FHDDS51410 | Penalties, sanctions and offences: penalties – policy: Trading without approval - When is a penalty chargeable for trading without approval?

(The Fulfilment Businesses Regulations 2018, regulation 14 & Finance Act (No.2) 2017, section 55)

From 1st April 2019 a penalty is chargeable if a person starts trading without approval or applies for approval but starts trading before they receive an approval decision from us. The relevant legislation is Schedule 13 of the Finance (No.2) Act 2017.

Where a penalty for deliberate behaviour is attributable to a company officer’s actions, we can transfer all or part of the liability to pay the penalty to the officer.

We cannot charge a penalty if the person had a reasonable excuse for not applying at the appropriate time, and the penalty was not deliberate see FHDDS51430 for further details.