Offshore Trusts and Taxation

An offshore trust is defined as a trust where the majority of trustees are based in an offshore jurisdiction. Creating an offshore trust can be an efficient way of protecting and transferring your wealth, but there are UK tax consequences for the unwary. This can include Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax (CGT) or Inheritance Tax and sometimes all three.

If you are a beneficiary living in the UK, it is important that you understand that the actions taken by overseas trustees may have direct UK tax consequences for you. This can be simply because of the type of investment profile, which results in adverse tax charges in the UK or because trustees accidentally trigger a CGT charge on a beneficiary. Managing the UK tax consequences of an overseas trust is therefore an important responsibility for the professional trustees based offshore.

The services we can provide you include:

• Advice on setting up an overseas trust prior to your arrival in the UK
• Advice as to the creation of overseas trusts, where it is appropriate
• Record keeping and compliance for the beneficiary or the trustees
• UK tax advice to beneficiaries of an overseas trust
• UK tax advice on winding-up an overseas trust

Our specialist advice can help you protect and transfer your wealth on a range of matters, from planning a tax efficient distribution of funds, through to considering the UK tax implications of the trustees owning a UK property within a corporate structure.