Under which jurisdiction will Henley bill for client fees related to the sale of Maltese passports?

Published: November 3, 2013 at 5:25pm

A relevant point, posted by Allo Allo:

And Henley & Partners probably use a billing jurisdiction outside the European Union, so that they don’t have to VAT-register their invoices on client fees for Maltese passports and pay VAT to the government of Malta.




8 Comments Comment

  1. Clueless says:
    November 3, 2013 at 5:54 pm

    They (or a subsidiary) must be registered for VAT in the EU to receive payments from the government. It is a standard requirement in all public contracts.

    The Government will be charged VAT for Henley’s services. Henley can’t sell the passports directly because they do not own them. Which means Henley would presumably recover their commissions against an invoice issued to the Government.

    [Daphne – This post refers to client fees and not commission from the government. Those can be invoiced from any one of Henley & Partners’ offices. You will have noted that my friend’s enquiry was dealt with by the Canadian office. Presumably, it would then have been the Canadian office which invoices him for the firm’s fees.]

    Reply
    • Joe Vella says:
      November 4, 2013 at 2:28 am

      Daphne, checked with a friend who works as a consultant out of Toronto; and he confirmed that when he invoices his clients he also has to add HST (Harmonize Sales Tax). The HST is the combines Federal and Provincial Sales Tax. The HST rate varies from province to province. The applicable rate in Ontario is 13%.

      [Daphne – Thanks, but my point was that the money won’t be going to the Maltese exchequer, as it would if all invoices were issued in Malta.]

      Reply
  2. Thackeray says:
    November 3, 2013 at 5:55 pm

    The offshore haven island of Reggae.

    Reply
  3. curious says:
    November 3, 2013 at 5:55 pm

    They have thought out this scheme so well and without any hurry that they are patching up things as they go along and according to criticism received.

    “The due diligence and the government interaction aspects in the citizenship programme, which will be administered by Henley and Partners Holdings plc, will be ring-fenced and carried out by separate group entities to avoid any potential conflicts of interest, according to Eric Major, the company’s CEO.”(Times of Malta)

    Reply

Leave a Comment