Seychelles Offshore Trust

We are please to introduce our new Seychelles Offshore Trust package, consisting of a Seychelles offshore Trust with Bank account.

 

Benefits of Seychelles Offshore Trust:

 

 

Asset Protection and Preservation. Building up wealth usually takes time and effort. Successful individual and corporations are naturally wise to take steps to ensure preservation and protection of their accumulated wealth. A trust structure is often deployed to assist in the protection of wealth. Assets may be vulnerable to attack from various sources: Legal claims-if you have wealth and are known to have wealth, you are an obvious target for legal claims.   Inflation and Currency and market fluctuations   Expropriation by Governments and other 2country risks Tax Minimisation Seychelles International Trusts are exempt from taxation in the Seychelles, and can in appropriate cases reduce and /or defer tax liabilities for the settler and or Beneficiaries in their country of residents or domicile (such as inheritance, income and capital taxes). Privacy Offshore Trust enjoy a high degree of confidentiality   No Trust information is available on public record   For both private and business asset protection

 

 

 

A Trust is a legal arrangement where the owner of property or other assets (usually known as the Settlor) transfers ownership of those assets to a Trustee to hold and administer under the terms of a Trust Deed for the benefit of other persons (known as the Beneficiaries).

Trusts are a versatile and highly useful structure for tax and estate planning as well as risk management. A Discretionary Trust, subject to the Trustee’s discretion as guided by the Settlor’s wishes, enables a Settlor to facilitate distribution of property (ie. Trust property outside of the Settlor’s ownership and estate) as he or she sees fit, such as to any particular Beneficiaries and/or between “income” and “capital” beneficiaries upon the death of the Settlor or on a Beneficiary reaching a certain age.

Settlor’s “wishes” The Trustees administer the trust at their discretion, but a letter or expression of “ Wishes” is provided by the Settlor, setting out his or her wishes in relation to administration of the trust, including as to distributions proportions, timings, etc. In practice, the Trustees will operate in accordance with the Letter of Wishes but are not legally bound to do so. It acts as a guide to the Trustee. A “sample” Letter of wishes can be seen below.

Offshore “discretionary” trusts Though there are many types of trust structure, our clients normally establish irrevocable discretionary trusts, where the Trustees have full discretion in the administration and disposal of the assets, of course subject to the terms of the Trust Deed and in favour of the beneficiaries. A discretionary trust gives the Trustee a broad discretion in relation to administration of the Trust, for example, relating to distributions or to add or remove Beneficiaries in furtherance of the Settlor’s wishes.

The Settlor

The Settlor is the person who transfers his or her assets to establish the Trust (ie. to a Trustee to hold for the benefit of the Beneficiaries).

 

The Trustee/s

 

In many offshore jurisdictions, the Trustee must be licensed (to provide trustee services) in the country where the Trust is established. Normally, it is permissible to also appoint a non-resident co-trustee. However, for tax reasons it may be inadvisable to appoint an “on-shore” based co-trustee, and expert tax advice should be sought if you intend to appoint a co-trustee. The Trustee must operate in the best interests of the Beneficiaries, and may break the law if he fails to exercise a sufficient level of care. The Trustee must obey the directions in the Trust Deed and must account for all transactions. A trustee is entitled to make reasonable charges, but is not permitted to derive any advantage from the Trust. A Trustee’s actions are strictly controlled by law.

The Beneficiaries

The Settlor needs to decide who he or she wishes to benefit under the terms of the Trust – who will be specified as Beneficiaries, and how they are to benefit. A Settlor may wish to nominate family members as Beneficiaries who could benefit, for example, upon his or her death, or before that in certain situations (e.g. a distribution to a child to assist with university education, etc). Beneficiaries may or may not be named. If they are not named it cannot be claimed that any individual has an interest in the trust. This may have beneficial tax implications. The Settlor may be a beneficiary (not sole beneficiary) but this may have adverse tax implications.

 

What is a Protector?

 

Some clients like to appoint a “Protector” (often a professional advisor known to the settlor) to oversee operation of the Trust. While a Protector should not “control” a Trust, the Protector can be given veto power on certain trust decisions, such as in respect of addition or exclusion of a Beneficiary by the Trustee. A Protector may be a co-signatory and may be given power to remove or appoint Trustees. Dealings through the Trustee Once a Trust is created, the Settlor should not be exerting undue control over the Trust assets as if it remained his or her own property – this is one factor a Court would look at in deciding whether the Trust is valid or to be regarded as a “sham”. If there are to be dealings with trust property, these should occur via the Trustee.

Popular “Dual” structure

Offshore Company (IBC) and Trust A Trust may be used together with an offshore company. Often an IBC and Trust dual structure is used, where the IBC is the active entity and the Trust is passive in that its main role is to hold and own the shares in the IBC; with the IBC owning any property, funds or other assets/investments. Use of the dual structure is also one means of giving a settlor client more “influence” than may be possible in relation to a sole Trust. One example is a settlor being engaged by the IBC as an independent contractor providing services to the IBC. This dual structure is commonly deployed in the offshore investment area, particularly because of strong tax planning, privacy and asset protection features.

 

 

International Trusts Specific Asset Protection / Trust defence provisions
The Seychelles International Trusts Act 1994 (“the Act”) provides:

• that notwithstanding any foreign laws, an international trust shall not be void by reason of the settlor’s bankruptcy or liquidation of the settlor’s property or in any legal action against the settlor by the settlor’s creditors (except where the Seychelles Supreme Court finds beyond reasonable doubt that the trust was made with the intent to defraud creditors of the settlor or the settlor was insolvent at the time when the property was vested in the trustee. The onus of proof as to intent to defraud rests on the creditor claimant)
• that a legal claim by a creditor shall not be permitted against a trustee of an international trust after 2 years from the date of transfer of assets into the trust. Therefore, in addition to the very narrow opportunity to “attack” a trust and the 2 year legal claim limit period, a claimant creditor has to prove their case “beyond reasonable doubt” (ie. higher than the usual civil onus of “on the balance of probabilities”).

