Three years ago, the UK government’s Autumn Statement 2014 announced a review of the Gift Aid donor benefit rules with the intention of simplifying them. Following a call for evidence, it launched a consultation on 18 February 2016 setting out a range of options. The responses helped develop specific proposals for reform, which were set… Read More The UK Budget and donor benefit rules for charities
STEP was pleased to attend the latest Today’s Thought Focus Roundtable, hosted by Today’s Wills & Probate on 15 November 2017. Prof Nick Hopkins and Spencer Clarke from the England & Wales Law Commission attended, and gave participants the opportunity to discuss its latest wills consultation. The consultation paper contains 14 chapters and 64 questions,… Read More STEP joins industry roundtable for Law Commission Q&A on wills
STEP has been invited to join an HMRC Working Group which will review the guidance on Gift Aid donor benefits. The Working Group will review the interpretation of the rules that apply to donor benefits within the HMRC guidance covered by Chapters 3.18 to 3.25. Objectives Representatives have been selected from the charity sector, HMRC… Read More Improving HMRC guidance on Gift Aid donor benefits
Update: 19 October HMRC has asked us to disseminate the following: ‘The new TRS is now available for agents to use. As part of this online process, agents will be taken through the steps to create an Agent Services account before they can register on behalf of trustees. Agents use the link from http://www.gov.uk/trusts-taxes/trustees-tax-responsibilities to… Read More Update: TRS now open to agents
Agents remain unable to access the Trust Registration Service (TRS) after technical errors were identified in the system, HMRC has confirmed. However, the deadline for completing the register of a trust for self-assessment and providing beneficial ownership information remains 5 December 2017. This news comes shortly after HMRC published its comprehensive guidance for the new… Read More Technical hitches remain for access to UK Trust Registration Service
A sell-out audience of over 370 delegates has been attending the 2017 STEP LatAm Conference in Cartagena, Colombia this week. The fact that they managed to get here in spite of a local transport strike made me feel, as a Brit, rather at home, but it also shows what a strong following the annual STEP… Read More STEP LatAm Conference 2017 in Colombia
In June 2017 the European Commission published draft legislation containing new rules for tax-planning intermediaries who design or promote cross-border tax planning arrangements. The stated objective is to identify and assess schemes that are potentially facilitating tax evasion or avoidance in order to block harmful arrangements in the early stages. The proposals require intermediaries to report… Read More Proposed EU rules for tax planning intermediaries
Earlier this week STEP held the second of three consultation events on the reform of the law of wills in England and Wales. Law Commission representatives Dr Nick Hopkins and Spencer Clarke invited feedback from STEP members in England and Wales on key areas of the consultation including, capacity, statutory wills, formalities, electronic will-making, protecting… Read More STEP members input into reform of the law of wills
STEP members may be interested in a reasoned debate that took place last Wednesday, 6 September in the UK House of Commons, which gave some insight into the view of both the opposition and the government as to how offshore trusts are perceived. Parliament came back from its summer holidays last week, albeit not for… Read More Policy watch: Debating the UK Finance Bill
The Global Legal Entity Identification Foundation (GLEIF) has designed a system whereby every ‘legal entity’ will need to register and obtain a unique identification number – a Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) when new European legislation, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and Regulation (MiFIR) takes effect in the UK. If the entity does… Read More Trustees, have you got your LEIs?
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