HMRC U-turn on Trust Registration Service requirement under Money Laundering Regulations

Newly published HMRC guidance (attached to this e-mail) reveals a U-turn by HMRC on the question of whether trustees of schemes that have incurred a relevant tax liability under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 are required to register under the Trust Registration Service (TRS).  Until publication of the most recent guidance, HMRC had been clear that registration was required.  However, the latest guidance says that if the pension scheme has already been registered online with HMRC (under Manage and Register Pension Schemes or Pension Schemes Online) then the trustees do not need to register separately on TRS.

Whilst HMRC's guidance is likely to be welcomed by scheme trustees, the final paragraph muddies the water.  It says, "If the pension scheme administrator or manager incurs a liability to any of the relevant UK taxes in a tax year then they must register on TRS by the required date. If the tax liability falls on the scheme administrator and the scheme administrator is not the trustee, the information will still have to be provided on TRS. However, registered pension schemes do not have to use TRS but they must keep the required information in their own records and provide it when asked." Hopefully, AMPS will be able to clarify this point with HMRC.