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Wyoming Advantages

We shine a light on the benefits of being a Wyoming resident from favor­able tax rates to trust laws.

Why choose Wyoming as the situs for your trust?

Wyoming is frequently cited as one of the most tax-friendly states in which to reside, or as a situs for business entities and trusts.

Wyoming is on the cutting-edge of situs planning due to low taxes, flexible and favor­able laws, effi­cient admin­is­tra­tion, and a fast and effi­cient court system. As a Wyoming char­tered and operated bank, RMB is an ideal partner to help you take advan­tage of Wyoming’s favor­able trust environment.

Favorable Trust Laws

Trust Protectors
Wyoming has enacted trust protec­tor statutes, which allow a disin­ter­ested party to make certain modi­fi­ca­tions to irrev­o­ca­ble trusts that would other­wise require court approval.

Ability to Waive Notification Requirement
Traditional trust law requires trustees to provide notice to bene­fi­cia­ries regard­ing an interest held in a trust. Wyoming allows the grantor to waive all bene­fi­ciary notice require­ments which means a grantor can keep the bene­fi­cia­ries unaware of the assets held in trust.

Virtual Representation
The Wyoming statutes allow certain parties to repre­sent and bind minor and unborn trust beneficiaries.

Decanting
Wyoming has enacted a decant­ing statute allowing a trust’s assets to be trans­ferred to another trust with substan­tially the same dispos­i­tive terms.

Directed Trusts
Wyoming law allows trustee duties to be divided in order to facil­i­tate family gover­nance, cost control, and admin­is­tra­tive effi­ciency. Under certain circum­stances, the creator of a trust may serve as invest­ment advisor in order to maintain a greater level of control over the assets held in trust.

Long Dynasty Returns
Wyoming has enacted a 1,000 year term limit on multi­gen­er­a­tional trusts. As a result, a properly formed and admin­is­tered Wyoming Dynasty Trust can be exempt from gift, estate, and gener­a­tion-skipping transfer taxes for up to 1,000 years. Most other states limit the duration of trusts to a fraction of this period of time.

Low Taxes

In addition to modern, favor­able trust statutes and an acces­si­ble judi­ciary, Wyoming is among the most favor­able tax juris­dic­tions in the nation for trusts. Among the tax advan­tages you may receive when you create a Wyoming trust:

No state corporate income tax

No state individual income tax

No state gift or estate tax

Low life insurance premium taxes

No intangibles tax

No tax on mineral ownership

Low real estate taxes

No excise tax

Asset Protection and Privacy

Wyoming has made an effort to provide privacy for the identity of indi­vid­u­als and families.

Wyoming does not require disclo­sure of LLC owners or managers as a matter of public record.

Wyoming does not require that trust agree­ments, trust assets, or trust bene­fi­cia­ries be recorded or disclosed to the public.

In 2007, Wyoming has enacted statutes for a self-settled asset protec­tion trust, specif­i­cally known as a Wyoming Qualified Spendthrift Trust (QST). In a properly drafted and admin­is­tered Wyoming QST, the grantor of the QST and the grantor’s family can be the bene­fi­cia­ries of the QST, but still maintain creditor and liabil­ity protection.

Wyoming has provided for an addi­tional asset-protec­tion trust avail­able in conjunc­tion with a regu­lated finan­cial insti­tu­tion trustee. These Wyoming Domestic Asset Protection Trusts may provide indi­vid­u­als an oppor­tu­nity to protect their assets from cred­i­tors while main­tain­ing signif­i­cant control.

In many states, the cred­i­tors of an LLC member can assume the member’s owner­ship rights, force the sale of company assets, or completely dissolve the company. In Wyoming, a creditor’s sole remedy against a member is a charging order on the debtor’s LLC interest. This means a creditor cannot force disso­lu­tion of the LLC and the debtor’s voting and manage­ment rights are not affected.

Wyoming is one of only two states that specif­i­cally afford a single-member LLC the same protec­tion as a multi-member LLC.

For resi­dents of states that impose an income tax, trans­fer­ring assets to a Wyoming Incomplete Gift Non-Grantor (WING) trust could substan­tially defer, decrease, or elim­i­nate state income tax liabil­ity. The Internal Revenue Service has issued several private letter rulings (PLR 201310002 and PLR 201400010) allowing such a struc­ture for a Nevada Trust. A properly drafted WING trust may allow a grantor to retain a bene­fi­cial interest in assets and avoid state income tax in the grantor’s home state without gift tax conse­quences. In addition, a WING trust can combine state income tax savings with the asset protec­tion benefits of a Wyoming Qualified Spendthrift Trust.

Only Wyoming, Nevada, and a few other states have enacted trust laws that comply with IRS require­ments for a valid Incomplete Gift Non-Grantor Trust.

Relocating Assets and Entities to Wyoming

Moving to Wyoming to estab­lish resi­dency is the best way to benefit from the Wyoming advan­tages, but if estab­lish­ing resi­dency is not an option, there are still ways to utilize Wyoming’s favor­able legal and tax environment.

Generally speaking, trusts and business entities can easily relocate to Wyoming, even if the grantor or owner is not a Wyoming resident. Future business, tax, and estate planning should involve Wyoming entities and Wyoming insti­tu­tions in order to capi­tal­ize on the myriad tax, asset protec­tion and admin­is­tra­tive benefits.