Trust registration penalties eased

Non-taxable trusts need to be registered with HMRC’s Trust Registration Service by 1 September. What happens if you miss this deadline?

Trust registration penalties eased

The scope of the Trust Registration Service (TRS) has been extended to include non-taxable trusts. You can find out which trusts need to be registered here. The deadline for the initial registration is 1 September 2022, however, as this requirement is still new, HMRC has confirmed that no penalty will be charged for a “first offence”. This covers both failure to register and late registrations.

As ever, there is an exception to this easement; If the trustees deliberately don’t register the trust on time, or there are repeated offences, the penalty will be as high as £5,000 per offence.

You may have a trust that needs to be registered that you aren’t even aware of, as it isn’t just formal trusts that fall within the scope of the requirements. For example, a bare trust arrangement, land and property where the legal owner and beneficial owners differ or will trusts.


The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
QuickBooks Accounting Software
Sage Accounting Software
XERO Accounting Software
FreeAgent Accounting Software