About
Sangna supports families in navigating complex personal and financial matters, helping them plan both during their lifetimes and for the smooth transfer of wealth on death.
Many of Sangna’s clients are internationally based, with family members, assets and interests spread across multiple jurisdictions. Within this context, she advises on lifetime planning and succession strategies that take account of tax, legal and practical considerations across borders.
Sangna takes an integrated approach to planning, ensuring that advice reflects not only tax efficiency, but also a family’s values, purpose and long term objectives. Her work frequently involves considering succession laws, asset protection and governance issues alongside US and UK tax planning.
She has a particular focus on US UK estate and tax planning, regularly advising clients exposed to both regimes and working with advisers in multiple jurisdictions to deliver coordinated, practical solutions.
Sangna works closely with families, trustees, family offices and professional advisers, and is known for her collaborative approach and clear, pragmatic advice.
She is recognised in leading private wealth and legal directories, including Chambers High Net Worth and Spears.
Sangna is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and an officer of the Private Client Taxes Committee of the International Bar Association.
She is admitted to practise in England and Wales.
Experience
- Designing and implementing practical and effective succession plans for individuals, couples and families to ensure wealth is protected for future generations against the threats of double-taxation, possible divorce, family disputes and financially immature heirs. Often these families will include at least one US taxpayer, and so Sangna is familiar with various common US estate planning concepts and how these are recognised and taxed internationally.
- Estate planning for couples with both a US and UK element, to minimise their incidence of UK and US estate taxes and, where necessary, taking into account matrimonial property regimes.
- Advising clients moving to the UK on their exposure to UK taxes. This includes pre-immigration tax planning, the four year FIG regime and the use of tax-efficient trusts / alternative structures. Often these clients are beneficiaries of trusts established in the US and Sangna is experienced at advising on the UK tax and other aspects of these.
- Advising US-UK clients on the effective use of trusts and other entities for estate and tax planning. In this context, Sangna regularly advises on:
- the appropriate interpretation of various US entities (including revocable trusts and LLCs) for UK inheritance tax, income tax and capital gains tax purposes;
- the application of the US/UK double tax treaty to determine how trusts/grantors/settlors/beneficiaries should be taxed in each jurisdiction;
- using trusts that qualify as both excluded property trusts and foreign grantor trusts to shelter assets from both US estate tax and UK inheritance tax;
- using the UK four year FIG regime to enable UK and US taxes to be matched annually, without the need to bring trust assets into the UK tax regime;
- the UK effects of stacking QSBS planning; and
- the various compliance regimes that affect trusts including FATCA, the CRS and the UK trust register.
- Advising clients on the UK tax rules relating to residential properties, related loans and holding structures.
- Advising owners and managers of successful businesses on tax efficient succession planning and, where appropriate, pre-sale structuring to maximise returns.
- Advising executors and trustees of family trusts and estates to enable them to carry out their responsibilities in such a way as to meet the families’ requirements.
