The purpose of the STEP Accounting Guidelines is to establish common standards in England & Wales for the preparation of accounts for estates and trusts that meet the needs and expectations of fiduciaries and beneficiaries, their professional advisers and the Court.
The Appendices included here include examples of tax returns and tax deduction certificates that would be prepared, based on some of the specimen accounts shown, and reflect the changes introduced from 6 April 2016 to the taxation of dividends. For the purpose of completing these specimen tax returns, each trust has been assumed to be the only one created by the settlor, so no attempt has been made to share the annual CGT allowance and the standard-rate band.
They are intended to be helpful. The recommended formats are not there to be followed slavishly but to form a basis that can be adapted as necessary to suit individual circumstances and varying tastes in style.
The specimen accounts are based to some extent on real cases. While the names of the individuals mentioned in those accounts are all intended to be fictitious, the names of the companies stated in the investment schedules and the classes of share capital may or may not reflect current reality. They are used for illustrative purposes only.
Extended trial balances are no longer included as part of the working papers in these appendices. Experience has shown that practitioners with little or no accounting experience tend to be confused by them while experienced accountants are already familiar with them and have their own ways of producing them or, commonly, find them to be unnecessary.
STEP would like to record its thanks to the specialist Trust & Estate Support Services team at Humphrey & Co in Eastbourne who assisted in updating the specimen tax returns for this Edition.
Download the full appendices to the book (NB you will need to enter the password noted in the book).
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