The scenario

We were contacted by trustees of a family Trust who had been informed that one of the assets owned partly by the Trust had been sold for a significant profit. The trustees had previously been given details on how to register the Trust with the Trust Registration Service and obtain a tax reference (if not already registered) and declare the gain on the Trust tax return.

 

Unfortunately, due to a miscommunication by the family trustees the deadline for reporting the sale had been and gone and no action had been taken to report this sale. The trustees, therefore, invited me over for a meeting to discuss getting their affairs in order.

 

We also established that the Trust was created 20 years earlier by the Will of the Father but the trustees had not taken any professional assistance. Due to the amount of time passing, the trustees were uncertain of what was actually in the Trust and what had happened to the original Trust property.

    

 

How we helped

We sat down with the family and discussed the circumstances that brought the Trust into existence. The trustees were able to lay their hands on the Will of the Father as well as estate accounts that set out which assets were held in the Trust.

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The first priority was to deal with the registration of the Trust and prepare a Trust and Estate tax return to report and pay the capital gains tax due. This was done swiftly to limit the Trust's exposure to interest and penalties on late payment of tax and late submission of the tax return.

 

The next priority was to prepare accounts for the Trust from creation to the current day. This is so we had a clear picture of what had happened to the Trust assets and what the Trust is valued at. The trustees and beneficiaries had expressed their wish to wind the Trust up and therefore the accounts were key to ensuring that all Trust property was identified and dealt with in the winding up.

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Once we had a clear view of what the Trust held, we advised on the most tax efficient way of distributing the assets to beneficiaries.   

 

We then worked closely with the chosen solicitor to provide legal advice and assistance in drawing up the legal paperwork to close the Trust.  Final accounts and tax returns were then prepared by us to bring matters to a close. 

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Contact us

If you would like advice on setting up, administering, or winding up a Trust, we would be happy to help. Further information about our Trust service can be found here. Please contact us for an initial free consultation on 0116 2167681 or email us at hello@finchtax.com.