Services · Trusts & private foundations

Setting up a trust in Gibraltar: law, tax and register

Updated 3 October 2026

Zero Gibraltar tax on a trust's foreign income, provided no beneficiary lives in Gibraltar. The trade-off is oversight: a trustee paid for the role needs a licence and at least GBP 50,000 of capital, and since 1 December 2025 the regulator has held a full list of everyone behind the trust.

A Gibraltar trust can spend years collecting interest, dividends and gains on foreign assets without paying a single pound of Gibraltar tax. The condition sits in section 13 of the Income Tax Act 2010: no beneficiary, meaning no one the trust exists to benefit, lives in Gibraltar, and no Gibraltar resident can ever be added. The territory has no inheritance, gift or wealth tax at all, and gains on assets are taxed in only one narrow case: a sale of local housing by someone who owns five or more homes in Gibraltar.

What it will not give you is invisibility. Since 1 December 2025 every trustee (the person or firm that becomes the legal owner of the assets) must, within 10 working days, tell the regulator who the settlor, protector and beneficiaries are, and in which country the trust is resident under CRS, the OECD Common Reporting Standard for automatic exchange of financial account information between tax authorities. The public cannot see that file. Neither can banks. Tax authorities can.

What this means for you. Gibraltar suits families who want English law, a structure that can last up to 250 years, a statutory shield against foreign forced heirship rules and a trust that is tax neutral in its own right. It will not help anyone hide income from their home tax authority: how much the trust's income costs you is decided by the country where the settlor and beneficiaries live. Below: the statutes, the tax rules, the registers, who may act as trustee, a comparison with Jersey, Cyprus and Malta, and an honest list of drawbacks.

What is a Gibraltar trust and which laws govern it

A trust is an English law arrangement in which property effectively has two owners. The settlor transfers assets to a trustee. The trustee holds legal title but may deal with the assets only for the beneficiaries and in line with the trust deed. A settlor who wants a check on the trustee can appoint a protector, someone with a veto over key decisions such as replacing the trustee or distributing capital.

The settlor's intentions usually go into a letter of wishes. It does not legally bind the trustee, but a professional trustee will not depart from it without good reason. That is how families keep real influence without turning the trust into a sham.

Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory on Spain's southern tip. English common law and equity apply through the English Law (Application) Act, and Gibraltar has layered its own trust statutes on top, most of them written with international families in mind.

For comparison, Malta caps a trust at 125 years, while Jersey and Cyprus set no limit at all. Gibraltar's 250 years covers roughly eight generations, and trusts created before 2014 can opt into the longer period too.

What types of trust can you set up in Gibraltar

Gibraltar law does not force trusts into a fixed menu: the deed is drafted around the family's goals. In practice six structures come up most often.

A trust is not the only option. Since 2017 Gibraltar has offered private foundations under the Private Foundations Act 2017. Unlike a trust, a foundation is a legal person that owns its assets outright, which is why notaries and courts in civil law countries, where trusts are unfamiliar, tend to find it easier to deal with. See our pages on the Gibraltar private foundation and the article Gibraltar trust or foundation.

How much tax does a Gibraltar trust pay

Nothing on foreign income, as long as the trust is not tax resident in Gibraltar. Residence turns on the beneficiaries, not on where the trustee sits. Under section 13(2) of the Income Tax Act 2010 a trust is resident in Gibraltar if at least one beneficiary is ordinarily resident there, or if the class of beneficiaries could include such a person or their issue. That is why trust deeds drafted for foreign families irrevocably exclude Gibraltar residents.

A resident trust pays tax at the same rate as a company. That rate rose from 12.5% to 15% on 1 July 2024 to line up with the OECD global minimum, and the 2026 Budget left it unchanged. The taxable base of such a trust is worked out under the Income Tax Act 2010 by reference to where its beneficiaries live.

