Trust Registration Service (TRS)

Learn about the requirements of the TRS which became operational on 13 July 2017. 

Money Laundering Directives

The Fourth Money Laundering Directive (4MLD) came into effect in June 2017 (see here). Amendments to Regulations implementing 5MLD then came into force on 10 January 2020.  However, enhancements to the scope of the TRS did not come into force until 6 October 2020.

This article reflects 4MLD obligations and the impact of 5MLD. This internal HMRC manual was published in May 2021 and covers off the TRS.

Regulation 44(1) of the 4MLD legislation requires trustees to maintain accurate and up to date written records of all the actual and potential beneficial owners of the trust.

As mentioned below, the beneficial owners include all trustees, settlors, beneficiaries or any person who has control over the trust. If the trustees are being paid to act, they must maintain the records for a period of five years after the final distribution of the trust fund. This information should be held because under the legislation any law enforcement authority can request information about the beneficial owners of the trust and about any other individual referred to as a potential beneficiary in a document from the settlor such as a letter of wishes.

Background

HMRC introduced the digital TRS in June 2017 to comply with 4MLD, at this point trusts that were not taxable were not required to register.  Following 5 MLD, on 6 October 202 revised legislation came into effect expanding the requirement to register on the TRS to all UK express trusts, including non taxable trusts.

Note that trusts in place before the introduction of the TRS are also required to be registered because the new legislation expands the scope of information previously collected.  The deadline for pre-existing non taxable trust to register on the TRS was 1st September 2022, trusts created after that date are required to register within 90 days of their creation unless they are exempt from registration.

The TRS provides a single online route for trusts (and complex estates) to comply with their registration obligations and to obtain their Self-Assessment (SA) Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR). Trusts require a UTR in order to submit the SA tax return.

If the trust was initially registered as a non-taxable trust and received a Unique Reference Number (URN) (either because it was not liable to any tax, or was not liable to income tax or CGT) and it has since become taxable and requires a UTR, the trustees must notify HMRC who will ask for additional information. Once the change has been made, HMRC will send the lead trustee a UTR, usually within 15 working days. That will replace the URN that was provided when the trust was registered as non-taxable.

When registering, trustees are asked if the trust has a UTR, and if so, to provide it. HMRC advise that trustees should interpret this question as asking whether the trust has a UTR that is in current use (because the trust is currently taxable). This question should therefore be answered ‘Yes’ if the trust has a UTR which is currently being used to submit tax returns and pay any taxes due now or which are expected to be due in the foreseeable future. This question should be answered ‘No’ if the trust does not have a UTR; or if the trust does have a UTR but this UTR is currently dormant and the trust is currently non-taxable and the trustees have no reason to expect a tax liability in the foreseeable future.

A complex estate is one that does not meet the conditions for using informal payment procedures.

For the avoidance of doubt, these TRS obligations are unconnected to the obligations to complete IHT100 when lifetime transfers, on which IHT is immediately chargeable, are made.

Registration

Under 4MLD, ‘Express’ trusts with UK liabilities are required to register whether UK or non UK resident. As detailed below, 5MLD removes this link with taxation and widens the definition of trusts required to register.

“Express” trusts are required to register

Trusts that need to be registered on the TRS

We know from above that under 4MLD, ‘Express’ trusts with UK tax liabilities are required to register whether UK or non UK resident. These are “registerable taxable trusts”.

The UK taxes in scope are

• Income Tax
  
  
• Capital Gains Tax
  
  
• Inheritance Tax
  
  
• Stamp Duty Land Tax
  
  
• Stamp Duty Reserve Tax and (in Scotland) Land and Buildings Transaction Tax
  
  
• Land transaction tax (Wales)

5MLD removed the link with taxation and widened the definition of trusts required to register. Accordingly, we now have “registerable express trusts”. All UK express trusts, and some non-UK express trusts, are required to register unless explicitly excluded from registration as an ‘excluded express trust’

Just to be clear, trusts now needing registered fall into 3 broad categories.

