Article: A Critical Analysis of Trusts as Tools for Tax Avoidance and Evasion.

Irungu Kevin Njuguna (University of Nairobi Faculty of Law) recently published, A Critical Analysis of Trusts as Tools for Tax Avoidance and Evasion., 2025. Provided below is an Abstract: 

In the beginning, God said, let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that he may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and wild animals and over creatures that move along the ground, and so he did. After all, the earth and everything in it is his. God was the settlor, and mankind was the trustee; he created a trust and instructed humanity to care for it responsibly. Trusts are a standard marker in our legal establishments, with their arrangements proved by scholars to be cumbersome and an enabler in tax avoidance and evasion. Trusts have a way of guarding themselves, making it difficult for the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and other tax officials to discover them. Claims have been made of leaders having offshore accounts with foreign jurisdiction shielding any information of third parties regarding trusts, regarded as an offshore tax shelter. However, trusts also play a key role that no branch of law can play, including charitable trust cases, commercial purposes, and asset protection. This paper will critically analyze how trusts have successfully aided tax avoidance and evasion in our jurisdiction while operating in social, political, and moral contexts.