31 December 2025 deadline for mandatory registration of Trusts and other entities
Various accounting and tax industry professional bodies have recently highlighted a new compliance obligation for many Trusts and other entities (such as partnerships), which must now register with HMRC for Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) purposes under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), by the later of 31 December 2025 (or 31 January in the year after the calendar year in which they first fall within the CRS or FATCA provisions). For many existing Trusts and other entities, the deadline will be 31 December 2025.
The one-off registration with HMRC is mandatory for impacted Trusts and other entities, even if they are not required to report information under CRS and FATCA.
Who will be impacted?
Broadly, Trusts, companies or other entities falling into one or both of two categories:
- Those where more than 50% of their income is from investing or trading in financial assets, and those assets are managed by a “Financial Institution” such as a bank or investment manager.
- Trusts with a Corporate Trustee such as those Trusts we look after under the Moore Kingston Smith Trust Corporation as sole Trustee or as Co-Trustee with other individuals.
What should I do?
If you are a Trustee of a Trust (or other affected entity) where over 50% of the annual income comes from an investment portfolio managed by any professional firm, we recommend you consider registration or seek advice on whether you are obliged to register for AEOI by 31 December 2025.
Are there any implications if the registration deadline is missed?
HMRC has indicated that the deadline is a “hard” deadline. HMRC can issue a penalty for late registration of £1,000 and HMRC currently says it cannot extend the deadline due to the international nature of the obligations. Daily penalties of up to £300 can also be issued if HMRC identifies a continued failure to register.
HMRC has indicated they will not automatically issue penalties in relation to this matter.
How can Moore Kingston Smith assist?
If we act as Trustee via Moore Kingston Smith Trust Corporation, (MKSTC) we will register the Trust as Trustee. If you are a client whose Tax Returns or Trust Accounts are prepared by Moore Kingston Smith, but we do not act as Trustee for your Trust, we should be able to assist if we have dealt with Trust Administration for you in the past, such as dealing with registration on HMRC’s Trust Registration Service (TRS). In such cases, if you are affected and require our assistance, we will do our best to register your Trust by the deadline if it is caught by these new requirements.
For anyone else, if you are not sure what to do, please email trust@mks.co.uk with your request or query and we will do our best to respond in good time. Alternatively, please get in touch with your usual MKS contact.
