TRSM27010 - Types of trust that need to be registered: contents: registrable estates: contents: introduction

An estate for a deceased individual will use the Trust Registration Service (TRS) if the deceased’s personal representatives need to complete a Trust & Estate return (SA900) for the period of administration. This is the time between the day after the death and the date that the estate is settled or distributed to the beneficiaries.

The Trust and Estate return has to be completed and submitted if there is chargeable income or gains to report and any of the following applies:

• the total Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax due for the administration period is more than £10,000;
• the value of the estate was more than £2.5 million at the date of death;
• the value of the estate’s assets sold by the personal representatives in any one tax year was more than £500,000. (For deaths before 6 April 2016 this limit was £250,000).

The estate is known as a ‘complex’ estate if any of these conditions apply.

TRS is used to register a complex estate in order to set up the required tax record and generate the required estate Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) for self-assessment purposes. Estates are not required to register under the Money Laundering Regulations, instead this is for administrative purposes only and the information collected on registration reflects that.

Estates that are not ‘complex estates’ are not required to register on TRS.

Similarly, if there is no chargeable income and no chargeable gains then there is no need to notify HMRC, either formally via TRS or under informal procedures. In some instances a timely CGT on UK Property return may fulfil the notification requirement. For more information about UK Property Account and Self Assessment, see CG-APP18-310.

For further information on the return's procedures for estates, see TSEM7400.