Deed of Assignment and Reporting to HMRC

Dear, I currently own a property solely, as registered in the Land Registry. Recently, I have executed a Deed of Assignment (DOA) transferring 100% of the beneficial interest in the property to my wife. Given that the property is solely owned by me, I understand that Form 17 is not applicable in this scenario. However, I am unsure if I need to submit the DOA to HMRC through any specific channel, or whether it should be included when submitting our self-assessment forms. I would appreciate your guidance on the appropriate procedure. Kind regards, Derek

Hi Derek Chu,
Please refer to:
TSEM9160 - Ownership and income tax: legal background: ownership - income follows property
TSEM9170 - Ownership and income tax: legal background: ownership income follows property - variation
You can retain ownership of the property whilst transferring the beneficial interest to your spouse.
They will become entitled to their share of the rental income and will need to declare this to us. HMRC to not require sight of the declaration made but you should retain this if required in future.
How to make a declaration can be found here:
TSEM9520 - Ownership and income tax: express trusts - written declaration
Thank you. 
 

Dear HMRC, Thank you for your previous response, particularly the guidance that HMRC does not require sight of the declaration made and that I should retain it for future reference. To provide further context, I recently executed a Deed of Assignment (DOA) transferring 100% of the beneficial interest in my solely owned property to my wife. The DOA was signed by both myself and my wife, with a witness present during the signing. In your previous response it mentioned that HMRC does not require sight of the declaration, could you please advise whether I still need to register the DOA on the HMRC website - "Register a Trust as Trustee" (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/register-a-trust-as-a-trustee) Your clarification would be much appreciated. Kind regards, Derek CHU

Hi ,
 

Thank you for your question. As you have assigned the beneficial interest to somebody who is not the legal owner, your wife, then this does create a trust which in most cases would need to be registered. In such situations, the trust should be registered with HMRC’s Trust Registration Service . Thank you .