Fourteen companies, five countries, one family office

The founder lived in Switzerland, two children in London and one in Dubai. Fourteen companies held operating businesses, a property portfolio, a private equity book and a yacht, set up over twenty years by six different advisers.

Nobody had the whole picture. Income was taxed twice in places, reporting obligations were missed in others, and the succession plan contradicted two of the trusts.

1. 1Built one register of every entity, account, trust and obligation, with a filing calendar.
2. 2Set up a single-family office in Luxembourg with investment staff and a board, and moved the investment holdings under it.
3. 3Separated the operating businesses from the investment assets so each could be taxed and eventually passed on under the right regime.
4. 4Planned each family member's residency and income from the structure against the rules where they actually live.
5. 5Rewrote the trust arrangements and wills so they point the same way.

About EUR 3.1m a year less tax across the family and its companies, mostly by ending double taxation and misplaced income.

Six fewer entities, one set of accounts, and a succession plan the whole family has signed.