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    The Trust Registration deadline (and the prospect of tax penalties) looms…

    The 1 September 2022 deadline for the registration of most UK trusts (whether tax paying or not) – and non-UK trusts which hold UK land or which have business relationships with the UK – is fast approaching.

    Several years ago, HMRC launched its ‘Trust Register’ – an online database of all tax paying trusts in the UK. As part of this, HMRC launched the ‘Trust Registration Service’ (TRS), an online tool which enabled (and required) trustees of tax paying trusts to log their details on the ‘Trust Register’. This was done to ensure that the UK was complying with various international anti-money laundering directives.

    The TRS has now been extended to include virtually all UK express trusts, regardless of whether they have suffered or are likely to suffer tax charges. There are some exceptions to the requirements to register, but these are very limited.

    HMRC imposed a deadline which means that the registration of any trust which is as yet unregistered and was set up before 2 June 2022, needs to be completed by no later than 1 September 2022.

    The 1 September deadline applies to all express trusts that were in existence on 6 October 2020 (even if they have since been wound up) and trusts created up to and including 1 June 2022.  For all trusts registered on or after 2 June 2022, the deadline for registering with HMRC is 90 days from the date of creation.

    The registration process can be completed by one of the trustees, or by an agent acting on behalf of the trust, and we are currently busy completing the registration of trusts for clients old and new.

    As well as the initial registration, trustees will be obliged to update the trust register within 90 days and there will be an annual confirmation required that the details are correct for those trusts which are tax paying and complete annual self-assessment returns.

    Late registrations may well incur penalties and in the very worst cases, these can be up to £5,000 per trust.

    Get in touch

    If you are in any doubt as to whether a trust of which you might be a settlor, trustee, or beneficiary, needs to be registered, please get in touch with Jayne O’Boyle by clicking the button below.

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    Written by:
    Jayne O’Boyle
    Manager - Tax
    For more information about anything in the above article, please get in touch using the button below.
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