This article from Institutional Investor features the commentary of Cardinal Point’s Terry Ritchie and James Sheldon. It highlights why the U.S. is increasingly a low-risk haven for wealthy families seeking to escape turmoil in emerging markets.
The U.S. Treasury Department has income tax treaties, protocols and tax information exchange agreements in place with 40 jurisdictions, including Canada. Ritchie comments that U.S. and Canadian officials have been working closely to streamline the exchange of tax information. “It’s an increasingly complicated process of dealing with property and passive income issues, and it is only going to become harder as more new regulations come into play,” says Ritchie.
Some families couple their desire to hold assets abroad with a desire for legal residency. More upper-class families in emerging-markets nations are seeking investment-qualified immigration status to enable adult children to live and work in the U.S. while also keeping assets out of reach of home governments. Sheldon comments that such practices boil down to buying a green card: “I don’t really have faith in the nature of qualifying investments in many of the cases that we have seen.” To read the full article, click here.