Compliance for a non-resident trust is light too. Where at least one trustee is licensed and neither the trust nor its beneficiaries have any Gibraltar tax liability, the trust files no tax return. Instead, the trustee sends the Commissioner of Income Tax an annual declaration by 30 November listing any trusts that do not qualify for this exemption (section 28 of the Act).

Worked example. A family lives in continental Europe, and its Gibraltar trust holds a USD 5 million brokerage portfolio yielding 4% a year, or USD 200,000 of interest and dividends. Gibraltar residents are excluded as beneficiaries. Gibraltar tax: zero. Tax at home depends on the family's country: some states tax trust income every year as if the settlor had received it, others only when it is paid out to a beneficiary. That second number is the one that tells you whether the structure pays off.

Gibraltar has no VAT on services. Since 15 July 2026, under the UK-EU agreement on Gibraltar, it does levy a transaction tax on goods imported or manufactured for sale: 15% in 2026, 16% in 2027 and, from 2028, no lower than the lowest standard VAT rate in the EU (currently Luxembourg's 17%). Securities portfolios and company shares fall outside it.

One detail for anyone thinking of moving to Gibraltar themselves. Category 2 is a tax regime for wealthy new residents: income tax is charged only on the first $160,000 of income, with a minimum annual bill of $49,000. On 18 June 2026 the government announced that new applicants will need at least $6.7 million of net assets, up from $2.7 million; existing Category 2 holders keep their status on the old terms. Section 13(3) of the Act treats a Category 2 individual, and a spouse or children covered by their election, as not resident for trust purposes. Moving to Gibraltar under Category 2 does not turn the family trust into a local taxpayer.

What will your home tax authority do with the trust's income

Gibraltar shares information on trusts with foreign tax authorities, and has done so for years. It was an early adopter of CRS, with first exchanges in 2017 covering 2016. A trust run by a professional trustee and living off investment income is typically a financial institution in its own right under CRS, and reports on its settlor and beneficiaries.

Since 1 December 2025 the trustee also tells the GFSC, Gibraltar's financial regulator, the trust's CRS classification and the country where it is resident for exchange purposes. Do not build a plan on the assumption that your tax authority will never hear about it: where data goes depends on Gibraltar's agreements with each country, and partner lists are reviewed.

Russian tax residents face specific rules. Russian law treats a trust as a foreign unincorporated structure. As a rule the settlor is its controlling person (Tax Code of the Russian Federation, Article 25.13(9)) and must notify the tax office within three months of setting it up (Article 25.14). The trust's profits can then be taxed in Russia under the controlled foreign company rules even if nothing is distributed. Our CFC notifications and reporting page explains the filings and the exemptions.

Ukraine, Kazakhstan and many EU countries have comparable controlled foreign entity rules. Check yours before the trust deed is signed, not after the first letter from the tax office.

Is there a trust register in Gibraltar and who can see the beneficiaries

Gibraltar has no public trust register, but it does keep several closed ones. The most important is also the newest: under the Trusts (Information) Regulations 2025, since 1 December 2025 the GFSC (Gibraltar Financial Services Commission, the territory's single financial regulator) holds details of every trust governed by Gibraltar law or administered from Gibraltar.

In summer 2026 the access rules for the beneficial ownership register were rewritten twice. Legal Notice 147/2026 (legal notices are how Gibraltar publishes secondary legislation) would have limited access to people with a legitimate interest from 15 July. But LN 220/2026 came into force a day earlier, on 14 July, restored open access to company data and closed trust data completely. Only competent authorities, the Commissioner of Income Tax and the GFIU (Gibraltar Financial Intelligence Unit) can see it. Members of the public, banks and other firms carrying out due diligence cannot search trusts at all.

Companies are a different story. In February 2026 the government announced that searches of the register would become free for anyone. For each Gibraltar company the public can see the beneficial owner's name, month and year of birth, nationality, country of residence and the nature and extent of their interest. Where a company is owned by a trust that has already reported to the GFSC, the company files only the trust's name and its trustees' names and contact details (regulation 8(6) of the register regulations).

