Personal Services

Preparation of Tax Returns
Accountants can prepare and file personal tax returns on behalf of their clients to ensure that they are correct and that they are prepared to the client’s best advantage. This may be desirable in any situation but especially where the client has changed their residency for tax reasons or if the client has multiple tax residencies and wants to be sure to avoid double taxation.

Taxation
Personal tax advice may be desirable if a client is expecting to receive a windfall, change careers or residency or wishing to make provision for their heirs after their death. Personal tax advice may also be related to savings plans or other forms of investment, home equity release, transfer of pensions amongst other areas.

Wealth can be stored in many forms and it is usually possible to hold wealth through a corporate vehicle rather than holding it directly. The advantages of a holding vehicle can be numerous and may include the reduction of tax, the avoidance of duties on death, the protection of wealth in the event of legal action and the geographical diversification of assets to take advantage of economic stability.

This article covers personal banking. For banking for incorporated bodies such as limited companies or trusts see our main article on corprate banking.

Any person holding a United Kingdom (UK) pension may be motivated to move it elsewhere due to a number of problems with leaving it in the UK (which are outlined below). The exodus of pensions out of the UK has meant that a great deal of untaxed wealth is effectively disappearing from the sights of the UK tax authorities to countries with low or no tax which may (after five years reporting period have elapsed) essentially do whatever they wish with the funds including the loaning or distribution of capital to the beneficiary during his life.

Shedding Previous Residency
It is vital to note that the taking up of residency in one country does not, of itself, shed any previous residency. Frequently it is much harder to dispose of a previous residency than to acquire a new one. Since there is motivation on behalf of an inbound country to make registration as simple as possible and on behalf of an outbound country to keep tax residents as far as possible it is vital to seek advice in both inbound and outbound country.