TRSM10020 - Introduction to the Trust Registration Service: contents: what is the Trust Registration Service

The Trust Registration Service (TRS) is a register of the beneficial ownership of trusts.

As first set up in 2017, trustees were required to register on TRS if the trust was liable to pay any of the following taxes: income tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, Stamp Duty Land Tax (Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in Scotland) or Stamp Duty Reserve Tax. This information was accessible to HMRC and other law enforcement agencies but not to third parties.

New rules introduced on 6 October 2020 extend the scope of the trust register to UK and some non-UK trusts, with some specific exclusions, regardless of whether or not the trust is liable to pay any tax.

In addition, information held on the register about the people associated with a trust (‘beneficial owners’) may, from later in 2022 onwards, be provided to organisations and persons involved in preventative work in the field of anti-money laundering, counter terrorist financing and associated offences. The information will only be released on request in certain limited circumstances. Information on data sharing will be available in a later update to this manual.

These new rules have been introduced by the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 to ensure that the UK has an anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing regime that is up to date, effective and proportionate, and improved transparency about the ownership of assets held in trusts.

Though estates are not themselves subject to registration on TRS under the Money Laundering Regulations, some estates also have to register if the personal representatives need to complete a Self-Assessment Trust & Estate tax return, because TRS is the mechanism for estates to acquire a unique taxpayer reference (UTR).