Trust And Tax

Family office, trust and tax services

A cornerstone of your financial planning, we’ll work with you to arrive at a suitable strategy for yourself and future generations.

A cornerstone of your financial planning, we’ll work with you to arrive at a suitable strategy for yourself and future generations, to help ensure your tax and trust needs meet your objectives during your lifetime and beyond.

We’ve built our reputation in trust and tax around strong relationships. We act as corporate trustees* to many family trusts and charities, with support provided by a talented team of Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) — qualified practitioners, chartered accountants, chartered tax advisers and solicitors.

We’ll manage all of your trust and tax affairs under one roof, and we’ll liaise with advisers and specialists so you can focus on other things.

A selection of the services we offer are:
Corporate trustee
Corporate executorship
Trust advisory
Inheritance tax and succession planning
Tax planning
Private philanthropy

_{^{*These services are not regulated by the FCA/PRA.}}

Family office

Covering your family’s financial landscape, we provide services that are bespoke to individual circumstances, with your financial affairs managed under one roof, including asset management, estate planning and succession planning and other legal services. You’ll have direct contact with your Rathbones representative who will coordinate with others for you, with an aim of making even the most complex arrangements completely seamless.

Our team have significant experience in the management of successful Landed Estates and provide valuable input into the strategic planning for landowners. We work closely with the family to understand how you want your Estate to evolve and work closely with other advisers to create and implement a plan for the future of the Estate. This includes assessing possible business ventures, developing and enhancing existing commercial operations and appraising current activities. We can also help with repurposing Estates to future proof the operations to ensure the future financial sustainability of the Estate.

Landed Estates evolve over time and the issues facing them are constantly changing. Our Family Office team have the expertise and experience to work with you to realise the potential of the Estate.

Trust advisory and compliance

At Rathbones, we’ve structured and managed trusts as an effective way of controlling wealth for future generations. Structured correctly, trusts can transfer assets tax efficiently, ensure smooth family inheritances and support philanthropic activity too.

Our team of experts can support you with your trust’s entire financial affairs by preparing annual accounts, tax returns, beneficiary income certificates as well as identifying any planning opportunities throughout the life of the Trust.

We aim to form long standing relationships with our clients which enable us to plan for the future so as to understand your objectives and ensure that we act to achieve those with you.

Executorship services

Dealing with bereavement is always very difficult and our team can take responsibility for the administration of the Estate. They’ll identify all assets and liabilities and deal with them in accordance with the instructions of the deceased as well as prepare the necessary papers for the application of the Grant of Probate. Our clients value our expertise to take away the pressure of all that is required following a death.

Personal tax services

By managing anything from simple tax return compliance to complete income and capital tax and estate planning we have one simple aim: to make life easier for you. Our skilled team of chartered tax advisers, chartered accountants and tax professionals will help structure all your financial affairs correctly and efficiently.

Whether you’re a UK resident or looking to work and live in the UK, we can provide an efficient and appropriate structure for your financial affairs. We can even extend our support to provide complete accounting services for your family company. We’ll handle your reporting obligations and take responsibility for your corporate tax administration, including VAT, so you can focus on other more important matters.

Philanthropy

Rathbones’ tradition of philanthropy and caring about the welfare of others has been part of our values since our founding in 1742. Extending that legacy, our team of experts, many of whom are trustees, are here to explore and manage the details that can further your philanthropic endeavours.

We already provide advisory services and guidance to trustees and charities to help them understand and successfully fulfil their requirements. The fact that we’ve supported philanthropic efforts over generations means we are well versed in the careful planning, effective communication and efficient administration that these structures demand.

From understanding your objectives, we can take on many of the potentially complex tasks and actions that come with charitable trusts. We can create and register charitable structures and advise on good governance. And we can assist trustees by preparing meeting papers, liaising directly with applicants and undertaking due diligence.

When it comes to the details, we can save time by carrying out the book keeping and preparing annual accounts. We can also complete the regulatory requirements of the Charity Commission and Companies House, as appropriate, reviewing the charity’s tax position and reclaim Gift Aid, maintaining records and liaising with HM Revenue & Customs.

Our team can help in preparing wills and giving advice on inheritance tax; they can take care of issues connected to residential property, like purchase, lending and right issues, and they are expert in the complexities of landed estates.

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Our trust and tax team

Anna Frost

Trust director

Anna Frost

Trust director

London

Anna is a trust director in the London office, advising high net worth families on all aspects of trust and estate matters. Anna joined Rathbones in 2007 as a trust accountant and qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant in 2010 before becoming a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners in 2015. Anna’s experience of accounting and tax compliance gives her a sound understanding of all aspects of trust and estate administration which her clients value.

Bruce Newbigging

Director

Bruce Newbigging

Director

London

Bruce joined Rathbones in 2002 having worked with Hambros for the previous 25 years managing its private bank and trust business for the majority of that time.

Bruce served as managing director of Rathbones Trust Company Limited up until the end of 2022 and remains a director of the Trust company, looking after a dedicated portfolio of clients, primarily in the Landed Estates sector.

With over 40 years' of practical experience Bruce has gained a wide range of expertise and knowledge in all areas of corporate, private and charity trust work. He now specialises in Family Office Services for wealthy clients, together with Charitable Foundation activity.

Bruce joined Rathbones in 2002 having worked with Hambros for the previous 25 years managing its private bank and trust business for the majority of that time.

Carol Xi

Senior tax manager

Carol Xi

Senior tax manager

Liverpool

Carol is a senior tax manager and joined Rathbones in 2019. She has extensive knowledge and experience of UK tax matters (including Personal Tax, Owner Management Business and Corporation Tax). Her current role enables her to provide high level personal tax advice and compliance.

Carol is an Associate of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (ACMA), Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) and Chartered Tax Advisor (CTA). She holds MSC in Accounting and Finance from the University of Manchester.

Before joining Rathbones Carol had 15 years of practical experience in both accountancy and UK taxation. She worked for both small and multinational chartered accounting firms as a tax executive and assistant manager. Carol grew up in Shanghai and is fluent in Mandarin. She is also a Trustee of Woodland Hospice Trust.

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Family office, trust and tax services

Family office

Trust advisory and compliance

Executorship services

Personal tax services

Philanthropy

Our trust and tax team

Anna Frost

Anna Frost

Bruce Newbigging

Bruce Newbigging

Carol Xi

Carol Xi

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