STEP, alongside ICAEW and the Law Society, has recently published a guide to help trustees determine the status of UK trusts under the UK/US FATCA IGA. There is still a misconception on the part of some practitioners that only UK trusts with US connections or assets have to take note of FATCA. The reality is that all UK trusts need to think about their status under FATCA. In particular, trusts with corporate trustees or who use discretionary fund managers may need to register with the IRS. Any trust that needs to register must do so by this autumn. Moreover we expect that many banks and fund managers will shortly be contacting trustees to establish the FATCA status of the trust and begin the required due diligence process.

For the time being the STEP/ICAEW/Law Society guide is provisional. We are expecting revised HMRC Guidance later this spring, although the fundamental building blocks of the IGA are by now well established. We would therefore urge practitioners who have not yet done so to consider urgently the status of all UK trusts for which they are responsible under the FATCA regulations. The guide and associated flowchart can be found here.