CHINA

Faced with rising minimum investment requirements among residence and citizenship by investment programs across the globe, China’s IM market will respond in one of three ways. Just as we rang in the new year, Singapore set off the opening salvo on 2020 investment migration (IM) program price hikes, and several other programs have hinted at intentions to follow suit. We needn’t look far for examples: The Greek government has publicly contemplated a doubling of required amounts for its golden visa program; the Australian government says it believes requirements for its SIV are too low; the US EB-5 program recently raised prices by 80%. How...

IMMIGRATION BY INVESTMENT EXPERT INSIGHTS 2020

Some time ago, there was a piece of news that exploded suddenly in WeChat Moments. Hong Kong billionaire, Mr. Poon, had put his assets in an offshore trust a few decades ago. He, his wife and children were all beneficiaries of the trust. Decades later, when the couple got divorced, the wife took the husband to court in Hong Kong in order to divide the assets in the trust. The court eventually supported the wife’s claim that the assets in the trust were the communal property of both spouses, and they were divided equally between them. In this case, there...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY EXPERT INSIGHTS 2020

The word "immigration" appears increasingly in our life and work. Previously, we felt that immigration was leaving their native place to settle down in a new country. Later, we found that there were many additional values in immigration. With the increasing demand of immigration applicants, many people choose to emigrate because of the needs of global asset allocation, tax planning, children's education, old-age care, and other main aspects. The recognition and market enthusiasm for immigration also increased. For China's immigration applicants, most of them consider immigration is for their children’s education, next is their own old-age care, medical care, social...

IMMIGRATION BY INVESTMENT EXPERT INSIGHTS 2020

In 2018, the individual income tax law was amended to add article 8 anti-tax avoidance provisions, which are respectively made from three aspects: arm's length principle, controlled foreign corporation, and general anti-avoidance. Compared with the individual income tax law before, it is a new clause. For the first time, it is proposed that the tax authorities have the right to adjust the individual income tax, which is basically the same as the concept of "special tax adjustment" in the enterprise income tax law. The high net worth individuals must be more careful when making inside China or cross-border tax planning...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY EXPERT INSIGHTS 2020

Now, a family trust is a popular topic, sweeping across the legal and financial world. But for this imported product, in fact, we have too many questions and confusion. Many basic legal problems need to be solved urgently. I．The Question As the head of the cross-border wealth planning and inheritance team of Shanghai Landing law firm, my team often involves one kind problem in the business processing: the trust property of the testamentary trust abroad (mainly Anglo American law system) is pointing in the mainland of China. The common case is as follows: Overseas testator will establish their trust in...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY EXPERT INSIGHTS 2020

On September 29, 2013, China (Shanghai) pilot free trade zone was officially established, covering an area of 28.78 square kilometers. It covers four customs special supervision areas including Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, Waigaoqiao Free Trade Logistics Park, Yangshan Free Trade Port Zone, and Shanghai Pudong Airport Comprehensive Bonded Zone. On December 28, 2014, the area of China (Shanghai) pilot free trade zone was expanded to 120.72 square kilometers, including Jinqiao Export Processing Zone, Zhangjiang High-Tech Park, and Lujiazui finance and trade zone, covering 7 regions. "E-touch" enterprise affairs service platform and offline experience center officially go online and operate...

YACHT & AIRCRAFT REGISTRATION EXPERT INSIGHTS 2020

Pictures provided by Zagreb Tourist Administration Croatia is a relatively developed country in the Balkan region with a good economic base. Although Croatia was affected by the European debt crisis after the 2008 economic crisis, its economy has been in recession for six years. Thanks to the strong growth of export and tourism, as well as the expansion of domestic demand and the influence of low oil prices, Croatia's economy, bottomed out in 2015, with GDP expanded by 1.6%. In 2016, Croatia's GDP even grew by 2.8%. In recent years, Croatia's political situation is stable, and its financial system is...

CORPORATE & FIDUCIARY EXPERT INSIGHTS 2020

China has started tracking down some of its citizens living abroad to collect taxes, surprising expatriates who never had to pay levies back home on overseas income, according to people familiar with the matter.    State-owned enterprises operating in Hong Kong, which has one of the lowest tax rates in the world, told mainland Chinese expats recently to declare their 2019 income so they can pay taxes at home, according to the people, who asked not be named because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Chinese SOEs are also informing employees working in other places such as...

IMMIGRATION BY INVESTMENT NEWS 2020