TRSM25030 - Types of trust that need to be registered: contents: registrable taxable trusts: contents: when does a liability to UK taxation trigger the requirement to register
A UK or non-UK trust is required to register on the Trust Registration Service (TRS) if, for any given year, the trustees are liable to pay any of the following taxes in the United Kingdom in relation to the UK assets or UK-sourced income of the trust:
- income tax;
- capital gains tax;
- inheritance tax;
- stamp duty land tax;
- land and buildings transaction tax (Scotland);
- land transaction tax (Wales);
- stamp duty reserve tax.
The requirement to register is not triggered by a UK tax liability arising to the trustees from non-UK assets. This includes situations where trustees are liable under Schedule A1 IHTA84 to Inheritance Tax on shares in a non-UK company to the extent that the value of those shares is attributable to the value of UK residential property, because the tax liability has arisen from non-UK assets.
Where a trust owns shares in a company and that company owns UK assets which trigger a UK tax liability, this would not ordinarily trigger the requirement for the trust to register on TRS because the liability arises to the company rather than to the trustees.
However, if the ownership of any asset (or receipt of income from the asset) is treated as a ‘look through’ for any relevant tax purposes such that any UK tax liability is the tax liability of the trustees and not the company then the trustees will need to register the trust on TRS.
Non-UK trusts & CGT on UK Property Account
Though the requirement to register is not triggered by a UK tax liability arising to the trustees from non-UK assets, non-UK trusts that become liable to non-resident Capital Gains Tax (NRCGT) on a disposal of non-UK shares must register with TRS for the purpose of obtaining a Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number before creating a CGT on UK Property Account. Trusts registered for this purpose are not required to keep the information on the register up to date and are not subject to the third party access provisions set out at TRSM60000.
Where trustees need to report a disposal of property or land but there is no NRCGT liability to pay, there is no requirement to obtain a trust UTR or TRN via TRS. In this circumstance, trustees can report using a CGT on UK Property paper return - see CG-APP18-110, 1.13 Paper returns.