Trust Registration

Trust Registration

UK Government have set out a registration requirement for all main types of Trust (including discretionary trusts and life interest trusts).  The obligation is on the Trustees to register any Trust that is ‘active’ and holding a value of £10 or greater. Any Trust that is an Income tax-paying trust is already deemed active and under an obligation to be registered. However, the trust registration requirement has now been extended to all main types of Trust.  Failure to register an ‘active’ trust may result in a fine/penalty being imposed by HMRC.

‘Active’ Trusts include the following:

• any trusts or settlements which are ancillary to Wills and which have been created post October 2020, including those cases where the testator is still alive;
• any Will-trusts which have been activated following the death of the testator; and
• ‘lifetime’ property trusts where the value is placed in a protected trust structure;
• And other Trusts that have been activated following the death the value is held in ‘loans’ rather than actual money or property.

Trust Registration Process

The Registration will require:

• Details and identity of the Trust;
• The identity of the trustees and details of all other persons exercising effective control over the trust (if any) and some details of named beneficiaries and basic details of any class of beneficiary. For named beneficiaries, this includes the full names, dates of birth and national insurance numbers.

Please see our full trust registration guide, below.