International Tax Compliance (Amendment) Regulations 2025: What UK trustees need to know
min readThe International Tax Compliance (Amendment) Regulations 2025 (the Regulations) took effect on 16 July 2025. They update the UK’s rules for automatic exchange of information (AEOI) under the Common Reporting Standard (the CRS) and the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and introduce a new, mandatory HMRC registration duty for in‑scope trusts. These new rules also apply to other “financial institutions” e.g. e-money institutions, family investment companies etc., but we have focused on trusts for these purposes.
The Regulations also put self‑certification obligations on a clear legal footing and refine CRS reporting from and including the 2026 calendar year. Registration and several compliance measures apply from 31 December 2025.
These measures can apply to trusts that have previously had no AEOI obligations, so it is important for UK trustees to be alert to the new requirements.
See Key Terms for brief definitions.
What changes for trusts
- Mandatory registration. Trusts that are reporting financial institutions or specified non‑reporting financial institutions (also commonly referred to as trustee-documented trusts) must register with HMRC. The aim is to give HMRC visibility over all UK financial institutions, whether or not they need to submit AEOI reports and where AEOI reporting has been carried out on its behalf. This means that in practice, trusts that are likely to now have to register are as follows:
- trusts that are “financial institutions” (see definition below) but have previously had no need to file AEOI reports, e.g. trusts that have a UK settlor, UK trustees and UK beneficiaries; and
- trusts of which the trustee is a reporting financial institution and AEOI reports have been submitted by the trustee under its own requirements as a reporting financial institution, so the trust itself has not previously needed to be registered (i.e. trustee-documented trusts).
- Deadline. The deadline for registration of existing trusts subject to the new mandatory registration requirement under the Regulations is 31 December 2025. Otherwise, the deadline for registration is 31 January following the first calendar year in which the trust comes within scope.
- Due diligence and reporting from 2026. From and including the 2026 reporting year, in‑scope trusts need to capture and report extra CRS information, including account type, the due‑diligence route taken, whether an account is joint, self‑certification status, and the roles of account holders.
- Self‑certifications now an express legal duty. Individual account holders must provide valid self‑certifications when asked by a reporting financial institution, in line with CRS or FATCA requirements. For trusts, account holders typically include the settlor, the trustees, certain beneficiaries and any protector – though this can vary from case to case and the definition is slightly different for CRS and FATCA.
- Penalties. A modernised penalty framework applies for failures to register and to comply with due diligence, record‑keeping, reporting and information‑notice obligations, with a reasonable‑excuse safeguard and set assessment/appeal time limits.
Who should act and what to do now
UK trustees of in‑scope trusts (i.e. trusts that are reporting financial institutions or specified non‑reporting financial institutions) and UK representatives of non‑resident trusts with UK AEOI reporting duties should prioritise the following:
- Characterise the trust. First, assess whether the trust is a financial institution and, if so, whether it falls within the “specified non‑reporting financial institution” category or is a reporting financial institution itself. If it is not a financial institution then no further action is needed.
- Obtain a GIIN if needed. In the case of a reporting financial institution, the trust may need to register with the IRS to obtain a GIIN. Based on HMRC guidance, this is only the case if the trust has US account holders which need to be reported under FATCA.
- Confirm AEOI status and register if needed. If the trust is a reporting financial institution and has not previously registered with HMRC for AEOI or if it is a specified non-reporting financial institution (which has not been subject to a separate registration requirement to date), the trust should register by the relevant deadline (this could be 31 December this year).
- Update onboarding and systems. Refresh self‑certification requests and client communications and make sure systems can capture the additional CRS data for 2026 returns.
- Tighten controls. Refresh record‑keeping processes and roll out updated team training in light of the new framework.
Please get in touch with your usual CRS contact if you have any queries.
Key Terms
| Financial Assets | Assets including securities, stocks, shares, interests in widely held partnership or trusts, notes, bonds, debentures, indebtedness, partnership interests, commodities, swaps, insurance or annuity contracts, or any interest in such assets. The term does not include a non-debt, direct interest in real property or, it is understood, cash. |
| Financial Institution | Most applicable to trusts, broadly, a trust which:
|
| GIIN | Global Intermediary Identification Number – a number assigned by the IRS to a Financial Institution required to register with it. |
| IRS | The Internal Revenue Service, the US tax authority. |
| Reporting Financial Institution | A Financial Institution subject to reporting requirements under the CRS or the intergovernmental agreement between the UK and the US for implementing FATCA. |
| Self-certification | Certification by an individual account holder of such information that may be requested by a Financial Institution to fulfil the latter’s reporting and due diligence obligations under FATCA and the CRS. Typically, this includes details of where the account holder is resident for tax purposes. |
| Specified Non-Reporting Financial Institution | A trust in respect of which reports need to be made under FATCA or the CRS but such reporting obligations are fulfilled by a Reporting Financial Institution as its trustee. Also known as a trustee-documented trust. |
