Do I Need To Register With HMRC For Money Laundering?

Are you wondering if you will need to register with HMRC for money laundering supervision? This quick guide will tell you all you need to know and provide you with some links to useful information.

AML Supervisors

If you are a business or individual who has obligations under the Money Laundering Regulations (MLR), you will need to be supervised by one of the approved bodies. HMRC is one such supervisor and are responsible for monitoring specific industries and business types.

In addition to HMRC, the  Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Gambling Commission are approved AML supervisory authorities. There are also an additional 22 professional bodies who are approved supervisors such as the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants or Law Society.

The below list are the business types that are supervised by HMRC, unless already authorised by or registered with the FCA or a relevant professional body.

Requirements for Registering with HMRC

If you fall into one fo the listed categories and are not already supervised by another body, you will need to register with HMRC. If your business is a money service businesses or trust or company service provider, you will be subject to the HMRC’s fit and proper test. This is to ensure that the below group of ‘responsible persons’ are suitable to undertake the roles assigned to them.

• Manager – any person who has control, authority, or responsibility for managing the business (including a nominated officer).
• Officer – a director, secretary, chief executive, member of the committee of management, or a person purporting to act in such a capacity.
• Beneficial owner – see section 5; 6 or 6(9) of the Regulations for further details.

HMRC Fit & Proper Assessment

Once you have identified who the responsible persons are within the business, you will need to submit these details to HMRC as part of the registration process.  the Company. These persons have undergone HMRC’s fit and proper test, and their details are noted below.

The test is based on answers to a series of questions asked by HMRC during the registration process. They also carry out due diligence checks, backgrounds searches and third-party sources.

HMRC Approval Checks

Accountants, art market participants, estate agents, high value dealers and letting agents are subject to approval checks by HMRC instead of undergoing the fit and proper test. The approval checks apply to the same group of people within the business (i.e. beneficial owners, officers and managers). If this is your first application to register with HMRC (as opposed to a renewal), all such persons must be approved before HMRC will register your business. Approval checks are different to the mandatory AML checks that prevent money laundering.

Checks include (but are not limited to) :-

• Unspent conviction(s) for a relevant offence
• History of failure to comply with the money laundering regulations which is a judgment issue
• General assessment of individual’s honesty and integrity; competence and capability and background checks for financial soundness (including tax affairs)