Trustees may be surprised that they have significant obligations to register additional information with HMRC as a result of the dramatically titled “The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (information on the payer) regulations 2017 (SI No 2017/692)”
In the interests of removing the veil of anonymity for those who operate trusts or are the beneficiaries of trusts.
What information do they require?
HMRC now requires that trusts report the following:
- Name
- National Insurance number
- Passport number if not UK resident
- Address
- Date of birth
- E-mail address
- Contact telephone number
Of each beneficiary, trustee and any settlors of settlements. These must be updated via an online portal.
What is the deadline?
For existing trusts the deadline for updating these details is 31 January 2018. For trusts who have an obligation to register due to information in 2016/17 the deadline is 5 January 2018 (but in the future this deadline will be 5 October after the year-end).
Who needs to update the register?
- Existing trusts registered for self-assessment with HMRC
- Any trust incurring an income tax liability or capital gains tax liability in the year.
- Any trust incurring an inheritance tax, stamp duty land tax, stamp, duty reserve tax or land and buildings transactions tax liability (Scotland) will need to register.
If income is not received by trustees but is directly mandated to beneficiaries then HMRC has no statutory basis of charging tax on the trustees so there is no need to register (unless they have any liability to any of the taxes in point 3 above)
Trustees of non-UK resident trusts which does not hold any UK assets or have any UK source income but where the settlor is UK resident and pays tax on the income and gains does not need to register.
If you have any questions about whether a settlement you are involved in has an obligation to register or would like some assistance in the registration process please contact andrew@beatons.co.uk