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New rules in France mean that expats with trusts may have to take measures to avoid penalties

For those moving to live in France, the list of things to think about before emigrating is substantial. As well as the practical things to deal with, there are likely to be a few legal and financial items too. Unfortunately, that list has just become a bit longer, if we add on trusts and the impact of some new tax rules from 2011, which really start to bite come June 15 this year.

Expats resident in France may have to take action before then, to avoid trust penalties. The outline below will give you an idea of what to look out for, to see if you might be affected.

Why did things change?

The background to all of this was a desire in France to target situations where families have their wealth held in trusts. While trusts are not really part of French law, France has now created a special way to tax them and find out more about the wealth held in them. Disclosure plays an important role in these new rules.

What is a trust?

Trusts are bread and butter in the UK as a way of holding assets for the benefit of more than one generation. They are a useful way of protecting property held outside the estates of family members, yet the trustees can still give access to those assets. People can set them up when alive, or write them into their will. Life insurance (Other OTC: LINS.PK - news) policies can be held in trust, for example, as well as share portfolios and other assets.

To understand the impact of the new French rules, you need to know about the three key parties to a trust:

Settlor: this is the person(s) who set up the trust and gifted the assets to it.

Trustees: these are the people who administer the trust, and the trust property is generally held in their names.

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Take action to avoid French penalties on trusts

The return of Ernst & Young to the British Virgin Islands, combined with OECD approval of the territory's tax information agreements, could mean more job opportunities for expats in finance and law in the Caribbean paradise

Ernst & Young has re-established an office in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and a company spokesman says that they believe the territory will go from strength to strength in the financial sector in the coming year.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) announced at the end of last year that the BVI was a jurisdiction that demonstrated "sufficiently strong adherence" to new global regulatory and supervisory standards on international tax cooperation and information exchange. In addition, the BVI has been recognised by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for tax information exchange agreements at "an established standard".

One of the "Big Four" accoutancy firms in the City, Ernst & Young is seen as a global leader in offshore auditing, alongside PwC, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and KPMG.

The firm has 152,000 employees in 140 jurisdictions globally, with many packages and perks for expats. Dan Scott, managing partner for Ernst & Youngs Bermuda, Bahamas, BVI and Cayman Islands region, was attracted by the BVIs international reputation for financial services, particularly the strength of the financial services legislation, the regulatory regime and the Commercial Court: When I look at the BVI, it ticks all of those boxes very nicely, he said.

International offshore law firm Ogier also has a presence in the BVI. "During the week, working in the BVI is not dissimilar to working anywhere else in the world, in that it principally involves sitting in front of a computer screen and speaking to clients based all around the world," said partner Simon Schilder.

"The only real difference is the daily commute rather than forty minutes or more on a packed tube carriage, it is a 15-minute drive in the comfort of your own car, which you can then park outside the office in the office car park. As for weekends, it may sound like a bit of a clich, but every weekend is a bit like a Caribbean holiday."

Phillip Kite, a BVI-based partner and global head of litigation for Harney Westwood and Riegels, says that the option of working offshore was not explored while he was at school or university it was not until he was qualified and working full-time that he began to consider life overseas.

"I really liked litigation and insolvency and qualified during the early 1990s during the recession, so there was a lot of opportunities for insolvency lawyers," Mr Kite said.

"I was about five or six years qualified when I got the inside track on a job in the BVI. At the time there was little information you could get about working offshore.

See more here:
Expat opportunities growing in British Virgin Islands

Oil and gas executives can secure the biggest pay packets if they are willing to work in Nigeria, according to a new study

Research released this week by recruiter The Curzon Partnership said that energy firms in the African nation were now paying the biggest country premiums to attract staff.

The news that expats demand more to live in Nigeria is perhaps unsurprising when it comes in the same month as the murder of a British expat in the north-west region of the country.

Chris McManus, a construction worker from Oldham, was killed after the British government attempted to stage a rescue mission for him and an Italian colleague who had been taken hostage by terrorists last May. According to the Foreign Office, at least 24 British nationals and 200 foreign nationals have been kidnapped in the Niger Delta the countrys oil producing region since January 2007.

Some oil and gas executives and their families do perceive frontier markets like Nigeria as riskier than other markets and the high country premium reflects that, said Helen Di Mauro, a partner at The Curzon Partnership. Oil and gas companies recognise that the incentives have to be high because life as an expat in Nigeria is so different from countries with broader industries and higher standards of living.

The headhunter said these incentives were often worth as much as 45 per cent of a basic salary, and had pushed the going rate for those at general manager level up to 290,000 per annum in Nigeria.

But Jake Molloy, secretary of the Offshore Energy Branch of the union RMT, said the big bucks dont necessarily extend to those further down the oil and gas chain, such as those working on offshore rigs.

The average punter doesnt attract a significantly higher salary in Nigeria. There is obviously a supplement for the cost of travel and the location timings, because they have month-on-month-off working down there. They are compensated to some extent for that but its nothing major and in fact there are some cases where they are earning less, said Molloy.

But he said the risks are lower offshore. Senior (Xetra: 852271 - news) people would spend more of their time onshore so they are more vulnerable to being taken than those offshore, who are on installations that are small steel islands many kilometres away from the shoreline, which are therefore relatively secure.

He said the union advises oil workers to check Foreign Office advice before travelling to Nigeria, and to avoid smaller employers, which may not have the same ability to ensure the safety and security of staff as larger companies.

Continue reading here:
Expats in Nigeria top for oil and gas pay

Lawmakers call for regulation of 'Wild West' loan industry Lisa Loving Of The Skanner News March 20, 2012 She was desperate to pay a handful of crucial bills, so she went online and researched digital loans.

She read about Internet payday loan companies and how they work but she found one that seemed better than the others.

In order to find out if I qualified I had to give them my bank account and social security number like you would for any loan, she told The Skanner News. There was my first stupid thing.

This Oregon resident -- who has requested anonymity because she hasnt yet told her family that a $400 loan turned into a $1,000 nightmare -- has helped touch off a national effort by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI) to regulate the billion-dollar offshore payday lending industry.

Merkley and Akaka this month officially requested that Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Richard Cordray take action against such payday lenders, who appear to be reaching right into unwary consumers bank accounts and siphoning out everything they can get.

Merkley brought the issue to the National Newspaper Publishers Association last week in Washington D.C., during Black Press Week.

Millions of Americans are affected by the abusive and deceptive payday lending practices across our country and over the Internet, Merkley says. While Oregon is lucky to have state legislation in place to stop the worse practices, there are still loopholes and offshore websites that are dragging Oregon families into black holes of debt.

We have to bring order to the Wild West of the lending market.

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Online Payday Lenders: Consumer Ripoffs by Offshore Corporations

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