Technical article

Stamp Duty on a Trust: When It Applies and When It Does Not

In the British Virgin Islands, a trust with no local beneficiaries, land or business is exempt from stamp duty on the trust documents.

By Neil Solomon · 4 min read

Imagine a widower in Ontario with a brokerage account, a flat in Toronto and two daughters abroad. He is told a trust in a small island place will cost "only fees." He asks a plain thing. Will the island charge stamp duty just for setting the trust up?

Stamp duty is a tax on documents and on transfers of some assets. In the places we looked at, whether it applies depends less on the trust and more on what the trust holds.

Where the trust deed itself carries little or no duty

In Bermuda there is no stamp duty on the trust deed, or on non-Bermuda property put into the trust. Duty applies to Bermuda land and Bermuda-dollar assets (Legal 500, tier B, 2019). Nevis goes further: a trust registered under its exempt trust law is exempt from stamp duty, along with income tax and death taxes (tier A). The condition is that the trustee is a Nevis firm, the settlor and heirs are non-residents at all times, and the trust owns no Nevis land.

Belize also exempts international trusts from stamp duty on conditions (tier A). A trustee's page (tier C) says Seychelles does the same on conditions. Guernsey charged none for creating a trust in the 1998 source. Gibraltar charges none on trust assets, except Gibraltar real estate (tier A).

Where a small fee or duty appears

In the Cayman Islands, stamp duty on deeds and documents runs from 40 to 100 Cayman dollars (about US$50 to US$120). Land purchases pay 7.5% of the price or market value, whichever is higher (Maples, tier B, 2024).

In the British Virgin Islands, a trust with no local beneficiaries, land or business is exempt from stamp duty on the trust documents. A paper that declares a trust, or moves it, under the islands' law is liable to a separate trust duty (Conyers, tier B, 2025).

In Cyprus, a law firm puts stamp duty at EUR 427.50 (about US$470) when the resident trustee registers the trust. It does not apply to will trusts (tier C, 2018).

Where the duty follows the assets

Malta has no inheritance, gift or wealth tax, but transfer duty applies to some assets on life or death transfers. It is 2% on marketable securities and partnership interests, and 5% when the entity holds Maltese property. Maltese property itself pays 5%. There is an exemption for the transfer of a home to heirs on death, under conditions (Fenech & Fenech, tier B, 2026).

On death in Bermuda, stamp duty reaches only Bermudian property. It runs from nothing under 100,000 Bermuda dollars (about US$100,000) up to 20% over 2 million. The Bahamas have no income, estate or inheritance tax, though stamp duty or value-added tax at 10% may apply to Bahamian property moved into a trust (Chambers, tier B, 2026).

At a glance

What this touches

For a family, this lands mostly on the trustee's setup bill and on what goes into the trust. A flat in Toronto or a house in Malta changes the picture, since land and local shares are where the duty sits.

You might say: "A few hundred dollars is not the point." That is true of the duty on a deed. The larger numbers, such as 7.5% or 5% on land, come with property. Reading which asset goes in first is the step that matters.

You could ask a trustee which assets you plan to place in the trust, and what duty each one would meet on the way in and on the way out.

Have you ever been surprised by a transfer charge on something you thought was simple? Share it here. Someone else may be about to place a house in a trust.

Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data. Date read: October 2026.