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Essential to anyone accepting credit card payments, particularly on the Web, Merchant accounts can be expensive. They're not very cost effective to maintain, attracting high set-up fees and deposits as they do. But you can always open an offshore merchant account, it's less expensive and the customer service good. Most customers use credit or debit cards to pay for their purchases. Accepting them broadens your potential customer base. And because merchant accounts handle the credit card payments your customers make to you, maintaining a merchant account is necessary, tempting as it to think otherwise. The money you receive is credited into your account until you decide what you'd like to do with it. You might decide to leave it there, or use the money for your overseas business payments. Or you could wire it to your normal account. When you think of an offshore account, you probably conjure up images of something dark and unlawful. The fact is that off shore merchant accounts in the Caribbean, Latin American and Europe are legal. They offer the same services as their counterparts onshore, but at a cheaper cost. All merchant accounts, whether onshore or offshore, require some deposit to be paid before you can open an account. One of the attractions for going offshore is the lower deposit amount you have to pay as compared to onshore institutions. This frees up valuable capital for you to spend elsewhere. Security amounts for charge backs provide another difference between on shore and off shore. Each account keeps a certain amount of money held back from your use just in case someone returns an item and there is a charge back. Off shore accounts generally hold back a smaller amount than in country accounts. One of the disadvantages of an offshore merchant account is the high fees the institution charges as service charge on each transaction. Onshore institutions charge less for this service. The financial benefits of an offshore account however, more than make up for the high fees charged. The biggest reason that many business owners, including small business owners, choose off shore accounts involves the tax benefits. It is possible to claim a portion of the income as foreign income. You still have to pay taxes on it, but the taxes are lower than domestic income. Before using an off shore account for tax benefit, however, be sure to consult your accountant or a tax attorney. You do not want to do something illegal by mistake. With global technology advancing at such a rapid pace, there is no reason why you should limit yourself to what is available on shore. Telecommunications allow you to instantly access your account from anywhere in the world. The Internet allows you to accept credit card payments online any time of the day or night, without you physically present. An off shore merchant account is simply another tool to help 0you maximize your profits.
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