Recent cases highlight the increasingly complex intersection between offshore trusts and tax considerations. In A Trust Company re the Z Trust, the Guernsey Court was prepared to vary a trust to resolve uncertainty over whether beneficiaries had become excluded persons, where this would otherwise have had adverse tax consequences. This raises broader questions about the extent to which courts will assist with tax-driven outcomes, and whether judicial willingness differs across jurisdictions. 

The session will also explore the limits of offshore court intervention in supporting tax outcomes, including whether statutory rights of reimbursement under UK tax legislation can be enforced against trusts without breaching the Revenue Rule. 

Another recent Guernsey decision considered the onshoring of a trust to bring it within the UK tax net, following a protector’s blessing to appoint a UK trustee in line with the beneficiaries’ moral preference to pay UK tax. The case raised interesting questions about the meaning of “benefit” in this context. 

The discussion will also touch on civil law perspectives, including the treatment of taxation in divorce and financial remedy settlements.