General Tax Guidance (non-advisory)
High-level guidance to help frame considerations and questions for your appointed tax advisers.
We support organisation, documentation, and coordination, but do not provide formal tax advice or opinions.
What is this?
Cross border life is now normal for many private clients and family offices. Assets sit in more than one jurisdiction, income sources are mixed, travel patterns change, and structures evolve over time. The challenge is that tax risk is rarely “one big mistake”. It is usually the slow build up of inconsistencies, incomplete documentation, unclear assumptions, and a timeline that was never properly sequenced.
Global transparency is also tighter than it has ever been. The OECD’s Global Forum notes that over 170 jurisdictions participate in tax transparency and information sharing, and that tax authorities from 116 jurisdictions have commenced exchanges of information under the automatic exchange of information standard. In 2024 alone, jurisdictions exchanged information on over 171 million financial accounts, with a total value of nearly EUR 13 trillion. That reality changes how banks onboard clients, how counterparties assess risk, and how quickly an issue can escalate if your “story” is fragmented across advisers and institutions.
What CGI does in this space, and what we do not do
CGI does not provide tax advice, tax opinions, legal advice, or filings. What we do provide is the work that usually sits between the client and the advisers, and that often determines whether a plan is implemented cleanly or becomes months of rework.
Our focus is simple, decision ready clarity and controlled execution across jurisdictions, without you having to repeat the story to every adviser, bank, or counterparty.
In practice, this means we help you build a clean fact base, organise the evidence, frame the right questions for your appointed advisers, and coordinate the delivery sequence. We keep a single narrative, control versions, maintain an action tracker, and reduce the follow up loops that burn time and create inconsistency.
Why people use non-advisory tax guidance
Even when you have excellent tax advisers, the process can fail in three predictable ways.
First, the brief is unclear. Advisers cannot answer the right question if the objective is vague, the timeline is unrealistic, or key facts are missing.
Second, documentation is inconsistent. Banks, auditors, corporate service providers, and tax advisers each ask for overlapping information. If you answer those requests differently each time, it creates friction and risk.
Third, sequencing is wrong. Timing matters. Residency tests, reporting cycles, entity set up steps, and banking readiness all interact. If actions are taken out of order, the “fix” is usually more expensive than doing it correctly from day one.
What you take away from working with CGI
You should come away with a structured pack that can be handed to your appointed tax advisers and used repeatedly.
A clear footprint map, jurisdictions, assets, income sources, entities, and travel patterns, with assumptions documented.
A decision point list, what actually changes outcomes, what requires specialist advice, and what needs to happen first.
A controlled evidence pack, source of wealth and source of funds evidence where relevant, corporate records, statements, contracts, and a clean audit trail of key documents.
A coordinated plan, who does what, by when, with ownership and a simple cadence so the project moves forward without you managing it day to day.
Why CGI, and why clients feel comfortable
Many firms either sit purely in technical advice, or they sit purely in administration. The gap is coordination, accountability, and real world execution.
CGI is smaller, senior led, and designed for discretion. People do not get passed between teams or asked to repeat the same story multiple times. You deal with one accountable lead who keeps the narrative consistent and the delivery controlled, while still collaborating with your chosen tax and legal professionals.
Clients should feel comfortable because the work is structured, the scope is clear, and the output reduces friction with banks and counterparties. The goal is not to make things complicated. The goal is to make complexity manageable.
Call to action
If you have cross border assets, relocation plans, multiple residencies, or evolving structures and want a clean, consistent approach before engaging advisers, contact CGI with a short overview of your situation and timelines.
We will propose a non-advisory scope that creates a decision ready pack your appointed tax advisers can work from, and a sequencing plan that keeps execution calm, controlled, and defensible.
