The Economic Crime Levy for professional practices

With ever changing advancements in technology, government policies are constantly evolving, and it is important that professional practices watch out for changes which will impact their business. 

 One relatively new addition being the economic crime levy (ECL).

What is the Economic Crime Levy? 

It is a UK tax introduced to fund efforts to combat economic crime, such as money laundering, fraud, and other financial crimes. It was implemented as part of the UK’s broader strategy to strengthen its financial system against these threats and to help finance the activities of agencies like the National Crime Agency and the Serious Fraud Office. 

Who needs to pay the Economic Crime Levy? 

The economic crime levy (ECL) must be paid by entities who are supervised under Money Laundering Regulations (MLR) and whose UK revenue exceeds £10.2 million.  

It is an annual fixed charge and tiered based on the size of the business, measured by its UK revenue. 

The collection authorities are: 

• HMRC 
• The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) 
• Gambling Commission (GC) 

Entities will only need to submit information and make payments to a single collection authority, even if they are supervised by multiple authorities under the Money Laundering Regulations (MLR). 

How’s is the Economic Crime Levy spent? 

The fund will be used to increase surveillance and law enforcement agency’s ability to better target and control economic crime threats through: 

• Advancing reform of the UK’s AML supervisory regime
• Increasing analysis of suspicious activity reports (SARs) 
• Creating more intelligence teams and hire financial crime investigators across national and regional agencies
• Investing in data analysis technology for law enforcement agencies

Economic Crime Levy amounts  

The fixed charge will be based according to entities size – medium (£10.2 million to £36 million), large (£36 million to £1 billion) and very large (more than £1 billion). 

• Medium – £10,000 
• Large – £36,000 
• Very Large – £250,000 

Please do make sure you register for the levy if you fall within this criteria. The next payment is due to be collected in September 2024. If you would like further information, please get in touch.