Investment

U.S. investors investing offshore for the first time often wonder why offshore banks won’t accept them as clients.

Over the last two years, I've written extensively about a U.S. law enacted in 2010. It's called the "Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act," or FATCA.

You have to credit the folks at the IRS for their ironic sense of humor. On June 20, 2012, the IRS clarified offshore reporting rules for 2011 with respect to Form 8938, “Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets." While the clarifications are both significant and welcomed, it would have been nice if the IRS hadn't waited two months after the filing deadline for Form 8938 (April 17, 2012). (The form, if required, was due with a U.S. taxpayer's 2011 tax return).

In my last blog entry , I discussed the newest U.S. government escalation in the War Against Financial Privacy: Form 8938, the “Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets.”

If you have the equivalent of $500,000 or more to invest (more in some cases), you qualify for the

In the last few months, I’ve received dozens of inquiries from readers who wish to convert their “unallocated” holdings of gold or precious metals to “allocated” form.

The Obama administration continues to work diligently to crack down further on U.S. citizens and residents who invest offshore. One of those efforts has now come to fruition. 

In the last few months, I've noted increasing interest from clients wanting to take physical delivery of their precious metals holdings.  This appears to be a worldwide trend.  Colleagues in Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Singapore have informed me that many of the wealthiest investors in Asia and Europe are now demanding delivery of their gold holdings from bonded warehouses in London, Chicago, and elsewhere.