore. They even require United States citizens to provide their social security number when opening a bank account! Panama, of course, does not require this information, since they do not co-operated with tax authorities anyway. (Panama has no tax treaties with anyone.)

Switzerland banks are required to co-operated with other country's tax authorities. They have many tax treaties allowing tax information to flow freely. This makes them a poor offshore jurisdiction choice. Panama on the other hand does not co-operate with anyone regarding banking information. The only time this is broken is for criminal investigations, and then, the burden of proof by the requesting country is extremely high. (Tax evasion is not a crime in Panama and no MLAT requests are honored for tax evasion cases.)

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.

Choosing an offshore jurisdiction in today's offshore banking world can be difficult. Often the choice comes down to Switzerland and Panama when you are looking for a place to protect your assets.

If you are thinking about setting up an Asset Protectiregarding structure in Panama or Switzerland you should read other OffshoreLegal.org informatiregarding regarding http://www.offshorelegal.org/asset-protectiregarding/panama-offshore-asset-protectiregarding/panama-asset-protectiregarding.html

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