Many people think offshore banking is illegal because they associate offshore banking with tax fraud and organized crime. In reality, offshore banking is not illegal as long as some guidelines are remembered.

Your local authorities must be notified if you have any offshore bank accounts. Failure to do so will be considered tax evasion or fraud.

An offshore bank account should not be used for money laundering and other criminal activities. The criminal use off offshore banks will most often be notified by the authorities and will most often led to heavy legal implications.

Offshore banking should also not be used to finance terrorism and wealth building for dictators. It is a crime to do so and it's possible for the authorities to freeze money on an account used to finance terrorism, etc.