HMRC's latest Trusts and Estates newsletter contains some useful information. Here is our enhanced version.
Capital Gains Tax (CGT) payment for property disposals
From April 2020:
- For UK residents, including trustees, where there is a financial gain and tax due on the disposal of residential property, the disposal must be reported and tax paid to HMRC within 30 days of completion of the disposal.
- For non-UK residents, where disposals of UK property must already be reported within 30 days of the disposal and regardless of whether there is a gain or a loss, individuals in Self Assessment can no longer defer payment and must also pay the CGT within 30 days.
HMRC are developing a new micro-service that will be available on GOV.UK from April 2020 to allow reporting and payment of CGT for property disposals.
- Those already within Self Assessment will still need to report the gain on their tax return.
- Those who do not have a ‘one-off’ disposal can remain outside of the Self Assessment process as long as there is no other reason for them to be part of it.
Trust Registration Service
Agents and trustees who need to register a taxable trust should do so where possible on the new micro-service version of the Trust Registration Service once it is fully available. It is currently only open to invited users as it is in the ‘private beta’ phase of development. Access can be obtained by contacting HMRC's Trust Registration Team at
Fifth anti-money laundering directive (5MLD) and the extension of the Trust Registration Service update
- The regulations to transpose 5MLD came into force on 10 January 2020. The amendments relevant to the expanded trust register were not included to enable a technical consultation to take place.
- The technical consultation was published on 24 January 2020 and will close on 21 February 2020. Responses have not yet been published.
Estate registration: personal representatives
- Personal representatives currently use the Trust Registration Service to obtain a Unique Taxpayers' Reference (UTR) for new complex estates that are required to submit trust and estates tax returns.
- Any complex estates which already have a UTR are not required to use the online service. The facility to update the information held by HMRC for complex estates will soon be available.
Changes to the Direct Payment Scheme: IHT423 update
- National Savings & Investments (NS&I) have joined the Direct Payment Scheme, simplifying the process for paying IHT if the person who died had money in NS&I.
- The new process aligns NS&I accounts with that for other bank or building society accounts meaning personal representatives can request money to be transferred directly from the deceased’s NS&I accounts to HMRC.
Agent toolkits
HMRC has 19 online toolkits. Those most relevant to trusts and estates are:
- Trusts and Estates toolkit
- Capital Gains Tax for trusts and estates toolkit
- Inheritance Tax (IHT) toolkit
Links to our subscriber guides
UK trusts
Trusts have been used in various forms for tax planning purposes for many years and the tax legislation has had to evolve with them.
Non-resident trusts
Non-resident trusts have long been used for tax planning purposes. As a result, the legislation has been changed many times in order to deal with perceived tax avoidance.
IHT estate planning checklist
This basic checklist covers some of the essential planning points that taxpayers should know when planning for their estate and inheritance tax.
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