What is good for Romney can be good for you

Jan. 25, 2012 - PRLog -- ABC News recently reported that U.S. presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, has over $8 Million USD in the Cayman Islands which is a well known tax haven.
While Romney may be criticized for taking advantage of U.S. income tax loopholes, these same loopholes can be used by any U.S. citizen using international tax planning strategies.
International tax planning can be defined as legal income tax planning strategies which can be used worldwide.  Nearly every country has income and corporate taxes.  International tax planning covers every country’s tax system with strategies to legally lower or completely eliminate having to pay income taxes in a legal manner.  There is a difference between what is illegal (in some countries criminal) tax evasion compared to legal tax avoidance.  International tax planning is all about legally avoiding or paying lower income taxes.  
According to ABC News, Mitt Romney paid in the 15% income tax bracket last year which is lower than what most Americans pay.  Tax havens help investors avoid paying taxes on their offshore income.  ABC News questioned representatives of Romney’s investment funds in the Cayman Islands, but because of the tax haven’s strict confidentiality laws, they could not comment at all.  
International tax planning takes into account these tax havens around the world with anonymous offshore corporations, confidentiality laws, and strict offshore banking secrecy laws.  A good international tax planner will be able to advise clients from any country on how to set up totally private offshore corporations or offshore foundations in tax haven countries with offshore bank accounts protected by the tax haven country’s strict bank secrecy laws.  Total anonymity, financial privacy, and secure offshore investment with safe offshore bank accounts can be achieved through international tax planning.
ABC News claims that the U.S. Tax laws have a loophole called the “carried interest” regulation which taxes interest income at a 15% rate.  This rule allows all of the profits taken by hedge fund managers to be taxed at the low 15% rate rather than higher normal tax rates. That’s because the U.S. Tax law considers them to be long term Capital Gains and not normal income which would be taxed at a higher rate.  
ABC News reports that nearly $100 Billion USD is lost to the U.S. Treasury every year due to tax havens.   That is why the U.S. government and many other countries are trying to discourage their citizens from using tax havens.  Not only do these countries lose tax income they are also losing $ Billions every year when their citizens transfer funds from local bank account to offshore bank accounts.
What Romney did to lower his income taxes is perfectly legal.  Anyone can do it.  You just need a good, reliable, experienced international tax planning law firm to guide you through the income tax laws, select the right tax haven to fit your needs, and the best investment tax planning advisors to get the greatest return on your offshore investments.

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Carlo Scevola & Partners is a fiduciary company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with branches in six continents. We specialize in international tax planning, strategic consulting, offshore advisoring, asset protection, wealth management.