Chinese Edition           April, 2017 | www.zetland.biz/ Dear Friend of Zetland, Carrie Lam – Hong Kong’s New Chief Executive The 26th March saw the election of Ms Carrie Lam as Hong Kong’s new Chief Executive for a five year term (which can be renewed once). Ms Lam faced two other candidates – a retired judge and the former Financial Secretary. Ms Lam is a life-long civil servant having served most recently in the top administrative job in Hong Kong. Ms Lam was elected by a 1200 strong electoral college consisiting of people drawn from business and other groups. Many were appointed to the college but some were in turn elected through various constituencies. I personally had to vote for 27 of them because of my membership of three business functional constituencies. (In Hong Kong elections I get four votes – a geographical one and three others – very democratic!) Of course electing someone to the electoral college does not bind them to vote for any particular candidate so I used my time-honoured method of choosing all the prettiest females. However I wish Ms Lam well in her new job. Many people complain that the election is fixed by China since all candidates have to be acceptable to the authorities in Beijing. I think that a Chief Executive who isn’t trusted by China would be a disaster for Hong Kong. (Some of you may recall the wasted years when Chris Patten was Governor.) Hopefully Carrie Lam will stand up for and strongly promote Hong Kong’s interests. Yours sincerely, James C Sutherland Chairman Zetland Fiduciary Group Zetland's New Beijing Office We would like to announce opening the new Zetland office in China. After several months for preparation, Zetland Fiduciary Group Limited, Beijing Office was formally established on February 13, 2017. [More...] Zetland - Personal Information Log (“PIL”) Zetland Fiduciary Group would like to introduce Personal Information Log (“PIL”) which is intended to facilitate the location of important documents and information in the event of death or incapacity. [More...] Hong Kong Extended the List of Reportable Jurisdictions for AEOI Purposes Hong Kong pointed out its support for implementing automatic exchange of financial account information (AEOI) in September 2014. [More...] China, Britain to Boost Financial Cooperation LONDON — Officials from China and Britain stressed here on March 22, 2017 the importance of enhancing bilateral financial cooperation. [More...] Major amendments to the Singapore Companies Act and Limited Liability Partnership Act Singapore will be making significant changes to its Companies Act and Limited Liability Partnership Act, which will come into effect from 31 March 2017. [More...] Book Review - The Destructive Power of Family Wealth Philip Marcovici is well known in the fiduciary/tax/legal world having worked for many years in Hong Kong and subsequently Geneva (now recently back in Hong Kong). [More...] Zetland Tax Advisors News Tax Treatment of Royalty Income Derived from Licensing of Intellectual Property Rights Under the “territorial source” concept for Hong Kong taxation, different tax treatments apply to the royalty income for the use of intellectual property (“IP”) received by either a Hong Kong resident (i.e. a person who carries on trade or business in Hong Kong) or a non-Hong Kong resident. [More...] Targeted Deductions Crucial to Tax Reforms-IIT AT THE ONGOING PLENARY SESSION OF THE 12TH NATIONAL PEOPLE'S CONGRESS, one from Hebei province and one from Chongqing municipality, proposed raising the monthly individual income tax threshold from 3,500 yuan ($507) to 10,000 ($1499) and reducing the marginal taxrate, the taxable share of income, from 45 percent to 23 percent for the highest-income group. [More...] Upcoming Holidays Hong Kong : Apr 14-17 and May 1,3 & 30 China : Apr 29-30 and May 1 Singapore : May 1 & 10 Belize : Apr 14-17 and May 1 © 2017 Zetland Fiduciary Group Limited, All rights reserved.