#United Kingdom Archives - Law firm Finance Business Service: offshore registration, tax planning, legal services

UK Toughens Requirements for Trusts

Published: Dmitriy Batrakov | 13.02.2018 | news

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has introduced new requirements for registration and reporting regarding the trust management mechanisms both within the state and outside it. The introductions stipulate that British and non-British trustees are obliged to register all corresponding to these requirements trusts in the new service (register) on disclosing information on Trust Reporting Service by March 5, 2018, in accordance with these requirements. Otherwise, there is a threat of imposing fines. The scope of application of the rules is quite wide. Thus, all the so-called “express trusts” (trusts established according to the intentions of the parties and recorded verbally or in writing, in contrast with the trust by court order) created anywhere in the world that have undertaken the corresponding tax liabilities under the UK law within the tax period (April 6 - April 5) and meet a number of other conditions, are demanded to register and report the information about the trust, its founders, beneficiaries and assets. These data will be kept in the registry of the UK government, which is available to law enforcement and tax authorities. The following taxes...

The Isle of Man Toughens Measures against Crimes in the Financial Sphere

Published: Dmitriy Batrakov | 22.12.2017 | news

Recently, the government of the Isle of Man has made public the draft law on Anti-Money Laundering and Other Financial Crime of 2017 (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2017). The proposed legal act is based on the recommendations of the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Measures to Combat Money-Laundering and Funding of Terrorism - MONEYVAL - and it assumes the improvement of mechanisms for compliance with international standards in this field. The draft law offers new measures aimed at regulating the activities of trustees operating for personal reasons and foreign trustees, including the requirements for record keeping. In addition, the document introduces additional requirements for accounting for the funds and changes clarifying the powers of the Registrar of Companies on examination of the documents filed with the Register and conduction of relevant investigations. The introductions proposed by the bill also concern raising the level of financial sanctions for the untimely provision of access to information to law enforcement agencies. The legislative act also specifies that a number of crimes (theft, forgery, etc.) identified in accordance with the...

Legal Regulation of Blockchain

Published: Olena Kamenetska | 07.11.2017 | blog

Legal regulation of blockchain. Latest changes and prospects for the development of legislation Blockchain Technology is a developing technology on which basis new applications in the field of finance appear daily. Regulators of some countries have already reported their intentions to study the use of blockchain technology, which is also called distributed ledger technology (DLT). The new technology is potentially attractive to the regulators because of the increased level of transaction security and risk reduction of manipulation, but, at the same time, it creates complex legal problems that regulators are trying to understand and resolve. In this article, we will try to make a brief analysis of the approach of regulatory authorities to blockchain technology. Regulation in the USA The regulators in the USA are seriously monitoring the development of blockchain and other DLT (as well as cryptocurrency, in circulation on the basis of such registers). Some express concern about their impact on financial stability and market integrity. At the same time, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is actively exploring the potential possibilities of the use of blockchain and...

Government of Great Britain plans to raise taxes

Published: Yurii Krasilnikov | 01.09.2017 | news

The British government is concerned about the state budget deficit which currently reaches 2.5% of GDP. The authorities do not exclude the option to solve the current economic situation by raising the tax rates. The Chancellor of the British Treasury Philip Hammond hinted unambiguously with his statement: "We never said that we would not raise taxes". In the near future, a program will be developed to reduce the budget deficit, according to which the policy of the state can change in the direction of increasing taxes and reducing the financing of a number of industries. According to the official, reducing expenses and obtaining new sources of replenishment of the state treasury will allow the UK to solve the existing financial problems and renew the financing of the leading sectors of the economy of the...

The contribution of UK’s largest taxpayers increased in 2016

Published: Sergey Panov | 19.12.2016 | news

This year, the largest companies of Great Britain paid for taxes 82.3 billion pounds sterling (103.2 billion US dollars), in comparison with 2015, they paid 80.5 billion pounds sterling, despite reducing corporate tax rate, according to the report of PwC. Tax deposits from 100 largest companies in Great Britain constituted 13,3 percent of the state receipts and it turned out 23.7 billion pounds sterling in a type of tax which become covered at the expense of companies and 58.6 billion pounds sterling of taxes which were collected by the entities on behalf of the government, such as the VAT and a tax which they created in 2016. Taxes increased by 3.6 percent since 2015, due payments increasing of the corporate tax. PwC says, while the corporate tax is at the lowest level, elimination of a capability of banks to offset the losses or to make compensation payments for the purpose of the taxation, led to increase amount of the corporate tax. Revenues from banking tax rose by 24.4 per cent in 2016, after the rate increase. The tax contribution from the financial sector, increased over the past six years, it currently accounts for 43 percent of the taxes collected from 100 companies....

