13Issue Thirteen
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issue13thirteen introduction 3 contents 4 european news 1311 5 usa + caribbean news 6 asia + pacific news 7 legal news 8 fiscal news 9 profile 10 contacts + info © The Sovereign Group 2003 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of The Sovereign Group. The information provided in this report does not constitute advice and no responsibility will be accepted for any loss occasioned directly or indirectly as a result of persons acting, or refraining from acting, wholly or partially in reliance upon it. Sovereign Trust (Gibraltar) Limited is licensed by the Financial Services Commission – Licence No: FSC 00143B. Sovereign Trust (Isle of Man) Ltd is licensed by the Isle of Man Financial Supervision Commission as a Corporate Services Provider. Sovereign Trust (TCI) Limited is licensed by the Financial Services Commission – Licence No: 029. Sovereign Group Partners LLP is regulated by the FSA – No. 208261. introduction Firstly, and most importantly, we would like to wish all our clients, friends and colleagues a very happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year. Chinese New Year in 2003 falls from 31st January to 3rd February, so Kung Hei Fat Choi for then. 2002 was the year of the horse and 2003 will be the year of the goat. Once again we will not be sending out Christmas cards but, like last year, will be making donations to charity instead. This year we have concentrated our efforts on assisting with the Hong Kong Rugby Bali Fund which is a charity set up to help the families of the victims of the bombing in Bali. Malta proposes redomiciliation Isle of Man licence We are pleased to report that our Malta office, In the last issue we forgot to tell you that, after some with help from our legal team in Gibraltar, put bureaucratic delay, we were issued with our Cor- up draft legislation allowing for the redomici- porate Service Providers licence in the Isle of Man. liation of foreign companies into Malta. This was primarily done in response to the new Sovereign in Switzerland legislation in Portugal, which imposes an annual We have recently been advised that an operation tax on companies incorporated in blacklisted which bears the “Sovereign” name in Switzerland countries, which own property in Portugal. was put into liquidation amid allegations of money Nearly all offshore jurisdictions appear on that laundering. We would like to make it absolutely list so large numbers of existing companies clear that this organisation had nothing whatsoever are faced with having to pay this additional tax. to do with The Sovereign Group. We were aware 13 As previously reported, Malta is the only of their existence because we recently had cause offshore jurisdiction which is not on the Por- to write to them claiming that they were infringing tuguese blacklist. The legislation passed into our Swiss-registered trademark. law at the beginning of this month and we have already begun processing applications to Pre-UK Budget announcement redomicile a number of offshore companies to We were expecting an announcement regarding Malta to avoid the penal tax in Portugal. changes to the taxation of non-UK domiciled indivi- chairman duals. There was no announcement. We are advised that changes to the legislation are still under consideration and that something may happen in the main budget in April. We continue to process applications for UK nationals living abroad that are claiming non-domiciled status. The most recent application we did took only two weeks to be answered in the positive and we have maintained our 100% success record. The advantages of non-domicile status for UK nationals are immense and we would urge any long term expatriates to give urgent consideration to making application while it is still possible. This really is a planning opportunity that is too good to miss. Sovereign in Denmark We have been advised that one of our main competitors in Denmark, Sheltons, have gone into liquidation which leaves us as one of the few organisations which specialise in setting up Danish holding companies. Danish holding companies are a viable alternative to the Dutch participation exemption regime, the UK holding company or the Spanish ETVE. International Initiatives Affecting Financial Havens If you want a thorough and up-to-date picture of how ongoing initiatives by organisations such as the OECD, FATF, IMF, US and EU are affecting offshore finance centres then I can do no better than recommend the second edition of "International Initiatives Affecting Financial Havens" written by our good friend Tim Bennett, LLB, LLM, TEP, Solicitor. Tim is one of the founder members of Sovereign Law which is an international organisation of independent law firms that adhere to the Sovereign standard and operate under the Sovereign Law name. Although the subject material could in no way be described as undemanding, Tim has done a great job in giving us a comprehensive