i will assume quite a bit in your motivations for setting up offshore.
you are in the US, so any legality protection.
if you are in the US and running your company that is domiciled outside the US, you have no protection. you are still running the organization. yes, there can be shell companies setup to remove you from control, but if the doj is trying to find out who is at the helm, you can be uncovered. in order to really have it managed by an offshore organization, they have to physically run the day to day tasks of the business. it is far more intricate and cumbersome to be done properly and in most cases is not feasible.
if you are doing it for tax reasons, it cant be avoided unless you yourself are moving out of the US as well. again, if you are calling the shots from the states, you are responsible to pay federal taxes here regardless of where your organization is domiciled.
you really need to elaborate on your specific circumstances, and what you are trying to accomplish in order to get relevant advice for your decision making process. you should also find competent attorneys who have experience in this matter to see if its even a sensible avenue for you to explore. i have been down this road a dozen times in my 5 years of this industry. i have a company in nevis, and costa rica. i spent tens of thousands of dollars and never used them for anything. i have banking outside the country, that i use everyday, but i dont need a foreign entity in order to use international banking…….
a main reason i hear people exploring the holy ‘offshore’ grail is for legality reasons. in my experience, setting up offshore to alleviate that risk, is in and of itself admitting that what you are doing is illegal. the other reason is tax liabilities, and again from what i have found, outside of leaving the country, this cant be legally avoided by going offshore……….this is what i have found after working with a handful of top tier and mid tier law firms. i am not saying its 100% accurate, as i know of a few who have spent well into the 6 figures to develop ironclad offshore entities(which also entailed moving out of the US). but if you find different, please let me know, as i would love the benefits people usually associate with ‘setting up offshore’
thks
RL