In April 2020 the Trust Registration Service (TRS) added a new facility to allow online amendments to be made to the trust register, nearly three years after the TRS was first introduced.
All trusts with UK tax liabilities must be registered on the TRS. Changes to their details must be reported by 31 January following the end of the tax year in which those changes occur. Since the TRS went live in June 2017 it has only been possible to make amendments to the register by writing to HMRC. Only changes to lead trustee details could be notified with trustees having to make a note of any other changes and wait for the online amendment system to go live.
Trustees and their agents can now update the register for changes in trustees, settlors and beneficiaries. Trustees must specifically authorise their agents if they wish them to make amendments to the register. This must be done through the online HMRC account for the trust as a separate process to the form 64-8 agent authorisation process.
Links to our useful guides
UK Trusts
This guide deals with the taxation of UK trusts. See our separate guide to Non-resident trusts.
Non-resident trusts
Non-resident trusts have long been used for tax planning purposes and as a result, the legislation has been changed many times in order to deal with perceived tax avoidance.
