Chartered Accountants
Trust Registration Deadline Approaching
In 2017 HMRC created an online register, the Trust Registration Service (TRS), to establish the beneficial owners of assets held in trust as a requirement of the EU Money Laundering Directives.
Only tax paying trusts were initially required to register, however in 2020 this was extended to require all trusts, with some exceptions, to register with the TRS. Following delays in the availability of the online service, the deadline for registering was pushed back to 1 September 2022.
If you are a trustee of a trust you need to take action now to ensure registration has been completed where necessary. You may not be aware that you hold certain financial investments in trust, or think they are not relevant. For example, Discounted Gift Trusts, Loan Trusts or bare trusts for minor children are types of trust must be registered.
The exceptions include pension investments held in trust, life policy trusts, charitable trusts and a few other types of trust considered to be ‘low risk’.
Following this extension to the deadline, penalties may be charged for failure to register or to update the TRS. New trusts must register and changes to the trust be reported within 90 days to avoid a penalty. Further guidance can be found on the Gov website here.
If you require assistance with the trust registration process, please get in touch with your usual EQ contact or call one of our offices.
