In Focus News & Insights

An investigation by The Pensions Regulator has for the first time resulted in an immediate custodial sentence for the perpetrator of professional pensions fraud, after William Bessent, an accountant who used his position as the trustee and administrator of a pension scheme to steal his clients' savings, was sentenced to 40 months in prison. He pleaded guilty to multiple fraud charges, making prohibited employer-related investments, and separate charges of acting as a director while disqualified.

The landmark case, being heard at Preston Crown Court* will also hopefully result in the return of stolen funds. On July 5 the courts will seek to obtain a confiscation order in order to make Bessent repay the remainder of the money he owes; he has so far repaid £80,000 but owes a further £200,000.

Expat financial advice is a must for any British expat living in Portugal, Spain or Italy to ensure they meet their cross-border taxation obligations while also making the most of the financial growth and preservation opportunities available to them.

However, there is no off-the-shelf recipe for success in this regard. Instead, expat financial advisers need to take full account of every client's individual circumstances before recommending any product or strategy.

Furthermore, the parameters affecting expat investors are subject to jurisdictional differences and change, so it is not only essential that expat financial advisers stay abreast of their clients' changing needs and circumstances but also the changing legal and regulatory environment in which their investments operate.

The structure of your wealth and your tax affairs should always depend on the particular laws and regulations of where you reside in the world as well as the nature of your long-term goals. The expat financial services market has evolved in order to help cater to these considerations and in some cases this includes helping ensure clients meet the demands of wealth tax.

The notion of wealth tax is an easy one to understand – a tax levied on personal capital above a certain threshold or thresholds – but it is by no means universally embraced as economic good sense, not least because it often may serve only to keep high net worth individuals from emigrating to a high wealth tax jurisdiction.

What are your options as an expat in Europe with a UK pension? Do you leave it in place and hope for the best or do you investigate your options and see if there is a product that is perhaps a better fit for your goals and circumstances?

Before you make any decision you need to consider that your pension is likely to be the key to your long-term financial security and only by taking considered action informed by advice from an experienced wealth manager are you going to give yourself the opportunity to make a confident decision.

Monday 4 March saw the signing of an important deal between Spain and Britain which will seek to curb some of the Gibraltar wealth management issues that Spain currently sees as a problem.

The deal will see the creation of a joint co-ordination committee to oversee tax matters between Spain and Gibraltar and primarily seeks to create certainty over tax residency and to curb tax evasion and money laundering.

Since the UK government introduced pension reforms in 2015, there has been a huge increase in pension scams with unscrupulous firms targetting the over-55s with advice regarding what they can do with their retirement savings. Statistics issued by the Pensions Regulator in January, show that, on average, victims of scams lost £91,000 in 2017. 

If you are an expat in Sweden, wealth management that takes account of your cross-border financial interests is a must.

However, with Brexit looming there is currently an added layer of concern, with the UK's imminent separation from the EU undoubtedly relevant to certain components of any British expat's wealth management strategy.

Fortunately, and despite a constant deluge of disturbing headlines that could easily have you believing otherwise, there is little chance that British citizens living in Sweden will need to make any fundamental changes to their outlook.

If you are serious about receiving the best financial advice in Spain, chances are any adviser you choose will recommend that, in the absence of a committed property investment strategy, you do not invest too heavily in Spanish real estate.

However, for the enthusiastic expat who has recently fallen in love with the country and the idea of owning a small piece, or perhaps a larger chunk, of its picturesque and romantic charms, it can be hard to resist.

But the truth is that there is often a reason why a property might be going at a bargain basement rate. For example, investment in whole abandoned villages in isolated locations such as Aragón and Galicia has recently become something of a phenomenon, when the reality is that the outlay, which can be under €100,000, will buy you little more than a dilapidated shell without water, gas, electricity, telephone or internet services. So, making your bargain purchase habitable in these circumstances is likely to cost at least ten times as much the initial purchase price.