How to Withdraw Money from an Offshore Bank Account – Legal Schemes in 2023

An offshore or foreign bank account is a necessary instrument for entrepreneurs, wealthy persons, investors, and travelers. The issue that concerns many offshore banking users is withdrawing money from the account of an offshore company and transferring funds to the account of a legal entity/individual or business founder. Also, not everyone fully understands the scheme for cashing out assets stored in the payment system, an offshore or a foreign bank account opened in another state in the name of a citizen from another jurisdiction.

Why it is Profitable to Keep Money in an Offshore Bank Account

Offshore services are very popular with international companies and well-to-do citizens. Here are the reasons why it is profitable to keep money in a foreign bank account:

• Multiple currencies can be used at once
• Favorable exchange rate and the possibility of fixing the exchange rate to eliminate uncertainty as a result of international bank transactions
• Wide geographical coverage of the partner or client network in different countries without the need to open an additional account with another bank or another jurisdiction
• The security of money and its protection from the country’s foreign political and domestic problems
• A high level of confidentiality. Unfortunately, it is not as strict as it was a couple of decades ago, but it still gives the right to preserve the beneficiary’s sovereignty if you make a competent choice of the banking sector and use such schemes as the transfer of money to a trust, the registration of an offshore company, the use of funds for real estate investments, and much more
• Easy opening of an offshore bank account by a non-resident, including a remote format without the client’s personal presence

The Money on my Offshore Company Bank Account is Blocked!

We do hope that you will never face this situation, and the best way to avoid it is to follow the rules. For more details on blocked offshore company accounts, read our article that contains an extensive list of reasons why this may happen. In a nutshell, your bank transactions or company operations should not look dubious to prevent your offshore company account from being blocked. This is the reason why we list 6 schemes here that are absolutely legal and look good in the eyes of the regulators. In any case, you should not panic even if your bank account is blocked: just contact our specialists to address the issue.

How to Legally Withdraw Money from a Corporate Offshore Account to a Personal Account

If you have a foreign company formed in an offshore jurisdiction or any foreign country, the issue of corporate funds withdrawal for personal purposes and their legal cashing through different channels will surely arise in the process of business activity. 

How do I withdraw money from my offshore account? Schemes that are used by all organizations, regardless of the place of incorporation, are presented below.

Scheme 1 – Dividends as a Way to Withdraw Money from a Foreign Company

Probably the most common scheme of money withdrawal from an offshore corporate bank account is to distribute profits in the form of dividends among the founders. Here is the sequence of actions you will have to take:

• Check the company’s capital whose amount should exceed the established limit
• Decide on the distribution of dividends among the shareholders//founders in accordance with the Company’s Articles of Association and depending on its organizational and legal form. For example, you can divide the profits by the amount of each share or into identical payments
• If necessary, deduct personal income from the amount of dividends and transfer the distributed income to the account of the CFC owner.

Scheme 2 – Withdraw Money as Salary

Such a method of withdrawing money from an offshore or foreign company account is completely legal, transparent, and beneficial to the budget. This scenario can be used in the absence of other cashing schemes for the company’s assets, which is, to tell the truth, extremely rare in offshore jurisdictions.

The essence of the scheme is simple: the founder appoints himself to the position of company director or manager and pays himself an official salary.

However, there is a reverse side to such a scheme: it implies tax obligations for the company and for the natural person (the recipient). If you opt for this scheme, you will have to calculate whether it is profitable in your particular case by considering the tax requirements in your country of residence and the tax burden on the salary from a foreign source.

Scheme 3 – Withdrawal of Money from a Foreign Bank Account Through an Interest-Free Loan

This scheme allows you to withdraw money from the account of an offshore company using an interest-free loan agreement on behalf of a law firm that grants a loan to the company’s founder. You can set any repayment period in this case.

But it is important not to attract the attention of bank regulators who can declare the transaction null and void overnight. To avoid this, the money must not only be taken but also returned. Otherwise, you can face considerable fines.

Scheme 4 – Withdraw Money through a Loan from the Founder

This is a reverse situation when it is not the offshore company that lends but the founder that finances his own company. Such a scheme of money withdrawal from the account of a foreign company is more complex, but quite legal.

• The founder or a nominee entrepreneur lends money to an offshore company at interest
• It is desirable to have confirmation of the targeted spending of the borrowed funds in case of an audit
• The debt is issued at interest set at an average market rate
• In the case of large loans, the lender receives a monthly interest for the use of borrowed funds

Scheme 5 – Withdraw Money from the Corporate Bank Account as Business Expenses

In practice, a significant part of the money that belongs to an offshore or foreign company is spent in this way. This scheme of money withdrawal from the company’s bank account implies the purchase of any valuables on behalf of the legal entity, and it is not done personally by the founder. It can be a car for corporate purposes, real estate, travel, furniture, and even suits (clothes). All of this is easily presented as business expenses.

