This background information on the history of
Offshore Press, Inc. (formerly Research Press) is provided for the
benefit of prospective customers/subscribers who want to know about the
company and for any reporters who are interested in the background of
the company.
Offshore Press, Inc. (of Kansas) is a family owned
publishing company that has been in business since 1981. The business
is
owned by Vernon K. Jacobs, his wife and two grown daughters. The name
was changed from Research Press, Inc. to Offshore Press, Inc. (Kansas)
as of May 16, 2000.
The
business began as a way to distribute books, reports and interactive
Lotus spreadsheets written by Vernon Jacobs when he was the Editor of Tax
Angles,
a large circulation tax strategy newsletter published by Kephart
Communications of Alexandria, VA. At the present time, the company is
technically a "minority owned enterprise" because Vernon's wife and two
daughters own 60% of the stock.
From about 1984 through 1989, the company focused on
developing and marketing various tax planning worksheet templates
developed by Jacobs. The first was a comprehensive income tax planning
tool for individuals, corporations and trusts. Another worksheet
was designed to calculate the tax on distributions from a
qualified retirement plan, taking into account the impact of the 15%
excise tax on excess plan distributions - which has subsequently been
repealed. Other worksheets that were developed and sold included "TotalTax",
"DivorceTax" and "AudiTax". The TotalTax
worksheet
compared the tax burden on doing business as a proprietor, partner, S
corp and and C corp owner. The DivorceTax worksheet analyzed
alternative methods of divorce settlements for the purpose of securing
the best arrangement for both parties. The AuditTax worksheet
provided a quick method of estimating and/or verifying a proposed audit
adjustment by the IRS. Numerous other smaller worksheets were also
developed and sold.
The market for spreadsheet templates was short lived and
by 1989, it was extremely difficult to sell worksheets in the form of
spreadsheet templates. In January, 1989, the company embarked on the
newsletter publishing business by launching "The Jacobs Report on
Investment and Retirement Tax Strategies". In 1990, 1991 and
1992, back issues of the newsletter were compiled into a book
called "The Zero Tax Portfolio Manual".
Sensing an opportunity to capitalize on a new specialty
in the legal profession, the focus of the newsletter was changed to
asset protection in early 1993. The name was changed to The Jacobs
Report On Asset Protection Strategies, a monthly newsletter on
legal
methods of protecting assets from future lawsuits.
In late 1994, the company established its first web site,
consisting of a copy of its catalog. In 1995, the first web site was
replaced by a larger web site and email newsletter called Financial Solutions Online.
The name of that publication was changed in April, 2000 to Offshore Internet Digest.
In early 1997, the company agreed to produce an email tax
newsletter to be distributed by another electronic publisher, but after
six month, it was clearly not generating enough subscriptions to
justify
the time to produce it. The company changed the focus of the
publication from a tax newsletter to a series of tax research reports
on
legal methods of tax avoidance - called "Vern Jacobs' Tax Solutions".
Early in 1997, the company agreed to provide publishing
and marketing services for OFFSHORE, an eJournal, - an email
service written and distributed by Arnold Cornez, J.D. A few months
later, the asset protection forum was modified to incorporate offshore
topics. Early in 1998, the company agreed to take over full publishing
and editing duties so that Arnold Cornez could devote more time to his
legal practice. The name of the publication was changed to The
Offshore Journal.
A major redesign of the web site occurred in mid-1997,
with a shift to the use of tables to facilitate navigation between
different parts of the web site.
In mid-1998, the company sponsored a public
email discussion forum on asset protection
and offshore topics, which was subsequently replaced by the Jacobs
Report on International Financial Planning -- discused below.
The next major overhaul of the web site occurred during
the first half of 1998 when the web site was changed to make use of
frames, background images, some graphic images, a search engine and
various other features selected to make the web site easier to use. In
addition, a separate web site for paid subscribers was expanded and a
separate web site (sub-directory) was established for each newsletter published by the
company.