overview in as light and intelligible a manner as possible. This is definitely recommended reading for those with an interest in the subject. See page 10 for more details. howard bilton BA(Hons) Barrister-at-Law (England, Wales & Gibraltar) Chairman of The Sovereign Group page 3 usa + caribbean news Bahamas to table new financial services legislation The National Strategy on Financial Services gives priority to new legislation on mutual funds and e-commerce. The government is also to review the existing “Know-Your-Customer” legislation and, where necessary, will table relevant amendments. This follows a ruling by the Bahamas Court of Appeal, which ordered the Supreme Court to hear a court challenge to legislation designating law firms as financial services institutions under anti-money laundering rules. This requires lawyers to submit to routine inspection of their offices and client lists. Two lawyers, supported by the Bahamas Bar Association, launched a challenge in the Sup- reme Court last December. They argued that usa+caribbean the legislation placed them in direct conflict with their duties to protect a clients’ confi- dentiality and that eight pieces of anti-money laundering legislation passed last year are in Sovereign comment breach of the Bahamas constitution. The new government entered power on a promise of assisting the financial services sector A key feature of the new mutual funds legi- and is undertaking a thorough review of all relevant legislation to try and make Bahamas slation will be to establish a series of classes more user-friendly and, in some cases, to roll back previously13 enacted legislation. Bahamas of funds – Standard, Authorised, Professional has seen a marked drop off in new business so we hope that these new regulations will and SMART funds – subject to varying regu- redress the problems. Our Bahamas office remains one of the more active operations on latory oversight based on defined risks. The the islands and we are committed to further development there. Bahamas is a good jurisdiction SMART (Specific Mandate Alternative Re- for offshore services with virtually every major bank in the world represented on the islands, gulatory Test) fund will be a flexible vehicle a host of fund managers and investment advisors, a good range of legal services, excellent with limited, defined participants and a detailed communications and regular direct flights to a variety of major US cities and to London. In business plan offering a fast-track licensing theory this should make the jurisdiction much more attractive than the relatively underdeveloped and limited direct regulation. services available in competing Caribbean jurisdictions (perhaps with the exception of the Cayman Islands) so we believe that it is only policy failures which hold the Bahamas back. The legislative agenda for the first quarter of We will advise you on the new legislation as and when relevant. 2003 includes protected cell legislation, amend- ments to the Perpetuities Act, purpose trust legi- slation, foundations legislation and legislation BVI to impose restrictions to encourage capital markets transactions. on bearer shares The BVI government is to restrict the transferability of US issues amended regulations for disclosure of tax bearer shares. An International Business Companies (Amendment) Act 2002 will provide that when bearer shelter transactions shares are issued they must be held by an approved custodian within a licensed financial institution and be Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service released on 16 October amended The subject to anti-money laundering and customer due regulations to strengthen the rules for the disclosure by taxpayers of their participation in diligence obligations. potentially abusive tax avoidance transactions and the maintenance of lists by promoters of taxpayers who have entered into such transactions. The proposed legislation will allow a two-year transition period to facilitate the transfer of existing bearer shares In March the Treasury released Enforcement their returns and requiring promoters to main- from the old to the new regime and will provide for the Proposals for abusive tax avoidance tran- tain customer lists for the same transactions.” Commission to apply to the court to wind up a company sactions and in June issued temporary and where a company still has bearer shares that are not proposed regulations implementing some of Sovereign comment held in accordance with the bill's provisions. the regulatory proposal, including the proposal Details of IBC directors must be kept in the BVI at that individuals, partnerships, S corporations The promotion of tax shelters in the US has the registered office of the company but accessible and trusts be required to disclose on their been the big issue in recent months. The new exclusively to law enforcement and regulatory officials returns specifically identified tax avoidance regulations effectively close the door on transactions.