Overview of
Offshore Structures
for different purposes


Your Offshore Entities can be established with many additional features. Which ones you should choose will depend on what your purpose is for establishing your Trust.


The following is meant only as a brief guide. For a more detailed discussion, please refer directly to our free supplementary information.

If you have multiple purposes, you can, of course, combine the solutions, making sure you get the coverage you are looking for.

For an overview of what is included with each of the elements in the offshore set-up, please click on it, and you will get the information in a new browser window.


Italics indicate an optional element that may or may not be necessary for your purpose.

Desired protection: Offshore elements:
Protection of Personal Income against taxation.

No offshore structure can do this completely, but it can provide some significant future tax deductions.

Please go to NADN for serious help with a current or past tax problem.

 		Examples that can serve as inspiration for you to understand the nature of what you can achieve in terms of tax benefits by working with your Offshore Entity.
Protection of Personal Assets against future creditors.

The principle is that you transfer ownership of your valuable assets to your Trust, so that you end up owning nothing more than what you can retain through a personal bankruptcy. If your assets are exclusively of physical nature (real estate, car, art collection, etc.), a simple Trust or Foundation will do. If you also have financial assets (like stock, bonds, etc.) you would like to work with, you need a Trading Account added to your entity.

If you do not want to report the existence of your Trust to your government, you need to establish it as a Foreign Grantor Trust.

A basic Offshore Trust , or
A basic Foundation.

Adding a Trading Account.

The Trust be a Foreign Grantor Trust.

Adding a Bank Account to the Trust/Foundation.
Protection of personal Privacy in financial matters.

In order for you to be able to continue a "normal life", but in complete privacy, you need your Offshore Entity established in such a way that you can operate as its agent, without using your own identity and without having the transactions reported to anyone.

You might also to be able to deposit funds made payable to yourself.

A credit card you can use on behalf of the Entity is a nice extra benefit, but you really need a Settlor Account and a Debit Card Account first and foremost.

A basic Offshore Trust, or
A basic Foundation.

Adding a Bank Account to the Foundation, possibly by
Adding a Settlor Account.

Adding a Debit Card Account.

The Trust be a Foreign Grantor Trust.

Adding a Credit Card Account.

Protection of Estate against heir restrictions, probate, and taxation.

You generally need one Trust per heir you want to appoint. On top, you need to ensure that your Trustee gets notified of your death (your will!).

For a Foundation, you can appoint multiple Beneficiaries, so you need only one of those, regardless your number of heirs! However, you can only appoint one heir as your successor as Protector.

You should seriously look for an added "Death Benefit" - which really is an added life insurance that significantly enhances the value of your investment in your Estate. Foreign Grantor Trust or not is a matter of your personal situation - it makes no difference for your heir(s). The Settlor Account is useful if you expect to add significant amounts of cash to your Estate.

A basic Offshore Trust, or
A basic Foundation.

Adding Trusts (one per heir).

Adding a Death Benefit.

The Trust be a Foreign Grantor Trust.

Adding a Bank Account to the Foundation, possibly by
Adding a Settlor Account.

Protection of Trading and Investment Profits against taxation.

A Trust or Foundation with a Trading Account is a must. Foreign Grantor Trust status is a matter of your personal situation; if you live in a country that requires you to report your relationship with foreign Trusts, you need it - just to avoid hassle later.

The other accounts are likewise a matter of how you plan on using the profits you generate through your trading; if you want easy access to them, the Credit/Debit Card Accounts are mandatory for tax purposes. For your continuous transfer of additional assets later, the Settlor Account will be very useful.

A basic Offshore Trust, or
A basic Foundation.

Adding a Trading Account.

The Trust be a Foreign Grantor Trust.

Adding a Bank Account to the Foundation, possibly by
Adding a Settlor Account.

Adding a Credit Card Account.

Adding a Debit Card Account.


Protection of Yourself against Liability, private.

Your private liability is really a matter of protecting your personal assets. A basic Trust will do that - and if you make it a Foreign Grantor Trust, you are ahead of any problems you might incur later with your government. You get the utmost protection from a Foundation, though, as it allows you extra layers of privacy.

Other accounts can be added, mostly for your use of the Entity for purposes that go beyond mere protection of your assets.

A basic Offshore Trust, or
A basic Foundation.

The Trust be a Foreign Grantor Trust.

Adding a Bank Account to the Foundation, possibly by
Adding a Settlor Account.

Adding a Credit Card Account.

Adding a Debit Card Account.

Protection of Yourself against Liability, professional.

For protecting yourself against professional liability, you must conduct all your business activities on behalf of a corporation. Subject to the nature of your business, you will need at least an IBC, and possibly also a local corporation (if you need any licenses or tax registration for your business). In general, you should have very strong reasons for not setting up a local corporation...

Adding other accounts is a matter of how you want to transfer money to and from the Trust/Foundation without incurring tax liability.

A basic Offshore Trust with a simple Offshore banking account, or
A basic Foundation with a simple Offshore banking account.

The Trust be a Foreign Grantor Trust.

Adding an IBC.

Adding a local corporation.

 Adding a Bank Account to the Foundation, possibly by
Adding a Settlor Account.

Adding a Credit Card Account.

Adding a Debit Card Account.
Protection of Business Income from taxation.

The three core entities (Trust/Foundation, IBC, and local corporation) are mandatory. If you depend of the income you generate from your business for sustaining your private life, you should seriously consider adding at least the Credit/Debit Card Accounts, and in a transition period, you will have good use of a Settlor Account.

Foreign Grantor Trust status is a matter of your personal situation; if you have significant business assets to transfer, you should do it, simply to avoid future hassles your government. Same goes if you are are resident of the USA or Canada, or any other country where you will be requested to report the your own status in relation to any foreign Trusts. Yuo generally get less hassle, tax-wise, with a Foundation.

Add also a Trading Account when you want to invest the profits from your business operations.

A basic Offshore Trust with a simple Offshore banking account, or
A basic Foundation with a simple Offshore banking account.

Adding an IBC.

Adding a local corporation.

The Trust be a Foreign Grantor Trust.

Adding a Bank Account to the Foundation, possibly by
Adding a Settlor Account.

Adding a Credit Card Account.

Adding a Debit Card Account.

Adding a Trading Account.
Protection of Business Assets from future creditors.

The three core entities (Trust/Foundation, IBC, and local corporation) are mandatory, although you (at least in principle) could do some kind of business without the local corporation, if asset protection was the only objective; in business, however, this will rarely be the case.

In a transition period, you will have good use of a Settlor Account. Foreign Grantor Trust status is a matter of your personal situation; if you have significant business assets to transfer, you should do it, simply to avoid future hassles your government. Again, a Foundation gives you the best possible protection in that regard.

All other acounts really do not pertain to the aset protection issue, but might serve other purposes for your.

A basic Offshore Trust with a simple Offshore banking account, or
A basic Foundation with a simple Offshore banking account.

Adding an IBC.

Adding a local corporation.

The Trust be a Foreign Grantor Trust.

Adding a Bank Account to the Foundation, possibly by
Adding a Settlor Account.

Adding a Credit Card Account.

Adding a Debit Card Account.

Adding a Trading Account.


If you want to digest this information a little and maybe have it supplemented in a structured form, you should check our free e-mail lectures (any one of them will guide you through to a genuine understanding, so pick the one of the four that interests you the most):


Please also make sure that you have done your "Due Diligence" before you go ahead and order any Offshore Entities.
You should at least check our suggested list of things to do
- including an agenda for your meeting with your attorney.
If you don't have an attorney yet, go and get a highly qualified one here!