A closed register is not a secret from the taxman. Foreign tax authorities receive trust data under CRS, and Gibraltar agencies pass information to overseas counterparts when asked.

Who can act as a trustee in Gibraltar

Acting as a trustee for reward and by way of business in Gibraltar requires a permission from the GFSC under Part 7 of the Financial Services Act 2019. The regulated activity is acting as a professional trustee, listed in paragraph 131 of Schedule 2 to the Act; a broader permission also covers sitting on the council of a private foundation. Minimum standards for these firms are set by the Financial Services (Fiduciary Services) Regulations 2020.

Checking a trustee takes a minute: the GFSC publishes its register of regulated entities, with a Professional Trustees section, at fsc.gi. A firm that is not on it may not provide trust services for a fee.

Not every trustee needs a licence. A family member, or a private trust company (PTC) that acts only for one family's trusts and offers no services to outsiders, can do without one. Under the Private Trust Companies Act 2015 such a company may register voluntarily with the Registrar of Private Trust Companies at Companies House Gibraltar. The exception is a purpose trust, where at least one trustee must be licensed. And since 1 December 2025 every trustee, professional or not, has to report the trust to the GFSC.

We only build structures with a licensed trustee. It costs more than asking a friend to take the role, but the family gets a counterparty supervised by a regulator and insured for at least $1.4 million, and the bank gets a clear picture of who stands behind the account.

Does a Gibraltar trust protect assets from creditors and heirs' claims

Yes, and in Gibraltar that protection is written into statute rather than left to case law. Section 419A of the Insolvency Act 2011 stops the settlor's creditors from setting aside a transfer into trust. Five conditions apply:

• the settlor is an individual, not a company;
• the settlor is solvent on the date of the transfer, meaning liabilities do not exceed assets;
• the transfer itself does not make the settlor insolvent;
• the property becomes genuinely settled, not merely held by a nominee;
• the disposition is registered in the register of dispositions.

A claim the settlor had no actual notice of at the time of the transfer does not count as a contingent liability. Where the conditions are met, the Fraudulent Conveyances Act 1571, the old English statute creditors usually rely on, does not apply to the transfer either.

The second shield works against foreign law. The Trusts (Private International Law) Act 2015 has applied since 17 September 2015, with retrospective effect. The validity of the trust, the interpretation of the deed and the trustee's duties are governed by Gibraltar law alone. No settlor, trustee, protector or beneficiary can be held liable under foreign forced heirship or matrimonial laws, and a foreign judgment is not recognised to the extent that the foreign court applied a law other than the one Gibraltar's rules require.

What a trust will not do. It will not help if, counting the debts and claims you knew about, your liabilities exceeded your assets when you made the transfer, and it will not save a transfer made on the eve of bankruptcy. It offers no protection against criminal confiscation or sanctions. Courts in the settlor's home country may act against the settlor personally, and if the settlor has in fact kept full control of the assets, the trust risks being struck down as a sham. The protection works when the trust is set up early, with clean money and a genuinely independent trustee.

Gibraltar, Jersey, Cyprus or Malta: where to set up a trust

All four jurisdictions exempt a trust's foreign income from local tax when the beneficiaries live abroad. The differences lie in how long the structure can last, who can see the beneficiaries and whose anti-money laundering rules apply: British or EU.

Families choose Jersey for trusts with no end date and a large, long-established fiduciary market. Cyprus and Malta are EU members, so their trust registers follow EU anti-money laundering directives, which keep getting tighter. On privacy Gibraltar sits closer to Jersey than to its EU neighbours, and its creditor protection is spelled out in statute.

Another British option is a Guernsey trust. We compare the Channel Islands in detail in trusts and foundations in Jersey and Guernsey, the Cyprus route in the Cyprus international trust, and every jurisdiction side by side in our overview of trust jurisdictions.

