Offshore company or offshore broker?

[silacitrader]

Hello everyone,

I've been a long time reader of this forum and now I need your advice, so I was wondering if you could help me with something.

My trading accounts were recently closed by my brokers (Ameritrade and Lightspeed) due to some new restrictions on my country of residence. I used these accounts to trade stocks and ETFs on the US stock market.

Right now, it seems to me there are two possible ways to setup a trading business:
1- Setup up an offshore company in a country and open a corporate trading account in the name of this company with US based broker. stock market.
2- Open an individual account with an offshore broker that has access to the US stock market, such as International Brokers

I was wondering if any of you had a similar situation (from my search, I found out that some had this problem, but there wasn't any followup on the matter with a clear solution) and whether you ever found your way around this problem.
Did you go through setting up an offshore company to trade in the name of that company? Did you resort to opening an account with an offshore broker with access to the US markets?

Any piece of information you can give me, I would greatly appreciate it.

Please note, I am not looking for any illegal solutions nor for a way to evade taxes. I pay my dues in my home country (I am qualified as non-resident alien) and that's fine. I am just looking for the best way to setup this business.

Thanks for helping a fellow trader.

Cheers,
Elie

 

[Mr. Crabs]

Hi Elie, I've mentioned this before here on T2W but I'm trading with International Brokers (Online Stock Trading, Options Trading, Best Online Trading Site, International Brokers, IB Worldwide) that you talked about, and got nothing but good things to say. Great platform, very professional and live support that responds immediately. For non-US residents so they accept traders from all other parts of the world. I'm currently trading from Russia and we had the same issue here with Ameritrade. IM me if you have any questions about my experiences trading with the firm.

If you work through an offshore broker with access to American stocks and route your account through an offshore company can you in effect pay a different capital gains tax than you would in America?

I've always wondered how offshore accounts, etc. works, is this something I should get educated about / call a lawyer or financial consultant? I have no need to move my funds to an offshore account but it would certainly be nice to learn how to do so and what the benefits of doing so are.

Would you care to enlighten me?

 

[silacitrader]

If you work through an offshore broker with access to American stocks and route your account through an offshore company can you in effect pay a different capital gains tax than you would in America?

I've always wondered how offshore accounts, etc. works, is this something I should get educated about / call a lawyer or financial consultant? I have no need to move my funds to an offshore account but it would certainly be nice to learn how to do so and what the benefits of doing so are.

Would you care to enlighten me?

As far as I know, being an American you owe the IRS taxes no matter where you live or work. The law was changed to capture those offshore businesses, and therefore the IRS now taxes you on your American nationality.

 

[silacitrader]

Hi Elie, I've mentioned this before here on T2W but I'm trading with International Brokers (Online Stock Trading, Options Trading, Best Online Trading Site, International Brokers, IB Worldwide) that you talked about, and got nothing but good things to say. Great platform, very professional and live support that responds immediately. For non-US residents so they accept traders from all other parts of the world. I'm currently trading from Russia and we had the same issue here with Ameritrade. IM me if you have any questions about my experiences trading with the firm.

How are your funds protected with this broker, being outside the US, I assume they don't have to abide by the SEC rules and offer SPIC insurance for example.

 

[Mr. Crabs]

As far as I know, being an American you owe the IRS taxes no matter where you live or work. The law was changed to capture those offshore businesses, and therefore the IRS now taxes you on your American nationality.

What if I'm trading with the money of a company that isn't of American nationality?

 

[Sanz]

What about setting up an offshore company (for Non-US residents) and setting that up with the usual US brokers? Anyone know about what costs to expect and what is needed to open a corporate account.

 

[comparebroker]

Good Question. Would like to know more. But, I'll suggest to open an account with a international broker. Just a guess.