Edward Grant, Director of Technical Connection at St. James's Place comments
“Whilst the total number of trusts submitting a tax return continues to fall, reducing by 12% since 2017, the capital gains tax collected grew by 27% exceeding £1 billion.
HMRC is collating significant trust data with 455,000 trusts registering on its online Trust Registration Service platform. This has placed extra responsibilities on many trustees and their financial advisers. Overall 633,000 trusts are now registered on the TRS platform.
Whilst a record number of trusts were registered between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023 there are potentially half a million trusts that are still not registered on the TRS platform. Non-registration of a trust could result in a fine for the trustees, a recent FOI request submitted by St. James’s Place reveals that HMRC has already started issuing warning letters to trustees for noncompliance.
With many older trustees combined with an online platform the trust registration service has proven to be difficult for vulnerable individuals to complete. Financial planners have offered considerable support to their clients to help them meet their obligations, a non-financial benefit of advice.”