FAMILY OFFICES, HEDGE FUNDS AND PRIVATE EQUITY FUNDS

FAMILY OFFICES,
HEDGE FUNDS AND
PRIVATE EQUITY FUNDS

Family offices, hedge funds and private equity funds each have a unique set of circumstances that impact upon their tax obligations. The Helm team helps manage your tax affairs so you can do what you do best – focus on optimizing investment returns and capital preservation.

Our team of experienced professionals has many years of experience assisting family offices, hedge funds, private equity funds, and institutional and high-net-worth investors with their tax affairs. These include US domestic and international tax preparation, tax due diligence and structuring, tax compliance, tax provisions and FATCA-related issues, as well as fund and special purpose vehicle operations.

A FLEXIBLE, RESPONSIVE, AND RELIABLE SERVICE

Our services are adaptable to each family and business we work with – whether you need assistance on a single, one-off tax matter or want to fully outsource all your tax reporting and compliance needs. Regardless of the size of your family office or firm, we work with you (and your other advisors) to deliver thorough and on-time tax reporting.

Our tax services for hedge and private equity funds focus on limiting tax exposure for the fund and its investors, while ensuring compliance with regulations.

THE FULL RANGE OF TAX SERVICES TO FAMILY OFFICES, HEDGE FUNDS AND PRIVATE EQUITY FUNDS

FUND STRUCTURING

Initial fund structuring aimed at minimizing overall US tax exposure and tax filing obligations of a fund and its investors.

INVESTMENT TAX DUE DILIGENCE SERVICES

Investment tax due diligence services including:

Analysis of offering documents and legal agreements
Analysis of the US tax treatment of legal entities and instruments
Assessment of inherited tax liabilities and analysis of DTAs/DTLs for secondary transactions and acquisitions of privately held companies
Analysis on the impact of §754 election or electing investment partnership election under §743(e)(6) for secondary partnership acquisitions
Effective tax rate modeling and calculation of after-tax projected IRR
Cost benefit analysis of using an onshore or offshore blocker entity
Tax treaty qualification analysis
Effectively connected income (“ECI”) analysis for non-US investors
US real property interest (“USRPI”) and US real property holdings company (“USRPHC”) analysis
Passive foreign investment company (“PFIC”) and controlled foreign corporation (“CFC”) analysis for US investors
Unrelated business taxable income (“UBTI”) analysis for tax-exempt investors
Commercial Activity Income analysis for foreign governmental investors

CORPORATE AND PARTNERSHIP RETURNS

Preparation of corporate returns (Form 1120, 1120-F) for US and non-US blocker entities.

Preparation of partnership returns (Form 1065) including Schedule K-1s for US and non-US based partnerships (due to direct US partners or partnership generating ECI).

Calculation of complex tax allocations for partnerships in compliance with §704 including reverse §704(c) on an asset-by-asset basis, reverse §704(c) by aggregation, and tax waterfall calculations.

REGULATED INVESTMENT COMPANIES (RICS) AND REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUSTS (REITS)

Preparation of Form 1120-RIC for Regulated Investment Companies along with:

RIC compliance testing (asset test, income test)
calculation of RIC distribution requirement
excise tax calculation

Preparation of Form 1120-REIT for Real Estate Investment Trusts along with:

REIT compliance testing (asset test, income test)
analysis of REITable assets
lease reviews
analysis of prohibited transactions
calculation of REIT distribution requirement
excise tax calculation

STATE, LOCAL AND 1099 TAX FORMS

Preparation of state and local tax returns including withholding forms and composite returns.

Preparation of Form 1099s.

PFIC STATEMENTS / QUALIFIED ELECTING FUND ELECTION

Preparation of PFIC statements to enable US investors to make a Qualified Electing Fund election.

NON-US OWNERS OF US CORPORATIONS AND LLCS

Preparation of information reporting due to non-US owner of a US corporation or US disregarded LLC (Form 5472).

FBAR AND FATCA REPORTING AND COMPLIANCE / FOREIGN ASSETS

Preparation of complex information reporting due to US investor’s ownership interest in foreign assets (FBAR, Form 8938, Form 8621, Form 5471, Form 8865, Form 8858, Form 926, Form 3520, Form 3520-A).

FATCA reporting and compliance.

WITHHOLDING TAX PAYMENTS AND WITHHOLDING FORMS

Calculation of withholding tax payments and preparation of withholding tax forms (Form 1042/1042-S, Form 8804/8805, Form 8288/8288-A) due the payment or allocation of FDAP, ECI and/or FIRPTA.

Assisting with the preparation and validating W8 and W9 forms.

SECURITY ANALYSIS

Security analysis of:

Wash sales
Qualified dividends
Constructive sales
Straddles and mixed straddles
Section 1256
Section 988
OID/market discount
Section 871(m)

EARNINGS AND PROFITS (E&P) STUDY

Preparation of earnings and profits (E&P) study.

CALCULATION AND PLANNING ON THE LIMITATION OF INTEREST DEDUCTION ON SHAREHOLDER LOANS

Calculation and planning on the limitation of interest deduction on shareholder loans due to:

OID on obligation held by related foreign person (§163(e)(3))
applicable high yield discount obligation (AHYDO) (§163(e)(5))
new Section 163(j) rules under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
Section 385 regulations

SPECIAL PURPOSE VEHICLE (SVP) OPERATIONS

Complete administrative management of blocker and SPV entities.

US AND NON-US BLOCKER ENTITY CASH MANAGEMENT

Analysis of when to make distributions with respect to shareholder loans, equity, and liquidating distributions.

Assisting with making tax payments.

PROVISION FOR INCOME TAXES

Calculation of accounting for income taxes under IRFS and US GAAP.

TAX AUDIT REPRESENTATION

Representation of clients in tax audits.

FATCA

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) is US legislation aimed at combating tax evasion by US taxpayers through the use of non-US accounts and assets. To achieve this main, FATCA generally requires non-US financial institutions to identify and report certain information concerning their US account holders or else suffer a 30% withholding tax. Although FATCA is US law, many non-US jurisdictions have entered into so-called “intergovernmental agreements” (“IGAs”) with the US to facilitate the local implementation of FATCA and thereby require resident financial institutions to comply with FATCA. As a result, FATCA is now part of the tax and information reporting framework of many jurisdictions. In addition, FATCA has engendered other information reporting regimes, including the UK “FATCA” Agreements with the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories and the OECD Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”). These other reporting regimes are substantially based on FATCA Model 1 IGA.