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Mara is a partner in the private client and tax team. She advises individuals, entrepreneurs, and their families on a wide range of UK and international tax, trust, estate, and succession planning matters, with a particular focus on clients with cross-border interests.
Mara also has also developed a particular interest in advising artists, collectors and families with significant art, cultural and intellectual property assets. Her cross-border private client experience enables her to advise on the tax, estate and succession issues that can arise in relation to art and IP rights particularly where artists, owners, beneficiaries, or collections have connections with more than one jurisdiction.
As her advice frequently involves the interaction of different tax and succession regimes, she often advises on the application of double taxation treaties, including those relating to income and capital gains tax and inheritance/estate tax.
She also advises on the regularisation of undeclared offshore tax liabilities, including through the Worldwide Disclosure Facility.
A native Italian speaker, Mara has an Italian law degree and subsequently retrained and qualified as an English solicitor. Her dual legal background gives her particular experience of advising on the interaction between common law and continental European legal concepts. Her practice also encompasses the UK classification for tax purposes of European-style holding entities, legal constructs, and usufruct arrangements over foreign assets and European insurance bonds issued by Continental European insurers. She advises clients on both the potential pitfalls and planning opportunities presented by these structures from a UK tax perspective, including inheritance tax, capital gains tax, income tax, and stamp duty land tax.
Mara is a co-founder and UK representative for the International Succession Network (ISN), a network of Notaries and common law private client lawyers which assists individuals, family offices and professional advisers with international succession matters around the world.
Experience
Track record
Estate planning
Assisted on the estate planning for Italian (and other non-UK domiciled) clients with connections to the UK.
Trusts
Advised on the establishment of excluded property trusts and offshore trusts.
Italy/UK double taxation agreements
Advised on the Italy/UK double taxation agreements (both in relation to income/capital gains tax purposes and in relation to succession tax).
UK pre-immigration and succession advice
Assisted on the UK pre-immigration tax and succession advice for a number of European nationals.
UK/Swiss tax agreement
Advised on the UK/Swiss tax agreement and the LDF.
EU Succession Regulation
Advised on the EU Succession Regulation.
UK/Italian probate
Advised in the context of a probate with UK and Italian elements.
Talks
Co-speaking at breakfast seminar organized by Utmost Wealth solutions on the Italian impatriate regime for HNWIs: IT inbound and UK outbound planning (September 2019)
Presentation on UK tax implications of Usufruct Arrangements (2019)
Speaking at Tax Planning for Non-Domiciliary, Spring 2018 Conference on 'Planning for deemed doms' (May 2018)
Insight
External publications
Co-author on the Foreign Assets chapter in Tolley's Administration of Trusts
Usufrutto: trappole per gli incauti ma anche opportunita' di pianificazione (January 2019)
"Continental drift -Usufructs: traps for the unwary or planning opportunities?" Trusts and Estates laws & Tax Journal, September 2019 __
"Polizze, quanta distanza tra Europa e Regno Unito", Bluerating Advisory and Asset Management, July 2018
"The name's Bond, Offshore Bond: UK policyholder beware!" International Adviser, November 2017
Admissions
England and Wales, 2011
Education
College of Law, LL.M, London
Università Degli Studi, Milan, Italian Law
Languages
- English
- Italian
Memberships
International Association of Young Lawyers (AIJA)
The British Italian Law Association (BILA)
Key dates
- Year joined: 2009