Offshore (non-UK resident) trust

A trust whose trustees are all outside the UK used to be the core tool of non-domiciled UK residents: foreign income and gains could build up tax-free and non-UK assets stayed outside inheritance tax. Since 6 April 2025 the non-dom regime is gone, the 'protected settlement' shelter is gone, and inheritance tax on trusts depends on the settlor's long-term UK residence. For a UK-resident settlor who can benefit, an offshore trust is now broadly tax-transparent: its income and gains are taxed on the settlor as they arise. It still has uses for asset protection, succession, and for people who are genuinely non-UK resident, but it is no longer a UK tax shelter.

• People who are, and will remain, non-UK resident and want succession planning, asset protection or forced-heirship workarounds.
• Settlors in their first 4 years of UK residence (FIG regime) who accept the benefit is temporary.

Reviewed 2026-09-29. Research, not advice.