Are you now in scope of the anti-money laundering regulations?

News

05 November 2020

The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (‘the regulations’) were amended this year with the definition of ‘tax adviser’ widened to include more activities than before.

Tax adviser is now any firm or individual “who by way of business provides material aid, or assistance or advice, in connection with the tax affairs of other persons, whether provided directly or through a third party”.

This change could have brought your firm into the scope of the regulations.

If this is the case, you will need to apply to us (or another AML supervisor, eg HMRC) to be supervised for money laundering before 10 January 2021.

Checking if you are in scope

You need to assess your business activities against the new definition to determine whether or not your firm is in scope of the regulations. We have produced guidance to help you with this.

If you are in scope, you will need to submit to us a completed FA10 form including providing suitable Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks for beneficial owners, officers and managers at your firm. You will also need to make sure you comply with the regulations, other relevant statutes and our guidance, all by 10 January 2021.

This includes assessing the risk for your in-scope business activities, as well as complying with other guidance and warning notices on AML, and Legal Sector Affinity Group guidance. 

If you find that you carry out activities that are in scope of the new definition of tax adviser, but that you will stop these activities before 10 January 2021, then no action is needed.

Further help

If you need further information, contact our Ethics Guidance helpline. Be aware however that it is up to you to determine if your firm is in scope – our Ethics advisers cannot make that decision for you.