Accountancy Service Providers — Introduction of a registerHM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have today announced the introduction of a register for Accountancy Service Providers (ASPs) from 1 April 2008 under the Money Laundering Regulations 2007.

Existing ASPs - who are not already supervised by one of the professional bodies listed in schedule 3 of the Regulations - will be required to be registered by 1 October 2008.

HMRC has set an administrative deadline of 1 July 2008 for the receipt of applications to enable the department to process them before 1 October 2008 when the register will come into effect.

From 1 October all ASPs will be required to register before they start trading.

When applying to register and on each anniversary of their registration, ASPs will be required to pay a registration fee. This is currently set at £95 per premises. The level of the fee is reviewed annually.

We have provided guidance for registering with HMRC in our MLR 9 Guide to Registration. Also Forms and guidance on how to complete them are available to help businesses meet the 1 July administrative deadline.

For further information please see our Money Laundering Regulations section.