News

New rules on trust registrations

05 August 2021

Changes brought about by the UK’s implementation of the Fifth Money Laundering Directive mean new rules about registering trusts were brought in last October.

UK express trusts need to be registered with HMRC. This includes non-taxable trusts, unless the trust is specifically excluded.

If your firm provides trust or company services or tax adviser services, you might need to make clients aware of any duties they have with regards registration of trusts. In practice, many firms might undertake the registration on behalf of their clients.

Further information on the new rules can be found here: www.gov.uk/guidance/trust-registration-extension-an-overview

You can find out more about registering a trust as an agent here: www.gov.uk/guidance/register-your-clients-trust

There are also wider links to Trusts and Estates information here: www.gov.uk/topic/personal-tax/trusts.

Registrations

Non-taxable trusts will need to register through the Trust Registration Service on www.gov.uk

The service is not yet able to accept registrations of non-taxable trusts, but HMRC expects it to be available for all non-taxable trust registrations soon. Non-taxable trusts have approximately 12 months to register from the date the service is made available.