1. All UK express trusts, unless they’re specifically excluded as an excluded express trusts (see later).
   
   
2. Certain non UK express trusts if they have links to the UK, such as having UK-based trustees, acquiring land in the UK, or entering into a business relationship with a UK business
   
   
3. Non-express trusts and specifically excluded express trusts which have a tax liability – it makes sense that these trusts need to be registered on the TRS for Self-Assessment purposes. Non express trusts and excluded express trusts may carry a low money laundering risk but if they have a tax liability then still need to register to bring them into the Self-Assessment system. It's notable that the TRS is the online route for trusts to obtain their Self-Assessment UTR which is required to submit the Self-Assessment tax return.

Note that Bare trusts (which originally did not need to be registered) must now be registered – the carve out that existed for them under 4MLD has been removed under 5MLD. There is also no carve out for trusts (whether bare, or non-bare) holding only a non-income producing investment bond.

The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment and Miscellaneous Provision) Regulations 2026 now will bring some changes to the regsitration requirements and are expected to become law from mid April 2026. They include: 

• A new de minimis exemption for small non taxable trusts that do not own UK land or property, have assets that do not exceed £10,000 , have annual income that does not exceed £5,000 and do not hold appreciating assets (e.g. art, or antiques) with a total value of £2,000 or more. This will apply only to new trusts created after the exemption comes into force.  It will not be retrospective.

• Trusts created by a deed of variation will be exempt from registration on the TRS for 2 years following the death of the person whose estate is varied.

• Co-ownerhship property trusts, and trusts created under s34 of the trustee Act 1925 that become registerable as a result of the death of a trustee will be exempt from registration for 2 years following the death of the settlor.

• Scottish survivorship destination trusts will be excluded from the requirement to register on the TRS.

• All non UK trusts that hold an interest in UK land or property acquired before 6 October 2020 will be required to register on the TRS. This will only apply to trusts that retain an interest in UK property or land at the date the regulation comes into force.

This page will be updated once the proposed regulations come into force. 

What is a UK or non-UK trust for TRS purposes?

• Are all trustees resident in the UK? If yes, the trust is a UK trust for TRS purposes.
  
  
• Are all trustees resident outside the UK? If yes, the trust is a non-UK trust for TRS purposes.
  
  
• Is there a mixture of UK resident and non-UK resident trustees acting at the same time? If yes, the trust is a UK trust if the settlor was resident and domiciled in the UK when the trust was set up or when the settlor added funds to the trust. Otherwise, the trust is a non-UK trust.

The above definition of residence applies only for TRS purposes. See TSEM10005 for the residence rules for trusts for other purposes.

Trusts excluded from registration

Below isn’t an exhaustive list (though full details are here and specific reference to insurance policies here). Certain trusts don’t need to register. Remember that an otherwise excluded trust is required to register if it has a UK tax liability (see earlier).

• Trusts holding insurance policies while the life assured is still alive.
  

A life policy must only pay out (though see comments below regarding policies with surrender values) on death, terminal or critical illness or permanent or temporary disablement of the life assured, or to meet the cost of healthcare services provided to that person. It’s not relevant whether the policy is whole of life or term, providing the conditions are met.

Note that HMRC do not consider funeral plans are exempt under the ‘trusts of insurance policies’ exclusion since a funeral plan is not a life insurance policy.

• Policies with surrender values.

Some insurance policies can be surrendered by the policyholder for a cash sum during the term of the policy. The possibility of a policy being surrendered does not in itself mean that a trust holding that policy cannot qualify for exclusion. This is because HMRC accepts that the surrendering of a policy is not generally the same thing as a pay out from that policy. The general position is that trusts holding policies with surrender values can remain excluded from registration until such time as the policy is actually surrendered. If a policy is surrendered and the cash sum is retained in the trust, the trust would be required to register from that point.

Example

Example

Example

Example

Example

Example

October 2022 updated guidance issued by HMRC

Deadlines for registration and updating information held on the TRS

I. Registrable taxable trusts

Required to register by 31 January (or 5 October in some cases) following the end of the tax year in which the trust had a UK tax liability. See here for further information.