British electronic tax reporting has achieved concessions

Published: Sergey Panov | 08.12.2016 | news

The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group has said, that millions of British taxpayers, who do not have access to the Internet can not comply with the requirements of HM Revenue and Customs, which offered obligatory online reporting rules. Also, this group of tax reform urged the government to make concessions to give a guarantee to people who not necessarily use online technology or have no Internet access, to have alternative options for accomplishment of the tax liabilities, in case of the entered obligatory electronic reporting of 2018. The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group said, that 10 percent of the population will never be "interested in a digital form" and more than five million adults never used the Internet. The chairman of LITRG Anthony Thomas said: "There are people who just don't want to learn use the Internet, to see its benefits which can give and other people don't want to use because they think that it is unsafe. Also, more and more services progress through online services, such as a capability to make new online requirements of the tax credit as it was announced in Autumn Statement. We convince HM Revenue and Customs and more wider government to look at this electronic...

Transfer pricing is the UK tax dispute

Published: Sergey Panov | 05.12.2016 | news

According to the international law firm Pinsent Masons, the amount of tax that potentially underpaid large corporations by removing profits to other jurisdictions, increased by 60 percent last year, to GBP3.8bn (USD4.8bn). This number is "a tax for consideration" by HMRC's Large Business Directorate HMRC, which does calculations of the most potential additional tax liability on all open requests before any investigations are completed. The specialist in the tax matters Heather Self of Pinsent Masons told that such increase offered management of HMRC that opened a significant amount of new requests within the last twelve months, in particular, in the field of affairs of transfer pricing of multinational corporations. She assumed that transfer pricing becomes the unique biggest risk or a source of potential tax errors for the large companies. "It seems that financial management on new looks at the largest companies of Great Britain, being accented on intra group, cross-border transactions", she told. "Possibly, there will be a reaction to increase in emphasis of attention of OECD and the EU concerning the international taxation, and it allows to assume that HMRC becomes more...

ACCA calls for calm to response of the British BEPS

Published: Sergey Panov | 16.11.2016 | news

Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of taxation at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, said the UK should follow the crowd in response to the erosion of the tax base and the movement of profits, rather than to bring the crowd and vote for the exit of Great Britain from the EU. Roy-Chowdhury recommended that the adoption of the measures proposed by the OECD to tackle the erosion of the tax base and the movement of profits, instead of British or European departures facilitated b administrative burden on the UK government at the time when it is likely to be stretched negotiations on Brexit. He said, that against all the other uncertainties to the global economy, further changes in the high-level for the taxation of transnational corporations would be an unfortunate distraction at a time when the business is the most touching response to volatile global political and economic background, as well as the civil service of Great Britain will need its brightness. It is best to focus on the key issues to ensure future trade options and opportunities for growth. Also, he noted, that the development of alternative models of cross-border taxation of transnational corporations is...

UK and Colombia: Agreement about Avoidance of Double Taxation

Published: Sergey Panov | 09.11.2016 | news

UK and Colombia signed an agreement on avoidance of double taxation November 2, which is designed to support trade and investment by setting the upper limit of income tax on cross-border income. The agreement was signed by the Financial Secretary of the Treasury, Jane Ellison, and Colombian finance minister Mauricio Cárdenas. Income which was received through the international border, potentially exposed to tax in two countries, giving birth to the problem of double taxation. Agreement on avoidance of double taxation ensures that it is fixed, and the income earned in one country is taxed only once, not twice. Eliminating the risk of double taxation will give greater confidence for employees and companies between Britain and Colombia about which taxes they pay and where. The agreement will reduce barriers for international trade and investment, and promote growth and jobs. Also, an agreement of avoidance of double taxation includes provisions to help both countries work together to solve evasion and tax avoidance. The agreement provides that dividends accruing to the pension fund under certain circumstances, dividends will be subject to income tax at a rate of zero percent. If...

Fund of Luxembourg is considering reducing taxes for Britain

Published: Sergey Panov | 11.10.2016 | news

Henderson Diversified investment trust said that it is considering the transfer of its Luxembourg subsidiary of the United Kingdom, referring to the growing fiscal risks in the Grand Duchy. In a statement released to the London Stock Exchange on October 7, Henderson said that some recent developments in tax law and practice of Luxembourg increased the legal risks of operating within the jurisdiction, including the transfer pricing. "The Board of Directors and its advisors continue to review these developments and the recently concluded that the existing structure of the company may include increased complexity and risk," said Henderson. "Accordingly, the Council examining the possibility of simplifying the tax structure by election and joining the UK investment trust tax regime, including changing its place of registration in the United Kingdom," added the firm. Such a move is likely to lead to the liquidation of its subsidiary in Luxembourg and the formation of a new company in the UK, which is expected to reduce its annual operating costs. The company said its investment management arrangements will not be affected by this reorganization. However, he confirmed that it will last...

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