ECSH26000 | The Economic Crime Levy

The Economic Crime (Anti-Money Laundering) Levy (ECL) is a levy charged on businesses regulated for anti-money laundering purposes under The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, that are medium, large or very large in size based on their UK revenue.

The ECL was introduced as part of the government’s wider objective, contained in both the 2019 Economic Crime Plan (ECP) and the more recent Economic Crime Plan 2 (ECP2), to put in place long-term sustainable funding to tackle economic crime.

The ECL is paid as a fixed fee based on the size band an AML-regulated entity falls into based on their UK revenue.

There are four size bands:

• Small (under £10.2m UK revenue).

• Medium (£10.2m – £36m).

• Large (£36m - £1bn).

• Very large (over £1bn).

The amount to be paid is set by HM Treasury and determined by the band the business falls under.

The ECL is payable by the 30 September each year.

Customer Strategy & Tax Design (CSTD) administers collection of the levy for HMRC supervised businesses and those supervised by the 22 legal and accountancy professional body supervisors.

EC-S is not involved in administering or collection of the ECL.

ECL operational guidance

Some businesses supervised by EC-S pay the ECL.

Decision makers (DMs) may find that this is applicable to their case, may see a charge on the accounts or alternatively the business may mention this or ask the DM about it. (This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000) This is not something EC-S teams deal with, however as a representative of HMRC, the DM should be aware of the general principles and workings of the ECL, as set out above and familiarise themselves with the published information and direct businesses to GOV.UK if they want to find out more about this.

Further guidance on the ECL is available on GOV.UK.