A video decoder determines whether a first condition is satisfied. The first condition is satisfied when any sibling residual quad tree (RQT) node of a current RQT node is associated with a significant luma coefficient block. In addition, the video decoder determines whether a second condition is satisfied. The second condition is satisfied when a chroma transform block of a parent RQT node of the current RQT node is significant and is split along with a luma transform block of the parent RQT node. In response to determining that neither the first nor the second condition is satisfied, the video decoder determines that a luma coded block flag (CBF) for the current RQT node is omitted from the bitstream.