The Panama Papers, a leaked set of 11.5 million confidential documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonesca, has generated a lot of interest in the subject of off-shore corporations. There is a general sense that someone who owns off-shore corporations must be up to no good , engaging in tax evasion at the least. It is just not true. There are many valid, innocent reasons to own foreign corporations. I spoke with Lief Simon, once a typical American boy from Arizona, who, still a US citizen, lives with his family in Panama. He owns several foreign corporations - ten or so. He has a spreadsheet, but it was not handy. Taking him at his word, and there is no reason to doubt him, there is nothing nefarious going on.
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