International Tax Planning

This area is surrounded by mystique. Unfortunately some practitioners main line of planning is to rely upon the Inland Revenue not finding out! If the plan does work there is no need to notify the Inland Revenue since that could eventually lead to legislative changes blocking the loophole if it is perceived that there is a significant loss of tax. One such example is the anti avoidance legislation regarding offshore trusts introduced over the last 20 years.

Successful planning utilizes tax avoidance not evasion loopholes. It is often expensive to arrange and therefore should not be contemplated unless large sums of money are involved. Planning can take many forms depending upon the objective and it is not possible in a short article to specify what can be done. Sufficient to say that if a person faces a large tax bill at some stage in the future then it may be possible to structure his affairs in such a way that the liability is mitigated.