The
Common Law of the Cape Colony was adopted as the Common Law of then
Bechuanaland by virtue of Proclamation 4 of 1893.
The
Common Law was retained in terms of Section 2 of the Botswana Independence Act
1966.
As
you know, that Cape Common Law carries with it the SA Trust tradition that had
grown out of the activities of the 1820 Settlers and others and the various
case authorities such as Twentyman v Hewitt circa 1840.
In
1970 the trust common law attributed were confirmed in respect of a Botswana
Trust in the case of Ex Parte Lemke a Lobatse High Court decision.
There
is no statute that regulates trusts. This means that trusts are set up and
notarised here, but no statutory repository exists, thus the trusts are
absolutely and completely anonymous. What this means in effect is that
regardless of any information sharing treaty, it will be impossible to trace
these trusts.
There
are no exchange controls in place in Botswana.
Respected
FSPs such as Friends Provident and others regularly accept out trusts to house
investments placed with them.
In
terms of taxation, Botswana is a source based tax jurisdiction and if the
beneficiaries are non citizens and the income is investment income non Botswana
based, there is no tax.
The
typical family trust here resembles the typical SA family trust with the head
of the household as founder, the husband and wife plus the independent trustee
as trustees and the family members and their succession line as beneficiaries.
Very
important to remember is that the independent trustee has to be a Botswana
based person so as to avoid the management of the trust taking place anywhere
else but here in Botswana.
Our
trustee annual fees are in the region of P 5000 per annum. The recordkeeping is
well attended to with minute books and all resolutions being filed at our
offices.
Typical
set up fees are in the region of P 8000. This includes the notary.
I
have drafted the deeds to include a “Cuba Clause” so that if the jurisdiction
were to become unsuitable, the trust is able to move freely.
In
order to draft the trust an overview of the family vision in terms of their
investment and other objectives is required, as well as the full names of the
founder, the spouse of the founder and the full names and dates of birth of the
family trustees and beneficiaries or a description of the class of
beneficiaries.
In
a nutshell, we have no exchange control, no tax in the right circumstances and
a family trust were the family is actively involved.
Our
fees are very reasonable and we are on the same time zone and speak the same
language as your clients and yourselves.
There
is absolute anonymity which is of great value to those folks who may be in
control of funds that are already offshore.
Contact us:
kingswaytrustcompany.webstarts.com
00267 3902779
