These FAQ's would not only answer your basic queries about working offshore but would also give you an insight on how things are work wise
| Q | What are the benefits of working offshore? |
| A | You enjoy an attractive tax-free salary and an excellent quality of life. You will also get the chance to broaden your horizons, work and life experiences. |
| Q | What is the income potential? |
| A | The commission rates are very competitive. A beginner/novice in the industry would normally expect to earn anything between GBP 25,000-50,000 in the first year, and it is not unheard of for some beginners to earn substantially more than this. The first year should really be looked on as a period whereby the foundations will be laid to build a successful business for the future. Experienced advisors who transition over would normally earn substantially more. Mid range level would normally be around GBP70,000, while experienced advisors are more likely to earn GBP90,000 and above. Top earners may earn in excess of GBP 150,000 per annum. |
| Q | Why is offshore better than onshore? |
| A | The main reason why offshore centres are superior to their onshore equivalents is that all investments will grow completely free of any taxes. In addition, the same regulatory constraints that tend to choke the onshore industry, tend to be more flexible offshore. |
| Q | What type of companies are based offshore? |
| A | Usually banking institutions, insurance providers, fund houses, investment management companies and health care providers. |
| Q | Why is offshore different for these companies? |
| A | They are different because offshore centres do not have to report to any tax authority. Anyone who sets up an account offshore can therefore benefit from tax-free growth, provided they continue living overseas (or at least in a country that does not tax residents on their worldwide income). Also, there is a far wider range of investment opportunities that can be accessed offshore, compared with what can be accessed onshore. |
| Q | Can anyone open an offshore investment? |
| A | No. To open an offshore investment account you must be deemed to be a non-resident of your home country for tax purposes. |
| Q | What does an investor consider when looking at offshore jurisdictions? |
| A | The main things to consider are security, stability, investor protections and favourable taxation policies. |
| Q | What is the best offshore centre in the world? |
| A | There is really no "best" offshore centre, as each has areas of offshore finance in which they are particular strong, or even specialist. Different centres therefore tend to be used for different purposes. For example the BVI, Mauritius and the Seychelles are often used for setting up offshore companies, as company formation law there is favourable. On the other hand, Jersey and Guernsey are renowned for banking, while the Isle of Man holds the majority of offshore insurance providers. Finally, jurisdictions like the Caymans and Luxembourg are renowned homes to thousands of offshore funds. |
| Q | What is the safest offshore centre in the world? |
| A | There is no real definitive answer here either. However, we favour Dublin, Singapore, Switzerland, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. This is due to the stability and security of the governments, the confidentiality laws, the favourable taxation policies and the investor protection schemes in place there. |
| Q | Is confidentiality the same in every jurisdiction? |
| A | For the most part, yes. But these days, Europeans who return to their home countries, and who are using a European offshore centre, must abide by the EU Savings Directive. |
| Q | What happens if something happens to one of the companies holding my client's money? |
| A | Well, this is highly unlikely as it has never happened before because all the institutions that we use have to go through a stringent screening and vetting process to set up in the jurisdictions that we recommend. They are all Grade "A" companies with very high ratings from Standard and Poors. In the extremely unlikely event that something should happen to the institution holding a client’s money, it is still safeguarded by the investor protection laws in each of the jurisdictions that we recommend. The clients money is in fact safer than it would be in a conventional or equivalent onshore environment. In most cases the investments are also held by a third party trustee. |
| Q | How does the trustee system work? |
| A | The trustee system states that the insurance provider must hold a mandated account with a third party custodian (the trustee). All assets that are invested with an insurance provider by clients must be deposited with, and held within, the custodian account. Any assets like mutual funds or stocks that are purchased are always bought and owned by the custodian. The assets are also "ring-fenced" and do not form part of the trust company's assets or balance sheet. Basically, in order to safeguard the 90% of holdings for clients, there is an invisible brick wall between the insurance company and the assets, and another between the assets and the custodian's business. |
| Q | Is it easy to get my client’s money back from an offshore investment? |
| A | Getting money back from an offshore investment is exactly the same as getting money back from any onshore investment. With lump sum investments, it is important to understand the type of investment in question and the redemption and notice periods that may have to be given when withdrawing some or all of the money. In most cases, funds trade daily or weekly, which means that you can get your money back almost straight away as long as the correct documentation has been couriered to the respective provider. However, in other cases, an investment may be more of a specialist nature and there may be a 45 day notice period and a 90 day redemption period; it may take you up to 5 months to get your investment monies back. It is important to be aware of the redemption periods of the funds that clients are investing in, especially if you think they may want to withdraw money at some stage in the future, or set up a regular income stream for themselves. |
| Q | What about other jurisdictions like Luxembourg? |
| A | Luxembourg is a good, reputable offshore jurisdiction, but it is not set up in the same way that Jersey, Guernsey, Dublin and the Isle of Man are for providing products to the international expatriate community. Luxembourg is a good centre for fund administration and some banking, but is mainly used by the French, and the products available for the international investor are inferior compared to those from other jurisdictions. |
| Q | What exactly is Anti-Money Laundering? |
| A | Anti-Money Laundering (AML) is the term used to describe the controls placed on financial institutions moving money around the world either for themselves or on behalf of their clients. All regulated entities are required to follow strict anti-money laundering criteria and report suspected violations. AML controls were intensified after the September 11th attacks in New York. AML requires proof of the individual’s or company’s identity, proof of residential address, as well as proof of source of funds (i.e. where the money came from). |
| Q | What does resident mean? |
| A | A resident of a country is a person who has decided to make his home in that particular country, whether or not he/she was born there. Someone may maintain a residency in this country, but only live there for part of the year. Because of new Anti-Money Laundering requirements, an individual will be required to prove his residential address when setting up an offshore investment or bank account. |
| Q | What does domicile mean? |
| A | Domicile is the legal term used to designate where a person comes from and where that person is accountable in law (usually as concerns taxation). Your domicile will determine how certain legal issues are dealt with upon death, especially when reviewing and interpreting a will - and the assets that the person has left behind – for IHT liability. Although individuals may have many places of residence, they may only have one country of domicililty, and they usually get this from where they were born and where their parents were born (usually just their father). A person may change their domicile but some countries can make this difficult to do. |
| Q | Why would my client invest offshore? What are the main benefits? |
| A | The main benefit is that their money will grow completely tax-free and unhindered from corporation tax, capital gains tax and income tax. They also have full confidentiality, which is important to some people but not necessarily so to others. They have the investor protection schemes in place so that their money is safer offshore than anywhere else. And even more important to many people, you have a much wider range of investment opportunities than you would at home. |
| Q | What happens when my client returns to his home country? Will he have to pay tax? |
| A | Our clients can maintain their accounts on returning to their home country. This is not a problem, but when they arrive home and become a resident there, technically speaking, they should declare all their world-wide assets to the authorities who will likely tax them on their investment gains in the same way that they would tax any investment profits people make. But up until their move home, the investment will grow completely tax-free. |
At PPI, we aim to assist only those candidates who are self-motivated, with a real desire to succeed, and who demonstrate a level of competence that will drive them forward - no matter what task they are faced with, or what is demanded of them. With great effort comes great reward: that is the mantra of the international companies with which we work, and that is what is expected of the candidates they hire.
Our role is to place motivated career seekers with the professional institutions who engage our services...
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