There have been a number of recent press articles about the role of STEP, a leading professional body, in the wealth management industry. Some of these articles have presented a highly distorted view of STEP and the activities of our members. STEP members, known as TEPs, spend their professional lives helping families plan for their… Read More STEP – the reality
Taking a global view, the period since 2008 has been marked by unprecedented activity aimed at improving tax transparency. First of all we had tax information exchange on request. More recently the move has begun to automatic exchange of tax information. The same period has also seen enormous emphasis internationally on improving the availability of… Read More Why do people go offshore?
France has taken the unprecedented decision to put its register of trusts online and freely accessible this week. From 30 June the French trusts register can be accessed by using a number of search criteria, including the name of the trust, or identity of the trustee, settlor or beneficiaries. France obtained this information as trustees of… Read More French trust register goes live to public on 30 June
On Friday (22 April) HM Treasury announced that a further 19 countries have now joined the UK-led pilot project launched with Germany, France, Italy and Spain for the automatic exchange of information on beneficial ownership. These include the Netherlands; Romania; Sweden; Finland; Slovakia; Latvia; Croatia; Belgium; Ireland; Slovenia; Denmark; Malta; Lithuania; Cyprus; Bulgaria; Portugal; Estonia;… Read More Registers of beneficial ownership – the end game?
STEP yesterday (14 April) received a letter from Mr Kosie Louw, Chair of the OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, which was sent to all members of the Global Forum. The letter contains the following statement: ‘I want to state that the public release of taxpayer information is… Read More OECD: ‘Public release of taxpayer information is not consistent with the international standards for tax transparency’
The OECD Common Reporting Standard (CRS) is probably going to impact directly every STEP member outside of the US – the only major international financial centre not so far committed to joining the CRS. Even STEP members in the US, however, are likely to have to consider CRS’ implications for any clients they have with… Read More CRS and charities: watch out for reporting obligations
At one of the regular meetings we had with HMRC, there was a short presentation from the Offshore Evasion strategy team. They are keen to get the message out to taxpayers that automatic exchange of information in the shape of the Common Reporting Standard will be coming in relatively soon, with the first exchange of… Read More Informing clients of CRS reporting
A third-party company, Exhibitor Housing Services (EHS), is contacting our Mauritius conference speakers and exhibitors, introducing themselves as the official ‘housing bureau’ for the event or as a representative from the InterContinental Resort Mauritius or STEP and offering room rates lower than those quoted on our website. This is not the case. EHS is not… Read More Scam Alert: Hotel Room Reservations Services from Exhibitor Housing Services (EHS)
Reports suggest that late last night the EU Parliament and Member States finally reached an agreement on the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive. The agreement will see a mandatory requirement for registration of beneficial owners for corporates, but is less than clear on the issue of public access to such a register, allowing access to be… Read More The 4th AML Directive Agreement – a pragmatic solution
This article originally appeared at ACAMS moneylaundering.com On the eve of key behind-the-scenes talks on the Fourth European Union Anti-Money Laundering Directive, the rift over proposals for the public register of trusts has widened between the United Kingdom and Europe. Officials from the European Parliament, Commission and Council are set to meet Tuesday to discuss… Read More Battle Over Exempting Trusts From Public Registry Continues Between EU and UK
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