A look at the most read stories on eprivateclient this week…
Monday
With England in lockdown until 2 December, eprivateclient looked at which of London’s top restaurants are offering a takeaway service while visiting them in person is off the cards.
A global survey of 90 wealth managers, private banks, family offices, corporate services providers, trust and fund administrators, found that 81 percent of respondents felt the industry is undergoing unprecedented change. According to the research from technology provider, TrustQuay, the sector is expected to consolidate at an even faster pace, with 59 percent of respondents predicting that consolidation will increase over the next two years.
Tuesday
Dominic Chappell, who bought department store chain BHS for £1 in 2015, was found guilty of evading tax of £584,000 and has been jailed for six years. A criminal investigation by HMRC revealed Mr Chappell deliberately evaded VAT and Corporation Tax payments for his personal services company, Swiss Rock Limited, and did not disclose dividend income.
The US Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued further guidance to art market participants. The advisory note highlighted the risk of incurring penalties stemming from dealings in high-value artwork associated with blocked persons and entities and follows a US Senate Subcommittee on Investigations' report in July, which demonstrated the facility with which foreign bad actors are able to evade OFAC sanctions and engage in money laundering through art market purchases.
Wednesday
A quarter of over 50s who divorce in England could seriously affect their retirement and later life plans, a recent survey from Legal & General found. Those in their 50s save £57 less on average each month towards retirement after they split. This adds up to £30,000 less by the age of 70. The study also found that while over a third will see their incomes fall by an average of £10,650, just three percent take financial advice.
The UAE announced it is to introduce changes to its laws concerning expatriates’ wills and inheritance. The reforms are part of a series of presidential decrees by UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the new amendments in the Personal Status Code and the Civil Law give expatriates living in the UAE the option to choose the law that would be applied to their inheritance in order to ensure the stability of the financial interests of the foreign investors in the country.
The Office of Tax Simplification’s proposals to reform Capital Gains Tax (CGT) have been described as “dangerous and are a far cry from tax simplification” after the OTS called for CGT to be closer aligned to Income Tax. This would see the maximum rate increase from 28 percent to around 40 percent.
UK accountants Kreston Reeves strengthened its private client practice following the appointment of legal services director Simon Levine. Mr Levine joined the firm on 2 November 2020 to lead the firm’s legal team based in its London office. Previously he was a partner in the London team of UK law firm Hugh James having built and managed his own legal practice, Claremont Richards, for a number of years.
The number of whistle-blowers reporting tax evasion to HMRC increased by 63 percent in the last year. This resulted in total payments of £473,000 in 2019/20, up from £290,250 the previous year. However, the number of awards made for those exposing tax evasion is not known.
The UK government will consult on introducing a requirement for all tax advisers to hold professional indemnity insurance. Based on responses to a call for evidence on raising standards in the tax advisory market and roundtable discussions, HMRC argued that there are many potential benefits to this despite the potential cost to tax advisers, clients and the taxpayer.