Shell company?

Hi, so I'm a total newbie (obviously) but I'm trying to get information on a very specific topic, and I can't find what I need to know anywhere else. Here is my situation. I need a way to receive money via an anonymous entity and then just distribute a portion of it to myself. Basically I want to set up a business, but I can't appear to be an owner or shareholder in that business, or it will cause problems for me. I can, however, receive money up to a certain amount from that business, and the business can own assets that I could utilize.

As best I can figure out, I need to set up a shell company where my involvement is kept anonymous. I'm not a terrorist or money launderer; I do freelance writing, apparel sales and have Amazon affiliate income etc. I'm not even trying to avoid paying taxes; I'm fine with the corporation paying taxes on the profit it makes. However, if the government could see I was the company owner, they would count the full income as mine and I would lose essential benefits I need to survive.

It's hard to say exactly what the benefits are without revealing too much about myself, but they are health related and not covered by any private insurance. Right now I'm at risk of being in a situation where I make too much money to receive the benefits but not enough to go without them. Without them I would be over $4000 per month out of pocket, which exceeds my income. I have ways of reducing my countable income, but they involve huge amounts of paperwork. It would be much easier for me to just say I make this small safe amount and not deduct anything, while actually utilizing the business funds to purchase things I need. Does that make sense?

My questions are: Would a shell company solve this problem? If so, where's the best/cheapest place to set one up? And how do I get a bank account for the shell company without having to use my name?

You cant get a real bank account and stay anonymous. Those days are over after the new AEOI and CRS regulations.

You can set up a company offshore and hide behind nominees, but the problem is the bank account that require full information of the UBO (ultimate beneficial owner) wich in turn reports you to your local tax authority according to AEOI (automatic exchange of information).

Only solution to stay 100% anonymous these days is to go stealth. If you have income from the US I would suggest Cyprus company wich has tax treaty with US of 0%. This means US (amazon) wont withold any tax. Cyprus has 12.5% corporate tax, but you simply set up a holding company in a zero tax jurisdiction (seychelles,belize) and you come out with 0% tax.

The cyprus + holding company setup + payment solutions + stealth documents would be ballpark 5K Euro. Cyprus company also has a annual maintenance fee off ballpark 2500 Euro.

Wyoming, Nevada and Delaware, are 3 onshore USA you could consider.
Panama, Cyprus, Belize, Cayman Isles are other options.

It all depends on where you're based, who you're trying to shelter from and the amounts involved.

Seek professional advice from an offshore tax advisor.

They say Dubai is the new Switzerland. They aren't part of AEOI and won't be anytime soon. You might want to explore that a bit.

Paranoid Android said:

They say Dubai is the new Switzerland. They aren't part of AEOI and won't be anytime soon. You might want to explore that a bit.

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This is true, but IF your income is from Amazon.com and you set up shop in UAE they will withold 30% for tax as UAE dont have a tax agreement with US

My concern isn't taxes... as I said I'm OK with the business paying taxes. I just don't want the government to be able to see that I am the owner of the company. If the company has a nominee/agent can that person open a bank account on its behalf?

You say you don't mind paying the taxes but you don't want to reveal your real income to the Feds so you can continue to receive benefits?

I have some friends who are welfare bums who want to work under the table so they can keep getting their welfare benefits. You're kind of asking to do the same thing.

I hate paying my taxes and buying my own meds too but that's the price I pay for being successfull and wealthy.

Last year I had my best year of earnings and had to pay a truckload of taxes but it feels good to not rely on the government for their programs and I can righteously bitch about federal tax waste because I'm legit and making lots of money to be independent from them.

Of course if ever my business collapses and I lose everything I might be back on welfare but that's another thing...

I'm not saying your a bum my friend I'm only speaking from experience that I sleep much better knowing I am not trying to hide anything that could come back to haunt me in the future.

