As an American, living in Hungary, working for companies in the EU, the Balkans, Britain and Hungary... did you declare that income to the US? Because if you don't disclose foreign holdings on your federal tax return, you open yourself up to total forfeiture, massive fines and possible prison time. Friend of mine discovered this when she traded her shady accountant for a less-shady one. She had to restate 4 years of income because of holdings she had in a B&B in Columbia. And that's pretty much the bottom line - "diversify my investment in markets beyond what the limited American system would allow" is the exact sort of financial engineering that the Treasury Department clamps down on. Sure - it's your money and you'll do with it what you want but when people whinge about offshoring reform and tax fraud and and and this is exactly the shit they're talking about. Just because you're a good person with an offshore account does not mean that people with off-shore accounts are virtuous. I probably would have done the exact same thing but I also would have acknowledged that the offshoring of my funds was a necessary evil for a job that the Treasury Department discourages you from taking through brutal disincentives.
I did at first. But I made below the poverty level in the US, so I kept getting refunds. Which seemed particularly shitty... taking money out of the US, that I didn't need, and spending it overseas. It didn't seem right. Then Hungary joined the EU. But not the EMU, that is, the European Monetary Union (there are several different levels of "joining" the EU), and nobody was really clear how to do the financial stuff properly, because the rules hadn't been defined. And nobody wanted to take on the job of figuring out my finances, because I made too little for anyone to be really interested in. I was working as a Civilian Contractor across Bosnia and Kosovo... but Kosovo didn't officially exist as a country, it was a part of Serbia, which the US did not have diplomatic relations with, so I couldn't do business with Serbia, but I wasn't, I was doing business with Kosovo, through the US Army, which was operated out of Mainz Kastel in Germany, and operating there as several different companies - local and foreign - depending on which part of the organization I was dealing with that day, etc... And any time I brought my finances to someone to try and sort them out, they'd ask, "Why the hell are you doing all this? Just put it in an offshore account and use it as your retirement plan. Sheesh... that's what everybody else does." And then 9/11 happened, and the US financial system went crazy, and nobody would touch me with a 10-foot pole. So, I tried to do it right, but gave up and just did the accepted norm like everybody else. And, naturally, all those loopholes and all that uncertainty is exactly why the nogoodniks found such a warm and snuggly place in the offshore banking craziness.
Right. And again - my friend with the B&B isn't out to screw anybody either. But as you said, the structure lends itself well to profiteers. Anyone with IRA-grade money in an offshore account is likely to have to pay taxes on it if someone bothers to enforce things. The shady accountant that offshored my friends' money? My accountant, too - also Hans Zimmer's accountant. Of the three of us, I was the least worried because the IRS has got to be pretty fucking bored to come after my ass. Kinda like you - assuming your money was still in an offshore account, a freelance technical writer who did a stint with IFOR 15 years ago is far less interesting than, say, David Cameron.