“你太年轻, 你太理想主义” 3000 天前他们说CRS实施不了
上周weekly meeting, 有关于文章选题, 同事要求写CRS, 这让我哭笑不得. 从2015年开始, 从研究到提供comments到最后看着它实施, 真就像是看着CRS孵化成功.
我记得当时做讲座, 很多人是从国内的巡回讲座开始认识我, 会后也有很多人说: "Niko, 我知道你很专业, 但是中国的事情不是你专业就可以的, 我和你保证, 这个CRS实施不了, 你还是太年轻太理想主义." 🤦
我说我写腻了, 真的是有图有真相, 可惜被限制了9宫格:
2016年5月31日 — 离岸金融, 各国对于CRS的金融产品交换进程
2016年10月21日（3489天之前） — 真的要裸跑了吗? CRS, 你准备好了没有?
2016年10月25日 — 强强联手, 应对CRS
2018年9月7日（2865天之前） — CRS快问快答
2022年（1467天之前） — CRA的圆桌会议, 税务局如何界定非税务居民
1675天之前 — 离岸信托就真的安全吗?
1902天之前 — 祖母信托和CRS
真的不想再写了, 已经发表的是一个相对完整的知识数据库, 怪不得有人愿意出高价购买BK的微信平台.
从我们的角度来说, CRS不是一个突然出现的热点, 它的背后是一个体系的构建, 而CRS并不是这个体系的终极目标, 收集信息只是第一步, 这个体系的主要target也并不是正常税率的国家.
而一个专业人员/机构的价值, 并不是对一个在市场已经出现的问题上, 再去重复一个大家都知道的答案, 这不是专业人做的事情, 这是市场营销、销售做的范围.
对于税法来说, 专业的价值在于通过学术讨论、政策观察、前瞻性research paper, 行业内的交流, 提前判断未来发生的变化, 未雨绸缪. 因为当这些东西变成一个市场销售的一个点的时候, 对于真正跨境家庭和个人以及跨境企业来说, 往往已经意味着应对布局的窗口已经收窄.
相对于CRS来说, 目前我们关心、研究的是Pillar II的进程, 我预测在未来3000多天之后, 我还会写这么一篇微信, 如果那个时候还有微信, 因为有些人和我说Pillar II不会完成. 🤦
关于Black Key与Boreal
文中提到的BK, 即Black Key Financial Consulting, 由Niko Deng创立, 是他早年服务跨境客户的起点, 上述十年间关于CRS的研究、讲座与文章, 均发表于Black Key平台. 随着客户的需求日趋复杂 跨境税务、多法域架构、信托与传承、家族治理彼此交织, 单一咨询业务已不足以承载. Boreal Family Office应运而生, 以家族办公室的形式, 为客户提供体系化、跨领域的长期陪伴.
"You’re too Young, too Idealistic" They Said CRS Would Never Happen
At last week's weekly meeting, when we were discussing article topics, a colleague asked me to write about CRS — and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Since 2015, from research, to providing comments, to finally watching it come into force, it has truly been like watching CRS hatch.
I remember giving lectures in those days. Many people first came to know me through the touring seminars in China, and after the sessions many would tell me: “Niko, I know you're professional, but matters in China aren't settled by expertise alone. I guarantee you, this CRS will never be implemented. You're still too young, too idealistic.” 🤦
I said I'm tired of writing about it. The pictures speak for themselves — a pity WeChat limits you to a nine-image grid:
May 31, 2016 — Offshore finance — where each country stood on CRS financial account exchange
October 21, 2016 (3,489 days ago) — Are we really going to run bare? CRS, are you ready?
October 25, 2016 — Joining forces to face CRS
September 7, 2018 (2,865 days ago) — CRS: quick questions, quick answers
2022 (1,467 days ago) — The CRA roundtable — how the tax authority determines non-tax-resident status
1,675 days ago — Are offshore trusts really safe?
1,902 days ago — Grandmother trusts and CRS
I truly don't want to write it again. What has already been published amounts to a fairly complete knowledge database, no wonder people have offered high prices to buy BK's WeChat platform.
From our perspective, CRS was never a hot topic that appeared out of nowhere. Behind it stands the construction of an entire system and CRS is not that system's ultimate goal. Collecting information is only the first step, and the system's principal target was never the countries with normal tax rates.
The value of a professional, or a professional institution, is not to repeat an answer everyone already knows to a problem that has already surfaced in the market. That is not the work of professionals… that is the territory of marketing and sales.
In tax law, professional value lies in judging future change before it arrives through academic discussion, policy observation, forward-looking research papers, and exchange within the industry and preparing before the rain. Because by the time these things have become a selling point in the market, for genuinely cross-border families, individuals, and enterprises, it usually means the window for planning and positioning has already narrowed.
Compared with CRS, what we are watching and researching now is the progress of Pillar Two. My prediction: some 3,000-plus days from now, I will write another post just like this one — if WeChat still exists by then — because some people have told me Pillar Two will never be completed. 🤦
About Black Key & Boreal
The "BK" referenced in this article is Black Key Financial Consulting, founded by Niko Deng, the starting point of his early work serving cross-border clients. The decade of CRS research, seminars, and articles described above was all published through the Black Key platform. As client needs grew increasingly complex cross-border tax, multi-jurisdictional structures, trusts and succession, and family governance intertwining to the point where a standalone consulting practice could no longer carry them. Boreal Family Office came into being, providing clients with systematic, cross-disciplinary, long-term accompaniment in the form of a family office. \