You might not know it, but New Zealanders have a love affair with trusts. NZ practitioners probably won’t be surprised to hear that there may be anywhere between 300,000 to 500,000 trusts in the country, one of the highest per capita rates in the world. But trusts can lead to unfair outcomes when a relationship… Read More Reviewing the New Zealand Property (Relationships) Act: have your say
Update: 18 January Further to the post last week alerting members to an issue with SA900 forms, HMRC has issued the following update: ‘In December 2017, we advised of an issue affecting a small number of SA900 forms filed electronically which resulted in some inaccurate calculations where there is a capital gain liability. The problem… Read More HMRC message regarding SA900 forms
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
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
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
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?
The Law Commission of England and Wales is holding a public consultation on reform of the law of wills. The current law, largely derived from the Wills Act 1837, is understandably antiquated and requires an overhaul. The Commission notes that 40 per cent of people in England and Wales die without leaving a valid will,… Read More Will-writing reforms proposed
STEP advised members earlier this year that the Criminal Finances Act 2017 received Royal Assent on 27 April 2017. The Act contains the new corporate criminal offence of ‘failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion’, which is anticipated to take effect in September 2017. Even though tax evasion and facilitation of tax-related crimes are… Read More Are you prepared for the UK’s new corporate criminal offence?
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