Partner in Private Tax and Wealth Planning team, Filippo Noseda, contributed to the chapter on transparency in Knight Frank's annual Wealth Report. The chapter explores "the impact on where wealth is held and how it is invested, and how the trend is prompting a shift to longer term, more sustainable strategies."
According to the report, "the move toward CRS and FATCA […] runs counter to data privacy legislation, such as the European General Data Protection Regulation, which requires “active consent” for data transfers."
Filippo, who appeared as an expert before the Council of Europe and the EU data protection authorities in connection with the introduction of the OECD's Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and the EU's Beneficial Ownership Registers, is spearheading a case on behalf of an “accidental American” named Jenny who is suing HMRC, Britain’s tax regulator, arguing that the country’s automatic transfer of her data to the US under FATCA exposed her to unnecessary risk.
According to Filippo, "The transparency laws […] were born out of a clear need, but have suffered the common fate of executive-branch rule making: they have swung the pendulum too far. The starting point is that there is no legitimate expectation of privacy, and a presumption that everyone is potentially dishonest, […] leading to a “feeding frenzy” of data collection without any restrictions. While the stated objective is fighting tax evasion, these systems operate even where there is no tax at stake; for example because the country receiving the information does not tax assets held abroad or does not levy tax at all."
To read the full report please click here or download here.