A trust has several benefits when advising a family on their overall wealth planning strategy. Trusts are ideal vehicles for enabling wealth to be passed to successive generations allowing for control and protection of assets.

Trusts can be created in lifetime or on death. During lifetime, trusts are important tax planning vehicles and with the right planning it is possible to transfer assets into trust without creating an immediate charge to tax.

Within our Private Client team we have qualified tax professionals including members of the Society for Trust & Estate Practitioners (STEP) who can assist and advise on UK and offshore Trusts.

How we can help

1. Establishment of trusts including tax advice.
2. Advising settlors, trustees and beneficiaries and their reporting obligations.
3. Completion of Trust Accounts, Trust Tax Returns and tax certificates for beneficiaries.
4. IHT reporting obligations including IHT calculations, ten-year anniversary and exit charges.
5. CGT Property Accounts.

When someone passes away the executors or administrators are responsible for administrating the estate.

A final tax return to date of death may well be needed and any tax liability or refund may well be relevant to the IHT calculation.

In addition, assets held in the estate may well generate income and when assets are sold capital gains tax may well be in point.

It’s important that the executors or administrators are aware of their reporting obligations to HMRC and take advice on the process involved to finalise the estate prior to distribution of assets to the beneficiaries.

How we can help:

1. Tax Returns to date of death.
2. IHT Calculations
3. Assistance with IHT forms and Probate Applications.
4. Estate Tax Returns and CGT Property Accounts
5. Certificates of income for the beneficiaries.

An alternative to a trust is a Family Investment Company (FIC). A FIC is broadly a UK resident private company whose shareholders are made up entirely of family members. Typically, FICs are set up by the older generation within a family who wish to preserve and protect family assets and wealth for future generations.

Like a trust, a FIC is an invaluable tool to help plan for the preservation of family wealth. The main benefits of a FIC are:

• Perseveration of wealth for future generations within the family.
• Ability to ensure assets remain within the “blood line”.
• High flexibility in terms of which assets can be held and higher flexibility than a trust in terms of general management.
• Ability to pool investments and grow them in a much more effective tax environment than holding the investments personally.
• Ability to pass wealth on to the next generation.

Individuals who are planning to move to or from the UK often fall foul of the UK tax residency rules known as the statutory residence test. Whether an individual is resident in the UK dictates how they are liable to tax in the UK. Many individuals believe that because they spend more time in another country than in the UK, they are non-resident in the UK. This is not the case. It is possible to be resident, and therefore liable to UK taxation on your worldwide income, having spent only 16 days here!

It is, therefore, extremely important to ensure that you obtain tax advice if your plans involve coming to or leaving the UK, or a combination of both!

Broadly, a UK resident will be liable to taxation on their worldwide income and gains, whereas a non-UK resident will only be liable to UK income tax on their UK income and UK capital gains tax on UK residential property gains. It is paramount that planning is undertaken to ensure that you are planning your affairs in the most tax efficient way to ensure that you are not missing out on potential favourable tax treatment due to poor planning.