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The Irish Revenue has lifted the reporting suspension for UK trustees, which means UK trusts holding a Dublin based offshore bond must register the trust on both the UK and Irish trust registers. Registration is required before the trustees can manage their Irish bond. Failure to register in Ireland will mean trustees are unable to make full or part surrenders or assign the policy to beneficiaries.

Background

The Irish Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Trust (CRBOT) must be completed if a UK trust has a business relationship in Ireland.

The CRBOT makes no exception for a trust which has been registered in the UK on Trustee Registration Service (TRS) because the UK is no longer an EU member state.  Dual registration is therefore necessary.

The requirement to register in Ireland has existed since 24 October 2021. However, the Irish Revenue recognised that there were genuine problems for UK trustees updating the CRBOT system and registration for UK trustees was suspended until a solution could be found.

The suspension for UK trustees ended on 5 March 2025 and an updated CRBOT registration service is now available. Trustees have six months from taking out an Irish offshore bond to register the trust with the Irish Revenue. For new trusts established with a bond after 5 March 2025, that will be six months from the date of the trust. Existing trusts with an Irish offshore bond which was taken out more than six months ago have an immediate requirement to register.

Which trusts need to register?

Irish registration is required where a UK express trust holds an Irish offshore bond or capital redemption policy. An express trust is typically a trust established by deed or by a written declaration. It includes most off the shelf product provider trusts such as bare trusts, flexible trusts and discretionary trusts as well as packaged IHT solutions such as discounted gift trusts, loan trusts and flexible reversionary trusts. 

However, there are certain trusts that are exempt from registering on the CRBOT. These include:

• unit trusts
• approved occupational pension schemes
• approved retirement funds
• approved profit-sharing schemes or employee share ownership trusts
• the Haemophilia HIV Trust

Trusts created in a will on the death of the testator only need to be registered once the administration period for the estate has been completed and an Irish bond has been transferred to the trustees, or the trustees have purchased a new Irish bond from the cash or other assets transferred.

Who can register a UK trust on CRBOT

The trustees are responsible for registering their trust on the CRBOT. However, they can delegate that responsibility and allow others to complete the registration on their behalf.

Unlike the UK TRS, where only registered UK tax agents can complete the TRS on behalf of the trust, the CRBOT reporting can be delegated to anyone, including UK financial advisers.

There are many firms which provide trust registration services for trustees for a fee. With no restriction on who can complete trust registration in Ireland, UK advice firms who are comfortable with the registration process could offer this service for their trust clients and charge accordingly.

Paying advice fees from the trust assets would not be considered an exit for trustees who are subject to periodic and exit charges. However, if the offshore bond is the only trust asset, withdrawals could result in chargeable gain if the cumulative 5% allowance is breached.

The registration process

The Irish CRBOT registration process is similar to the UK TRS in that it requires information about the settlors of the trust, the appointed trustees, and beneficiaries. However, the Irish Revenue also require Anti-Money Laundering (AML) evidence (e.g. copy of passport) to be uploaded onto their register.

The person registering the trust (‘the presenter’) must complete the following steps:

• Input the name of the trust and the type of trust, their or their companies address and contact details.
• They will then be emailed a verification code to allow them to access the CRBOT.
• Complete and upload the beneficial owner form and supporting identification documents. 
• Upload a presenter details form if someone other than a trustee is registering the trust.
• Once the trust has been successfully registered it will be given a trust registration number.

It is vital to make a note of the trust registration number as it is not emailed to the applicant. The offshore bond provider will require this number as proof of registration and allow them to complete their discrepancy checking requirements. Irish bond providers have an obligation to check that the details presented to them match those recorded on the register.

Discrepancy checking must be completed before any of the following actions can be taken

• Surrenders (full or part),
• Increments
• Assignments
• Changes of trustee details

The beneficial owner form

The beneficial owners form captures the details of the following groups associated with the trust.

• Presenter – this is the person submitting the application
• Settlor – the person who put the money into trust
• Trustees – the people who manage the trust
• Beneficiaries – the people who can benefit from the trust
• Trust protectors (if any) - anyone who oversees, monitors, and controls the administration of the trust by the trustees.

If the same individual falls into more than one category, such as both a trustee and a beneficiary, the beneficial ownership details must be completed in each section of the form.

Beneficiary details must be individually updated and identification added if they have a vested interest, typically an absolute or interest in possession trust, or where they are personally named in the trust deed.

On a discretionary trust there is often just a class of beneficiaries, e.g. children, grandchildren on the trust deed. As the interest is not vested, only the class of beneficiary needs to be added.  If their interest does become vested, for example where the trustees make an appointment to one of the beneficiaries, the register must be updated for this change.  If a beneficiary on a discretionary trust is specifically named rather than identified by class, they should be included on the register. 

Penalties

CRBOT has been available since April 2021 but as this was suspended to develop their process no penalties have been in place. Now the new system is in place, trustees of UK trusts that hold an offshore bond in Ireland must register their trust on CRBOT as soon as possible to avoid future penalties.