The Trust Registration Service
What is the Trust Registration Service?
The Trust Registration Service is an online register managed by HMRC. It contains details that the trustees must provide about the trust, the settlor, the trustees, and the beneficiaries.
The Trust Registration Service was set up in 2017 and it initially only required trustees to register if the trust was liable to pay UK tax.
In 2020, the scope of the Trust Registration Service changed as a result of the EU Fifth Money Laundering Directive. New rules which are now UK law have extended the scope of the Trust Registration Service to express trusts, which must now register by the prescribed deadlines.
An express trust is a trust created deliberately by the settlor, typically during the settlor’s lifetime. Express trusts include Discounted Gift Trusts, Loan Trusts, Gift Trusts and trusts holding an investment bond (whether a discretionary or bare trust).
Some trusts don’t have to register, for example, UK-registered pension schemes and pure protection policies.
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What are the legal responsibilities of trustees?
The trustees have a legal responsibility to register the trust by the prescribed deadlines. HMRC require the trustees to appoint a lead trustee who will register the trust and will be HMRCs main point of contact.
Alternatively, the trustees can appoint an agent to register the trust for them. The agent will charge a fee.
Failure to register the trust by the prescribed deadlines could result in financial penalties imposed by HMRC. -
When does a trust need to be registered?
– Trusts that were in existence on or after 6th October 2020 must register by 1st September 2022;
– Trusts set up immediately before 1st September 2022 must register within 90 days of their creation date;
– Trusts set up after 1st September 2022 must register within 90 days of their creation date. -
What HSBC Life trusts must register?
Any Discounted Gift Trust, Loan Trust, Gift Trust and any trust holding an investment bond (whether a discretionary or bare trust) may need to comply with the Trust Registration Service.