- HMRC aware of 153,241 Trusts, since Trustee Registration Service began in June 2017
- Most new and existing trusts must be registered by trustees with the service by 1st September 2022
- Estimates suggest up to 1mn trusts could be required to register by the deadline1
A Freedom of Information request to HMRC has revealed that only 153,241 Trust registrations have been received since the Trustee Registration Service began in June 2017.
The deadline for the majority of express trusts2 to be registered on the service is 1 September 2022 with the onus on trustees to register trusts through the HMRC portal by the deadline.
A penalty regime for late submissions is still being finalised but initial proposals have suggested those trustees who fail to register could face penalties of up to 5% of any tax liability or £300, whichever is greater.
The data from HMRC shows a surge in registrations in the early part of 2018 which coincides with the original deadline for the registration of Trusts with a tax liability and we are already seeing a gradual uptick in registrations in 2022 in advance of September’s deadline.
Stacey Love, tax and estate planning specialist at Canada Life comments on the research:
“We’ve had a strong start to the year for successful registrations but given recent estimates that one million registrations may need to be completed, I suspect HMRC will experience a flood of registrations over the coming months. This means that almost 170,000 trusts would need to be registered each month to meet the deadline.
“It is to be hoped that HMRC has used its past experience of the spike in registrations in Q1 of 2018 to ensure the current system is ready for the expected surge, but it’s important that advisers encourage their trustee clients who may be impacted to register well ahead of the deadline.”
|
|
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
|
2017 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
148 |
315 |
719 |
988 |
4,017 |
5,935 |
|
2018 |
16,783 |
34,359 |
28,330 |
2,701 |
1,748 |
1,601 |
1,889 |
1,832 |
1,840 |
2,312 |
993 |
928 |
|
2019 |
1,785 |
861 |
834 |
847 |
777 |
1,032 |
1,321 |
889 |
1,071 |
1,284 |
830 |
787 |
|
2020 |
1,613 |
802 |
782 |
634 |
507 |
743 |
720 |
701 |
1,278 |
1,114 |
1,232 |
1,067 |
|
2021 |
2,105 |
1064 |
1,219 |
945 |
973 |
1,017 |
1,072 |
1,047 |
1,927 |
2,375 |
2,801 |
2,195 |
|
2022 |
3,552 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Notes to editors:
1 Financial Times, 1mn UK trusts must register on government list - https://www.ft.com/content/6ff31673-d7f0-484a-99fb-c78fc76ad89c
2All express UK resident trusts set up before 06 October 2020 (other than those which are specifically excluded) will need to be registered on the TRS on or before 01 September 2022.
Information on specific exclusions can be found in HMRC’s TRS manual below
TRSM23000 - Trust Registration Service Manual - HMRC internal manual - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)