Endowment maturing Jan 2024, question about registering as a trust?

t4mof

We've had our maturity pack through from Aviva for arranging to get the money from our endowment policy and in there it says we may have to register with HMRC if it was held in trust. Exact wording is:

Important information for if this policy is held in trust

If this policy is held in trust, you should be aware that under UK money laundering regulations you might have to register the trust on HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)’s Trust Registration Service (TRS).

Does my trust need to be registered?

Some types of trust are not required to register. You’ll find guidance on exemptions and the procedure for registration in HMRC’s Trust Registration Service Manual on www.gov.uk (search for ‘Register a trust as a trustee’). It is the trustees’ responsibility to register the trust. You may wish to seek professional advice from a solicitor or tax adviser about registering your trust, or confirming your trust is exempt. We are unable to provide you with advice. 

I don't think this applies to us. It is a bog standard policy that we set up when we bought our first house and that we've paid into monthly since then. As far as I'm concerned it's not held in trust. Am I right in my thinking?

There is also a form to complete and sign saying it's exempt from registering with HMRC's Trust Registration Service. Would we need to send that back if the endowment isn't in trust?

I'm completely confused!

t4mof

For anyone else that may see this in their maturity pack, I rang Aviva and because it wasn't held in trust, there is no need to do any of the HMRC stuff thankfully.

In fact, they verified our identity electronically over the phone, confirmed bank account details and have arranged for the money to be paid in to our bank account within 10 days of the maturity date so no need to fill in any forms. Now we just sit back and wait for the amount to land with us mid January.

Not often I say this but great service from Aviva. Was really impressed

amnblog

Standard text. Call them, but you will find it does not apply in your case.