Luxembourg

Luxembourg is Europe's main cross-border fund domicile and a widely used EU holding-company jurisdiction, prized for political and legal stability, an extensive double-tax treaty network, and deep financial infrastructure. As an EU member state it offers single-market access and EU passporting for UCITS and AIFMD-regulated products, which makes it the natural hub for pan-European distribution and for holding and financing platforms. The substantive legal advice and any regulated activity are carried by locally admitted avocats and licensed Luxembourg entities; Hart David Carson acts as facilitator and project lead.

The SA, a public company, and the Sàrl, a private limited company, are the corporate forms; the SOPARFI is a fully taxable holding and financing company using the participation exemption. The SCS and SCSp, the common and special limited partnerships, carry fund structuring, with vehicles cast as a SICAV or SICAF under the SIF, SICAR or RAIF regimes. Incorporation runs through a Luxembourg notary and the Registre de Commerce et des Sociétés, the RCS, so the notary date sets timing.

Foreign trusts, yes; a domestic trust, no. Luxembourg, a civil-law jurisdiction, has no trust law of its own, but it has ratified the Hague Trust Convention and recognizes foreign trusts. Functional alternatives include the fiducie, a fiduciary contract, and the private wealth management company, the SPF, used to hold personal investment assets. A foreign-law trust holding Luxembourg assets therefore needs advisers in two jurisdictions, so we coordinate Luxembourg avocats and fiduciaries alongside trustees admitted in the governing-law jurisdiction.

The Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) licenses and supervises banks, investment firms, fund managers and depositaries, applying EU prudential and conduct standards; the Commissariat aux Assurances supervises insurance. AML/CFT obligations derive from the EU directives as implemented in Luxembourg law, and ultimate beneficial owners are recorded in the Registre des Bénéficiaires Effectifs (RBE). We coordinate matters before the CSSF through locally admitted avocats and licensed management companies and do not ourselves speak for the regulator.

Luxembourg levies corporate income tax, municipal business tax and net wealth tax, but the participation-exemption regime can exempt qualifying dividends and capital gains, the basis of the SOPARFI holding platform. Each acquisition is sized and held to meet the exemption's conditions. Luxembourg has an extensive treaty network, applies the EU directives, and participates in the OECD Common Reporting Standard, FATCA, and the BEPS and Pillar Two minimum-tax measures. Luxembourg counsel and advisers develop the structuring; nothing here is tax advice.

Hart David Carson acts as facilitator and project lead. We help frame the structure, assemble the right Luxembourg management company (ManCo), avocat, notary, depositary and administrator from our partner network, and coordinate the moving parts through to launch. The regulated relationship and the substantive Luxembourg legal advice are carried by locally admitted avocats and licensed entities. We do not maintain an office in Luxembourg.