However, spending money as you want is just a pleasant part of it. You will also need to explain each item in documents by specifying why 3 people went on a business trip, why the company needs real estate in the Maldives, and so forth. The fact of company ownership should also be taken into account, which implies that all assets will be written off against the debt obligations of the legal entity in case of any financial problems.

Scheme 6 – Services

Last but not least, you can withdraw money from an offshore company’s account if you have a second company or a private entrepreneur who will perform a number of paid services according to the documents and then return the money to the founder. Here are several examples of such services:

• management
• advertising campaign
• accounting services
• transfer of rights to use intellectual and other property, etc.

At the same time, expenses can be avoided extremely rarely, and the amount of remuneration specified in documents should be adequate to market prices.

An example of a safe and low-cost scheme: a company in the UAE enters into a contract with an Indian freelance individual who will write advertising articles for the company. The foreign company in the UAE does not pay tax under such contracts on the basis of local legislation, and the individual in India selects the most profitable scheme in his country to receive money. In this way, a large amount of money can be withdrawn from a foreign company’s bank account at a time if you conclude several similar contracts with different people.

Illegal Schemes for Withdrawing Money from an Offshore Bank Account that No Longer Work

The offshore schemes used by entrepreneurs from the 90s and 2000s no longer work in 2023 or lead to inevitable legal problems. Here are the schemes that cannot be used to withdraw money from an offshore bank account of a foreign company:

• open an offshore shell company and try to hide behind 100% confidentiality, which no longer works
• enter into a fictitious transaction by accepting payment but not providing anything in return, which entails the risks of completely losing money and getting confused in a complex scheme that is as costly in financial terms as the withdrawal of dividends
• to apply the “Russian matryoshka” scheme where several one-day offshore companies with nominee beneficiaries participate in the common chain. In modern realities, it is impossible to open a bank account for a firm without identifying the real business owner

Cashing the Money Withdrawn from the Bank Account of your Foreign Company and Personal Offshore Account – Schemes

Now you know how to withdraw money from the bank account of an offshore company, but the second part of the story is to cash it. There are several legitimate schemes for withdrawing money from personal and corporate offshore bank accounts:

1. A simple option to withdraw money from an offshore bank account is to issue a Visa or MasterCard corporate card in a foreign bank. However, it should be understood that the use of such a card in another country may involve tax risks and prohibitions. The most reliable way to cash money from the card account of an offshore company is to apply to a large multinational bank with available limits and fees
2. Online payment systems and international money transfers are a popular scheme of money withdrawal from the bank account of a foreign company or individual. The best-known and reputable Neobanks and online electronic transaction systems include:

• CurrencyFair, where you can withdraw and transfer money from a foreign bank account in more than 150 countries
• Moneycorp offers currency exchange and global payments to private and corporate customers in over 120 currencies
• Remitly can make direct deposits to bank accounts, withdraw cash and deliver money to the address you provide
• Wise is an international financial services provider available in more than 50 countries. Offshore companies and individuals can also withdraw money through Wise
• WorldRemit offers global money transfers in nearly 100 currencies in 150 countries worldwide with a minimum commission

3. Withdrawals from a foreign/offshore account via an anonymous bank card. This scheme works well for Swiss account holders and some financial institutions in other countries. However, the amount of transactions that can be made using anonymous cards is usually not very high
4. Withdrawing money from an offshore account at the bank’s cash desk is the fastest and cheapest option, but only for those who plan to visit the country where the servicing bank is located. The amount of cash imported into the country has its limitations, which should be taken into account when using this scheme

In each situation, it is important to take into account the exchange control rules and regulations that impose restrictions on the bank accounts and countries for their residents, as well as the rules on tax declaration and reporting.

An Offshore Corporate/Personal Bank Account– Legal Schemes for Withdrawing Money in 2023

The presented schemes for cashing money from a corporate or personal (individual) offshore bank account are absolutely legal. If you observe all established currency control regulations, you will have no problems whatsoever with regulators, tax or law enforcement agencies.

There are also other schemes that allow you to legally withdraw your money from an offshore bank account quickly and without problems:

• change the tax residence by opening an additional account with a foreign bank as a resident of another jurisdiction
• choose the path of “eternal nomad”, which provides for the complete absence of reporting obligations or tax payments in all countries
• use trusts and funds in offshore schemes that imply investment alienation of capital in favor of the managing corporation
• direct investments with dividends and interest on the deposit and much more

If you are looking for a legal way to withdraw your money from a corporate or personal offshore bank account, start by choosing a servicing bank, a legal form of business, and tax planning advice.