Later in 1998, the company concluded that "Vern Jacobs'
Tax Solutions" was not generating any substantial interest, and since
Vernon Jacobs had decided to focus his tax accounting services on
offshore/international tax services, the newsletter was changed to also
focus on offshore and/or international tax issues. J. Richard Duke, an
experienced international tax lawyer, agreed to serve as the consulting
editor and co-author for a new newsletter called "Offshore Tax Strategies". The tax section
of the company web site was modified to reflect the change in the focus
of the newsletter.
Due to a shift in focus to an international theme, the
name of the asset protection newsletter was changed in April, 2000 to Global
Asset Protection.
In April, 2000, the company implemented a plan to
reorganize its newsletters around the common theme of an international
focus. At the same time, the Offshore Journal was discontinued due to the departure of its editor and
was replaced with a new publication called the Global e-Commerce Monitor. (Due to a
severe lack of subscriptions, that publication was discontinued in mid
2001.)
The Jacobs Report on Asset Protection Strategies was
renamed Global Asset Protection.
Due to difficulties encountered by varous people in
remembering the www.rpifs.com domain name, we searched for a domain
name
that would reflect the offshore focus of the newsletters and would
be easier to remember. The web domain name www.offshorepress.com was
available so we acquired it and then we changed the name of the company
from Research Press, Inc. to Offshore Press, Inc. as of May 16, 2000.
The name of the free Financial Solutions OnLine
announcement newsletter was changed to the Offshorenews
Internet Digest, as part of the new international theme for the
newsletters.
In October, 2000, the web site was extensively revised to
eliminate the use of frames, to simplify the web site and to move most
of the more technical or detailed articles and reports into the
restricted web site for paid subscribers.
In 2001, the newsletters were replaced by a free email question and answer service (aka blog) called "The Jacobs
Report on International Financial Planning."
At the end of 2001, the Offshore Tax Strategies
newsletter was converted into a series of topical research reports and
consolidated into a seminar on international tax law. The seminar
manual
was called the Offshore Tax Manual.
The first seminar was held in
Las Vegas in 2002 and the second was held in January, 2003. The
seminar manual was 575 pages (8.5 x 11) and was sold separately from
the seminar. The entire manual is still included in the
subscriber's
web site, but substantial portions have been used as the foundation for
various books about international tax law. The books include
As
of the first of January, 2002, the
separate pricing for different newsletters was eliminated and replaced
with a single subscription rate for the combined newsletter and for
access to all of our eBooks and numerous research reports.
In May, 2002 we sponsored a
one day seminar on the tax rules for controlled foreign corporations at
Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
In 2003, a report on asset allocation and risk management
for investors was updated and expanded into a book called "Risk
Management for Amateur Investors". The book is also included
in
the subscriber's web site.
Also in 2003, the company acquired the technical means to
offer digital reports and "e-books" through an automated system. A
variety of printed reports were made available at a reduced price for
sale as electronic products.
In February, 2003 we held a repeat of the CFC tax seminar at Caesars Palace.
Early in 2004, most of the tax information in the Offshore Press web site was updated and moved to
a new web site (www.vernonjacobs.com).
As of January, 2005 we
resumed publishing a subscription newsletter with the name International Wealth Protection
Monitor. The IWP Monitor is a twice monthly summary of
significant news developments relating to asset protection and taxes.
It is provided at no additional cost to paid subscribers to the International Wealth
Protection Library -- a digital library with over 2,000 pages of
background information on a wide range of asset protection and related
tax information.
In the Spring of 2006 we published the 2006 Guide to Reporting Foreign Financial Accounts.
In December, 2007, we held our third Controlled Foreign Ccorporation Tax Boot Camp at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
In
July, 2008 we participated in the three day FreedomFest Conference at
Bally's in Las Vegas and in July, 2009, we hosted a mini-seminar on
Offshore Taxation as part of that same conference.
In April, 2009 we published the second edition of the Guide to Reporting Foreign Financial Accounts and a new book -- The U.S. Tax Reporting Guide for Foreign Trusts.
Additional information about the company and its products
is available by calling Vernon Jacobs at (913) 362-9667
.