and Tax Aduanta

R HOTE FRO! THI R U T H O A xxiThe Firm, tarnish the image of the tax shelter too. Yet there are thousandsof honest hardworking professionals managing unknown trillionsof U.S. dollars in global funds in the world's internationalfinancial centers (IFCS) on a daily basis. Notice that I use the wordmanaging, since the actual money is probably parked in London,Tokyo, or New York. Banking, asset and portfolio management,trustee and company management income derived from these serviceshas far surpassed the income from tourism in many countries 'that were formerly just vacation destinations and near destitute. Taxhavens are racing to elevate their stature in the world financial community,to be characterized as international banking and financialcenters, to attract clean money, and to not be just another lower-tier;third-world tax haven in some obscure, exotic locale.Among the many questions asked of me in the period duringwhich the prospective client and I evaluate each other (yes, it's atwo-way street), are "How can 1 trust those people offshore? Arethey going to run off with my money?" or such blunt variations as"I trust you Arnie, but you're no kid-what happens if somethinghappens to you?""I vet clients quite thoroughly since I don't want to be drawn intoany unsavory or illegal scheme or a fraud on a creditor-I don't wishto be anyone's unwitting pawn. Is there an undisclosed smoking gunin the client's past or future? Does he or she have a hidden agenda?Life is too short to play tax evasion, frustrate-the-creditor games orto turn a blind eye to suspicious conduct; I don't want to get involvedand end up wearing a striped suit in the federal country club.Trouble often comes where you least expect it. I was contacted bySante Kimes, who needed help moving her assets offshore. Mrs. Kimessounded like a sweet little old lady, and her adult son lived with her.She called me twice at my home, sweet-talking at great length andencouraging me to travel to Las Vegas to meet with her and her sonfor a free dinner. Her son was apparently too busy golfing in majortournaments to visit me at my office. It didn't pass my smell test, so Ideclined twice-and I never heard from her again. Later, I discoveredthat she used the first edition of The Offshore Money Book as one usesthe yellow pages to locate the offshore people she needed. As it turned ,out, this "sweet little old lady" and her son were charged in an 82- -