CG38410 - Residence of a settlement

Trustees are a deemed single person

For Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax purposes the trustees of a settlement are treated as a single person separate from the persons who are actually the trustees at any given time, TCGA92/S68. This rule also applies to non-resident settlements.

Residence of trustees

The residence of the settlement is determined by the residence of the persons who are the trustees at any given time, TCGA92/S69.

For the year 2007-08 onwards the tests for determining the residence of a settlement for Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax purposes are the same. These are:

  • if all the trustees are resident in the UK the settlement is resident in the UK
  • if all the trustees are not resident in the UK the settlement is not resident in the UK
  • if some of the trustees are UK resident and some are non-resident the settlement will be UK resident if the settlor was UK resident or domiciled** when they made the settlement or at the date of death in the case of a will trust.The usual tax rules apply to determine the residence of the persons who are trustees; the statutory residence test for individuals and the company taxation rules for corporate trustees. See CG26540 for guidance on the statutory residence test. In certain circumstances non-resident professional trustees may be treated as UK resident for the purposes of determining the residence of the settlement.

    For detailed guidance on the residence of trustees see TSEM10000+.

    ** For 2017/18 onwards this would include being deemed domiciled. Guidance on deemed domicile is within the Residence, Domicile and Remittance Basis Manual.