Wills, Trusts, & Estate Planning, International Law & Trade

BVI Trusts: VISTA Trusts

by Harney Westwood & Riegels on 5/23/2013

INTRODUCTION The Virgin Islands Special Trusts Act (“VISTA”) came into force on 1 March 2004 and was introduced in order to allow a shareholder to establish a BVI trust over a BVI company which disengages the trustee from...more

New amendments keep BVI trusts at cutting edge

by Henry Mander | Harney Westwood & Riegels on 5/23/2013

The British Virgin Islands is a well respected and sophisticated jurisdiction for the establishment of trusts. The general principles of BVI trust law are derived from those of English law and they have been supplemented by...more

Changes to BVI Trust Legislation – Fine-tuning the Law to Promote Flexibility

by Margarita Hadjitofi, Henry Mander, Emily Yiolitis | Harney Westwood & Riegels on 5/20/2013

The British Virgin Islands is a well respected and sophisticated jurisdiction for the establishment of trusts. The general principles of BVI trust law are derived from those of English law and they have been supplemented by...more

FBAR Penalties and Estate Administration

by Sanford Millar on 5/20/2013

The death or disability of a taxpayer who has failed to timely file a Report of Foreign Bank or Financial Account (FBAR) can present difficult problems for fiduciaries like trustees, estate executors and conservators. The...more

IRS Announces Information Sharing Agreement With Australia And The UK To Combat Tax Evasion

by David Gair | Looper Reed & McGraw, P.C. on 5/13/2013

The IRS continues to aggressively pursue offshore tax evasion. Another example of which is plan to share tax information with Australia and the United Kingdom....more

Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Registration

by Darren Mills | Berkeley Research Group, LLC on 5/6/2013

Beginning on December 31, 2013, the qualified intermediary (QI), withholding foreign partnership (WP), and withholding foreign trusts (WT) will be subject to the requirements of a foreign financial institution (FFI). As a...more

Bad Planning In Foreign Asset Protection Trust Scenario

by Charles (Chuck) Rubin on 4/29/2013

Foreign asset protection trusts are often established by U.S. persons to shield their assets from creditors. Typically, assets transferred to the trust can be paid to or applied for the benefit of the U.S. grantor(s) and...more

International Business, Tax, Estate and Asset Preservation Planning - April 2013: Expatriation Tax Rules: Green Card Holders...

by Stephen A. Malley, APC on 4/26/2013

The curiously titled "Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008" became law 17 June 2008. This was the third major revision of expatriation rules in 12 years. While the Act provides laudable benefits to armed...more

Superannuation Funds - Enhanced Investment Management Governance

by Jim Bulling, Daniel Knight, Gabrielle Palmieri | K&L Gates LLP on 4/26/2013

The Australian Government has been rolling out a series of significant regulatory reforms of the superannuation industry, many of which will commence in 2013. These reforms are fundamentally designed to enhance the prudential...more

Considerations For International Clients Who Intend to Buy A Home In the U.S.

by Amy McEvoy | Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP on 4/23/2013

International buyers invested $82.5 billion in U.S. residential real estate (4.8% of total U.S. sales) according to the most recent survey conducted by the National Association of Realtors for the 12 month period ending with...more

German Federal Tax Court: Distributions from U.S. Trusts Are Subject to German Gift Tax

by Florian Reichthalhammer, J. Andrew Stone | McDermott Will & Emery on 4/10/2013

The German Federal Tax Court clarified that distributions from foreign trusts to beneficiaries resident in Germany are subject to German gift taxation, but did not address the possible imposition of both gift and income tax...more

Personal Use Of Corporate Property In A USRPI Holding Company Structure

by Charles (Chuck) Rubin on 4/1/2013

To insulate the ultimate individual owners from U.S. estate taxes, nonresident aliens often hold U.S. real property in a U.S. corporation, which corporation is owned by a foreign corporation. The foreign corporation is owned...more

Why the Classic Legal Terminology of the Anglo-American Trust is in French, Not English: The “Law French” Phenomenon

by Charles E. Rounds, Jr. on 4/1/2013

The institution of the trust, a creature of the English Court of Equity, evolved deep in the bosom of the Anglo-American legal tradition. France, a civil jurisdiction, lacks a legal institution that is truly comparable. Her...more

