Until now, you only had to tell the taxman you had money in a trust if there was tax to pay; in the same way you have a duty to tell him if you have any other income for which you might owe tax. Someone at HMRC had the bright idea that they should know about every trust, everywhere, just in case you might have got it wrong. And they want it all to be done online, by 1st September. This is a huge and very fiddly exercise, which many won’t realise they have to undertake. There’s supposedly a £250 fine for those that don’t make the deadline. In the words of the Kaiser Chiefs, I predict a riot. Or at least, many a disgruntled trustee, who may not have even realised they were one!
“Letter of authority: Why now is the right time for change”
This may sound like a non-issue from outside the world-of-financial-advice bubble. It is the bain, however, of the daily working lives of many of us, particularly of those paid by we advisers to do the dirty work of dealing with the many providers with whom we have to work.
