2021
Important News for our clients regarding Trusts
Murray McEwan / 0 Comments /Important news for our clients – holders of a “trust” (i.e. “settlor/s” and/or “trustee/s”)
Please read the following information, as new UK Government legislation requires you to take action.
New rules have been introduced which require most trusts to be registered with HMRC via the Trust Registration Service (TRS). The deadline for registering existing trusts is 1st September 2022 (for new trusts, the deadline is much shorter).
Trusts take different forms. You may have one through a family trust, an investment bond or in a number of other ways. They can be onshore or offshore. Most have a potential liability to tax charges and often build up some sort of value.
These trusts will need to be registered in the next few months and the register will need to be maintained thereafter if there are any changes (e.g. if the trust starts to pay tax, or there are changes to trustees or beneficiaries). You can take care of all this yourself or you can appoint an agent to do it for you (they will charge a fee). It’s a bit like deciding whether or not to do your own tax returns.
There are a few exceptions to the registration requirement such as charitable trusts and those that involve life assurance protection only i.e. where sum assured benefits are payable only on death, but no underlying plan value is built up otherwise.
These are the steps you need to take to start the registration process (these steps cannot be delegated – the settlor/s and/or trustee/s must do this):
- Agree who will be the lead trustee for each trust you hold. This person will act as the contact with HMRC and maintain the register.
- The lead trustee will then need to set up a new ‘organisation government gateway account’ for each trust (please click here to be taken to the registration page). Please note: the lead trustee must set up a new gateway account (any existing personal accounts cannot be used). A Unique Reference Number (URN) will then be sent to the lead trustee within 15 working days.You will need some information which is listed on the link above, halfway down, under the title ‘What you’ll need’. There are no paper forms: this must be completed online.
The next steps can be delegated to an agent if you wish:
- Register the trust – after which HMRC will issue a Unique Trust Number (UTN);
- Maintain the register entry, by keeping it up to date with any changes;
- If the trust has a tax liability, or subsequently becomes taxable, inform the Trust Registration Service and you will receive a Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) which will be needed for completion of trust tax returns.
If you would like to delegate the registration of the trust to a third party, Flowers McEwan Ltd can introduce you to a suitable agent (registering the trust is not something we can do).
They will take the required information from you and input the details online, at a cost of approximately £350 plus VAT for each trust (nb Flowers McEwan Ltd will receive no fee for any such introduction).
Murray McEwan
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