Who We Are

Cone Marshall is a closely held group with offices in the United States, New Zealand, Switzerland, Uruguay, Italy and Hong Kong. It provides advisory, trust, accounting and corporate services in all these countries, and corporate and management services in the Cook Islands, Fiji, Nevis, Paraguay and The British Virgin Islands, with a representative office in London.

Its emphasis is the provision of high quality, responsive, service to international high net worth families supported by quality legal advice based on years of experience in the field of wealth planning. Following is a summary of some of the services provided and the principal jurisdictions in which the group works.

Cone Marshall Swiss Trustees offers Trusteeship and Family Office services to individuals and families that feel it is important to protect their wealth, as well as prepare and organise its transmission to the next generation. Cone Marshall Swiss Trustees offers a complete range of services, including professional Trusteeship and company administration and management.

• Since its inception by Geoffrey Cone and Karen Marshall, both well-known and highly experienced New-Zealand lawyers, Cone Marshall has focused on reinforcing and expanding their expertise in legal and global advice services, to facilitate the security, planning, preservation and transmission of wealth and property, with a particular skill in understanding and resolving conflicts of law across multiple legal systems.
• We believe in the needs for our clients and their family to count on a long standing and close relationship with its advisors. We therefore go above and beyond to cultivate deep, lasting relationships with each of our clients, their family and advisors.
• Our teams work closely with a wide relationship of attorneys, family advisors, private banks, trustees and other institutions all around the globe to offer the best in class of the industry at all times.

WHAT DOES SWITZERLAND HAVE TO OFFER?

Switzerland is one of the most attractive countries in the world in which to live, work, and run a company. It offers a combination of political and economic stability, confidentiality, a clean and safe environment, top quality money management and comparatively lower personal and company tax rates than in most European countries.

Switzerland has entered into Double Taxation Treaties with 94 countries, more than 30 of which are based on the OECD model, and has over 120 Bilateral Investment Treaties in force.

Lump-sum taxation

Foreigners who take up residence in Switzerland either for the first time or after an absence of more than ten years may opt into a special tax regime provided that they do not carry out any gainful activity in the country. By doing so, they can benefit from a special tax regime based on their expenditures, as opposed to their income and wealth. This special regime is generally known as “lump-sum taxation” and involves the payment of a fixed amount of tax every year (save additional Swiss source revenues resulting from investments, which will be added in), based on the presumed total of expenditures agreed with the tax authorities. Those expenditures must be no less than seven times the rental value of the residential property and is not correlated to the income or wealth of the applicant. We assist clients moving to Switzerland and seeking to apply for the lump-sum taxation regime.

Trusts

Switzerland is a civil law jurisdiction and does not have a body of domestic trust law. However, Switzerland ratified the Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Trusts in 2007 and Swiss Courts have expressly recognized the validity of foreign trusts. Swiss-based companies may administer trusts governed by the laws of any jurisdictions, including New Zealand. Switzerland does not have any central Trust Register. Switzerland does not tax foreign trusts settled by non-residents, unless there is Swiss sourced income. The same applies for residents if they set-up an irrevocable Trust prior to their taking up residence in Switzerland. A tax ruling can be obtained for Swiss residents wishing to create a Trust. Cone Marshall has a Swiss corporate Trustee employing qualified Trust Officers based in Geneva and Lugano, servicing wealthy families from throughout the world.

Charitable Foundations

Switzerland has one of the highest densities of charitable foundations reaching a current total of 13,172, especially in Geneva, holding there a combined wealth of over 13 billion Swiss francs.

Swiss legislation regarding private foundations is open and business-friendly, and the Canton of Geneva leads amongst the locations where international foundations are established.

Companies

Swiss companies are governed by the Swiss Code of Obligations. Beneficial ownership information for companies is not public in Switzerland and there is no Public Register of Persons with Significant Control.

We can incorporate and manage two Types of Swiss Companies, in any Canton.

Switzerland Stock Corporation – (AG/SA)

• Mainly used for medium to large businesses
• Minimum share capital is 100,000 Swiss Francs
• At least 50% of share capital to be paid up in cash or in kind
• Possibility of nominative or bearer shares
• At least one director must be a Swiss resident
• Can be used as Holding Company (Particular tax status)
• Can be used as Domiciliary Company (foreign-controlled and managed from abroad, with a registered office in Switzerland but not a physical presence nor staff in Switzerland).

Swiss Limited Company (Sarl / GmbH)

• Mainly used for small to medium sized businesses
• Minimum share capital is 20,000 Swiss Francs
• Total share capital to be paid up, in cash or in kind
• At least one director must be a Swiss resident
• Shareholder(s) indicated on the Commercial Register but nominee agreement possible
• No restrictions on foreign ownership