Guidance

Payment deferral or deregister from money laundering supervision due to coronavirus (COVID-19)

You were able to get a payment deferral or deregister if you were a business with an annual fee due between 1 May and 30 September 2020.

If you were due to renew money laundering supervision with HMRC between 1 May and 30 September 2020 you were able to either:

  • defer payment for up to 6 months
  • deregister if you stopped trading due to coronavirus

If you continued to operate and carry out activity covered by the Money Laundering Regulations (MLR), you needed to:

  • stay registered with HMRC
  • meet your obligations under the MLR, to protect your businesses and the UK from criminal activity

Payment deferral or deregister

If you chose to defer

You did not need to tell HMRC if you decided to defer payment.

We will contact you by email to remind you about your new payment due date.

If you chose to deregister

You did not need to be supervised by us, if you:

  • temporarily closed your business due to coronavirus
  • stopped all MLR activity

Applying to reregister your business

When you are ready to reregister your business you will need to make a new online application.

This will set a new date for your registration and the payment of your annual fee.

You will not be able to trade again until your application has been approved, if you are a:

  • Money Service Business
  • Trust or Company Service Provider

We will prioritise your application if you chose to cancel your registration during this time.

How to get help

You can get advice or more information about money laundering and your business.

Updates to this page

Published 18 May 2020
Last updated 1 December 2020 + show all updates
  1. Guidance has been updated for payment deferral and deregistering.

  2. Update to explain that you do not need to contact HMRC if you choose to defer payment.

  3. First published.

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