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Significance of domicile for non-resident trusts

The extent of a trust’s liability to UK income tax and capital gains tax is dependent upon its residence status. Within the trust, the liability of a non-resident trust is restricted to UK source income. See the UK tax position of non-resident trusts guidance note.

Since non-resident trusts may escape liability to UK taxation on their foreign income and gains, there are extensive anti-avoidance rules which charge UK residents who have created or benefited from them. These provisions and their application to UK resident and UK domiciled individuals are described in more detail in other guidance notes in this sub-topic. Their scope is so wide that the incidence of tax on UK domiciled settlors and beneficiaries of non-resident trusts is at least as burdensome, if not more so, than that of UK resident trusts.

However, for non-UK domiciled settlors, there has been some mitigation from UK tax liabilities. Historically, individuals of foreign domicile who became resident in the UK have been able to avoid UK taxation