HMRC announces supervision deadlines for money laundering

What particularly gets me about the registration requirement is the need for non-bookkeepers to register. I'm talking about the self employed office admins and VAs who, on request from their clients, do a small quantity of financial data entry (technically very basic bookkeeping). My understanding is that these people too will have to pay the £95 fee, when it might make up only 2% of their business.
I know the rules are the rules, and to have non-regulated firms regulated by HMRC does make some sense, but to catch these non-bookkeepers is ridiculous. They are not bookkeepers, are not trained, do not advertise as such yet, by virtue of the fact that the data entry work they undertake contains some financial data, they are subject to these regulations. For them (or more likely, their clients) the £95 fee is nothing more than a tax on small businesses and I doubt it will prevent money laundering one iota.

To LH

There is no de minimus limit, if you do any regulated activity ‘by the way of business’ then you have to be supervised for compliance.

Without knowing all your details get a copy of MLR9 from HMRC website. Pg 12 S3.4 explains ‘by way of business’, basically if you are self employed as compared to in an employed status you are required to register. However you have stated you are a partner in your “husbands” business, therefore if you are a partner it must be yours as well! Therefore not covered as part of the Regulations.

If you are in an employed status at the farm, for example, payslips, rights to holiday pay etc you are an internal bookkeeper and not by the way of business.

If it is by the way of business, for premises read S7.3 on Pg 51, basically you only register your principle contact address i.e. you home address, 7.3.4 tells you YOU DO NOT register any premises which belong to clients whom you visit in order to carry out your relevant activity. Your registration fee would be £95 only

To explain the whole concept to you is far too long, but it is not a tax on accountancy. There is plenty of information on HMRC website. In a simple format – The world is full of people who want something for nothing or something they are not entitled to have, some of this takes place through crime, POCA covers ALL crime, crime may have a benefit, a proceed, the criminal tries to disguise the fact that he has had this proceed in many ways. The accountant helps prepare financial statements and is greatly at risk of being used by the criminal to help disguise the movements of the proceeds of crime. Tax evasion is a common form of crime covered under common law, the Theft Act and the Fraud Act, so cheat, thief or fraudster are terms that can be used to describe anyone convicted of tax evasion. Openly helping a client evade tax is a crime, being negligent in the performance of your responsibilities could be an offence under S330 PoCA etc. so compliance to ML Regulations is for YOUR protection, to help you to reduce the risk of harm to you, your business, your family and maybe your local community, helping to protect your reputation.

Presumably the work for LH's husband would be covered by the "in house" get out clause?

Would becoming an employee of the farm then get around the requirement to register?

Louise

I do a small amount of bookkeeping, inc writing cheques, filling in a cashbook, completing VAT returns and payroll for a farm, and also for my husbands business. I work mainly from home, but also work at the farm office. I earnt £4k from the book-keeping last year, and from what I can make of the details I will have to register both my home and their office in my application, and make a payment of £190 per year - nearly 5% of my income from this work. Is this correct or am I missing something???

If I gave up the above work, and continued to do the same work for my husbands business, in which I am a partner, would I still be required to pay £95 per year in respect of my home?

Can anyone explain to me how this is anything other than a tax on bookkeeping and accountancy????

Thanks for pointing out the business element. That will be quite useful as a response to those committee members who think the auditor should be paid to ensure the appointment more formal

This is some progress.

The booklet MLR 9 gives useful and clear guidance on who is required to register with HMR&C, when to register, and how to do it.

For guidance in terms of what is required in order to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 an accountant should look to the CCAB Guidance. This guidance applies equally to accountants supervised by one of the CCAB bodies (the Institute, the Association, etc), to those supervised by a professional body which is not a member of the CCAB, and to those accountants who will be registered with, and supervised by, HMR&C.

Note that while registration with HMR&C is required by 30 September 2008 (and acting as an external accountant without registration / supervision after 1 January 2009 will be illegal), all accountants have been required to comply with the MLR 2007 in all other respects (such as in terms of identifying clients, reporting suspicions, training staff, having appropriate anti-money laundering procedures, etc) since December last year. Registration is intended to be the final piece of the jigsaw as far as 'unqualified' accountants are concerned - not the first step towards compliance!

David
www.MLROsupport.co.uk

I think voluntary auditors will be outside the requirement to register because they won't be doing the work by way of business. You need to read the guidance in the leaflet to understand when someone needs to be registered under the MLR.

I also think it is not for the clubs and societies to be concerned about whether the service provider is registered. As far as I am aware it is for the service provider to be registered with HMRC or monitored by some other body that is in the list in the MLR.

I've been treasurer for a number of local clubs and charities which often required an audit under their constitution - but don't need a registered auditor. I wonder how many retired local councillors, bank managers etc who currently do this type of audit, will be aware they now have to register under the MLR & cough up an annual fee in order to do a voluntary job of this kind.
Similarly how many small sports clubs & charities will be made aware that they will now need to have somebody registered to do their audit.
More red tape like CRB for voluntary workers