offshore accounts
Overseas banking holdings
Offshore accounts are bank accounts held in a country other than where the account holder resides, typically in jurisdictions with favorable tax laws, banking secrecy, or lighter regulations.
The term carries connotations of tax avoidance or hidden wealth: The investigation revealed millions stashed in offshore accounts.
While some offshore accounts serve legitimate purposes—international business, expatriate banking—the phrase often implies an attempt to shield assets from domestic authorities.
- shell companiesLegally registered but inactive businesses
- shell gameStreet swindle with cups
- tax havensLow-levy jurisdictions for assets
- money launderingDisguising criminal proceeds' origins
- dark moneyUndisclosed political contributions
black money · capital flight · trusts · tax evasion · tax dodge · Cayman Islands · Switzerland · embezzlement · fraud · Panama · whistleblowing · paper trail · hidden assets · secret stash · hidden wealth · beneficial ownership · financial transparency · Luxembourg
- high societygossip, socialites, socialite, aristocrats, aristocrat
- money jokesbroke jokes, poor jokes, stock jokes, loan shark, bubble burst
- global financeinternational banking, financial hubs, central banks, capital flows, exchange rates
- corporate crimescorporate fraud, securities fraud, insider trading, price fixing, embezzlement
- financial fraudsecurities fraud, bank fraud, accounting fraud, defalcation, embezzler
- financial secrecybank secrecy, Swiss banking, Swiss banks, secrecy laws, financial privacy