In a decision that will be a welcome source of comfort for investors in potentially risky off-plan property developments, the First-tier Tribunal (Tax) (“FTT“) in Lloyd-Webber v HMRC [2019] UKFTT 717 (TC) has held that losses stemming from the purchase of property off-plan are allowable losses for the purposes of capital gains tax (“CGT“). Read more

In the fifth episode of our Private Wealth & Charities podcast series Richard Norridge and Ben Pollard, Founder and CEO of charity Local Welcome discuss the charity’s past, present and future. Local Welcome aims to make it fun and easy to cook and eat with refugees in various communities across the UK. You can find … Read more

On 7 January 2020, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued two circulars to clarify aspects of the licensing obligations applicable to private equity (PE) firms and family offices which conduct business in Hong Kong. The circulars have been issued in response to enquiries from industry participants and their professional advisers. An overview of the … Read more

In December 2019, the Charity Commission announced its intention to make an application to the High Court in relation to the residual funds held by the insolvent Dove Trust (registered charity number 287401). The application comes following the third and final distribution of the charity’s assets to creditors by the Commission-appointed interim manager and seeks … Read more

The Charity Commission has, pursuant to its powers under section 181A of the Charities Act 2011 (the “CA“), disqualified three former trustees of Kingdom Life Ministries (charity registration number 1109664) following a statutory inquiry which found the former trustees received unauthorised payments totalling £456,853.68 between 1 June 2013 and 13 November 2018. Read more

Welcome to Herbert Smith Freehills’ new monthly private wealth industry updates in Asia. Every month we survey ten Asian jurisdictions for legal developments concerning trust and estate planning which are of interest to the private wealth industry, and provide a succinct summary in a table format. The jurisdictions covered in the update are Hong Kong, … Read more

The decision of the England and Wales Court of Protection (the “COP“) in Re GED (Various Applications Concerning Foreign Representative Powers) [2019] EWCOP 52 concerned five separate applications asking the COP to make orders giving effect to foreign representative powers in England and Wales. In reviewing these application the COP stated that the approach previously … Read more

We have launched our annual survey to map the major risk and compliance issues facing trust companies. We are looking to identify the key trends in the industry and understand the main risks and challenges trust companies encounter, to help equip the industry with how to best tackle them. The survey takes the form of … Read more