People thinking of setting up or taking over a business abroad are being urged to do their research before taking the plunge.

Overseas property and finance expert Simon Conn has been arranging foreign mortgages for more than 30 years. He says the one area of the industry he gets increasingly frustrated about is clients who wish to set up or take over an existing business abroad, with no thought or plan of how this is going to be achieved.

As part of their pre-election campaign, the Conservative Party had promised to effectively raise the threshold for inheritance tax from £650,000 to £1 million for a married couple, where a family home is involved.

This was not included in the Queen’s Speech on 27th May, but now the Treasury Minister, David Gauke, has confirmed to parliament that it will go ahead.

In this issue, we cover two major important issues that will affect the majority.

The first main issue is the forthcoming UK referendum on the European Union, known by many as the potential "BREXIT", and also, the new EU legislation on Inheritance Succession Rules, being implemented on 17th August this year, which will affect all of us.

Switzerland has agreed to automatically exchange information with the EU, bringing an end to banking secrecy.

A new tax transparency agreement was signed on 27th May 2015 by Jacques de Watteveille, the Swiss Secretary for International Finance Matters, EU Tax Commissioner Pierre Moscovici and Latvian Finance Minister Janis Reirs (on behalf of the Latvian Presidency of the EU Council).

When the Chancellor delivered his autumn budget statement last year, it was confirmed that Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes (QROPS) would be treated the same as pensions would be dealt with in future under the pending UK “pension freedom” rules. However, overseas pension schemes holding UK tax-relieved savings outside the European Union are now, in fact, prevented from offering “pension freedom” to members after 6th April. This U-turn has meant that owners of a QROPS sited in popular jurisdictions such as Guernsey, the Isle of Man and New Zealand have found themselves in a ‘ring-fenced’ situation and these QROPS must continue to provide an “income for life” on 70% of the subject pension fund.

In this edition of the Private Fund Management Market Insight we cover the following issues:

• The UK enters deflation - the first time s - page 1.
• Economic & Market Overview - page 2.
• The UK election and its consequences - page 3.
• Investment - looking for income - page 3.
• Our InvestClever Portfolio Stats - page 4.

CLICK HERE to read.

If there is any aspect within this month's Market Insight that you would like further information on, or you would like to have any of our previous issues of Market Insight, please feel free to contact us.

Recently HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) sent a ‘legal request letter’ (dated 17th April) to all global providers of Qualifying Recognised Qualifying Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS). In the letter HMRC asked that a QROPS provider must satisfy itself that it meets the Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (ROPS) rules. Specifically it asks three questions:

GBP surges after Tory win! Did you take advantage of the sharp rises in the market on the back of the landmark election result?

With sterling continuing its strength its not too late to talk to us about how you get more for your money!