News

G20 to Attack Banking Confidentiality

The Guardian Newspaper in Britain has reported: "A worldwide crackdown on tax havens, from Switzerland to the Cayman Islands, will be spearheaded by Gordon Brown as the world's richest nations use the global economic downturn to close loopholes that are costing them hundreds of billions in lost revenues." Certainly Gordon Brown can exect help from Barak Obama when the G20 Crisis Summmit takes place in London this April. Of course, there is a high degree of hypocracy from both leaders, as both countries not only tradionally turned a blind eye to the offshore banking and tax mitigation schemes used by their multi-national companies but in the case of Britain, it actively encouraged its colonies and crown protectorates to develop into tax havens including the now chastised Bermuda,British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and of course the closer to home havens of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Also, thede facto nationalisation of the British banking system is not going to safeguard that most historic of banking tenets 'client confidentiality' - Already there is talk that the offshore divisions of the newly nationalised banks cannot realistically expect to offer their offshore clients confidentiality if their ultimate owners and paymasters are the UK Government!

Will SCF/Hibernian Tax Planning Structures & Banking Confidentiality be affected by all the recent changes?

There is no doubt that all clients should review their tax planning structures especially if banking confidentiality is of major concern. In particular, it is recommended that UK resident clients - be they domiciled or non-domiciled - should reconsider using an offshore branch/division of a domestic UK bank where the government is the main shareholder. However, it should be pointed out that there is no reason to panic as proper tax planning is still and will continue to be perfectly legal esepcially where client structures benefit from EU Directive and/or Tax Treaty protection - Notwithstanding this it would be wise to review all corporate mechanisms especially concerning management and control issues. For more information, please contact your Consultant for a Free Without Obligation Review of your current tax planning structure.

Senior SCF Consultancy and Administrative Staff - London Office