The guidance states that agents and advisers must register any express trust, whether the client is a UK resident or a non-UK resident.

Agents must register a UK resident express trust where there is a tax liability for any of the relevant taxes for any trust income or assets.

They must also register a non-UK resident express trust where there is a tax liability for any of the relevant taxes after the trust receives UK source income or has UK assets.

There is no need to register a pension scheme that has been set up as an express trust on the trust registration service if it is already registered under the manage and register pension schemes or pension schemes online services.

Relevant taxes are listed as capital gains tax; income tax, IHT; Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) in Scotland; stamp duty land tax (SDLT); stamp duty reserve tax or stamp duty.

The deadline for filing for CGT is 5 October for a new liability and 31 January for an existing liability. The deadline for registering a new liability for IHT with CGT or income tax is 5 October.

For IHT without CGT or income tax; LBTT; SDLT; and stamp duty reserve tax or stamp duty, the deadline for registering is 31 January.

HMRC’s guidance provides a number of examples of how the deadlines operate in practice. Missing a deadline may result in a penalty, paid by the lead trustee.

If they do not register or update the information, and cannot show HMRC that they took reasonable steps to do so, the penalties are: £100 for registering up to three months after the deadline; £200 for registering between three to six months after the deadline; £300 or 5% of the total tax liability in the relevant year (whichever is higher) for registering more than six months after the deadline.

Penalties will not be issued automatically and will be reviewed on a case by case basis.

HMRC says it will also take into account that tax year 2017 to 2018 is the first year that trustees and agents have had to meet the new registration obligations.

The facility to tell HMRC about any changes to a registration is not yet available. HMRC says it will not charge penalties for failure to tell the tax authority about changes until this facility becomes available. When the facility is available, the same penalties will be applied that are currently applied to the late registration of a trust.

The guidance also provides details of the information required to register, which includes details of the trust and beneficiaries. To register a trust, agents and advisors need to have an agent services account, or to set up one, and will require the user ID and password created when the account was set up.

Guidance Register your client’s trust is here.

Report by Pat Sweet