If you are a trustee of a UK resident trust or of a non-resident trust which has UK assets or UK source income you may need to take action before 5 January 2018.

Background

As part of the fight against money-laundering, organised crime and terrorist financing, the EU's Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive ('4MLD') was sanctioned in 2015. It includes provisions designed to increase the transparency of companies, trusts and other structures with a requirement for each EU Member State to keep a register of trusts.

UK regulations (the 'Regulations') to implement the UK register of trusts were published in draft earlier in 2017 and came into force on 26 June 2017. On 9 October 2017 HMRC published guidance which addressed a number of issues, but left a number of points in need of clarification. On 22 November 2017 HMRC published revised guidance (the 'Guidance') which addressed some uncertainties. HMRC have also updated certain deadlines for registration.

With penalties for non-compliance to include civil and criminal penalties as well as a fine and up to two years in prison, it is important you understand what is required and by when.

For further information, please see our full article in PDF here.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.