The Chancellor’s Spring Budget coincided with a challenging set of global circumstances. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank just days prior emphasised the need for economic confidence, investment and growth here in the United Kingdom. Coined as the ’back-to-work’ Budget, the Chancellor’s focus was on incentivising the skilled workforce to remain in work longer. Among… Read More UK Spring Budget: key updates for STEP’s members
Delegates from across the world attended STEP’s Special Interest Spotlight Sessions in London, UK, on 9 December. Expert panellists discussed the latest issues affecting philanthropic giving, cross-border estates, international clients, business families, contentious trusts and estates, mental incapacity and digital assets.… Read More Contentious Trusts and Estates: trusts and access to justice in light of family and operational diversity
The 1 September deadline has passed for registerable trusts, simplifying the timescale to the same 90 days for all nontaxable trusts. It seems a good time to highlight other simplifications, affecting trusts of insurance policies, which may not be immediately apparent.… Read More How cross-sector collaboration clarified life and health trusts registration protections
HMRC has introduced new processes for trustees and their agents to register trusts on the Trust Register Service (TRS) in the UK which will be implemented on 1 September 2022. Deadlines for registering a trust The deadline for registering most trusts on the TRS is 1 September 2022. More information on the trusts that need to… Read More HMRC introduces new Trust Register Service processes
In light of Russia’s continuing war of aggression against Ukraine, the European Council (EC) has imposed a fifth package of economic and individual sanctions against Russia on 8 April 2022. This blog explains the purpose of these sanctions and the actions that EU practitioners who are involved in Russian trusts need to take as a… Read More European Council imposes fifth package of sanctions against Russian trusts
The Edinburgh Tax Network celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Trust Scotland Act 1921 by hosting a web event for stakeholders this week, which STEP attended. The centenary of the Principal Statute on 19 August has prompted the Scottish Law Commission to submit a draft bill for potential reform, the Trusts (Scotland) Bill, to the… Read More Trust Scotland Act 1921 centenary prompts call for reform
On 11 February, STEP Europe held a webinar to examine how various jurisdictions have transposed the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD), and particularly how those Member States have chosen to define a business relationship. The panel included Stéphanie Auferil TEP from France; Dr Petra Camilleri from Malta; Aileen Keogan TEP from Ireland; Filippo Noseda TEP… Read More Trusts and AML-CFT registers of beneficial owners: I’m a trustee, do I need to register somewhere?
HM Revenue & Custom’s (HMRC) compliance team has identified the five most common errors made by UK administered trusts which are Financial Institutions (FIs) when fulfilling their obligations under the International Tax Compliance Regulations 2015. These obligations relate to Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) which includes the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and the Foreign Account… Read More The five most common reporting errors for trusts to avoid
STEP is aware that many members are looking for clarification as to how GDPR should be interpreted in the context of trusts and estates. STEP’s Data Protection Working Group has made submissions to, and had discussions with, the Information Commissioner’s Office on this topic, and intends to publish guidance early next year (most likely in… Read More GDPR and trusts and estates: new guidance coming
It has come to STEP’s attention that in HMRC’s GOV.UK guidance on how to register a trust, the guidance about which beneficiaries need to be registered on the Trust Registration Service (TRS) differed in certain important respects from the HMRC guidance that was published on 22 November 2017. For example, the GOV.UK guidance said: ‘When… Read More Trust Registration Service: clarification on reporting requirements
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