March 2013 Federal Budget Provisions Concerning Pipeline Abandonment Trusts

by Marie Buchinski, Robert McCue, Lawrence Smith | Bennett Jones LLP on 3/26/2013

Overview - The March 21, 2013 Federal Budget changed the tax law applicable to the pipeline abandonment trust (Trust) structure that has been submitted to the National Energy Board (NEB) as the proposed mechanism for...more

Canada’s Federal Budget Does Not Address Cross-Border Income Trusts

by Thomas Bauer, Greg Johnson, Robert McCue | Bennett Jones LLP on 3/26/2013

The March 2013 Federal Budget did not contain any provisions aimed at cross-border income trusts (CBITs, also known as foreign asset income trusts, or FAITs). Mention was made, however, of a continued intention to implement...more

Private Client - Practical Law Multi-Jurisdictional Guide 2012/13 Country Q&A: Japan

by Shinichiro Kurahara, Takeo Mizutani, Michael Shikuma, Tadashi Wada | Morrison & Foerster LLP on 3/14/2013

Originally published in Private Client Multi-Jurisdictional Guide 2012/13. In This Issue: Taxation; Wills and Estate Administration; Succession Regimes; Intestacy; Trusts; Ownership and Familial Relationships;...more

Disclaimer Of Income Interest Was Not Taxable For Nonresident

by Charles (Chuck) Rubin on 2/8/2013

Code §2501(a)(2) provides that, except as to certain expatriates, U.S. gift taxes do not apply to the transfer of intangible property by a nonresident not a citizen of the United States. This exemption is big enough to drive...more

FATCA: Final Regulations Raise Questions for Trust Practitioners

by Sloane Jumper, Samantha Moore, John Nichols, Kurt Rademacher | Butler, Snow, O'Mara, Stevens and Cannada,... on 2/8/2013

In the wake of a series of scandals involving U.S. taxpayers sheltering their assets from the reach of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Congress enacted the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) on 18 March 2010...more

Tax Talk -- Volume 5, No. 4 -- January 2013

by David de Ruig, Stephen Feldman, David Goett, Thomas Humphreys, Meimay Law, Anna T. Pinedo, Remmelt Reigersman | Morrison & Foerster LLP on 1/28/2013

In This Issue: Fiscal Cliff Diving a.k.a. American Taxpayer Relief Act; CoCo Developments; Tax Effect of Money Market Fund Proposals; IRS Issues Final Regulations on Publicly Traded Property; Assessment of Income from...more

UK property tax changes: “de-enveloping” or a use of a trust?

by Henry Mander, Colin Riegels | Harney Westwood & Riegels on 1/21/2013

It has long been popular for high net-worth people who are not domiciled in the United Kingdom (“non-doms”) to form an offshore company, often in the British Virgin Islands (“BVI”), for the purposes of holding property in the...more

Intestate succession under German law - what happens if someone dies without a will in Germany?

by Holger Siegwart on 1/19/2013

What happens if someone dies in Germany without a will? Who will inherit? This article provides a brief introduction to intestate succession under German law....more

Settling an Estate in Germany - The Erbschein

by Holger Siegwart on 1/19/2013

Settling an estate under German law is a daunting task even for those who speak German or grew up in the country. The so called Erbschein is probably the most important document you need if you inherit property in Germany. ...more

U.S. Estate Planning For Expatriates

by Charles (Chuck) Rubin on 12/28/2012

Code §2801 imposes U.S. transfer taxes on transfers by former U.S. persons who have expatriated if the transfer is to a U.S. person. This tax is imposed on the U.S. recipient. A recent article by Joseph Toce, Jr. and Joseph...more

Rogers Towers: Using Contempt Power to Force Repatriation of Offshore Trust Assets

by Jacob J. Payne | Rogers Towers on 12/13/2012

Offshore asset protection trusts (OAPT) typically have the following characteristics: (1) the trust is governed by the laws of a foreign jurisdiction that does not recognize the judgments or orders of courts of the United...more

An Update on Preparing Living Wills for Foreign Banking Organizations — Exemptions and Important Strategy Considerations

by Joseph T. Lynyak III, Rodney R. Peck | Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP on 12/3/2012

This analysis updates a previous memo and incorporates advice we have received from the Federal Reserve Board (“FRB”) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) regarding the preparation of living wills by covered...more

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Wills, Trusts, & Estate Planning › International Law & Trade