How to set up a trust in Gibraltar, step by step

1. Goals and home-country tax. We start with the rules of the country where the settlor and beneficiaries live: filing duties, tax on the structure's profits, tax on distributions. They shape the settlor's role, the class of beneficiaries and the protector's powers.
2. Choosing the trustee. A licensed firm from the GFSC register with experience in your kind of assets: a securities portfolio, real estate or stakes in an operating business.
3. Source of funds checks. The trustee will ask for passports, proof of address, the history of how the wealth was built and documents for the assets being transferred. This is where most set-ups slow down.
4. Trust deed and letter of wishes. The deed fixes the type of trust, the class of beneficiaries, the irrevocable exclusion of Gibraltar residents, the protector's powers, how trustees are replaced and the governing law.
5. Transferring the assets. Cash, securities or shares in a holding company pass to the trustee. If you want creditor protection under section 419A, the disposition is registered.
6. Filings in Gibraltar. The trustee reports the trust to the GFSC within 10 working days of appointment. If the trust has Gibraltar tax consequences, it also goes on the beneficial ownership register within 30 days.
7. Accounts and home filings. The trustee opens the trust's accounts, and you file whatever your home country requires; in Russia that means a notification within three months of the trust being set up.

Pitfalls, and who a Gibraltar trust is not for

• Reputational hangover. Gibraltar was on the FATF (Financial Action Task Force, the intergovernmental anti-money laundering body) grey list from June 2022 to February 2024, and on the EU list of high-risk third countries from 2023 to 2025. It is off both lists now, but some banks still ask more questions about Gibraltar structures.
• Control passes to the trustee. The trustee is the legal owner. A settlor who keeps every decision for themselves risks a court treating the trust as a sham.
• Transparency to tax authorities. CRS and the GFSC's closed register mean tax authorities can see the trust. It is a planning tool, not a hiding place.
• Running costs. A licensed trustee charges an annual fee, and banking, accounting and legal work come on top. With modest assets the costs can eat the benefit.
• Limits on creditor protection. Section 419A only protects transfers by individuals, and only if the settlor stayed solvent after counting every debt and claim they knew about.
• Gibraltar residents as beneficiaries. One is enough to make the trust tax resident at 15%.
• Recognition in civil law countries. The Hague Convention helps, but many states have not ratified it. For property in those countries a private foundation is sometimes the easier vehicle.

Who it is not for. People who already face debts, lawsuits or tax audits: known claims count in the solvency test, and if they push liabilities above assets, the transfer gets no section 419A protection. Anyone looking to hide assets from their own tax authority or from sanctions screening. Settlors who are not prepared to give the trustee real powers. And people living in Gibraltar without Category 2 status: a trust that names them as a beneficiary pays 15%.

How we help you set up a Gibraltar trust

We start not with Gibraltar but with the tax law of the country where the settlor and beneficiaries live. If the structure cannot survive that test, it is better to find out before the trust deed is signed. Sometimes the answer is different altogether and a private foundation suits the family better; our article trust or foundation: which to choose walks through that decision.

If Gibraltar is the right fit, we handle:

• comparing Gibraltar with Jersey, Guernsey, Cyprus and Malta for your assets and country of residence;
• selecting a licensed trustee and negotiating terms;
• the trust deed, letter of wishes and protector arrangements;
• source of funds documentation for the trustee's and the bank's checks;
• transferring assets, including registering the disposition for creditor protection;
• a holding company beneath the trust through company registration in Gibraltar;
• ongoing support: changing trustees, amending the deed, distributions and beneficiary questions.

How a trust fits into passing wealth to the next generation and changing citizenship is covered in our article inheritance and a second passport. All our trust and foundation services are in the trusts and private foundations section, and our fees for Gibraltar are in the table below.

What we do

• Trust establishment and maintenance

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