Monday, April 15, 2013

"How I opened a Liechtenstein numbered account in 13 minutes" (via the UK.)

This is not supposed to happen these days. From Alternatives Économiques, in French, with a rough web translation here. We will try to write this up more fully in due course.

A French journalist poses as the inheritor of a million undeclared Euros placed in Jersey, left by his late father. They were attracted by a 'grotesque' advertisement for help for French people wanting to avoid inheritance taxes, and they contacted the promoters, who replied the next day, promising 
en toute discrétion » « d’ouvrir un compte bancaire numéroté au Liechtenstein »
("with full discretion, to open a numbered bank account in Liechtenstein.)
Click on the image, and you'll see that that is a UK phone number. The conversation happened six days ago. The promoter was clearly suggesting escaping tax, without having been prompted to do so. Loosely translated:
"If you repatriate this money, you will have to get in touch with you accountant because there will be a fiscal adjustment and some payments to make: that's the first point," he said. "If you have real estate purchases in mind, I would tell you honestly (sic) that you should forget France," because it's too difficult to make large purchases without justifying the provenance of the money. "Depending on the amount, Jersey is a good place, but we can make other suggestions too."
Switzerland was not recommended, he said, but Liechtenstein was: with a numbered account, your name would not be on the account, and you avoid potential scrutiny from France and so on. As Alternatives Economiques reports it:
"At no point did I tell him that I wanted to evade tax: it was him who spontaneously proposed it: on several occasions."
For those who read French, the story is well worth reading: it contains many other details.


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