Offshore tax and trusts

Wilsons is ranked as one of the leading law firms in the UK for providing specialist advice to wealthy families, entrepreneurs, trust companies and charities.  The firm has a well-established international client base and our tax and trusts team now acts for clients with interests in over 50 jurisdictions.

Demand for our tax and trusts advice has grown considerably in recent years and we receive regular referrals particularly from Europe, North America and the Far East.

Individuals

Tax, succession and wealth planning are becoming increasingly more sophisticated and the protection of our clients' wealth is the key.  We advise on vehicles for preserving and transferring wealth such as trusts, companies and foundations.

An inherent part of our bespoke services is our ability to understand our clients and their interests and to co-ordinate the advice of their other trusted advisers in different jurisdictions.

Our tax advice includes:

• domicile and UK residence
• the remittance basis of taxation for non-UK domiciliaries
• tax planning for arrival in or departure from the UK
• the use of offshore and UK trusts for UK tax planning
• the UK taxation of settlors and beneficiaries
• Double Tax Treaties and cross-border planning

Trustees

We advise trustees in all the major offshore jurisdictions, with a particular focus on the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Hong Kong.

As well as advising on the creation of offshore trusts, we advise on the UK taxation of trustees, their duties, the construction of trust documents, the transfer of trusteeships and cross-border issues.

We have a large trust litigation team, advising clients on a wide range of contentious matters to provide an efficient and effective means of dispute resolution.  With our experience and legal know-how, we help our clients achieve the most favourable outcome in every type of dispute, focussing on their longer term strategic and business goals.

More specifically we deal with trust disputes; directions applications; breach of trust claims; removal of trustees; recovery of trust assets and trustee costs orders.  Our objective is to deliver the right result quickly and cost effectively.

Recent work includes

• advising Jersey trustees with beneficiaries in India, the UK, USA and Switzerland
• advising a non-UK domiciled family resident in the UK on estate planning and the restructuring of their seven offshore settlements
• assisting US tax consultants and their clients with UK estate planning and the US/UK Estate and Gift Tax Treaty
• representing Jersey trustees in litigation which settled a long-standing legal debate concerning provisions governing the appointment of trustees in the UK Trustee Act 1925
• advising a wealthy UK entrepreneur on company disposals and his emigration to Switzerland
• advising Jersey resident trustees and the directors of a Guernsey company on a corporate restructuring and refinancing to minimise UK CGT
• advising a Hong Kong domiciled client on the impact of divorce on his various international tax planning structures

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