Guidance

Register or update your money laundering supervision with HMRC

Use the service to apply to register for money laundering supervision, update a registration or to manage your account.

HMRC is a supervisory body for money laundering regulations.

Check if you need to register your business with us.

Use the online service to:

  • apply to register for money laundering supervision
  • update your registration
  • manage your account

Find out more about the fees you’ll need to pay for money laundering supervision.

Before you apply to register

Before you apply you should:

  • complete an anti-money laundering risk assessment
  • put in place policies, controls and procedures to manage and mitigate the risks you have identified — we will reject your application if you do not have these in place
  • add all officers, beneficial owners, senior managers and sole proprietors as responsible persons on the application
  • add all premises where supervised activity takes place

Approval check fee

You should select ‘No’ to the question ‘Has (business name) been charged an approval check fee for (responsible person)?’ if you’re:

  • an estate agency business
  • an accountancy service provider
  • a letting agency business
  • a high value dealer 
  • an art market participant

If you can provide evidence that the responsible person has paid the £40 approval check fee previously, you can select ‘Yes’.

Fit and proper test

You should select ‘No’ to the question ‘Has (responsible person) passed the fit and proper test?’ if you’re a:

  • money service business and trust
  • company service provider
  • newly appointed responsible person

If you can provide evidence that the responsible person has previously passed the fit and proper test for the business you’re registering, you can select ‘Yes’.

Applying to register

Watch a video about how to register for anti-money laundering supervision.

How do I register for anti-money laundering supervision?

Sign in to your account to apply to register for money laundering supervision.

When you apply you must:

  • tell us about your premises
  • pay the registration fees due

Find out more about the fees you’ll need to pay for money laundering supervision.

HMRC will not review your application until you pay the fees.

After you’ve applied to register online

HMRC will carry out approval checks or a fit and proper test on the ‘responsible’ people you include in your application.

We’ll send you an email which will outline the risks of corresponding by email.

If you agree to communicate using this method, we may email you, to tell you:

  • what you need to do to progress your application
  • when we’ve made a decision

We may also telephone you to explain any required actions.

We’ll review your application. This can take up to 45 days for new applications, but may take longer if we need to contact you for:

  • extra information
  • payment
  • account updates

We’ll send you an email when we’ve made a decision.

You can sign in at any time to check the status of an application.

You can appeal the decision if you disagree with the outcome.

Annual declaration and payment of fees

If you’re registered with HMRC you must:

  • submit an annual declaration that all your details and information are correct and up to date
  • pay an annual fee for anti-money laundering supervision

You will receive a message to your online account 30 days before your annual declaration and fee payment is due. This message will tell you the steps you need to take to make sure your registration continues.

You will receive an email to let you know that:

  • the message has been sent to your online account
  • you need to log into your online account using your Government Gateway user ID to view the message

You will need to complete the following 2 stage process to submit your declaration and pay your fee.

Stage 1 — submit your declaration

You need to check that all your details and information in your account are up to date. If any of your details have changed, you will need to update them before submitting your declaration.

You need to select the ‘submit’ button to submit your declaration.

Stage 2 — pay your fee

After you have submitted your declaration, you will receive:

  • a confirmation of the annual fee amount that is payable
  • a payment reference number — this must be quoted when you pay your annual fee

If you pay your fee without quoting your payment reference number, HMRC may not be able to match the payment to your business. This may lead to your fee being shown as unpaid and your registration being cancelled.

If you do not complete your annual declaration and pay your annual fee on time, your registration will be cancelled. Both stages must be completed in order for you to remain registered.

Find out more about HMRC’s money laundering registration policy and details about how to pay your fees for money laundering supervision.

If you are having issues with submitting your declaration or paying your fee, you should contact MLRCIT@hmrc.gov.uk.

If your registration is cancelled and you need to register, then you will need to:

  1. Sign into your online account.

  2. Complete a new application.

  3. Pay the annual supervision fee.


After you’ve completed your application or declaration

You can sign in to the service to check the status of an annual supervision application.

You will not get a paper certificate. You’ll need to update your registration every 12 months.

You should also check your supervision details are correct.

If you no longer need to be registered with HMRC you should withdraw your application or cancel your registration.

Managing your account

After you’ve registered or completed your annual supervision you can sign in to your account to:

  • check messages sent to you by HMRC
  • update your account
  • view your records and make changes if you need to

How to sign in

To sign in, you need a Government Gateway user ID and password. If you do not have a user ID, you can create one when you first register.

You can use your personal Government Gateway user ID if you’re registering as a sole proprietor.

You should use the business’s Government Gateway user ID if you’re registering as any other legal entity, such as a:

  • partnership
  • limited company
  • limited liability partnership

If the business does not have a user ID, you can create one when you first register.

Start now

Problems with the service

Check if there are any current problems with the service or times it will not be available.

If you get an error message during your online application, make sure the information you’ve entered is correct.

If you still get an error message, use the ‘get help with this page’ link at the bottom of the screen you’re in to report what’s happened.

Updates to this page

Published 8 March 2019
Last updated 3 May 2024 + show all updates
  1. Information about how to submit an annual declaration and pay the annual fee for anti-money laundering supervision has been updated.

  2. Information about the impact of not having policies, controls and procedures in place before you apply has been added.

  3. More information has been added about what you should do before you apply to register, how you will be contacted after you apply and what information to use to sign into your account.

  4. Updated the title and references to 'renewing your money laundering supervision' to 'updating your money laundering supervision' as this has been renamed. Updated the 'annual renewal of your registration' section because 'annual renewal' has been renamed to 'annual supervision'.

  5. First published.

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