Advice for Jersey residents
It is advisable that, if a Jersey resident is considering registering a foundation or has any interest in a foundation he or she should provide the Income tax office with full details as to the reason(s) for doing so and the purpose of the foundation and seek pre-clearance from the comptroller before going ahead.
Failure to do so will lead the comptroller to take the view that creating a foundation has as one of the purposes, or the main purpose, the avoidance of Jersey tax.
The comptroller will counteract such avoidance under the provisions of Article 134A of the Income Tax (Jersey) Law 1961.
Taxation of income distributions received from Jersey foundations
Jersey residents
Where a Jersey resident individual receives income from a Jersey foundation the individual will be assessed to Jersey income tax upon the relevant amount of income. Where a company receives income from a foundation this will be chargeable to tax at 0%, 10% or 20% depending on whether it is a non-financial services company, a financial services company or a utility company respectively as defined under the provisions of the Income Tax (Jersey) Law, 1961.
Non residents
Where a non Jersey resident receives an income distribution from a Jersey foundation, and the underlying income source of that distribution has been charged to tax on the foundation at 0% the Comptroller will not, by concession, seek to tax the non resident in receipt of the distribution. If the underlying source of the income distribution has been taxed in Jersey on the foundation at 10% or 20% then the Comptroller will not seek to tax this income again on the non resident, however, the non resident will not be able to claim a refund of the Jersey tax suffered at source on the distribution received.
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