British Virgin Islands Trusts

The concept of trusts has a long history and originated in the courts of England in the Middle Ages.  Today, trusts are the foundation of international tax planning and succession.  Generally, this consists of the owner of the assets known as the trustee who transfers the assets to a beneficiary who keeps and administers the assets of the beneficiaries that have been named by the trustee.  There are different types of trusts that can be used, depending on the individual circumstances and wishes of the trustee.

Benefits of trusts

1. Confidentiality
2. Asset protection
3. Legal tax evasion of succession
4. Protection of family patrimony within a private and safe trust
5. To avoid succession processes
6. Mitigation of forced inheritance rights dispositions

The British Virgin Islands offers an ideal environment for the trust business:  modern legislation that offers the most favorable technical characteristics that exist as well as competence and skill in specific areas of law and administration of trusts, together with the commitment of the International Financial Center and the Government of the British Virgin Islands to maintain the quality of the environment, required by a modern trust jurisdiction.

In 1993, the British Virgin Islands enacted the Amendment of Law of Trustees which updates the principal legislation of trusts to incorporate an important number of developments in the international trust practice.  The British Virgin Islands trusts are exempt of the local requirements of registration and all local taxes for the beneficiaries who are not residents of the British Virgin Islands.

According to the vision of the British Virgin Islands as the main financial center offshore, there has been an important focus on the need to respond to changes in the external corporate environment and the ability to provide new competitive products that will maintain or enhance the territory`s reputation.

The Special Law of Trusts of the British Virgin Islands (VISTA) was approved in 2003.  This law allows the setting up of a new type of trust, the VISTA trust.  The main purpose of the VISTA trust is to overcome some of the obstacles of traditional trusts in the area of management of underlying companies and the planning of successions.  In particular, it is designed to satisfy the growing international need to have a satisfactory legal mechanism to facilitate the succession planning of corporate family businesses.  The essence of the VISTA trust is that it allows the withholding of property of the trust, instead of selling it and depositing the earnings in the trust.  The trustees can leave the administration of the underlying companies to the directors and therefore, concentrate more closely on the wishes of the trustee.