Malaysia rewards a second look from internationally mobile clients. A territorial tax system, no estate or general capital gains tax, a foreign-income exemption now extended to 2036, a mature double tax treaty with the United Kingdom, four residence routes and a natural fit with the Gulf, assessed by a dual-qualified barrister and Spanish abogado.
I have spent much of my working life at the seam between two legal traditions, and I know of few instruments that sit on that seam as uneasily as the trust. To a common law adviser it is the most ordinary thing in the world. It separates legal title from
Continue Reading Anglo-Saxon trusts in Spain: the problem of selective transparency
In a recent Financial Times op-ed, Yousef Al Otaiba, UAE Ambassador to the United States, set out why his country has walked away from OPEC after nearly sixty years — confident, unapologetic, sin complejos. For HNWIs and family offices, that is more than a headline; it is a signal. But relocating successfully takes more than sunshine and 0% tax. It takes treaty strategy, legal substance, and advisors who see the whole board.
Continue Reading The UAE Looks Forward. So Must the International Private Client
Your life crosses borders. A home in London, another in Andalusia, children settled in the Gulf, a business with operations in three countries, a will that works under English law but not in Spain. You are bouncing between advisers who rarely speak to each other. After twenty-five years between London, Madrid and the GCC, I write here for you — about the human side of cross-border life, and how the law can serve it.
Continue Reading Welcome to The International Private Client
The era of taxing companies is giving way to the era of taxing wealth. That is the central argument of my latest article, “Why Private Wealth is the Next Tax Frontier”, published this month in Taxation — the LexisNexis/Tolley title that has been the United Kingdom’s leading journal for tax professionals for over a century. You can read the full piece at https://www.taxation.co.uk/articles/why-private-wealth-is-the-next-tax-frontier
Continue Reading Why private wealth is the next tax frontier
The Financial Times interviewed me for its piece on how democracies should tax the super rich without driving them out. My contribution ran with my position unchanged from what I set out earlier this year in the Tax Journal in my article Why Private Wealth Is The Next Tax Frontier
Continue Reading The problem with taxing the rich
“Unfortunately, tax ‘leniency’ in a low‑ or nil‑tax jurisdiction does not change how other states determine taxing rights,” said Fernando Del Canto, a Spanish lawyer and barrister based in London.
“Countries are sovereign and they don’t want their tax base to be eroded; they don’t want their tax [rights] to
Continue Reading HMRC ‘unlikely to be lenient’ with tax exiles fleeing Dubai, advisers warn