II. Registrable express trusts

Non taxable trusts created after 1 September 2022 must be registered within 90 days.

TRS details must be kept up to date. Changes to the trust details or beneficial ownership must be registered within 90 days of the date that the trustees become aware of these changes.

If the trust is taxable, you must declare the register is up to date on an annual basis by 31 January.

Non-taxable trusts in place on or after 6 October 2020 were reqired to register on the TRS by 1 September 2022. But, what if the trust ceased before the deadline? HMRC stress that such trusts must still register. The trustees should register them on the TRS and then immediately close the trust record. HMRC state that it will take a proportionate approach should any such trust come to its attention after the September 2022 deadline.

The Chartered Institute of Taxation advise HMRC have confirmed…

Information required by the TRS

For all trusts required to register, the trustees need to provide certain information on the trust, as set out below. In addition to information on the trust itself, the trustees need to provide information on the persons involved in the trust.

The persons involved in a trust are the:

• Settlor
  
  
• Trustees
  
  
• Beneficiaries
  
  
• Any individual who has control over the trust e.g. a protector

These persons may be individuals or legal persons such as companies. Together, they are known as the “beneficial owners” of the trust.

All trusts registering must provide information on the trust and the beneficial owners of the trust.

Trustees (or agents acting on behalf of the trustees) are asked to record on TRS whether a beneficial owner does or does not have mental capacity. It is not expected that trustees or agents take steps to arrange a formal assessment of mental capacity. Instead, an individual should be recorded as lacking mental capacity only when there is a reasonable belief that they lack mental capacity in relation to their involvement in the trust. If the trustee does not know whether the individual has mental capacity, or does not wish to record this information on TRS, trustees are able to answer ‘I don’t know’ to this question.

If trustees become aware of a change in an individual’s mental capacity status, then TRS can be updated to reflect that change. As trustees have to be able to carry out certain functions to fulfil their role, it is unlikely that an active trustee in the trust would lack mental capacity. In most cases a trustee who lacks mental capacity would cease taking any active role in administering the trust and be removed as a trustee.

If the other trustees wish to record that a trustee lacked mental capacity before he or she was removed from the trusteeship, this fact can be recorded on TRS before the trustee is removed from the record.

Trust details required

Trustee details required

Settlor details required

Beneficiary details required

Individuals or businesses who have control over the trust details required

Trustees who hold a controlling interest in a third country entity details required

For all trusts registering, the trustees must provide information relating to the beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries of the trust. The information required will vary depending on whether the beneficiary is an individual or a class of beneficiaries;

For Named beneficiaries, the trustees should provide full name, date of birth and nationality.

Trusts however are often set up for the benefit of a class of unnamed beneficiaries. For example, for the benefit of “all descendants of Mr Silva”. It’s reasonable to just record beneficiaries as part of a class if they can’t all reasonably be identified individually by the trustees. 

If though all the members of the class can be identified individually by the trustees, they should instead be recorded as individual beneficiaries.

So, looking at the Mr Silva situation, if he settled the trust some generations ago it might not be reasonable for the trustees to now identify each descendent. The beneficiaries could therefore be recorded as a class of beneficiaries.

But, if the beneficiaries were instead a distinct group such as “the grandchildren of Mr Silva”, it is reasonable to expect the trustees to be aware of the identity of each individual. Therefore they should be recorded as individual beneficiaries rather than as part of a class of beneficiaries.

Where a beneficiary is un-named, being only part of a class of beneficiaries, a trustee will only need to disclose the identity of the beneficiary when they receive a financial or non-financial benefit from the trust.

In addition to the information listed above, trustees of trusts with a UK tax liability must also provide extra information relating to the trust, the assets held in the trust, and further information on the beneficial owners of the trust. Regarding the assets held in trust, the trustees are required to report the market value of the trust assets at the point of registration. The details of trust assets are only provided once at the first point of registration and if this changes over time they do not need to be updated on the Register. For an Investment Bond, the trustees should simply need to provide a description of the investment and the approximate value at the time the trust is being registered.

