Itecs and letters from RBC Trustees ( Guernsey) Limited

[RareJL]

I worked with Itecs from 2000 to 2010 when I worked in Belgium , Netherland and Switzerland, I was extremley happy, they paid in time, and I got my last payment from them in 2011. This was paid as a loan from my own fund which was in a trust.

Few years a go I received letters that Itecs was dissolved and trustees changed, I did not think It had anything to do with me any more.

But now I received letters from RBC Trustees ( Guernsey) Limited that they were appointed trustee and that there is an outstanding loan in my name of 22,000 pounds and to write it off they need me to fill in their forms, plus few other things, get legal and tax advise on that.

For my last payment as loan I received 17,000 euro and the figures do not match. I have not lived in UK since 2000. I wish to know if I return the form so they can write off the supposed loan what implications it has for me.


It was my earnings and it seemed the tax was deducted on that.

If I do not do anything, they said they can charge me fees for that. ( can it get any more stupid than that)

Can they legally do that?

what should I do?

who can help with understanding the legal jargon?

If there are other people receiving the same types of letters maybe we can collectively get legal advise.

[rattyrabbit]

Itecs and letters from RBC Trustees ( Guernsey) Limited

Hi,

I too have received letters from RBC re: the ITECS EBT. I last worked through ITECS in 2009, so my first thought was that this could be a con.

Does anyone know if RBC Trustees (Guernsey) is legitimate?

Very interested in any answers to RareJL questions on 1st March.

Thanks,

[kbirch]

KB

Hi,

I too have received letters from RBC re: the ITECS EBT. I last worked through ITECS in 2009, so my first thought was that this could be a con.

Does anyone know if RBC Trustees (Guernsey) is legitimate?

Very interested in any answers to RareJL questions on 1st March.

Thanks,

Hi, I've been getting these emails from RBC too. If anybody knows what these are about and how to deal with them please post.

[Brussels Slumdog]

ITECS UK Limited trust

Hi, I've been getting these emails from RBC too. If anybody knows what these are about and how to deal with them please post.

I have received this letter as well . I am a Belgian tax resident but complete a UK tax return yearly as I have a British pension and sometimes work in the UK. The trust relates to 2008 and the income was not related to Belgium. I have written an email to the RBC trustees and they have given me a phone number of someone in E&Y . This guy never answers his phone.
There is an automatic exchange of information between Financial institutions and the UK and several other countries which is why they need your TIN number. I dont know whether this information relates to Trusts or only Bank Balances. I am not sure whether any country besides the UK knows anything about Employee Trust Funds. I believe that I have to complete this form before the end of June
I can apply for amnesty before the BTA find out about my trust .

[bluepeter]

Anyone signed and returned the letter

I got these too and asked them about the indemnity against any liability that they are requesting in exchange. Seems very fishy to insist on that to close down the trust, and the 'fees' that are apparently owed were never part of the ITECS contract.

I dont really mind signing it to get it out of the way, but the liability risk looks valid.

Anyone signed it, as the deadline in a few weeks away?

[BabyBoomer]

ITECS EBT - Help please

I worked through ITECS as an umbrella company in Luxembourg, from Nov 2008 – Jun 2009. I had previously worked through ITECS in Belgium and Ireland with no problem.

For the Luxembourg contract ITECS (by now Parker Woods), used an EBT to pay the surplus from the contract after salary, taxes, expenses and fees were taken out. The EBT was Guernsey-based, managed by RBC Cees, on behalf of ITECS UK.

ITECS UK also employed me for one day a month, in the UK. This allowed ITECS to pay UK NI rather than Luxembourg's (this was then allowed in the EU). The salary was minimal – c £750/month.

The EBT was the usual arrangement – the surplus was paid into the trust with myself as the beneficiary, and the trust then gave me an interest-free loan for the same amount, with the proviso that the loan could be written off against my interest in the future. The amounts were €7300 and €14,250.

In 2014 ITECS/Parker-Woods dissolved, leaving the trust in abeyance. The trustees tried to pass it to another firm in 2017, unsuccessfully. They are now trying to close it down themselves – hence the letters sent out to beneficiaries. The options they give are to close down any interest in the trust immediately, by netting-off the loan against it; or to carry on in the trust but pay an annual fee to do so. I chose the former, and according to RBC Cees this is currently being processed.

The UK tax laws changed in 2017, retrospectively, and for UK tax payers, loans received from EBTs would now be liable for UK tax as soon as they were written-off. The amount of tax payable is that which would have been paid at the time the loan was made.

In addition RBC are now required, by new disclosure rules, to inform the tax authorities of the beneficiary's country of tax residence of all of this.

Earlier this month I received a generic letter from HMRC, saying that if I had undeclared income from abroad I must tell them by the end of September, or I could be charged 100% of any tax due as a penalty. I presume that RBC have told HMRC that I was a beneficiary of the ITECS trust.

My own view is that since any remuneration received was from money earned and taxed in Luxembourg, paid in Euros and into a non-UK bank account, then this is not liable for UK tax; and I shall reply to them to this effect. However, HMRC may take the view that since I was an employee of the company that set up the trust then this becomes UK income.

My questions are:

Does the loan count as a Luxembourg or UK payment?

Is any one else out there in a similar position?

Are there any accountancy firms that are prepared to offer advice on this matter?


Regards all,

BB

[webberg]

BB, whilst I think that there are some inaccuracies in your summary of the position, it's clear that you need some specialist advice which incorporates knowledge of EBT schemes alongside res/non res issues.

That is something that we can do but to be candid you would probably get better value for money from a firm whose first specialism is the res/non res position and that offers a better route to low/no tax than taking on the nightmare that is contractor tax in the UK.

I'm happy to recommend a firm who can do this if you PM me.

(And before anybody asks, no, we do not ask for or get a kick back for this, aside from a nice lunch once a year).