Panama corporations can either be owned by the persons who physically hold the bearer shares, or they are owned by foundations. In a bearer share corporation, the holder of the shares is not publicly recorded anywhere, so the owner can remain anonymous. Panama law states the foundations have no owners, so in the case of foundation ownership of corporations, there would be a layered effect of anonymity making the "corporate veil" iron clad. In a bearer share corporation, the holder of the shares is not publicly recorded anywhere, so the owner can remain anonymous.

The only publicly recorded items are the articles of Incorporation. The articles of Incorporation for offshore corporations in Panama will list the directors of the corporation. These directors can be provided to you by your law firm. Any firm will provide nominee directors for the corporation. THey will also provided signed, undated letters of resignation to you so you can change the directors at any time. It should be noted that the names of the directors are publicly registered, so any director will have their names there for all to see. If anonymity is a priority stick with the nominee directors provided and anonymity can be guaranteed.

There are no income taxes on income generated outside of Panama, and there are no ways for any other government agencies to access any of the corporation information due to Panama secrecy laws. Corporations financial records and the bearer shares can be kept any where in the world. They are not registered or entered into the public record anywhere. There is only one annual fee that the Panama government charges for corporations and the amount is $300. Panama requires no minimum amount of paid in capital for a corporation, although most bank accounts require a minimum $1000 deposit.

So, when looking into offshore asset protection in to form of corporations, the strict secrecy and privacy laws of Panama are second to none.