Remember incidentally that trustees need to provide details of additions to trust assets as part of their annual tax return where relevant. See question 12 of SA900.

Finally, for the avoidance of doubt, where a trust is already registered for TRS under 4MLD, some additional information will need to be provided to fulfil the requirements of 5MLD. 

Deeds of Variation

Where a trust has been established by a Deed of Variation or family arrangement varying a will, each person who took less under the deed than they would have done under the will is a settlor of the amount given up.

If property which would have been settled in trust on the death of the deceased is now comprised in this settlement, then the deceased is also a settlor of this amount.

Example

Example

Example

Appointing an Agent

How to register a trust depends on whether it’s a trustee or an agent registering a trust for a client. 

Register a trust as a trustee

Register a trust as an agent

An agent will need to

• Have registered as an agent (see here)*
  
  
• Create an agent services account (see here) 
  
  
• Use their agent services account Government Gateway user ID and passport

* You must only apply to register for an agent services account if your business operates as an accountancy service provider. You must also be registered with a supervisory authority or with HMRC for anti-money laundering or have applied to HMRC for supervision.

Although the agent may have completed the initial registration for a trust, this does not provide authorisation to complete subsequent updates to the register. A further authorisation process is required. For those registering a trust that is liable to tax, HMRC will send the lead trustee a UTR, usually within 15 working days. The agent will need the UTR to start filing Self-Assessment tax returns. If the trust is not liable to pay tax, HMRC will send the lead trustee a URN, usually within 15 working days.

If trustees want an agent to view or make changes to a trust’s registration details, the trustees need to authorise the agent to manage the trust’s details. Trustees need to ‘claim’ the trust and inform the agent who can then sign into their online account. This leads onto the trustee being able to authorise the agent.

Whether the trustees employ an agent or undertake these duties personally is a personal decision to be taken on a case by case basis. Advisers considering acting as agents will need to balance the desire to assist trustees, possibly with limited experience of such matters, against the workload of registering and updating the TRS, and not forgetting the practicalities as to any impact on PI Insurance and any other compliance requirements e.g. training and competency. Another possibility is that advisers might point trustees in the direction of those who can provide an outsourced agency service. 

With regard to professional advisers, the TRS requires the details of the agent (if one exists) registering on behalf of the trustees. No further information on other advisers is required. In saying that, trustees should keep their own written records of any advisers being paid to provide legal, financial or tax advice in relation to the trust. 

Penalties

Three HMRC guidance notes listed below are relevant. Note in particular that HMRC will only charge a penalty if it decides trustees deliberately failed to register a trust or to update its details. Decisions as to whether to charge a penalty are decided on a case by case basis. Fixed penalties of £5,000 can be charged.

When HMRC will issue a penalty charge for not registering or maintaining a trust. See here.

Ask for a review or appeal against a trust penalty charge. See here.

How to pay a penalty charge from HMRC for failure to register or maintain a trust. See here.

Designated Accounts for OEICs and Unit Trusts

Does a designated account create a bare trust? Perhaps but not necessarily.

Designated accounts are often just a naming convention where the account is "earmarked" for someone (typically a young person). In those simple circumstances, ownership remains with the person who set the account up and they can do with the money what they please. If so, there will be no TRS obligations. However, if an account has been irrevocably designated and a trust created, this will normally involve some form of paperwork and we consider this then introduces TRS obligations.

If the clear intent of someone designating an account, was to irrevocably give the money away to someone else, then they should make sure there is proof of the existence of a bare trust.

Due diligence

Under 5MLD, when entering into a new business relationship with a trust and on an ongoing basis, ‘obliged entities’ must check a trust’s registration details. Where a trust is not exempt they do this by reviewing the “proof of registration” document.  Trustees can download a pdf of this from the TRS to support these required due diligence checks.

