Technical article

United Kingdom: Do I Register a Trust That Holds Nothing Here?

A trust abroad that holds only foreign assets and has no UK tax liability falls outside both.

By Neil Solomon · 3 min read

Picture a couple born in the UK who now live in Spain. They set up a trust under the law of another country. It holds shares in a brokerage account and a bank balance. Nothing is in the UK, and the trustees live elsewhere. A friend mentions that the UK has a trust register and asks whether they are on it.

The short version is that the register covers more than UK trusts. It also covers some trusts abroad, and the trigger is a UK link, not where the family was born.

What the register is

The Trust Registration Service is run by the UK tax office. A trust that has to register is added to a list the office keeps. Taxable trusts receive a tax reference number. Trusts that are not taxable receive a separate registration number. The list is not public. The lead trustee receives the documents, and law enforcement and firms bound by anti-money-laundering rules can ask for details.

Who has to register

The sources describe three groups.

Some trusts are excluded from the register: pension trusts, charitable trusts, will trusts that end within two years, trusts for a disabled person, and a few others.

The date of 1 September 2027 comes from official guidance, and the same guidance notes that the online service cannot yet take these older land holdings. Families with older UK land in a trust abroad may want to keep an eye on when it opens.

The 90 days and the GBP 5,000

For a taxable trust created from 6 April 2021, registration is due within 90 days of the trust becoming liable. The penalty for failing to register may be GBP 5,000.

That figure is a ceiling set by the guidance, not a set charge.

A trust abroad with no UK link

The two triggers for a non-UK trust in the sources are a UK tax liability and UK land. A trust abroad that holds only foreign assets and has no UK tax liability falls outside both. Foreign income of a trust with no UK-resident trustee is outside UK tax, and capital payments to a beneficiary who lives abroad give no UK charge.

A UK link can still appear later. A trust that buys UK land, or begins to earn UK-source income, may move into the register. UK-source income of a non-resident trust can still be taxed at up to 45%.

You might say: "The trust is not British, none of the assets are British, and we left years ago. Why would a UK register care?" That is a natural question, and the sources suggest it may not. The register follows UK tax liability and UK land. It does not follow a family's passports.

You could also ask a second question. Is any heir resident in the UK? A UK-resident beneficiary reports capital payments and benefits from a foreign trust on the foreign pages of the yearly UK return, even when the same payment is reported in another country. That is a return filing, not a register entry, and it applies to the person, not the trust.

The people this touches are the trustees, who sign up and answer for the penalty, the settlor, who may be asked for details, and the heirs, who may meet the filing in their own return.

If you have handled a trust registration across two countries, what did you find hardest to get right? Share it here, because someone may benefit from your story.

Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data. Date read: October 2026.