The new HMRC Frequently Asked Questions guidance covers who needs to register under the trust registration service, which has been created to adhere to the EU’s Fourth European Money Laundering Directive, which took effect in June 2017.
Trustees of an express trust that incurs ‘relevant’ UK tax liabilities must register through the online service. Relevant taxes include income, capital gains, inheritance and stamp duty land and reserve taxes.
Exemptions
Non-UK express trusts, which, for example, could include a trust-based in Jersey or Guernsey, are exempt from the requirement to register if they have no UK source income or assets.
Gordon Andrews, financial planning expert for Old Mutual Wealth, said: “Where the trust and trustees are outside the UK, and so are the assets and there’s no UK source income, then there’s no need to register, even if the trustees have in some other circumstances a liability to relevant UK taxes.”
International Adviser reported last month that HMRC had extended an October deadline for express trusts to register by two months, to December 5th, in response to push-back from trustees who had complained they had not been given enough time to meet the cut-off date.
