Understanding CRBOT: Essential guidelines for trustees

By way of background, the requirement to register with the The Republic of Ireland’s Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Trusts (CRBOT, is governed in Ireland by the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering & Terrorism Financing Act 2010). The purpose of the CRBOT is to help prevent money laundering and terrorist financing by improving transparency on who ultimately owns and controls Irish trusts. Even if trusts are registered on HMRC’s Trust Registration Service in the UK, they may still be required to also register on the CRBOT.

The following situations would require registration:

• trustees are resident in Ireland
• the trust is administered in Ireland
• the trust has land or property in Ireland
• a trustee enters a business relationship in Ireland on behalf of the trust (Business relationship means a business, professional or commercial relationship between a designated person for anti-money laundering purposes and their customer. The designated person must expect this relationship to be ongoing). This will include any trust that, for example, holds a bond that was issued in Ireland by an Irish financial institution - which may include (but not limited to) - Standard Life, Prudential, Canada Life, Utmost, Aviva and M&G.

The initial deadline to register was 23 October 2021 for trusts that were established on or before 23 April 2021. Trusts registered after that date, must register within 6 months of establishment of the trust. However, the Revenue recognises that there have been genuine technical difficulties for some trustees to register on time,  and have been simplifying access to the CRBOT for UK trustees, during which period they suggested that penalties would not be levied on UK trustees for failure to register. We would, however, advise that all relevant trusts are registered as soon as possible so that trustees comply with their obligations, as a trustee who fails to comply with the Regulations is deemed to commit an offence and can be liable to fines of up to €500,000 and / or imprisonment of up to 12 months depending on the offence.

We are carrying out a review of the trusts that we actively manage to check for any Irish business relationships - this can be by examining correspondence from the relevant bond providers, asking the investment contacts who manage the bonds or by asking trustees to check the paperwork they receive (we do not always receive correspondence direct).

If you think your trust may be caught by these new requirements, please let us know as soon as possible.