What is the concept of 'Offshore' and 'Onshore'?

'Onshore' derives its meaning from itself. 'On' + 'Shore' refers to some activity, where you live or domiciled. Similarly 'Offshore' deriving from 'off' + 'shore' refers to some activity 'out' of where you live or domiciled. You might have heard of 'offshore jobs' and 'onshore jobs' which is an intuitive example.

Let us extend this terminology to bank accounts. Let us consider that you are a U.S citizen and you own your personal savings account in Citibank. This is your onshore native account. If you often travel and do business in Canada, there will be a need for you, to open your bank account in Canada. Since you are US citizen, your Canadian bank account gets offshore status.

'Offshore bank account' is the name given to the bank accounts that are held by non-residents in any foreign country. The main advantage is the bank account owned by the customer is held 100% private and confidential, for which bank secrecy laws apply, in the country where the bank is located. Your friends, spouses, tax authorities, personal enemies, investigators, detectives and your government can never have access of your financial records held in offshore. Very importantly, offshore accounts are tax free, no capital gains, attractive investments, and direct access to the trade markets. 


Offshore bank Onshore bank 
1 Adheres and obeys to the laws, rules and regulations, where that bank is located. Eg. Credit Suisse, a Switzerland bank comply to laws of Switzerland only. Local laws and regulations apply. 
2 Privacy is the biggest advantage, protected by local laws. Privacy is a well respected tradition for many countries including Switzerland. No Privacy. The banks keep their doors always open for anybody to walk in and scan your records. 
3 Zero tax for money deposited in offshore banks, with excellent interest rates and attractive investments. Even your money deposited in offshore savings account grows with interest. 

Here are some of the common famous Offshore Zones : Switzerland, Austria, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Cyprus, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, Dominica, British Virgin Islands, Isle of Man, Cyprus, Mauritius, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Cook Islands. These places are notoriously called ' Tax havens of the World ' because they offer significant tax benefits like no income taxes, no estate taxes, no capital gains, excellent interest rates for investments, direct access to stock markets. Switzerland is the undisputed leader in offshore. 

Nevertheless, privacy is a biggest attraction in these 'Tax Free Zones' of the world.

We make offshore bank account setup easy: Just a copy of your passport "apostille" or ID required.

Swiss Bank Account - Swiss Investement Bank Account -