A look back at the most popular stories on eprivateclient this week...
Tuesday
HMRC named two Belize registered companies as promoters of a tax avoidance scheme in the UK. Minerva Services and Buckingham Wealth, who share the same official business address in Belmopan, the capital of Belize, were promoting and marketing a tax avoidance scheme known as the Umbrella Remuneration Trust (URT). The scheme used complex, offshore, financial arrangements so that Income Tax and National Insurance contributions were not correctly paid.
The UK Labour party looks set to increase stamp duty paid by foreign buyers, according to a report by the Financial Times. According to the paper, manifesto plans will see a Labour government not only increasing the stamp duty paid by foreign buyers of UK property but also a restriction on the sale of new-build properties to overseas investors.
Wednesday
Hamburg-based family office Lennertz & Co appointed Dr Bastian Euler to lead its newly created tax & legal department. A lawyer and tax adviser, Dr Euler specialises in the structuring of merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions and international tax planning. Adding him brings Lennertz & Co’s team total to 35 professionals.
Fiduciary services provider Oak Group re-appointed Scott McPherson as client director of the firm’s trust and corporate division to enhance its global private client offering, subject to regulatory approval. Mr McPherson previously worked at Oak’s Mauritius office as operations manager from 2019 to 2021, where he was responsible for a large portfolio of private client structures and was instrumental setting up our partnership with the I61 foundation.
Thursday
International multi-family office and 2022 eprivateclient Top Trust Company Stonehage Fleming appointed Natasha Newell as a director to its family office team in Guernsey. Ms Newell has experience in offshore trusts having worked as a senior lawyer for various offshore law firms. Prior to joining Stonehage Fleming, she worked at Carey Olsen as a counsel and an advocate of the Royal Court. Ms Newell has also previously worked at offshore law firm Mourant also as a counsel and advocate.
According to a response to a Freedom of Information request filed by UK accountancy firm Saffery Champness, HMRC has paused its pilot of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD for ITSA) – with only 115 taxpayers currently active in the voluntary scheme. Originally scheduled to launch in April 2018, the UK government confirmed in December 2022 that it was delaying the phased implementation to April 2026. The delay also saw the government increase the (initial) minimum reporting threshold from income over £10,000, which it estimated would see 4.2 million taxpayers become eligible for MTD, to income over £50,000.
Friday
The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) announced its team of officers for 2023-24. Current CIOT deputy president Gary Ashford will become president, with Charlotte Barbour the new deputy president and Nichola Ross Martin named as vice president. The appointments were formally approved by the CIOT’s council earlier this year and the three will take up their new roles on 30 May at the institute’s AGM.
The UK marriage rate fell below the divorce rate to the lowest number on record since 1838 in 2020, the Office of National Statistics’ latest annual marriage figures showed. There were 85,770 marriages in total in England and Wales in 2020, a decrease of 61.0 percent from 219,850 in 2019. This is the lowest number of marriages on record since 1838, reflecting the impact the Covid pandemic had. Marriage rates were 7.4 per unmarried men and 7.0 per unmarried women. While divorces also took a pandemic hit, marriage rates were lower than divorce rates for the first time.