Trust and Estate Planning for a formerly domiciled resident returning to the UK

Providing pre-arrival planning advice to a formerly domiciled resident returning to the UK, who had previously settled an excluded property trust which held shares in an offshore company. Which in turn held a portfolio of UK residential and commercial property together with directly held investments.

This involved a full assessment of domicile, application of the Statutory Residence Test (and whether split year would potentially be available), the tax changes on offshore companies holding residential property since April 2017 and the impact on trusts and recommendations for structuring the winding up of the Trust/Company before the individual‘s return to the UK.

Specialist advice was provided on how to restructure the ownership of the properties from non-UK trust and/or company ownership into personal ownership, and the corresponding tax implications. Such as the impact of tax changes for high value enveloped properties, particularly in relation to the ATED and available reliefs and the valuation dates required for the properties and shares in the companies to determine the full tax exposure and the most appropriate ways to mitigate any potential tax liability.