Meeting an inheritance tax liability It is often quoted by the government that less than 4% of estates are subject to inheritance tax. However, this number is starting to increase year-on-year and is forecast to be over 7% by 2032-33. The increase in the number of estates subject to inheritance tax is due in part to the rapid growth in wealth of older people (the Silent Generation (1925-1945) and Baby Boomers (1946-1964)) and in part Read more…
Estates and trusts created by a will An estate and/ or a trust(s) created by a will may need to be registered on HMRC’s Trust Registration Service (TRS). Personal representatives’ and trustees’ responsibilities Personal representatives of an estate and the trustees of a trust(s) created in a will have different requirements as to when the estate or the trust may need to be registered on theTrust Registration Service. Whilst these are set out in HMRC’s Read more…
Trusts, a way of arranging property for the benefit of others, while still maintaining some control over it This is a brief guide to the different types of trust available and the terminology used around trusts. It focuses on trusts established under the law of England and Wales. Different principles and terminology can apply for trusts established under Scottish law – we will deal with these in a future blog. Professional advice should be Read more…
An update for trustees – one year on The trust registration deadlines We are now one year on from the 1 September 2022 trust registration deadline when most trusts in existence at 3 June 2022 were required to have been registered on the Trust Registration Service (TRS). Any trusts created after 3 June 2022 that require registration have 90 days from the date of the trust’s creation to be registered. Trustees of a trust which Read more…
There are some important changes to the taxation of trusts on the horizon. This blog summarises these changes and how they may affect trustees. Capital gains tax The capital gains tax (CGT) annual exempt amount available to trustees is reducing from 6 April 2023. The annual exempt amount (AEA) is the amount of capital gains that trustees can realise during a tax year that are exempt from capital gains tax. In 2022-23, the CGT Read more…
Our blog published in October 2022 provided details of HMRC’s penalties that they may levy against trustees who either fail to register a trust requiring registration on the Trust Registration Service (TRS) or who fail to maintain the trust’s details on the Trust Register once the trust has been registered. New guidance HMRC has now provided some further guidance around when a penalty may be issued and what to do should a penalty notice be Read more…
It is incredibly important to keep your trust register details up-to-date with HMRC It is important that trustees ensure that the details of their trust(s) held on the Trust Register are regularly reviewed and kept up to date. Any changes to the registered details must be updated within 90 days of the date of the change to avoid potential enforcement action by HMRC which could, potentially, result in the trustees being fined up to £5,000 Read more…
HMRC has added 2 factor authentication to government gateway accounts for extra security It seems that, at the start of October 2022, HMRC has added 2 factor authentication to government gateway accounts. When logging into to a government gateway account, for example to review or notify changes to details of a trust held on the Trust Register or to change the details used to set up the government gateway account, you may be asked for Read more…
HMRC set a trust registration deadline of 1 September 2022 for UK express trusts to be registered on the Trust Registration Service (TRS) As part of the implications from the EU’s Fifth Money Laundering Directive (5MLD) and the accompanying legislation introduced into UK law (despite Brexit), HMRC set a deadline of 1 September 2022 for UK express trusts to be registered on the Trust Registration Service (TRS). From 2017 to 6 October 2020, only trusts Read more…
Penalties for failing to register a trust with HMRC’s Trust Registration Service Following legislation introduced on 6 October 2020, all express trusts (other than excluded trusts) now have to be registered on the Trust Registration Service (TRS) by the later of 1 September 2022 or 90 days from the date the trust was created. Details of the trusts that are required to register on the TRS are set out at TRSM21010 of HMRC’s Trust Registration Service Read more…