Trust Registration Service

Trust Registration Service - what you need to know

On 6 October 2020, new legislation came into force requiring all UK resident trusts (with some exceptions) to be registered by the trustees on HMRC’s Trust Registration Service (TRS) on or before 1 September 2022.

You may have already been written to by your policy provider to let you know of this change and you may have already taken the required action. If not, please take this action now.

Action you need to take to register your Trust

Previously, only trusts with a tax liability (e.g. income tax, inheritance tax, capital gains tax, stamp duty) had to be registered on the Trust Registration Service.

The change now means that the majority of trusts (even those without a tax liability) will need to be registered before 1 September 2022. Failure to do so could result in a fine.

  • In addition, any changes to the trust must be reported to HMRC within 90 days of them occurring – this applies to both taxable and non-taxable trusts.
  • It is the trustees’ responsibility to register a trust. You will find guidance on when a trust needs to register and the link on how to do it on the gov.uk website by searching for “Register a trust as a trustee”.
  • Alternatively you can click this link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/register-a-trust-as-a-trustee
  • You do not need to provide evidence of the registration to the investment provider. They will contact you for evidence if they need it in future.


Of the various guides which have been produced covering this topic, we have found Canada Life’s to be the most comprehensive.

Click here

Summary of the Trust Registration process

  1. Create a Trustee Gateway Account for the trust being registered. The entry should be for the lead trustee who is the person who will be responsible for liaising with HMRC and who deals with the day-to-day correspondence in respect of the administration of the trust.

  2. Choose ‘organisation’ as the type of Gateway Account needed and complete the remaining additional security steps. Once completed, sign into the Gateway Account using the unique User ID sent to you by HMRC and the password created.

  3. Continue to register the trust by entering the required trust and beneficial owner information.

  4. Complete the declaration to confirm that all the information provided is accurate and click ‘Confirm’ and send.

  5. Sign out of the Account (top right) and you will be taken to the page confirming the trust’s Unique Reference Number. You should print this for your records and HMRC will send it to the lead trustee.

  6. Answer the security questions regarding the lead trustee (as entered when registering the trust) and continue to “start maintaining the trust”.

  7. Select “no” to whether you want to view the trust’s last declaration.

  8. Select “Get evidence of the trust’s registration” to get a digitally signed pdf containing beneficial information. This can be used as evidence that the trust has been registered.