Latin America Collection

Offshore corporations enable you to act as an international
citizen with complete confidentiality, privacy and safety. Offshore
corporations can legally open Offshore bank accounts, brokerage
accounts, hold credit cards, own property, stocks etc. and in
many cases completely exempt you from any tax reporting
requirements and with complete confidentiality.
WHY PANAMA?
For many years Panama has been recognized worldwide as a
major international offshore banking center offering very
attractive legal and tax incentives to Panamanian corporations.
For example, Panamanian law allows Panamanian corporations
to issue "bearer" stock certificates. This means the owners who
control the corporation do not have to be named in any public
record, since ownership is through physical possession of the
"bearer" shares. Panamanian Corporations are not subject to
Panamanian tax on income earned outside of Panama. Also,
unlike Nicaragua and Costa Rica, Panama allows you to name
your corporation with an English name, which has many
advantages when using your Panamanian Corporation in English
speaking countries. These are just a few of the more important
reasons why Panamanian corporations are so popular.


FORMING A PANAMANIAN CORPORATION:
First we recommend you select a name in English followed by:
Corp., Corporation Inc. or Incorporated. You cannot use the
words Bank, Trust, Foundation or Insurance in the name of your
corporation. You may use any name as long as it is not being
currently used in Panama. If you own a U.S. Corporation, you
may find some advantages in using the same name for your
Panamanian corporation, if available in Panama. This would
allow you to have identically named offshore and onshore bank
accounts as well as other similar advantages.
Panamanian corporations are typically formed with nominee
directors, president, secretary and treasure. These are
Panamanian citizens who are modestly paid officer workers. If
you wish, you may select your own directors and officers.
However, the original directors and officers selected are
registered with the Panamanian public registry which becomes
public information available to anyone who inquires. Thereofore,
if you wish confidentiality, we recommend you select the
nominee director option. Officers and directors can always be
changed later.
Panamanian law allows corporate shares to be issued in "bearer"
form. This means that whoever physically possesses the shares,
owns the company. This allows for total confidentiality of
ownership, since the person who physically possesses the shares
is not identified in any public or even private record. Having a
Panamanian corporation with "bearer" shares also makes transfer
of ownership completely private and not a matter of public
record, since transfer of ownership is a simple process of
physically transferring the "bearer" shares to a new owner. It is
very similar to passing a $20 bill to someone else versus writing
them a check. This feature makes it very easy to sell or transfer
properties confidentially by simply transferring the "bearer"


shares and ownership of the Panamanian corporation and thus
avoiding many forms of taxes and closing costs because title to
the property remains in the name of the Panamanian
corporation. Essentially you are simply selling the corporation
which owns the property.
Your Panamanian Corporation comes with a notarized General
Power of Attorney (in English) signed by two officers named in
the articles of incorporation. This power of attorney provides a
blank space for you to fill in the name of any person you want to
act as the legal agent for the corporation with the authority to
open and sign on corporate bank accounts, enter into contracts
for the corporation, sign and transfer assets for the corporation,
etc. Although you fill in your name or another person name as
having Power of Attorney, this is not evidence of ownership. The
person named is simply an agent, similar to an employee
empowered to act for the corporation. You may order as many
additonal Power of Attorney forms as you wish.
As you can see there is a world market for Panamanian
corporations because they are extremely popular. Older
Panamanian corporations with established bank accounts sell for
thousands of dollars or more. Selling your Panamanian
corporation is a matter of physically transferring the "bearer"
stock certificate together with the other corporate records to the
new owner.
The one-time cost for setting up a simple Panamanian
Corporstion is around $1300. You will have to pay an annual
Registered Agent and Director's fee of $295 yearly, due one
month before the anniversary date of the corporation.
For additonal information about starting a Panamanian
corporation contact: For forming a Panamanian corporation or


foundation, we highly recommend Roberto I. Guardia . A
number of Americans we interviewed speak very well of him.
You can contact him at: Tel: (507) 263-3917, Fax: (507) 263-
3924 Cel: 612-5429 mailto:rig@orcag.com,
http://www.orcag.com.
You may also contact: Relocation and Retirement Consultants,
SJO 981, P.O. Box 025216 (SJO-316), Miami, FL 33102 Fax:
011-(506) 261-8968, mailto:crbooks@racsa.co.cr or
http://www.liveinnicaragua.com.
Insurance
All public and private insurance companies in Nicaragua are
regulated by the Nicaraguan Bank Superintendency
(http://www.superintendencia.gob.ni).
Insurance companies in Nicaragua have grown six-fold in the last
five years, jumping from five to 30.
INISER (Tel: (505) 266-6772, Fax: (505) 266-5636,
http://www.iniser.com.ni) is the main insurance company owned
and operated by the Government of Nicaragua. You may contact
their offices in Granada at Tel: (505) 552-22826, Fax: 552-
3939, León Tel: 311-6911, Fax: 311-4293, Estelí Tel: 713-
7488, Fax: 713-3560 and Matgalpa Tel: 612-2904, Fax: 612-
5515.
INISER offers a wide variety of personal, property and
construction insurance. type of medical insurance with
worldwide coverage called Plan MEDISER. Pre natal care,
Surgery, hospitalization, outpatient surgery, emergency
transportation, and other benefits are included in the basic policy.
Additional coverage may be purchased. All residents of
Nicaragua are eligible as well as their family members.


Other types of insurance offered by insurance companies are:
health, life, automobile, fire, earthquake, flood, robbery, home,
family insurance, insurance for students, civil responsibility,
aviation, transportation of goods, bonds for bidding contracts,
etc. We have been told by fellow expats that is costs about $80
yearly to insure your car against everything. Likewise they tell us
it is easy to insure a house. Nicaraguan insurance companies
usually settle claims quickly.
You will be pleased to know that you can buy into the Social
Security health system for about $25 monthly. If you need to go
to the emergency hospital there is no charge for minor treatment.
Some of the other major, full-service insurance companies
offering personal, property and businesses are: Metropolitana
(tel. 278-4227, fax: 278-2621,
http://www.metropolitanadeseguros.com.ni), the first private
insurance agency in Nicaragua. Seguros America (tel. 274-
4200, fax: 274-4202), which is associated with the BAC bank.
Segurossa
(tel. 270-3505, fax. 270-3558,
http://www.segurossa.com.ni), which is associated with financial
group Grupo Lafise. Seguros del Pacifico (tel. 268-1415, fax.
268-2250, mailto:segurosp@ibw.com.ni), associated with
Grupo Financiero Pacific. Prisma (tel. 228-7102, fax. 222-
2135), also has a branch office in Granada (tel.552-7157,
fax.552-7162).
Check the yellow pages in the Nicaraguan Telephone Guide for
full listing of all 30-plus insurance companies.


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MAKING MONEY IN
NICARAGUA