UPDATE ON INTERNATIONAL PLANNING ISSUES BERLIN


Disclosure of beneficial ownership [ JOHN RICHES ]


THE COMMON LAW definition has been


Lost in the ether? The challenges of estate planning and digital assets


[ JULIA ABREY ]


THERE ARE INCREASING VOLUMES OF DIGITAL information, only a small amount of which is


valuable. Some digital assets are straightforward – bank accounts or share portfolios. Some, like photographs, are of sentimental value only. In Australia, medical information is proposed to be


kept online. There are social assets, e.g. diaries, and old hardware may contain information. Some assets are only digital, e.g. an avatar or digital art. How does the will deal with these? Does the testator own the assets? Much digital material gives only a lifetime license to the user. Digital assets are


Facebook will allow a ‘legacy contract’ or ‘digital heir’ (in the US only).


hard to ascertain and hard to value. Keeping records is


important. Records can be kept online, but the host company could disappear. Executors may not renew subscriptions. An on-line bank may close accounts which are not used. Facebook will allow a ‘legacy contract’ or ‘digital heir’ (so far in the US only). Yahoo accounts are non-transferable. The terms of service generally prelude transmissions. The Americans have a Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Access Act. It needs to be enacted in each State. It gives rights of access to executors, attorneys, conservators and trustees (differently). Some online games allow characters to be


sold. YouTube allows content to be ‘monetised’. This is hard to value. In drawing a will, the first step is to identify the


digital assets. There are concerns about including passwords in a will. A digital will may be possible.


The ITPA Green Book 2016 www.itpa.org


021


FATCA had a hostile reception, but the concept has become accepted, and is manifested in the Common Reporting Standard.


superseded by a more purposive construction. The beneficial owner here is the person on whose behalf the transaction is being conducted – the person exercising ultimate effective control, a much expanded meaning. FATCA had a hostile reception, but the concept has become accepted, and is manifested in the Common Reporting Standard. The United Kingdom has positioned itself as the poster child of cross-border disclosure, with its former colonies’ model


intergovernmental agreement (IGA). The UK has for the time being a special alternative reporting regime for non-doms. Bilateral treaties are expanding the CRS. Settlors, trustees, protectors, beneficiaries and others exercising effective control may be regarded as beneficial owners. In the EU, the fourth Anti-money-laundering Directive gives effect to the FATCA 2012: Recommendation numbers 24 and 25 require a list of companies and of trusts to be maintained, with (for the time -being) restricted access to trust information.


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