HMRC's Trust Registration Service

Do you need to register?

POSTED BY HELEN BEAUMONT ON 06/10/2017 @ 8:00AM

Under new legislation, all trusts and complex estates with a tax liability must register with HMRC using their Trust Registration Service (TRS) by 5 October in the tax year after the trust was set up or starts to make income or gains, whichever is later ...

Are you wondering if you need to register with the Trust Registration Service?

However, the deadline for the 2016/17 tax year is to be extended to 5 December 2017. This has partly been driven by the fact that the registration service for agents is not yet up and running and HMRC are concerned that the take-up from trustees has not been as they anticipated.

"So who is affected?"

All trusts, both UK and non-UK, must be registered unless they had no UK tax consequence. UK tax consequence means any UK tax liability including income tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax and SDLT.

The only trusts that do not have to register are those:

With no income or gains in 2016/07
Which had a one-off gain in 2016/17, but it is not anticipated that this will be repeated in 2017/18
Whose income falls below the £1,000 de minimis threshold
Bare trusts or trusts where the income is reportable directly on the beneficiary's tax returns

What do Trustees need to do? Trustees falling within the new rules must:

Obtain and hold information about the trust and its beneficiaries
Register the trust with HMRC
Update the HMRC trust register annually to ensure it is up to date

What information will go onto the register? The level of information required is quite extensive and includes:

Details of the trust - name, type of trust, date established, and where it is administered
Details of beneficial owners - settlor, beneficiaries, trustees and any other person who can exercise control. Where the beneficiaries are named as a class the beneficiaries do not need to be notified unless they are receiving income from the trust
Details of the assets broken down into various categories together with valuations

The information that will need to go onto the register in relation to individuals is as follows:

Full name
Date of birth
National insurance number or Unique Tax Reference if they have one or residential address if they do not.

What are the consequences of failing to comply? Trustees who fail to comply with the disclosure requirements risk penalties and criminal prosecution.

"If you are caught by the legislation, but have not yet registered with HMRC, Essendon Tax can help!"

To find out more about the Trust Registration Service and whether your trust needs to be registered, call me on 01908 774323 or click here to ping me an email and let's see how I can help you.

Until next time ...

HELEN BEAUMONT
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More about Helen Beaumont ...

Helen brings the personal tax planning experience of the top 20 tax companies to Essendon. Formerly of MacIntyre Hudson (with 45 offices nationwide), Helen worked at Chancery for more than 10 years before joining Essendon as the personal tax specialist.

Tax Planning can make a considerable difference to your tax liability. Helen has specialist knowledge and experience in tax planning and uses every opportunity to minimise your tax bill is utilised. By analysing your investments, income, profit and expenditures, Helen will provide strategic tax planning expertise that could offer significant savings, whilst delivering clear, honest advice and guidance.

When Helen is not at Essendon she spends time with her young son and likes going on long walks with the family dog.