Dear Lucie,


My Christmas message this year is about the social awareness which I know many members of the IBSA already espouse. How can the IBSA as an Association demonstrate its social awareness and do its part in fulfilling this objective? For 2018, I would like the IBSA to help those individuals whose lives have been devastated by the crippling disease of dementia? We, as members, help entrepreneurs develop their businesses as a springboard to the growth of the global economy in the most efficient manner?  How can this growth enrich the lives of those living with dementia?

  

Roughly 3 years ago, my wife Sonia was at a Zumba exercise class when she realised the joy that people were experiencing, particularly the older people in the class, whose personality almost seemed to change with each subsequent week of the class. Through an association that we had with Sir Matthew Bourne (the foremost choreographer of today known for his famous male dancers in ‘Swan Lake’ and many other ballets), she had the idea that the medium of dance and music could help enrich the lives of so many people living with dementia. 

  

Together with Matthew’s company and a colleague of Sonia’s at Dementia UK, we funded a pilot project at two chosen care homes.  Six wonderful young dancers at Matthew’s company were trained in a programme of understanding dementia and they delivered an eight week programme at these two homes, at which an independent evaluator from the Department of Health was invited to summarise her findings.  We have now reflected her findings in an evaluation brochure, and a 5 minute film that can be seen on our website danceforlifeuk.org.


The evaluator found that the ‘Dance for Life’ programme we created was amazingly beneficial, creating an improvement in positive issues and a reduction in negative ones for all participants in the care homes within the pilot project.  For example, one lady who had been in a wheelchair for six years is now on her feet using a zimmer frame, and another has recognised her daughter for the first time in years and is even hugging her and having a long lost conversation with her. It would appear that the special elements of Dance for Life incorporate movement and exercise (oxygen), specific music tailored to recipients, group sociability, touch and eye contact, joy and laughter, and the expression of emotions which reduces stress and anxiety – a brilliant combination of benefits from the programme.


Our new charity, Dance for Life UK, of which Sonia and I are trustees, want to extend the programme throughout the UK and indeed beyond.  We have 25 care homes waiting for delivery of the Dance for Life programme for their residents, and we believe extending the programme to the community at large for people living at home may, in the absence of a cure for dementia generally, delay the progression of their illness and give them hope and joy in living their life with positivity and as fully as possible.

  

I do hope this resonates with you, and if you are able to let us know your thoughts on how you could help us to develop this project, please contact me or our charity at info@danceforlifeuk.org.

  

Have a wonderful Christmas break and I look forward to seeing you in the new year.


Kind regards,

    

  

Roy Saunders

Discussion Group Meetings

United Kingdom

Branch

The Current & Future of Cryptocurrencies and ICO's

1st February, 18.00, London

Squire Patton Boggs

Join Dmitry Zapol of IFS Consultants, Paul Anderson of Squire Patton Boggs, Hazem Danny Al-Nakib of Securrency who will be chairing the panel, together with Pawel Kuskowski of Coinfirm and Stan Stalnaker of Hub Culture, for a discussion group meeting on Thursday 1st February at 18:00 on blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, and initial coin offerings.


Please click on the link below for more information and to register attendance.


European Branch

Luxembourg's Gain after Dutch Tax Changes and Acceptance of OECD Recommendations

15th February, 18.00, Luxembourg

Vistra

Roy Saunders of IFS Consultants, Cees-Frans Greeven of Buren and Wim Ritz of Vistra will be holding a discussion group meeting examining the changes in Dutch tax legislation and the impact upon the use of Dutch structures compared with Luxembourg entities, Luxembourg's current relationship with the European commission, double taxation agreements and the effects of the Multilateral Instrument on these treaties.


This meeting will be held at the offices of Vistra (Luxembourg) on 15th February.  Please click on the link below for more information and to register attendance.


Members are encouraged to submit articles to the knowledge bank by contacting Lucie.Hoyland@istructuring.com

DUTCH GOVERNMENT-ELECT RELEASES ITS COALITION AGREEMENT

Jos Hellebrekers, Otterspeer Haasnoot & Partners

On 10 October, 2017, the Dutch coalition of political parties that will form the new government released their agreement on the most important measures to be taken during their term in government. In this letter we summarize those measures that are most important to the international tax practice.  Read more >>

TAX RESIDENCE IN THE SUN!

Roy Saunders, IFS Consultants & the IBSA

At a recent IBSA conference, advisers from Spain, Portugal, Italy, Cyprus, Switzerland and Dubai were vying with each other to demonstrate how their countries were offering better tax incentives than the UK’s non-domicile legislation - plus sunshine, or in the case of Switzerland, glistening ski slopes.  Read more >>

DOUBLE TAX TREATY DENIAL AND THE BEPS MULTILATERAL INSTRUMENT

Roy Saunders, IFS Consultants & the IBSA

The European branch of the IBSA held a well-attended meeting at the office of Buren NV in the Hague on Tuesday 3rd October, at which three speakers addressed the issue of double tax treaty denial and the multilateral instrument.  The speakers were Roy Saunders, Chairman and Founder of the IBSA & IFS Consultants, Scott Davis, Partner at the US firm of WithumSmith+Brown, and Cees-Frans Greeven, Partner of the Dutch law firm Buren NV.  Each of the speakers introduced their specific contribution to the topic, after which there was a lively discussion with the audience.  Read more >>

WHEN DOMESTIC VAT CAN SURPRISE FOREIGN ENTERPRISES

Paddy Behan, Simmons Gainsford

Many countries have VAT-type systems.  From this we might expect that that because such tax systems have common features – and in the case of EU countries, a common basis in EU law – it should be easy to explain the UK VAT system to foreign businesses trading in, or intending to trade in the UK.  But this is frequently not the case.  Often businesses which do not have a UK establishment are taken by surprise when they learn that their business model can result in their having to register for VAT, and to make returns and payments.  Read more >>

BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP IN TODAY'S WORLD

Roy Saunders, IFS Consultants

Who really owns the right to income? And are they declaring it? These are the obvious two questions that tax authorities around the world want to ask. And a third question is, are intermediary entities within a group structure entitled to be separately treated as if they own the income rather than the ultimate beneficial owner? Read more >>

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