What more can be done to educate clients about the potential impact on them of tax transparency? - Prof Gunter Dufey

Prof Gunter Dufey of PIBA SA

Feb 5, 2019

Prof Gunter Dufey, Professor Emeritus of Corporate Strategy, International Business and Finance at the University of Michigan Ross discusses what more can be done to educate clients about the potential impact on them of tax transparency?

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1. What more can be done to educate clients about the potential impact on them of tax transparency?

Video transcript

1. What more can be done to educate clients about the potential impact on them of tax transparency?

Taxes are always a tricky issue in Wealth Management because nobody, especially wealthy people, like to pay taxes. Now, here is a new challenge. With Singapore having changed its policies drastically, with regard to compliance and taxation, because remember it was not too long ago that our Prime Minister said “We’re not responsible for the enforcement of other people’s tax rules.” That has obviously changed. We have gone with the spirit of times, and we not report, not only to the US, we report to the Europeans, and everybody else. So, the question for the RM for the industry is how do we get our clients to comply. I think the answer is that of course, you have to follow the rules, but there are clever ways to follow the rules in a legal or legalistic way. I mean, the old principle is that nobody can avoid taxes, but you can structure your affairs in such a way that taxes are minimised. Not tax evasion, but tax avoidance, and that is the principle that in this environment becomes very, very important. Working with your legal department and external lawyers, and the smarts of your clients, you can structure constructions where the client stays on the good side of the law, and yet the burden of taxation is not too burdensome. I think that’s the new challenge.So, take an intelligent approach to taxation.

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