Bureaucracy Rules, OK

In a society already dominated by red tape two new registers have been created to assail us. The Register of Trusts, when announced, did not seem unduly onerous. As the requirements have become clearer we are left pondering where trusts may exist that are not immediately obvious.

Of particular relevance to agriculture, land may be registered in the names of individuals but held on behalf of a greater number of owners. Many individual partners have land registered in their names at the Land Registry which, under their Partnership Agreements, is held by them as trustees for their partners. This can trigger a requirement for registration. Failure to register can result in penalties.

Life Interest Trusts created by wills, whereby the beneficiary enjoys the occupation of property registered in the names of executors for life, similarly require registration.

The Register of Overseas Entities seeks to protect us all from foreign money launderers but achieves this by a level of regulation around the verification of identity that has led the Law Society to recommend that law firms should ‘exercise extreme caution if an adviser is considering such verification’. If you happen to be a foreign company owning land in the UK you have a problem.

If in any doubt about the direction of travel the September ‘fiscal statement’ by the Truss administration included the announced abolition of the Office of Tax Simplification. Truly we were being Trussed in red tape. It will be fascinating to see which knots, if any, Mr Sunak unties.