Report a trust discrepancy to HMRC
Submit a report to HMRC if you're a 'relevant person’ and have identified a discrepancy with a trust as part of your money laundering obligations.
Most trusts must be registered with HMRC. If you’re a ‘relevant person’, you must ask for the trust’s proof of registration when either:
- a trustee or agent of the trust approaches you to set up a new business relationship
- as part of ongoing monitoring, you are required to check the details of trusts with which you have an existing business relationship
Check if you are a ‘relevant person’
A relevant person (also known as an obliged entity) is not a trustee of a trust or trust’s agent. They are an organisation working in a professional capacity that must carry out due diligence checks under anti-money laundering regulations.
Relevant persons include:
- art market participants
- auditors
- casinos
- credit institutions
- cryptoasset exchange providers
- custodian wallet providers
- estate agents and letting agents
- external accountants and tax advisers
- financial institutions
- high value dealers
- independent legal professionals
- insolvency practitioners
- trust or company service providers
What must be included on the proof of registration
The following details of the trust must be included, the:
- trust’s name
- Unique Tax Reference or Unique Reference Number
- start date
- date it was last updated
If any settlors, trustees or beneficiaries are individuals, it must include their:
- full name
- month and year of birth
- country of residence
- nationality
If any settlors, trustees or beneficiaries are companies (or other legal entities), it must include the company’s:
- full name
- office address
- nature of their role in the trust
You should carefully consider the risks of entering into a business relationship with a registerable trust if its proof of registration is not accurate and up to date.
When you can submit a report
You can submit a report to HMRC if you are a relevant person and either:
- there’s a material discrepancy in the information you have about the trust and what is on the proof of registration
- the trust is not registered with HMRC and you think it should be
You should first try to contact the trustee or agent of the trust to resolve any discrepancies. You might be able to do this by:
- encouraging them to register the trust with HMRC
- asking them to correct out of date information and manage the trust’s details online
If you cannot resolve any material discrepancies with the trustee, you should report them to HMRC.
What a material discrepancy is
A material discrepancy happens when the relevant person both:
- holds information about a trust that is significantly different from the proof of registration given by the trustee or agent — this includes when the trust is a registrable express trust that is not registered (the trustee cannot provide proof of registration)
- reasonably believes the discrepancy has occurred from money laundering, terrorist financing or concealing the business of the trust (whether deliberately or by accident)
Examples of when you should report a material discrepancy include if:
- you have not seen a proof of registration, even though the trust is supposed to be registered
- you believe proof of registration information you have been given is fake
- you have information which leads you to suspect money laundering or terrorist financing
- in the proof of registration:
- there are clear differences in the trust name, Unique Tax Reference, trust start date or correspondence address
- personal information about the beneficial owner is wrong (for example, their month or year of birth is incorrect)
- any of the beneficial owners are missing or wrongly included and should be removed
- none of the trust information matches what you expect to see
What you do not need to report
You do not need to tell us about:
- spelling errors (for example, Jon Smith instead of John Smith)
- missing, or slightly different spellings of, middle names
- slight differences in the trust name
You must not use this report to make a suspicious activity report relating to money laundering or terrorist financing.
Keep any details of a suspicious activity report confidential, this includes not informing HMRC that you have made a report.
What you’ll need
You’ll need an email address or Government Gateway user ID and password to submit a report. If you do not have a user ID, you can create one the first time you sign in.
You must also give us as much information as possible so we can process your report, including:
- the trust details (for example, the trust name, address, and Unique Tax Reference or Unique Reference Number if you know it)
- the name and address of the person representing the trust, so we can contact them about the discrepancy (for example, the trustee)
- the discrepancy report type (for example, if the trust is not registered or maintained)
- the reasons you believe that the discrepancy is related to money laundering or terrorist financing (if applicable)
- details of the discrepancies you have found
- how you know the information is missing or wrong
- any other evidence you have that you think is relevant
- your name
- the service you provide as a relevant person (for example, tax advice)
- your organisation’s details (for example, name and address)
- your personal details if you are not representing an organisation (for example, name and address)
If you have access to the trust’s proof of registration and you do not think it’s genuine, include a copy and tell us what you think is wrong.
If you do not have access to the trust’s proof of registration and you cannot give us the name and address of the person representing the trust, you should give us enough information to help us trace the trust (for example, details of any beneficial owners associated with the trust).
If you have made a Suspicious Activity Report to the UK Financial Intelligence Unit, do not disclose this to HMRC.
Submit a report
Do not submit a report to ask us to change the details of your trust. You can manage the trust’s details online.
Use the online form to submit your report. You can attach any evidence you have to support your report.
You need to submit a separate form for each trust you report.
After you have submitted your report
We will send you a confirmation email with your submission reference and will investigate the discrepancy. We will not tell you the findings of our investigation.
Our investigation may include contacting the trustees of the trust. We will not tell them how we know their details need updating.
Once the trustees have updated their records, they should either:
- give you new proof of registration
- show to you that the trust does not need to be registered
You can start a business relationship with the trust if you are satisfied that the information they have given you is accurate.
Last updated 17 April 2023 + show all updates
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The discrepancy reporting requirements have been updated to reflect new regulations, which came into force on 1 April 2023.
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