Trust Registration Service
We review whether the trust needs registration and the beneficial ownership and trust information required for the register.
Trust and estate taxation can involve several taxpayers at once: trustees or personal representatives, the trust or estate itself and the beneficiaries ultimately receiving income or assets. Registration, Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax and beneficiary reporting therefore need to be considered together.
We start by identifying the legal arrangement and the relevant tax period. A discretionary trust, interest in possession trust, bare trust and deceased estate do not use the same tax treatment simply because assets are being held for somebody else.
Give us the trust type or date of death, main assets and the reporting issue. Detailed documents can follow securely.
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The legal nature of the arrangement determines who is taxable, what registration is required and which tax rates and reporting rules apply.
A trust is not taxed in the same way as a deceased person's administration estate, and trusts themselves differ according to the beneficiaries' rights. Registration, income taxation, gains and distributions should therefore follow the legal structure rather than a generic trust-tax template.
The service can cover annual trust compliance, a new trust registration, an IHT event or the income and gains arising while a deceased estate is being administered.
We review whether the trust needs registration and the beneficial ownership and trust information required for the register.
Income, gains and relevant supplementary information are prepared through the Trust and Estate Tax Return where filing is required.
The trust type and nature of income determine the rates payable by trustees and the treatment of beneficiary distributions.
Asset disposals, hold-over relief, trust annual exemptions and distributions of assets are reviewed separately from trust income.
Relevant-property trusts can require calculations for lifetime transfers, ten-year anniversaries and exits from the trust.
Income and gains arising after death and before assets are distributed are calculated separately from the deceased person's final lifetime tax return.
The legal documents and asset history are reviewed first so that registration, tax calculations and beneficiary reporting remain consistent.
We review the trust deed or estate records, trustees or personal representatives, beneficiaries and relevant dates.
TRS registration, tax references and HMRC filing obligations are established before annual compliance is prepared.
Investment income, property income, disposals, expenses and tax already deducted are reconciled for the period.
The required return is filed and beneficiary tax information is prepared where distributions or income entitlements require it.
Trust rates depend on the type of trust. Discretionary trustees generally face the special trust rates, while interest-in-possession trusts use different trustee rates.
Most trusts have a £500 Income Tax de minimis amount, but where trust income exceeds that amount the full relevant income can become taxable rather than only the excess. The £500 amount can also be divided where the same settlor has created more than one relevant trust.
GOV.UK sets out the current trustee rates for discretionary, accumulation and interest-in-possession trusts.
Official trust Income Tax guidance ↗Current guidance explains which taxable and non-taxable trusts need registration and the applicable registration rules.
Official TRS guidance ↗The period after death is a separate tax stage. Personal representatives can receive income, dispose of assets and make distributions before the estate is finally transferred to beneficiaries.
The administration period runs from death until the estate has been fully administered and assets have been passed to the beneficiaries. Income and gains during that period belong to the personal representatives' tax computation rather than being added automatically to the deceased person's final lifetime tax return.
Trust and estate compliance often sits alongside IHT, beneficiary Self Assessment, investment gains and international trust or estate issues.
No. The Trust Registration Service rules contain both taxable and non-taxable registration requirements and statutory exclusions. The particular trust should therefore be checked against the current TRS rules.
No. TRS registration and the requirement to submit a Trust and Estate Tax Return are related compliance obligations but are not the same test.
For 2026/27, accumulation and discretionary trustees generally pay 45% on relevant non-dividend income and 39.35% on dividend income, subject to the trust rules and available de minimis amount.
The annual exempt amount for most trustees is £1,500. A £3,000 amount can apply to qualifying trusts for vulnerable beneficiaries, while multiple-trust rules can reduce the amount available in other cases.
The normal paper deadline is 31 October. Where suitable software is used to file electronically, the normal filing deadline is 31 January.
Not generally. Income arising after death during the administration period is part of the estate's own tax position and is dealt with by the personal representatives.
Personal representatives can normally use the full individual annual exempt amount in the tax year of death and the following two tax years during the administration period. For 2026/27 the full amount is £3,000.
Potentially. A transfer or appointment of trust assets can be a disposal for CGT purposes, although Hold-Over Relief can sometimes defer the gain where the statutory conditions are satisfied.