Forced heirship

• Seychelles has strong anti-forced heirship provisions with regard to trusts. Under the Trusts Act, neither an international trust nor any transfer or disposition of property to the trust can be invalidated by any foreign rule of forced heirship, nor because the trust concept is unknown to or not admitted by the laws of a foreign jurisdiction.
• In some countries statutory property rights, such as forced heirship or spousal rights under divorce and/or probate legislation, pose a threat for wealthy individuals and their families. Under the said Seychelles law the transfer by a Settlor of property into an International Trust can not be invalidated by any foreign rule of forced heirship.

Confidentiality

• Although a Seychelles International Trust is “registered” and a registration number allocated, the Trust Deed is NOT filed with any Government Registry.
• There is no requirement to file with any Government Registry details of the Settlor or the beneficiaries (except for any beneficiaries who are Seychellois nationals)
• The Act prohibits disclosure or production any information or document relating to an international trust, except under very limited circumstances, such as by an order of the Seychelles Supreme Court on application made by the Seychelles Attorney General and only for the purpose of an inquiry into or trial relating to drug trafficking, arms trafficking or money laundering. Fiscal
• No Seychelles taxation on foreign income

Establishment Seychelles International Trust Registration steps include:

• Filing of a brief declaration by the licensed resident Trustee with the Government Registry, declaring that the Settlor of the Trust is not a Seychelles resident; that the Trust property does not include any land in Seychelles; and informing the name and date of the Trust.
• Payment of one-off Government fee – US$ 100

Accumulation Under the Act, there are no restrictions on the accumulation of income:

• A trustee is given, under the terms of most typical discretionary Trust Deeds, a “power to accumulate”, to save the income as it arises rather than distributing it to the beneficiaries
• The accumulations can be directed towards either the capital beneficiary or to accumulation funds which can later be paid over to the income beneficiaries.

Other formalities

• There must be a Seychelles resident Trustee which holds a valid trustee services licence issued by the Seychelles International Business Authority. Non-resident co-trustee/s and/or protector may also be appointed
• An International Trust can own property world-wide (except for land in Seychelles; though it can own shares and/or maintain bank accounts in Seychelles)
• The Settlors can be a beneficiary under the International Trust (but not a sole beneficiary)
• The Settlor can not at any time during the duration of the Trust be a resident of Seychelles
• Duration of a Seychelles International Trust: up to the 100th anniversary of the date it came into existence and will then terminate, unless terminated earlier either pursuant to the trust terms or for any other reason (except for charitable trusts or purpose trusts).
• The Act requires a Beneficiary under an International Trust to be: (a) identifiable by name; or (b) ascertainable by reference to either: (i) a class; or (ii) a relationship to another person, whether or not living at the time of the creation of the trust or at the time by reference to which, under the terms of the trust, members of a class are to be determined. Some examples of “unnamed” beneficiaries – where the trust deed includes as a beneficiary the settlor’s children and remoter issue; and the spouses, widows and widowers of the settlor’s children.
• The law governing an International Trust is the law chosen by the Settlor to be the proper law Migration Seychelles international trusts can migrate. They can be administered from Seychelles or elsewhere. The terms of an international trust may also provide for a change in the proper law of the trust, but a change is only valid if the new proper law recognises the validity of the trust and the interest of the beneficiaries. The Hague Convention has been ratified by Seychelles.

 

 

Seychelles – an offshore success

Seychelles is an Independent country and a member of the Commonwealth. Seychelles gained its independence in 1976, having been a British colony since 1812. Seychelles has a population of 82,000 and comprises a group of some 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, most of which are situated between 4 and 5 degrees south of the equator. The country has good political stability with a democratically elected Government. Seychelles has comprehensive and modern international financial services laws. The Seychelles legal system is based on English Common Law and French Civil Law. The company, banking, trust and other financial services legislation is heavily based in English law and on offshore laws in the successful Caribbean offshore jurisdictions. The Seychelles economy is primarily based on tourism and commercial fishing with a thriving offshore financial services industry. Inward investment is also on the increase, especially in hotels and encouraged by favourable tax policies, incentives and Free Trade Zone.

 

BENEFITS OF SEYCHELLES OFFSHORE TRUSTS

Asset Protection and Preservation

Building up wealth usually takes time and effort. Successful individuals and corporations are naturally wise to take steps to ensure preservation and protection of their accumulated wealth. A trust structure is often deployed to assist in the protection of wealth. Assets may be vulnerable to attack from various sources:

• Legal claims – if you have wealth and are known to have wealth, you are an obvious target for claims
• Inflation and Currency and market fluctuations
• Expropriation by Governments and other “country risks”

Tax Minimisation

Seychelles International Trusts are exempt from taxation in Seychelles, and can in appropriate cases reduce and/or defer tax liabilities for the Settlor and/or Beneficiaries in their countries of residence or domicile (such as inheritance, income and capital taxes).

 

Succession & Relationship Planning

Under a Trust a client Settlor can provide for surviving spouse, children and even subsequent generations, with regard to income or capital distributions, occupation of Trust property, etc. In some countries statutory property rights such as forced heirship or spousal rights under divorce and/or probate legislation pose a threat for wealthy individuals and their families. Trusts can provide the solution. Under Seychelles law the transfer by a Settlor of property into an International Trust can not be invalidated by any foreign rule of forced heirship.

Privacy Offshore

Trusts enjoy a high degree of confidentiality.