How structures actually work, drawn out.
Each guide takes one structure apart layer by layer, in plain English: who owns what, where the money and the paperwork go, what decides the tax, and where these setups go wrong in real life. Diagrams first, words second.
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8 structures, mapped.
Written by senior advisers, based on the actual laws and regulators' guidance, and dated so you know how up to date they are.
The Luxembourg SOPARFI holding structure, explained
A SOPARFI is a Luxembourg company that owns your other companies. This guide shows where it sits, why one tax exemption is the whole reason to use it, and the conditions that decide whether selling a European business is taxed or not.
UAE free zone company under a holding, mapped
How a company in a UAE free zone (DIFC, ADGM, DMCC) sits under a UAE holding company or foundation, what it actually takes to get the 0% tax rate (being a 'Qualifying Free Zone Person'), and how groups lose it.
The Cayman master-feeder fund, drawn out
A master-feeder is how many investment funds are built: investors put money into one of two 'feeder' funds, which both invest in one 'master' fund that does the trading. Here's why there are two feeders, what the master does, where the manager sits, and which company has to prove real activity in Cayman.
BVI holding company with asset SPVs
Why you'd put each asset in its own small company (an 'SPV') under one BVI holding company, the lighter substance test for companies that only own shares, and what the 2025 changes to who can see the owners' names mean for you.
Discretionary trust with a private trust company
A private trust company (PTC) is a company set up just to be the trustee of your family's trust, so the family has a say without owning the assets. This guide shows where it sits, who controls it, how the person who set up the trust can keep some powers without breaking it, and why Guernsey's 2025 guidance matters to families who thought they didn't need a licence.
How an EU e-money institution is structured
An e-money institution (EMI) is a licensed company that can hold customers' money and issue e-money, like many payment apps. This guide shows how the group around it is built, where customers' money actually sits, how much capital you need, how one licence reaches the whole EEA, and what the next EU rules (PSD3) will change.
IP holding and royalty structures after BEPS
Owning your intellectual property (patents, software) in a lower-tax 'IP box' country only works if that company really did the development. Cyprus, Ireland and the Netherlands compared, plus the test that decides whether the tax office accepts the royalty at all.
Yacht ownership: company, flag and VAT
Owning a yacht involves three choices: the company that owns it, the country whose flag it flies, and how it's used (which decides the VAT). Here's how they fit together, and why the old Malta VAT tables from before 2020 that still get passed around are the quickest way into trouble.
Is your structure still the right one?
Most of the structures we review were correct when they were built and wrong by the time we saw them. Send us the current chart; we will tell you what we would change and what we would leave alone.