UK resident and offshore trusts

Choosing the right trust for you

The trust best suited to you will depend on your objectives. You may be looking to pass on assets to vulnerable family members or minors, or support a second family, seeking an additional layer of privacy to protect assets from creditors or former spouses. Or you may be domiciled outside the UK looking at offshore trust strategies to defer or reduce UK taxation.

Whatever your circumstances, our experts can advise on which type of trust aligns with your goals and support you with the setup of a trust when you find the right fit. With us on hand from the start, we can get to know your trustees and help to ensure that they meet their obligations.

Trust UK tax planning and compliance

As well as advising on how the trustees, settlor and beneficiaries will be taxed, we can also take the burden of completing the trust tax returns off your hands. These may be required for UK resident trusts with income or capital gains, or offshore trusts where there is UK source income, such as UK rental property or from investments. Even if offshore trustees are not required to submit a UK tax return themselves, UK resident beneficiaries receiving distributions will need details of how to report what they receive on their own tax returns. With our support, you’ll pay the right amount of tax, at the right time, on the basis of full, accurate and timely disclosure.

We can also take care of the inheritance tax (IHT) reporting where trust assets are subject to IHT charges, either when distributed or on each 10th anniversary of the trust.

UK tax is constantly changing, which heightens the importance for trustees to consider the impact of their decisions and keep their tax advice up to date. We frequently help new clients reduce tax liabilities created due to assumptions regarding old tax legislation and make appropriate disclosures to HMRC where under-reporting is discovered. Our tax planning experts can help the trustees and beneficiaries to make the most of the tax legislation, while being cautious and reasonable in our approach.

Trust accounts to better understand performance

It can be difficult to get a full picture of a how a trust is performing when there are multiple complex or diverse assets. Although not formally required, our trusts team can prepare annual trust accounts as a useful information tool for the settlor or beneficiaries. These accounts demonstrate how the trustees are meeting their obligations and looking after the assets, while also showing the impact of any changes in tax or other legislation.

When and how to terminate a trust

With the ever-increasing changes to UK tax legislation, particularly when applied to offshore trusts, it’s worth reviewing whether it’s beneficial for you to keep an existing trust in place, or terminate it once it’s served its purpose. We’ll advise you on the most tax-efficient way to terminate a trust and distribute the assets, including providing personal tax planning or financial planning advice to the beneficiaries to help them make the most of the assets they receive.

For professional advice tailored to your unique circumstances, please fill out the form below and one of our experts will be in touch to discuss your requirements and how we can help. Please note that our advisory services are charged at our hourly rates and a formal engagement will need to be in place before any advice is provided.