EEA restructures life settlement fund to mitigate US tax effects

EEA Fund Management has restructured its life settlement fund, which invests in US policies to mitig...

EEA Fund Management has restructured its life settlement fund, which invests in US policies to mitigate the effects of a 30% withholding tax on profits. The tax is part of a new drive by the Obama administration to raise revenue and reduce tax 'leakage' to offshore territories. In 2004, the most recent year for which data is available, US multinationals paid about $16bn of US tax on approximately $700bn of foreign active earnings - an effective US tax rate of about 2.3%. Nearly one-third of all foreign profits reported by US corporations in 2003 came from three small, low-tax countrie...