Date posted: 27th May 2022
IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR ALL TRUSTEES, CO-OWNERS OF PROPERTY AND THOSE WITH INVESTMENTS HELD IN TRUST.
As a result of the latest money laundering directive, HMRC have extended the requirement for trustees to register trusts with it’s Trust Registration Service. Previously, only trusts with a tax liability were required to register, now any express trust in existence on 6 October 2020, must be registered by 1 September 2022. (This also applies to some non-UK trusts.)
An express trust is defined as a trust which was deliberately set up by a settlor so you can see this considerably widens the reporting requirement. Set up can be during the settlor’s lifetime or by will. There are some exemptions but they are limited.
Some examples are:
- A trust required to enable a child’s bank account to be opened is excluded but any other type of bare trust is not.
- A trust which is simply holding an asset which doesn’t produce income will be included. This includes assets such as some bonds and life/insurance policies.
- Trusts in existence on 6 October 2020 and now closed must also be reported.
- Some types of joint ownership of land are included for example where legal and beneficial interests are different.
- It should also be noted that a trust which falls within an exemption will still be registerable if it incurs a tax liability.
- Charitable trusts do not have to register
Trusts not registered by the deadline will be penalised by HMRC. New trusts created after the deadline must be registered within 90 days of creation and changes to existing trusts after this date must be notified on the TRS within 90 days of the change. Taxable trusts must make an annual declaration on their Tax Return stating the TRS is up to date.
Please contact the team if you have any queries about your reporting requirements, registering your trust or require assistance with the registration process.
