The Trusts (Amendment) Bill will have its third reading on 22 April, and is likely to be passed by the end of May, a source close to the Government told International Adviser.
Among the proposed changes to the existing legislation is the abolition of a requirement that two trustees be involved in every sale of land. Instead, such sales would be able to move forward in cases where the second trustee is not present.
A 150-year "perpetuity period" provided for under the current Isle of Man trust legislation would also be scrapped, as it already has been in Ireland, Jersey and Guernsey, when they overhauled their trust laws, while rules that protect IoM trusts against actions from off-island courts are to be strengthened.
Treasury member Bill Henderson told the Isle of Man Today website that the proposed amendments were “modest and conservative”, and necessary to compete with other jurisdictions that, for example, have already got rid of the perpetuity period clauses in their trust legislation.
“The island is losing business. This is a good reason for seeking to abolish the perpetuity period – it’s a business friendly initiative,” Henderson added, according to the IoM Today.
Busy times
The world of trusts has been an active one in recent years, as jurisdictions vie to compete for the growing interest in such wealth structuring vehicles on the part of wealthy individuals from former Soviet bloc countries, the Gulf and Asia. Hong Kong's amendments to its trust laws, for example, took effect on 1 December last year.
As reported, the Czech Republic introduced trusts to its wealth managers' toolboxes from 1 January of this year, as part of a major overhaul of its civil laws.
At the same time, countries such as France that have not had a history of trusts, have begun seeking ways to tax the assets of those of their citizens whose wealth is held in trusts outside their borders.
Last year, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, the finance minister of Switzerland, which also does not have legislation that provides for trusts, called for the beneficial owners of trusts everywhere to be identified for tax purposes, in order to "level [the] playing field". As reported, her attack was seen by some as “[singling] out trusts as a particular target of Switzerland's resentment” in a speech to other G20 country leaders and finance officials.
