Managing the tax impact of regulatory changes

The financial crisis has brought huge change to the tax and regulatory environment in financial services (FS), and navigating the impact and opportunity of change can be difficult.

Governments, regulatory authorities and tax authorities around the world have proposed a wide range of measures aimed at influencing the size and shape of the FS sector.

The UK has been at the forefront of tax developments, with the introduction of a payroll tax for banks and the bank levy. There’s a host of other regulations which FS institutions need to prepared for including:

Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) 
This will dramatically change the current system of US tax withholding. It has major implications for many FS institutions with clients who are US citizens or institutions which receive income from the US.

Solvency II
This will change the way that life and non-life insurance companies are regulated. Any changes that insurers have to make to their business structure automatically bring change to the way they are taxed.

Undertakings for Collective Investments and Transferable Securities (UCITS) and Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) 
Companies need to think about how these changes will affect their business models, and the tax implications of any changes.

Our tax team can work with you to explore the tax impact of all of these developments and others, including controlled foreign company and branch reform. We’ll look at how your tax department can respond to the challenges and identify the opportunities you can take advantage of while managing a growing ‘to do’ list.