Offshore Investment Holding Structures: Considerations For Wealthy Individuals

It is commonplace for High Net worth Individuals (HNIs) to use special vehicles to hold their investments in financial and non-financial assets. These special vehicles are typically used for various purposes and could either be domiciled locally or offshore. Generally, HNIs have shown preference for offshore Investment Holding Structures (IHS) for various reasons. Some of these include preservation of asset value, robust estate planning laws in those jurisdictions and the need for efficient risk management framework.

Recently, these offshore jurisdictions have come under scrutiny of the international community on the basis that some HNIs establish complex structures in certain offshore jurisdictions with the aim of evading taxes. Since 2016, there has been massive leak of personal financial information, which were hitherto kept private, about many wealthy individuals around the world. A German newspaper called Süddeutsche Zeitung received tons of leaked documents