The information contained in the PDF output
 

• Date of issue of the document and reference number for the document
  
  
• A statement confirming that the trust is registered on TRS
  
  
• Trust Name; reference number (UTR or URN); start date; date last updated on TRS
  
  
• For each individual involved in the trust: Full Name; Month/Year of birth; Country of residence; country of nationality
  
  
• For each legal entity involved in the trust: Name; country of residence
   

Trustees of an existing trust approaching a new adviser for investment advice and then subsequently applying for an insurance bond with a new provider would give rise to two new business relationships requiring proof of registration (firstly between trustees and adviser, and secondly between trustees and the insurance company). The proof of registration requirement before establishing a new business relationship with a trust applies from 1 September 2022. The obliged entity must check that the trust has been properly registered. Any discrepancies must be investigated and reported where appropriate. See Regulation 30A for full details. If Relevant Persons find a material discrepancy they may try to resolve this directly with the trustee or agent by pointing out the discrepancy and asking the trustee to update the proof of registration document and provide an updated version. If so, Relevant Persons would no longer need to report the discrepancy to HMRC. An unregistered trust gives rise to a material discrepancy. Relevant Persons should report unregistered trusts if in any doubt whether the trust should be registered. If Relevant Persons are satisfied that the trust does not need to be registered, for example, because it is excluded (see above) then a discrepancy report is not required.

This page contains further information on discrepancy reporting. For example, information on
 

• When a relevant person may resolve the issue of a trust not being registered by either registering that trust or assisting in the registration process.
  
  
• The position where a trust is unregistered due the death of / absence of any trustees and the circumstances when the relevant person would not have to report a material discrepancy
  
  
• When relevant persons should give due regard to Regulation 31 of the 2017 Money Laundering Regulations and the “duty to cease” where due diligence cannot be properly carried out.
  
  
• The HMRC recommendations which allow for up to 30 days for relevant persons to acquire the proof of registration document before they would be required to disengage from the business relationship.
   

Information absent from the proof of registration document (e.g. a beneficial owner is missing from the document) should be considered as a material discrepancy. Non material discrepancies include minor spelling errors (Jon rather than John), common abbreviations (St rather than Street) and so on.

If Relevant Persons cannot resolve the discrepancy directly with the trustees, they must report the discrepancy to HMRC. In some cases, the Relevant Persons may prefer to immediately report the discrepancy to HMRC, rather than engaging further with the trustee or agent directly.

A new business relationship between trustees and an insurance company would also arise, for example, where an individual wishes to assign an existing bond into a new gift trust.

HMRC do not consider that claims under existing policies held by trustee clients will result in a ‘new’ business relationship. Instead this is an event taking place within an existing business relationship. 

Whether a change in the line-up of trustees creates a new business relationship may depend on the circumstances according to HMRC. For example, if a relevant person has an existing relationship with a trust and one of the four trustees of the trust changes (for example a trustee retires and a replacement is appointed), it is reasonable to take the view that the underlying business relationship with the trustees as a whole has not changed. However, if all trustees change then this would most likely be seen as the cessation of the old business relationship and the creation of a new one. See HMRC guidance at TRSM24010 (“Existing business relationships”) on this point.

What are the implications for ‘at issue’ trusts where the policy is issued into trust at inception? HMRC have indicated that where the trust is set up at inception then proof of trust registration is required before the new business relationship can exist. Insurance company new business processes have therefore evolved so that the trust is registered before the policy is issued.

Note also this Statutory Instrument https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2022/860/introduction/made Regulation 9 (reporting of material discrepancies) is effective from 1 April 2023, as are Regulations 16 & 17 (amendments to primary legislation). Regulation 9 describes a material discrepancy in relation to information about a beneficial owner – for example, difference in name, incorrect entry for date of birth and so on - See Schedule 3AZA on the Statutory Instrument for the full list. Essentially Regulation 9 extends the obligation on relevant persons to report discrepancies to the registrar of companies between information they hold on the beneficial ownership of a customer and information on the register. So, from 1 April 2023 discrepancy checks may have to be carried out by relevant persons as part of ongoing monitoring and due diligence checks. In addition to this there are changes to the definitions of what constitutes a discrepancy. There is guidance here. The obligation to report is an ongoing one in line with the duty in the MLRs to undertake customer due diligence and ongoing monitoring. HMRC advise that Relevant Persons should use an up-to-date proof of registration document for discrepancy checks, rather than the downloadable declaration produced upon registration.

