Are you acting as a Trustee / have friends and family that are connected to a Trust?
If so, please take a moment to read this article, as it contains important information about HMRC’s Trust Registration Service which may apply to you / be of interest to the people you know.
A trust exists where a person (a trustee) holds property (money, land, investments) for the benefit of another person (a beneficiary). Trusts come in all shapes and sizes: for example, an investment in a simple bare trust; a title to land recorded at Land Registry; a life insurance policy written into trust; or a family trust set up many years ago for a person’s grandchildren.
A trust can be created by a person in their lifetime, often with the advice and assistance of their solicitor or financial adviser, or come into existence following their death if written into their will. Some trusts are actually created by legislation or by Court Order and some are much more informal arrangements.
As part of the global drive for transparency and against money laundering, trustees must determine whether they are required to register their trust on the Trust Registration Service (TRS) operated by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). This involves providing and maintaining prescribed information about its settlors, trustees, beneficiaries and, in some cases, its assets.
Thousands of trusts have already been registered on the TRS, because they have incurred a prescribed UK tax liability (for example income tax or capital gains tax) in recent years.
Thousands more trusts have been immune from registration as they have not incurred such a tax liability. This immunity has now been removed. UK express non-taxable trusts must be entered on the TRS unless they qualify for exemption because of their particular circumstances. Consequently, many trustees will now find that they have a trust to enter on the TRS. Such a trust could have existed for many years, and have no previous record with HMRC.
The registration deadline for existing non-taxable trusts, those being set up presently and those which have closed on or after 6 October 2020 is 1st September 2022.
How Armstrongs can help
We can advise whether a trust needs to be registered on the TRS and with the actual process of registration if required. Please contact us as soon as possible if you would like our assistance. A considerable amount of information is required for the actual registration, and this can take some time to obtain.
