PREPARATION

Firms need to understand the nature and scope of the Trust Registration Service, which trusts have to register, how lay trustees must register trusts and understanding TRS as an AML process. Support material is available in the previous section - The Basics.

Adviser firms must review back-office systems & files to assess the ability to identify trust clients caught and to extract the data required. Ideally firms will cross check their records with advisers who may spot any gaps. 

Adviser firms must assess whether actively supporting clients with registering trusts is a breach of existing compliance rules & outside the scope of PI cover. Firms should also assess the compliance position of providers/DFM's/Platforms etc and the likelihood that they will not be able to transact with trusts once the appropriate deadline is missed. 

Whatever big decisions are made and regardless of the details of a firm’s specific plans, any plans need to be discussed, signed off and minuted. Should a specific trust not be compliant after the deadline date these plans will demonstrate the efforts firms have gone to in respect of their due diligence & discrepancy reporting requirements.

Adviser firms must collate due diligence on any potential partners and should factor in experience, capacity, fixed costs options & processes. A streamlined process will also be far more efficient in terms of adviser firm’s involvement. See Downloads for information on us and let us know if you require Due Diligence packs.

​Firms should ensure that all staff likely to engage with trust clients should have some resources available. These should ensure there is an understanding of the basics, a grasp of the practicalities facing lay trustees and an understanding of the service being offered.

Firms need to engage with their clients and communications must strike a balance that warns clients of the difficulties they will face if registering their own trusts without being overly alarmist. Firms will also need to ensure clients are aware of their personal responsibility to check and validate the data supplied, this point is picked up by a specific contract clause in the agreement the lead trustees must sign.

Where deadlines are missed there may be penalties to pay, and all of this involves us in additional work that may mean we cannot operate within the £300 fixed price arrangement. More worryingly it may reveal that clients have taxable trusts that have missed their reporting and other tax reporting obligations, such as periodic charge reporting.

​Firms should also consider whether the data captured highlights any issues such as: the absence of trustee meeting notes, poor records of gifting, out of date letters of wishes etc. Firms should review this data and consider what actions need to be considered. This as an opportunity to tighten up on processes & generate potentially lucrative engagements with co-trustees, referral opportunities etc. It may also give rise to consideration of the use of professional trustee services.