Well advised non-doms know that UK situated assets should never be directly held by their offshore discretionary trusts. To do so would subject the offshore trust to periodic charges to UK Inheritance Tax (IHT). These charges comprise the entry charge, the ten year anniversary charge, and exit charges, where value leaves the trust after creation.
To avoid these charges arising, it has been commonplace for UK situs assets, such as UK real estate, to be owned by an offshore company, which in turn is wholly owned by an offshore trust. The trust’s asset is the shares in the offshore company – non-UK situs, so the trust is not subject to periodic IHT charges as it does not directly own UK situated assets. As a result, many non-doms have no understanding of what periodic charges are and when they apply. However, if the Government’s proposals in their August Further Consultation come to pass, ignorance of IHT periodic charges could cost non-doms and their offshore trusts.
With the proposed move towards transparency, for IHT purposes, of offshore structures owning UK real estate from April 2017, non-doms owning UK residential property where a trust is involved in the structure will suddenly find, in many cases for the first time, that the periodic charges to IHT will start to bite on their trust.
In the United States, a trademark can be refused registration on the Principal Register because the trademark is deemed merely descriptive. If the trademark is not allowed for registration on the Principal Register, it may be eligible for registration on the Supplemental Register. So, how do you determine if your mark is descriptive and which register should you seek registration?
Up until this point, as we’ve looked at the “law firm of the future,” we’ve mostly focused on the idea that we can take what we’ve been doing and adapt or tweak it in some way, so that we can continue on our paths and just improve ourselves. We’ve talked about
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