US child trust fund tax query.

Hello,

Despite countless searches, I have been unable to find out for sure if I should declare/pay tax as a beneficiary of a trust fund set up for me and my siblings by my mother before her death, when I was 6 years old and living in the US. It was set up to pay out at age 18, 25 and 30. The money left in the trust is with a US based company. I am now 25 and due to apply for my ILR in a few weeks. I have called helplines and been told its not taxable but I want to make sure everything is above board for my application. The last payment was around $85,000 so I want to be sure.  If anyone can help I would be very grateful for the information.

It sounds if you are probably receiving capital payments from a foreign trust including stockpiled gains.  Someone will need to do the UK accounting (using UK matching rules) to figure out gains accumulated within the trust from the day it was created.

I assume no rebasing election was made. You may want to ask the trustee to pay the UK accounting fees (which will inevitably be substantial) if he failed to take UK tax advice and structure the investments in a UK "tax friendly" fashion.