A look back at the most read stories on eprivateclient this week…
Tuesday
The French National Assembly recently added an Article to the 2022 French Budget, which aims at securing the application of pre-existing anti-tax avoidance Article 123, in the context of certain French-connected trusts established in low-tax jurisdictions and which mainly hold financial assets. The new measure will affect French tax resident settlers and beneficiaries, treated in France as “deemed settlers” where the original settler has passed.
323 historic documents, dating from 1612 all the way to 1950, will be transferred from HMRC to the National Archives in Kew in London to be preserved for the nation. The documents include vellum and parchment documents bearing the seal of King James I and a document related to an English Civil War dispute bearing the mark of the Lord Protector, Richard Cromwell. Several of the documents survived the English Civil War, the Great Fire of London and the London Blitz.
Wednesday
International law firm Withers added Paul Jebely as a senior partner based in its Hong Kong office and head of its newly-launched global asset finance practice. He joined the firm from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, where he was managing partner of its Hong Kong office and co-chair of the firm's private wealth and asset finance practices.
The UK's National Crime Agency secured assets worth an estimated £1.1 million, after a NCA tax investigation into a Derby man revealed that his family run business had avoided paying tax for 18 years, on profits suspected of being linked to drugs and other criminal activity.
Thursday
Trust and fiduciary services provider Ocorian recruited a former eprivateclient 50 Most Influential to lead its private client offering in Jersey. Named as a 50 Most Influential in 2018, 2019 and 2020, Ian Rumens joined Ocorian from Intertrust where he spent over a decade. Most recently head of private wealth – Jersey, Mr Rumens was Intertrust’s global head of private wealth from 2017 until 2020.
Employers need to have a far greater understanding of when employees can and cannot claim for business lunches, UK tax and advisory firm Blick Rothenberg warned. Robert Salter, a client service director specialising in employment tax issues at the firm, said that with recent controversy about costs incurred by Tory cabinet minister Liz Truss in terms of business lunches, It was essential that businesses understand the regulations which apply and when it is possible to argue that business lunches are tax-free for employees.
Friday
Law firm Mishcon de Reya was fined £232,500 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). The fine imposed on Mishcon de Reya is the biggest ever imposed by the regulator. Mishcon de Reya admitted to several breaches relating to money laundering rules. These breaches included failing to conduct adequate due diligence in four separate matters, misplacing a record of diligence it did conduct, and failing to train a partner in anti-money-laundering rules.
Parents with more wealth to pass on are more likely to split their assets unequally between their children, according to research from wealth manager Netwealth. The study, entitled Generation Game: Financial Tribes in Family found that only a quarter of those on the upper end of the wealth spectrum with over £500,000 in investable assets plan to split their wealth equally between their children, compared to two thirds of those on the lower end of the scale (28 percent vs 66 percent).