Cross-Border Advisory

Overview

What is Cross-Border Advisory?

Cross-border advisory involves structuring multinational operations to achieve tax efficiency, regulatory compliance, and operational flexibility. This includes holding company architecture, SPV creation, fund flow design, and expatriate taxation.

Why It Matters

As businesses expand across borders, they face conflicting tax regimes, transfer pricing rules, CFC legislation, and substance requirements. A poorly designed structure can result in double taxation, PE exposure, or BEPS challenges.

SilverSiX designs tax-efficient, substance-backed structures that withstand regulatory scrutiny across India, Singapore, UAE, UK, Netherlands, Mauritius, and 40+ other jurisdictions.

📊 Structuring Considerations

Holding company jurisdiction (tax treaty access)
Substance requirements (economic presence)
CFC rules & POEM compliance
Withholding tax optimization
Exit tax & capital gains planning
BEPS Action 5 (harmful tax practices)

Our Scope

Comprehensive Cross-Border Services

🏢 Holding Company Structuring

Design of intermediate holding companies in treaty-friendly jurisdictions to optimize dividend, interest, and capital gains flows.

Jurisdiction selection matrix
Participation exemption analysis
Dividend stripping prevention
Exit tax & step-up basis planning

🚢 SPV & JV Structuring

Creation of Special Purpose Vehicles and Joint Ventures for project finance, asset holding, and risk isolation.

SPV incorporation (onshore / offshore)
JV agreement structuring
Ring-fencing & bankruptcy remoteness
Thin capitalization compliance

💱 Repatriation Planning

Design of fund-flow mechanisms to minimize withholding tax and maximize treaty benefits on cross-border distributions.

Dividend repatriation chains
Interest & royalty routing
Capital reduction vs. buyback analysis
ECB & trade credit optimization

🏛️ Offshore Trusts & Foundations

Family office and succession planning through offshore trust structures compliant with Indian exchange control and tax laws.

Trust jurisdiction selection
Settlor, trustee & protector roles
Indian resident reporting (Schedule FA)
CRS & FATCA compliance

✈️ Global Mobility

Tax planning for expatriates, digital nomads, and cross-border employees including social security agreements.

Residency & domicile planning
Social Security Totalization Agreements
Stock option taxation across borders
Employer payroll compliance

🔍 Substance & CFC

Ensuring economic substance in low-tax jurisdictions and compliance with Controlled Foreign Company (CFC) rules.

Substance requirements (directors, office, employees)
Indian CFC rules (Section 9A) compliance
EU substance directives (ATAD)
Economic activity demonstration

Execution

Our Cross-Border Process

Business Objective Mapping

Understanding your commercial goals, risk appetite, and timeline to design a structure that serves the business first.

Jurisdiction Analysis

Multi-criteria analysis of potential jurisdictions considering tax treaties, substance rules, political stability, and cost.

Structure Design

Architecting the entity hierarchy, fund flows, and governance framework with tax and regulatory optimization.

Implementation

Coordination with local counsel, incorporation, bank account opening, and substance creation.

Regulatory Filing

RBI/FEMA filings, tax registrations, and compliance calendar setup for all jurisdictions.

Ongoing Monitoring

Annual substance reviews, treaty benefit claims, and regulatory change alerts.

Deliverables

What You Receive

Deliverable	Description	Timeline
Structuring Blueprint	Multi-jurisdiction entity architecture & fund flows	Week 2
Jurisdiction Memo	Comparative analysis of 3+ candidate jurisdictions	Week 3
Tax Impact Model	Pre- and post-structure effective tax rate comparison	Week 3
Implementation Plan	Step-by-step incorporation & filing roadmap	Week 4
Substance Checklist	Directors, office, employees, board meetings	Week 5
FEMA Compliance Kit	ODI/FDI filings, APR, and FLA calendar	Week 6
Repatriation Protocol	Dividend, interest, royalty fund-flow SOP	Week 6
Annual Review	Substance audit & regulatory update alert	Ongoing

FAQ

Common Questions

What is economic substance? ▼

Economic substance means the entity must have real business activities in its jurisdiction — including directors resident locally, physical office, employees, and board meetings held in the jurisdiction. This is critical for treaty benefit claims.

Can an Indian resident be a trustee of an offshore trust? ▼

Yes, but careful structuring is required to ensure the trust is not treated as a resident in India under POEM or Section 6(4) of the Income Tax Act. Full disclosure in Schedule FA is mandatory.

What is CFC and how does it affect me? ▼

Controlled Foreign Company (CFC) rules (Section 9A) tax passive income of foreign entities controlled by Indian residents in the hands of the Indian resident. Proper structuring can mitigate CFC exposure.

Which jurisdiction is best for a holding company? ▼

There is no one-size-fits-all. Singapore, UAE, Netherlands, and UK are popular for Indian outbound structures. The choice depends on the target market, treaty network, substance requirements, and exit strategy.

How does BEPS affect cross-border structures? ▼

BEPS Actions 5 (harmful tax practices), 6 (treaty abuse), 7 (PE), and 13 (documentation) have significantly tightened rules. Structures must now demonstrate real economic substance and commercial rationale.