The provision also limits the duty to report to ‘material’ discrepancies, not just any discrepancy. Regulations 16 and 17 are consequential changes to primary legislation to update the law to align with new regulation 30A and give the registrar clear powers to deal with a material discrepancy in the register.

Trust Registers in EU Member States

Each European Union (EU) Member State is required to establish a Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Trusts, for example CRBOT in Ireland.  The CRBOT contains details of relevant trusts and their beneficial owners.

Trusts with links to Ireland established on or before 23 April 2021, were required to register with CRBOT by 23 October 2021.  Since 23 October 2021 new trusts with links to Ireland have been required to register on CRBOT within 6 months of being established.  This guide explains how UK trustees or their representatives can access the CRBOT. It’s important to note that UK trustees or their representatives do not require an Irish tax number to file on CRBOT.

This can potentially impact UK trustees where none of the trustees are resident in the EU.

Consider a trust where all of the trustees are UK resident and the trust is not administered in the EU. The trust must be registered with the Irish CRBOT if

• a trustee enters a business relationship in Ireland on behalf of the trust, or
• a trustee acquires land or other real property in Ireland in the name of the trust.
   

This will apply as long as:

• the business relationship exists, or
• the land or property continues to be held by a trustee in the name of the trust. 

A business relationship is a business, professional or commercial relationship between the trustee, on behalf of the trust, and the customer that is expected to be ongoing.

Consider a typical scenario of a bond in an express trust arrangement (gift trust, DGT etc.) involving UK trustees where the bond is issued in Ireland. Do the trustees need to register on the CRBOT?

Yes. The UK trustees have a business relationship in Ireland (the trustees hold a bond that was issued in Ireland by an Irish financial institution). None of the trustees are resident in the EU and the trust is not administered in the EU and so all these factors mean that the trust must be registered with the CRBOT.

Do these trustees also need to register on the UK TRS? Yes. HMRC have confirmed that unless covered by one of the UK exemptions, the trustees also need to register on the TRS regardless of whether the trust has a UK tax liability. The UK TRS registration deadlines are covered above in the section above entitled “Deadlines for registration and updating information held on the TRS”.

Other than the UK, note also that any Jersey/Guernsey trusts will be in scope given that the trustees will be non-EU resident.

FAQs

This FAQs document is also of interest.

These details in particular are noteworthy. 

The CRBOT will contain details of ‘relevant’ trusts, that means we need to understand what a relevant trust is.

A relevant trust is an ‘express’ trust established by deed or other declaration in writing. Accordingly, statutory trusts, resulting trusts and constructive trusts are not within the scope of CRBOT? Instead, CRBOT relates to express trusts only.

Given that all relevant trusts must register on the CRBOT, then trusts, such as pilot trusts and dormant trusts with nominal sums, do not have a de minimis exemption exempting them from registering.
 

Exemptions

The CRBOT has its own list of excluded trusts but be aware that the CRBOT exclusions do not mirror the UK TRS exclusions.

With regard to trusts which are excluded from registering on the CRBOT the list is very short (compared to the UK TRS – see earlier in this article). Excluded arrangements which are exempt from registering with the CRBOT include

• Approved occupational pension schemes
  
  
• Approved retirement funds
  
  
• Approved profit-sharing schemes or employee share ownership trusts
  
  
• Trusts for restricted share
  
  
• The Haemophilia Trust
  
  
• Unit trusts

UK pension schemes are not excluded and so need to register. The exemption therefore applies to Irish/EU pension schemes.

When we have more detail on these exemptions, we will update the article.