I explained some of this above, but since millions of people are in my situation, I can go into more detail without making myself identifiable. I have a disability that affects both my arms and legs very severely, since birth. I can't walk at all and have limited use of my hands. I can't dress myself, bathe, or get out of bed without assistance. So I need a personal care attendant several hours per day. Because I live in the United States where our healthcare system is crap, our insurance companies are not required to cover this type of care. The only way to get it is through being on Medicaid. I have private insurance too but they don't pay for personal care attendants.

There are programs where a person can work and still get Medicaid if they have a disability. I'm currently in one of those programs. However, I make almost as much money as I can make without losing the benefit. There is no graduated scale of eligibility; I already pay a small affordable premium, but above a certain amount they just cut you off. The problem is, that amount isn't enough for somebody like me to pay for their own care AND live. In my case my care costs over $100 per day. I make slightly more than that per day via my job, but I only work four days per week and I need care seven days per week. So just from that amount of detail you can see that there's no way I could pay for my own care. And of course I have to buy food, pay electric bill, rent etc. I would have to make over $6000 per month to pay for my care plus my living expenses -- 3X what I make now. If you're in the USA you know most people do not make that kind of money. You have to be a doctor, lawyer, something of that nature. I am an intelligent and hard-working person but I can't work full time and there's no career I'm likely to have that I could make that kind of money.

Obviously the solution is to fix our damn healthcare system, but with Dump in office that's not going to happen… In fact things could get even worse. He wants to cut Medicaid and programs like the one I'm in could be decimated. Not trying to get political here, just explaining why I need to not have income associated with me yet I'm not trying to evade taxes.

HeleneOnWheels said:

It's hard to say exactly what the benefits are without revealing too much about myself, but they are health related and not covered by any private insurance.

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Are you referring to medicaid?

frodskii80 said:

Only solution to stay 100% anonymous these days is to go stealth. If you have income from the US I would suggest Cyprus company wich has tax treaty with US of 0%. This means US (amazon) wont withold any tax. Cyprus has 12.5% corporate tax, but you simply set up a holding company in a zero tax jurisdiction (seychelles,belize) and you come out with 0% tax.

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Can u explain this a bit more.

So I have a Cyprus company that does business w/ USA directly (owns all amazon affiliate accounts etc) and then that company is owned by another in Panama?

ThreeWolves said:

Can u explain this a bit more.

So I have a Cyprus company that does business w/ USA directly (owns all amazon affiliate accounts etc) and then that company is owned by another in Panama?

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Cyprus company with seychelles holding company are a popular structure. Seychelles company are cheap to set up.

Also to the OP, you cant just use the nominees for the bank account. If it only were that easy. For that to work you need a fiduciary service and that cost much money.

Get yourself a stealth setup and be done with it!

frodskii80 said:

Get yourself a stealth setup and be done with it!

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What's a stealth setup?

You are in a tough situation, you really need professional advice.
It isn't worth doing anything illegal and losing your benefits and getting into more serious trouble unless you think you can make a lot of money fast and continuously.
Unfortunately, you are caught in one of those catch 22 situations, you should be able to get advice from a local accountant or solicitor, even a local charity may be able to help.

The documents required to set up the company can be faked. (copy of passport, utility bill etc)

You use the same documents to set up EMI accounts (payoneer, leupay, advancecash, worldcore etc) from wich you get a debit card to use in ATM. Many of these also have iban/swift, so basically same functions as a bank. You can also get paypal this way.

If you dont care about WTH taxes, you can get set up with a Belize/Seychelles company for instance for 2K Euro all in. Company owner will be Jane Doe.

that sounds like some high level money laundering you got going on there

Shell companies no more offer the blind curtains that it used to offer in yesteryears. You are all naked even behind it. Since you are ready to pay taxes, then just get a private corp registered in your family name and you be the majority stakeholder, that way everything is legal

i am sure there are still possibilities to hide your person quite well. In my country form a former government politician they fond a network of shell companies where they did hide money. But here you are probably in the wrong place to get information like that .....