Getting Help

It’s possible and it’s legal to reduce your tax burden… you just need counsel you can trust to help you consider the options and make a plan.

Don’t Google “foreign tax specialist” or “international tax advisor.” You’ll find lots of resources that way… but none you can trust. The Internet is awash with guys who’ll set you up with offshore structures for a fee and who’ll be glad to help you get one over on the IRS.

You don’t want to get one over on the IRS. You just don’t want to pay that U.S. government agency US$1 more of your income than you absolutely have to each year.

And you don’t necessarily want offshore structures either.

We have no idea what you do want… or need. And, probably, neither do you. But we can tell you this: Take the advice of some offshore expert you find with the help of Google, and your chances of ending up someplace you don’t want to be (engaged in a one-on-one conversation with a representative of the IRS, for example) are probably increased.

Neither should you dash off an email to your U.S. accountant or attorney asking for help managing the tax consequences of your new life or investments abroad. He won’t have answers for you, and your questions will make him nervous.

Over the past 30+ years covering this beat, we’ve met a lot of guys who call themselves tax experts. Finally, a few years ago, we met a guy who we’d call an offshore tax expert. His name is Vincenzo Villamena.

Our situation has grown ever-more-complicated since we left the States, but Vincenzo has organized and simplified as he has counseled us in how our lives overseas (including today from our current base in Panama) impact our U.S. tax obligations.

Vincenzo knows his way around the offshore world. He knows what’s allowed and what’s not, and he respects the rules. He also knows how to solve problems and how to get things done. Our experience with Vincenzo over the years has been remarkably efficient, painless, and productive… wholly different from our experience with the half-dozen other offshore advisors we tried to work with prior to finding Vincenzo.

We told you, though, that you need not one, but two global tax authorities, one to manage tax, reporting, and structure issues for you in the States… and one to manage those things in your jurisdiction of residency.