In this section I have listed some important things to remember when putting your money offshore.
1. There has to be banking secrecy.
2. There should be no withholding tax for foreigners. If there is, it should be avoided by setting up a "fiduciary account". Fiduciary account is an account established for you at another bank by your bank, and kept in the bank's name. To my knowledge Austria and Switzerland have a possibility of opening these accounts, and probably some other countries. So make sure you check this.
3. Very important thing to consider, like I already said, is political stability. The country should also have a history of honest dealing with foreign investors, and a tradition of no government confiscations of private assets.
4. There must be no information exchange treaties with your country, and none on the horizon.
5. Preferably, your offshore bank should not have branches in your country. If it does, there is a greater chance of them being pressured to reveal your identity, or to freeze your account.
6. Avoid Muslim countries, because their banking practices can differ tremendously, and also, countries that are American colonies, like Puerto Rico, for example. Even if not American citizen, try to avoid American banks, no matter where located. My recommendation would be to also avoid Mexico.
7. Avoid cheques as they provide investigating authorities with a lot of information on who paid whom, and many other things. There are many bad things associated with using cheques, so I will not list them all. My recommendation would be to simply avoid them if possible, and use cash, which is almost untraceable.
8. Don't forget that there is nothing illegal for an American citizen to own a tax free corporation. The part that can be illegal is if you "forget" to make a full disclosure of your interest in foreign assets, in your tax return.
It is a public secret that many Formula 1 drivers state that they live in Monte Carlo, where in fact most of them don't. They just have apartments and houses and claim that they live there, for a simple reason of trying to avoid paying taxes.