Readers who have business colleagues working as estate agents might like to pass on the following press release details posted this week. It says:
HMRC officers visited 50 estate agents across England after they were suspected of trading without being registered as required under money laundering regulations.
The visits came as HMRC published the latest businesses hit with fines for failing to comply with the regulations. This includes estate agent Countrywide Estate Agents receiving a £215,000 fine.
HMRC will now take action against the visited businesses who have failed to comply, which can include fines, publication and criminal proceedings.
In previous articles on our newsfeed we have posted details of businesses/professions that need to register under money laundering regulations.
The regulations apply to a number of different business sectors, including accountants, financial service businesses, estate agents and solicitors.
Every business covered by the regulations must be monitored by a supervisory authority. Your business may already be supervised, for example, because you’re authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or belong to a professional body like the Law Society.
If not, and your business falls into one of seven business sectors, you’ll need to register with HMRC.
HMRC is the supervisory authority for:
- money service businesses not supervised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
- high value dealers
- trust or company service providers not supervised by the FCA or a professional body
- accountancy service providers not supervised by a professional body
- estate agency businesses
- bill payment service providers not supervised by the FCA
- telecommunications, digital and IT payment service providers not supervised by the FCA
You need to register with HMRC if you carry out activities typically associated with these types of organisations by way of business and you are not already registered.
Readers of this post who don’t take our newsfeed can find out more about the services we offer UK accountants at https://informanagement.co.uk or call 08452 722377.
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