Bespoke - for private clients
Friday, March 05, 2010
| Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Personal
| Tags: links,
tax planning,
tax havens,
retirement,
Richard Branson,
wealth management,
Lewis Hamilton,
offshore banking,
tax exiles,
submarine

Find out why racing driver Lewis Hamilton (left) and other non-UK residents should be worried about the latest HMRC’s crackdown. Plus, see the latest millionaire’s plaything – a luxury submersible. These wealth-related stories and more rounded up monthly on the Bespoke blog.
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Thursday, March 04, 2010
| Posted by: Sue Knight
Categories:
Protecting your wealth
| Tags: HMRC,
tax,
tax havens,
HNWIs,
Sue Knight,
domicile,
Gaines-Cooper,
residence,
residency,
UK residents,
IR20,
status,
Finance Bill 2008

The debacle over residency status is finally brought to a conclusion following the publication of the long-awaited decision of the Judicial Review cases of Davies, James and Gaines-Cooper.
So what can the non-residents who want to keep a foothold in the UK expect from HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC’s) more rigorous scrutiny of non-UK residency claims?
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Wednesday, March 03, 2010
| Posted by: Richard Jameson
Categories:
Protecting your wealth
| Tags: HMRC,
tax,
Richard Jameson,
HNWIs,
high net worth individuals,
domicile,
Gaines-Cooper,
Irish domicile levy,
2010 Finance Bill,
corporation tax,
Ireland,
residency,
IR20
Ireland has been held up as a country with a progressive and attractive tax regime, so the proposal for a domicile levy has taken Irish high net worth individuals (HNWIs) aback. On the other side of the Irish Sea, the recent findings in the Messrs Davies and James and Mr Gaines-Cooper case regarding tax residence have left many internationally mobile individuals feeling that the taxman has them in their sights…
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Wednesday, February 24, 2010
| Posted by: Dave Jennings
Categories:
Personal,
Protecting your wealth
| Tags: offshore,
HMRC,
tax,
tax planning,
Switzerland,
legislation,
penalties,
Dave Jennings,
investigation,
banking,
Robert Huitson,
Isle of Man,
law,
backdated,
Swiss,
human rights,
UBS

I am not talking about the HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC) version of Doctor Who, as scary as that may sound, now comes something even worse. One of the main gripes we often hear from business’ about our tax system is the lack of certainty. Should HMRC, therefore, be authorised to change the law or its interpretations retrospectively, plunging its victims into a costly time warp and sending them singing for their supper?
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Friday, February 12, 2010
| Posted by: Francesca Lagerberg
Categories:
Personal,
Protecting your wealth
| Tags: tax,
inheritance tax,
income tax,
Francesca Lagerberg,
tax manifesto,
marriage,
capital gains tax,
transferable allowances,
tax saving,
saving,
marriage and tax,
tax benefits
Marriage and tax is becoming an increasing area for debate as the political parties clash heads over whether the tax system should recognise marriage. So why do people think the system is not working, what tax breaks do you currently get when you’re married, and how best can you utilise them?
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Monday, February 08, 2010
| Posted by: Richard Jameson
Categories:
Business,
Employer,
Protecting your wealth
| Tags: government,
economy,
Richard Jameson,
tax policy,
NICs,
jobs,
labour,
working,
National Insurance Contributions,
flexible,
personal tax allowance,
relocation,
Tax Manifesto,
manifesto

Flexible working, targeted National Insurance holidays, tax breaks for new workers or the long-term unemployed… with 1% going on National Insurance Contributions, we need to stimulate the jobs market to keep workers off state benefits. Here’s some free advice for the next government…
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Thursday, February 04, 2010
| Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Personal
| Tags: links,
Switzerland,
tax haven,
India,
iPad,
emerging markets,
Cadbury,
Ghana,
vintage,
auctions,
car collecting,
flying car

These stories and more rounded up monthly on the Bespoke blog.
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Tuesday, February 02, 2010
| Posted by: Francesca Lagerberg
Categories:
Personal,
Protecting your wealth
| Tags: Francesca Lagerberg,
EIS,
50% tax rate,
VCT,
Pension,
enterprise investment schemes,
anti-forestalling provisions,
venture capital trusts
We all know we should save for our retirement and with the added bonus of attractive tax breaks many of us do. But with the withdrawal of higher rate tax relief on pension contributions for some, pensions are back on many peoples’ agenda, and many are asking if pensions are still the best way to save for their retirement.
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Tuesday, February 02, 2010
| Posted by: Francesca Lagerberg
Categories:
Protecting your wealth
| Tags: HMRC,
tax planning,
tax avoidance,
EFRBS,
Francesca Lagerberg,
Employer-Financed Retirement Benefits Schemes,
scheme,
arrangements,
spotlights,
tax evasion
Sue Knight’s post on 5 October 2009, EFRBS appears on tax authorities’ radar, highlighted HM Revenue & Customs’ (HMRC’s) attitude towards tax planning arrangements involving Employer-Financed Retirement Benefits Schemes (EFRBS). HMRC has now gone further and, in addition to detailing specific schemes, has issued a list of indicators that it sees as suggesting tax avoidance.
So what do HMRC say is “tax planning to be wary of”?
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Thursday, January 21, 2010
| Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Business,
Protecting your wealth
| Tags: infographic,
offshore,
tax,
tax haven,
finance,
banking,
jurisdiction,
IMF

While most people think of the traditional tax haven as being somewhere like Switzerland or Bermuda, there are in fact more than 60 offshore financial centres around the world, according to the IMF.
Grant Thornton’s latest infographic shows the scale and global spread of such offshore tax jurisdictions, locating them by country, city and island/political region…
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