Legal
Statistics from the UK government’s tax office show the amount of Inheritance Tax (IHT) families are paying has soared from £2.9 billion ($3.9 billion) in 2011-12 to £5.2 billion ($7.1 billion) in 2019-20—this in part reflects the rise in asset values since 2008, and in particular skyrocketing property prices in London and the south-east of England.
Some beneficiaries discover that faith in fiduciaries can be misplaced. A combination of events, poor decision making, or even malign actors can see the value of fortunes thought to be in safe hands wiped out.
The United Kingdom left the European Union last year and the transitional period which applies EU law to UK divorces expires on 31 December, 2020 at 23:00 GMT. This expiry will have potentially dramatic changes in international family law which will affect every wealthy family with a European connection.
HM Revenue & Customs’ powers to obtain information from financial institutions are set to increase, with the requirement for taxpayer or tribunal approval to be removed. Although not yet in force, the legislation is at an advanced stage and will be of interest to family offices.
Families are being advised to get their financial affairs in order and brace for an increase in tax bills following the revelation the UK’s tax authority set up a secret unit to probe family investment companies, specifically their use by the wealthy to avoid inheritance tax.
An inconvenient side effect to living in today’s fully digitised world is that threats have also gone digital—become more difficult to discover, track and neutralise. All financial institutions are now faced with the colossal task of protecting against increased threats to their business, no matter how ‘under the radar’ their profiles have traditionally been—family offices included.
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