Guidance on Trusts and Powers for Relevant Trustees in Land Transactions

Who are the relevant trustees for an SDLT return?

For SDLT purposes, the “relevant trustees” are not always all of the trustees. They are the trustees who are entitled to act as responsible trustees and who actually make the SDLT return. This matters because all relevant trustees must make the return declaration, and HMRC must send formal notices such as enquiries and assessments to each of them.

• A land transaction return can be made by one or more trustees who are the responsible trustees for the transaction.
• The trustees who actually file the return become the relevant trustees for that return.
• All relevant trustees must make the declaration confirming the return is complete and correct.
• HMRC must give enquiry, assessment and amendment notices to each relevant trustee.
• Any one relevant trustee may make an appeal or apply for a closure notice.
• Good records are important, because uncertainty over who filed the return can cause disputes about declarations and HMRC notices.

Scroll down for the full analysis.

Who counts as the “relevant trustees” for an SDLT return?

This page explains a procedural point in the SDLT rules for trusts. Where trustees are involved in a land transaction, not every trustee necessarily has to make the return. The trustees who do make it are treated as the “relevant trustees”, and that matters because HMRC must deal with them for enquiries, assessments and other formal notices.

What this rule is about

When land is bought or otherwise transferred and trustees are the buyer, or are otherwise the persons who must deal with SDLT compliance, the law needs to identify who can file the land transaction return and who HMRC must correspond with afterwards.

This rule does that by separating two ideas:

• the trustees who are entitled or required to deal with the transaction as “responsible trustees”; and
• the trustees who actually make the return, who then become the “relevant trustees” for that return.

This is mainly about administration, but it has practical consequences. It affects who must sign the declaration on the return and who must receive formal notices from HMRC.

What the official source says

The HMRC manual says that a land transaction return may be made or given by any one or more of the trustees who are the responsible trustees in relation to the transaction.

The trustees who make the return are called the relevant trustees.

The declaration on the return, confirming that it is complete and correct, must be made by all of those relevant trustees.

The manual also says that where HMRC issues a notice, assessment or amendment under its enquiry and appeal powers, HMRC must give that document to each of the relevant trustees.

By contrast, if there is an appeal or an application for a closure notice, any one of the relevant trustees may make it.

What this means in practice

The key practical point is that the trustees who submit the SDLT return become the trustees with whom HMRC must formally deal for that return.

That does not mean every trustee in existence is automatically a relevant trustee. It means the trustees who actually make the return, provided they are among the responsible trustees, are the relevant trustees.

That has several consequences:

• If only one responsible trustee makes the return, that trustee is the relevant trustee.
• If two or more responsible trustees make the return together, all of them are relevant trustees.
• All relevant trustees must make the declaration that the return is complete and correct.
• HMRC must send any formal enquiry or assessment documents to each relevant trustee, not just one of them.
• But a single relevant trustee can still lodge an appeal or apply for a closure notice.

So the choice of which trustees make the return is not just a filing detail. It affects the formal route by which HMRC communicates and how procedural rights are exercised.

How to analyse it

When working out who should sign and who HMRC must notify, it helps to ask these questions in order:

1. Who are the responsible trustees for this transaction? The manual cross-refers to the separate rule on responsible trustees, so that question must be answered first.
2. Which of those responsible trustees actually made or gave the SDLT return?
3. Those trustees are the relevant trustees for this purpose.
4. Has the declaration been made by all of the relevant trustees?
5. If HMRC opens an enquiry or issues an assessment or amendment, has HMRC given the document to each relevant trustee?
6. If an appeal is needed, has it been made by at least one relevant trustee?

This framework shows why it is important to keep a clear record of who submitted the return and in what capacity.

Example

Illustration: A trust has three trustees, A, B and C. Under the separate rules, A, B and C are all responsible trustees for the transaction. The SDLT return is made by A and B only. In that case, A and B are the relevant trustees.

The declaration that the return is complete and correct must be made by both A and B. If HMRC later opens an enquiry, HMRC must give the notice to both A and B. If there is an appeal, either A or B may make it. C is a trustee, but on these facts C is not one of the relevant trustees for the return.

Why this can be difficult in practice

The main difficulty is that this rule depends on the separate concept of “responsible trustees”. A person cannot become a relevant trustee simply by signing paperwork if they were not one of the responsible trustees in relation to the transaction.

Another practical issue is record-keeping. If it is unclear which trustees actually made the return, there may be arguments later about whether the declaration was properly made or whether HMRC sent notices to the right people.

There is also a procedural risk if HMRC sends a formal notice to fewer than all of the relevant trustees, because the manual indicates that such notices must be given to each of them. Whether that affects validity in a particular case may depend on the wider statutory framework and the facts.

Key takeaways

• The relevant trustees are the responsible trustees who actually make the SDLT return.
• All relevant trustees must make the declaration that the return is complete and correct.
• HMRC must give enquiry, assessment and amendment notices to each relevant trustee, but any one relevant trustee may appeal or apply for a closure notice.

This page was last updated on 24 March 2026

Useful article? You may find it helpful to read the original guidance here: Guidance on Trusts and Powers for Relevant Trustees in Land Transactions

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