[Poverello]

Austria has bank secrecy in their constitution, Switzerland does not (to my surprise)

What about Lichtenstein ?

[olim]

You could Google Lichtenstein constitution. Lichtenstein being a principality, probably would have a very short constitution, dealing mainly with questions of power and its delegation.

Incidentally, even though something is not present in the constitution does not mean the law is in some way weaker. It has just as much force, only more difficult to change constitutional laws. Malta, afaik, does not have a MLAT treaty in force with the US, nor TIEA. (please correct me if my info is out of date on Malta.)

Maltese professional secrecy is actually quite strong and comprehensive, judging from the brief look I had at their code. If anyone had actual experience dealing with Malta, please expound in detail. thanks in advance.

[OffshorePrivacy]

Unless your an American, British or Canadian, Liechtenstein has the best banking secrecy in Europe. While they only have a information sharing agreement with the US they can limit the only banking access to the above countries as they do NOT want the same issues as Switzerland has had.

Our Liechtenstein bank as far as I am concerned is the Rolls Royce of offshore banks where you can trade securities, bonds and mutual funds or you can allow the bank to manage your funds as they specialize in wealth management.

[Poverello]

Originally Posted by OffshorePrivacy

Unless your an American, British or Canadian, Liechtenstein has the best banking secrecy in Europe. While they only have a information sharing agreement with the US they can limit the only banking access to the above countries as they do NOT want the same issues as Switzerland has had.

Our Liechtenstein bank as far as I am concerned is the Rolls Royce of offshore banks where you can trade securities, bonds and mutual funds or you can allow the bank to manage your funds as they specialize in wealth management.

Only corporate account ?
Also trading of futures ?
Worldwide exchanges ?
Minimum account opening ?

[OffshorePrivacy]

Originally Posted by Poverello

Only corporate account ?
Also trading of futures ?
Worldwide exchanges ?
Minimum account opening ?

Personal accounts can be opened also, although having a personal account provides little privacy.

I am not 100% sure of all the trading options as I only spent 5 minutes on their online banking, yet there were many options.

There is no stated minimum account opening with this bank, some have done so with $500.

Like Swiss banks these accounts are designed to be more of a savings/investment accounts rather than a current account with a great deal of in/our transactions. The bank expects you to keep at least 50% of the deposited funds in the account long term.

[FreedomFighter777]

Originally Posted by OffshorePrivacy

Our Liechtenstein bank as far as I am concerned is the Rolls Royce of offshore banks where you can trade securities, bonds and mutual funds or you can allow the bank to manage your funds as they specialize in wealth management.

I appreciate OffshorePrivacy for using the word "our".


That is OUR Liechtenstein bank with a capital O and a capital U and a capital R !!!


Yes, it is an excellent bank after having some first hand experience with it!!!


FREEDOM

[obera]

Originally Posted by Poverello

Austria has bank secrecy in their constitution, Switzerland does not (to my surprise)

What about Lichtenstein ?

I don't think so. Liechtenstein bank secrecy comes from the Banking Act of 1960.

Although, a few year ago, the Prince said "I don't think a draft law or international accord proposing to scrap bank secrecy would be successful in the foreseeable future. The people would reject it in a referendum.". But I don't think it would really take a referendum, because they have signed a US TIEA since then... and ALSO agreed to the OECD's "standards."

I'm sure that you would also find in the constitution of theirs that the Prince ultimately has the power to do whatever the funk he wants.

Originally Posted by olim

Incidentally, even though something is not present in the constitution does not mean the law is in some way weaker. It has just as much force, only more difficult to change constitutional laws. Malta, afaik, does not have a MLAT treaty in force with the US, nor TIEA. (please correct me if my info is out of date on Malta.)

Maltese professional secrecy is actually quite strong and comprehensive, judging from the brief look I had at their code. If anyone had actual experience dealing with Malta, please expound in detail. thanks in advance.

You are correct olim. Malta is a good banking place for Americans. No TIEA. No Tax Treaty (with the US). No US MLAT. And they open accounts by mail at most banks there.

[olim]

obera, how current is your information? There was some kind of treaty with the EU in general, and I'm afraid Malta as a new member might be involved.

[obera]

Also, unlike most other "secrecy" haven countries, Maltese bankers are not protected from civil liabilities arising from reports filed that violate banking secrecy. Furthermore, the government of Malta has never shared seized assets with the US government (something that cannot be said of the Cayman Islands, Switzerland or even Liechtenstein).

Originally Posted by olim

obera, how current is your information? There was some kind of treaty with the EU in general, and I'm afraid Malta as a new member might be involved.

It's pretty current. I don't know about this EU treaty you speak of however. Care to elaborate? I don't think the EU can make direct treaties. Otherwise, why wouldn't the US just make a tax treaty and TIEA with the EU instead of going arduously from country to country signing tax treaties and MLAT's?

The EU Savings Tax Directive does affect accounts in Malta (no secrecy), but this does not affect Americans.

...wait wait... In searching for answers here I've come up with this and this:

http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/US...xxxx30178.html

http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/Ma...xxxx30635.html

BUT, they are not listed in other places you would think they would be, such as this list:
United States Income Tax Treaties - A to Z
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/intern...=96739,00.html

or here: http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/tax-p...treaties.shtml (Tax Treaty Documents @ US Treasury)

You might want to look long and hard through this State Department search's many pages.

Here is a list of all TIEA's that I know of:

http://www.oecd.org/document/7/0,334..._1_1_1,00.html

Malta's not on the list although it says they were present and a member of the "OECD Global Forum Working Group on Effective Exchange of Information" that came up with the model TIEA.

On that note, if I were looking to hide money from Uncle "Empty Pockets" Sam, I'd skip Europe all together and look at Panama, Guatemala and Northern Cyprus first.

[olim]

Originally Posted by obera

Otherwise, why wouldn't the US just make a tax treaty and TIEA with the EU instead of going arduously from country to country signing tax treaties and MLAT's?

It has been done. A MLAT treaty at least. the EU does not collect taxes directly, so obviously TIEAs/tax treaties can only be done directly with member countries. Once the EU becomes a proper federation with power of taxation - expect euro-wide TIEAs/tax treaties, but a EU-wide MLAT already exists.

"In June 2003, the United States and the EU signed two treaties on extradition and mutual legal assistance (MLA) to help simplify the extradition process, and promote better prosecutorial cooperation."

http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/50167.pdf

It is implied here that EU somehow did manage to sign a treaty on its own. I have actually seen the text, but alas cannot find it right now. I could swear that the first article of it was specifically about banking information disclosure/exchange. Obviously the most important thing when it comes to preventing terrorism, etc what else can it be

outlines (from the UK perspective):
http://www.parliament.uk/documents/u...ifications.pdf

Malta, I believe, had to sign on by virtue of becoming full EU member.

http://register.consilium.europa.eu/...32&page=Detail

There is actually a EU-Japan draft:
http://register.consilium.europa.eu/...32&page=Detail

Seems like the EU is acting like a real federation already, Lisbon Treaty be damned.