Services · Trusts & private foundations

Guernsey foundations

Updated 7 October 2026

Open pricing. The final quote is fixed in writing before work starts.

Guernsey is a British Crown dependency with its own foundations legislation and one of the most established fiduciary industries in the world. A Guernsey foundation is a legal entity that combines features of a company and a trust: it has a council and a constitution but no shareholders. These foundations are chosen for succession planning, family holding structures and philanthropy where the jurisdiction's reputation and predictable regulation matter.

We help you decide whether a Guernsey foundation fits your objectives, prepare the documents and manage registration through a licensed local administrator. The registration fee for a standard foundation is $270, the annual fee filed with the annual return is $1,400, and private foundation administration costs 4800 USD. The structure, including the council, any guardian and the beneficiaries, is agreed before filing so registration proceeds smoothly.

How a Guernsey foundation works under the law

Guernsey foundations are set up under the Foundations (Guernsey) Law, 2012. A foundation is a legal person: its council administers it under the charter and rules, and councillors must act in good faith. If the foundation has a purpose without beneficiaries, or beneficiaries without information rights, it must have a guardian who oversees the council.

Registration costs: government fees

Guernsey Registry fees under the current schedule (last amended by the 2025 fees regulations), in US dollars at the rate of 6 October 2026 (£1 = $1.33), rounded up:

Guernsey registered charities pay no annual fee. The administrator's and council's work is paid separately; our fees are in the table below.

How registration works

1. Defining the task: family wealth, a holding or a charity, who the beneficiaries are and whether a guardian is needed.
2. The charter and rules, and the council.
3. Founder checks by a licensed administrator.
4. Registration with the Guernsey Registry and transfer of assets.
5. Annual renewal and ongoing administration.

What documents you need

Under anti-money laundering law a licensed administrator must identify the settlor and the beneficiaries and understand where the money comes from. So prepare: a passport and proof of address for each person involved, a description of the assets and their value, source of funds documents (sale of a business, dividends, inheritance, salary) and details of tax residence. Documents not in English are translated and copies certified.

Who gets refused

An administrator will not take on a structure if the source of funds cannot be documented, if anyone involved is under sanctions, or if the aim is to hide assets from creditors who are already known. Sanctions regimes restrict work with persons connected with certain countries, including Russia, so we check whether the case can proceed before any documents are prepared.

Beneficial owners, reporting and sanctions

• A Guernsey foundation, like companies, enters its beneficial owners in a closed register; the resident agent notifies the registrar of changes within 14 days.
• Every year the foundation files a return with the registry and pays the annual fee, with penalties for late filing.
• Guernsey applies a sanctions regime aligned with the UK's: since 16 December 2022 new trust and similar services to persons connected with Russia, mainly those living in Russia, are prohibited. We check the founder's and beneficiaries' status before registration.
• A foundation cannot be set up without a resident agent licensed in Guernsey: registration and all correspondence with the registry go through them.

Who a Guernsey foundation suits and who it does not

A Guernsey foundation is chosen for a family holding, succession planning and charity, when an independent owner of the assets is needed, with a council and a charter but no shareholders. It suits families who want the assets to outlive the founder and be distributed by rules written in advance rather than by the inheritance law of different countries.

A foundation does not suit a founder who wants complete anonymity: beneficiary information goes into a closed register available to the authorities. And for capital of a few hundred thousand dollars it is expensive: administration alone costs from $4,800 a year.

If the task is simply to hold one company or account, a company with a clear charter or a trust is sometimes enough. A foundation is justified when distribution rules must work for decades regardless of who in the family is alive and where they live.

Foundation, company or trust

A company has shareholders who own its capital, while a foundation has no owners: the assets belong to the foundation itself, and beneficiaries receive distributions under the rules but not a share. So a foundation is harder to split in a divorce or inheritance dispute and easier to pass to the next generation. It differs from a trust in being a legal person with a register entry rather than an arrangement in which the trustee holds the assets. Compare with a trust on the island on the Guernsey trust page and in the article trusts and foundations in Jersey and Guernsey.

Taxes in the founder's and beneficiaries' countries

Many countries tax residents on foreign structures they control: if the founder keeps the right to influence distributions or change beneficiaries, the foundation's profit may be taxed in the founder's country of residence. Distributions from the foundation are taxed in the recipient's country of tax residence. We work this out before registration.

How long it takes

Registration itself takes from 2 to 24 hours depending on the tariff chosen. But before it the licensed administrator checks the founder, beneficiaries and origin of the assets, and we agree the charter, rules and council composition, so the whole process usually takes several weeks. After registration there are annual obligations: a return to the registry, renewal of registration and updating beneficiary information within 14 days of changes.

Restrictions for certain nationalities

Guernsey law does not restrict a foundation's founders and beneficiaries by nationality. Restrictions come from the sanctions regime the island applies in line with the United Kingdom: new trust and similar services to persons connected with Russia, above all people living in Russia, are prohibited, and no foundation will be registered for persons under individual sanctions.

A Russian national who lives permanently in another country and can prove it may be served by an administrator after enhanced due diligence. That is why we check the status of each participant, their country of residence and the source of funds before preparing documents, so you do not pay for the charter and rules of a foundation that will not be registered.

What we do

We assess whether a Guernsey foundation fits the family's task, compare it with a trust and with foundations in other countries, draft the charter and rules, find a licensed administrator and council members, support the checks and registration, and then the annual reporting. If the foundation needs a company for its assets, we register it as described on the Guernsey company registration page.

Fees

FAQ