NEWS
Offshore centres targeted
in tax evasion crackdown
Offshore centres and investors
are facing investigations
following a number
of international initiatives.
The US’ Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) is reported to
have spoken to accountancy
firms about helping it to
identify foreign banks and
offshore accounts through
which US customers may
be evading taxes.
This move comes after
a Miami judge issued a
court order giving the IRS
permission to require UBS
to hand over information
about US taxpayers using
Swiss bank accounts to
evade taxes.
The order follows another
US court case, in which
a former UBS banker pleaded
guilty to conspiring to
defraud the IRS by helping
clients to avoid US reporting
requirements on income in
Swiss bank accounts.
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In the UK, HM Revenue
and Customs (HMRC) has
entered the next stage of
its investigation into offshore
bank accounts. It is
believed to be following up
on the declarations that it
rejected under the Offshore
Disclosure Facility and contacting
those people on
whom it has information
but who did not make a
declaration.
The UK’s Treasury Select
Committee is also continuing
its investigation into
offshore centres, which it
announced in April, with the
focus on transparency and
financial stability. Offshore
centres have made submissions
to the committee and
its members have visited
a number of jurisdictions
including Jersey. Financial
firms in offshore centres
have also been asked to
give evidence.
New Argyll FoF invests in
global properties funds
BY SIMON HILDREY
Argyll Investment Services
has launched the Guernseybased
Clarion Property
Fund.
The open-ended fund
is managed by Argyll, with
Ultimate Assets as the property
adviser. Argyll already
manages the Montenegro
Investments and Belgrade
Pioneer funds, which are
holdings within the Clarion
Property Fund.
Up to 80% of Clarion is
FUNDS FACTS
Domicile: Guernsey
Initial fee: 1%
Annual performance fee: 1.5%
Performance fee: 20% (subject
to 8% hurdle)
Minimum investment: £50,000
Place: aiming to profit from mispriced
collective investments
invested in physical property,
with the remainder in
tradeable property-related
assets and cash. It has three
investment strategies:
� Specialist physical property
deals that offer high
potential returns but require
“thorough due diligence”.
Current holdings include
land banks in Montenegro
and Serbia, such as the
Oak Village site, where
development permission
has been granted.
� Opportunistic physical
property holdings that are
more liquid than the first
group and potentially offer
income. For example, the
fund has assessed a mixed
office and retail development
in Perth, Australia.
� Property-related listed
assets. Stuart Place, partner
of Argyll, says the fund
seeks to profit from mispriced
collective investment
schemes in the medium to
long term.
An example of the last
strategy are Japanese real
estate investment trusts (J-
REITs), which Argyll said
will benefit from new office
supply over the next two
years running at half the
pace of 2003 to 2006.
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