Anti Money Laundering rules set out by UK Government place a number of obligations on us as a firm, including the requirement to confirm the identification of all of our clients, and to risk assess them, before we provide professional services.
We appreciate that the information requested can seem overly long and intrusive, but we are obliged to work within both the detail and spirit of the rules around Anti Money Laundering. If you have opened a bank account, taken a loan, or dealt with a professional like a lawyer recently, you will appreciate these rules apply across a number of sectors and are commonplace. We need to both identify you, and also understand a little about your income and assets. We’ve endeavoured to be pragmatic and measured.
Identification
We need to see photographic ID and separate address verification – at least two documents – and we need information about residence and overseas connections, former names and addresses, plus a outline understanding of your income and assets.
We need this for everyone we will be acting for:
- Sole Traders – Yourself
- Landlords and Personal Tax Clients – yourself and spouse if we are acting for them
- Partnerships and LLPs – all partners
- Companies – All directors and all shareholders with holdings over 20%
Please provide this using our secure form:
Provide Identification Documents to Whitefield Tax / YogaTax
What Identification Do We Need?
Satisfactory identification would one item from both the following lists:
List 1 – An item of Photographic ID, eg:
- Driving Licence
- Passport
- Firearms Licence
In all cases these items must be valid and in date.
List 2 – An item of Address Verification which must show your name and current address:
- UK Bank or Credit Card statement – less than three months old
- UK Utility Bill – less than three months old
- Council Tax Demand – current year
- A second document from the first list showing your address – valid and in date
(in practice this would be Driving Licence if you have also sent Passport)
Risk Assessment
Anti Money Laundering rules also require us to risk assess our clients, and in connection with this we ask some straight forward questions about:
- Personal history – change of addresses and names
- Connections with overseas territories
- An outline of your assets and income sources
This information helps us carry out a risk assessment.
Further information
- It is important that, regardless of what ever form of identification is produced, that your name and address agree to the information given to us.
- We can either see originals of the above documents or copies/scans including a good quality picture. We would prefer not to have originals posted to us, but if you do this is at your own risk.
- The copies must be of originals; downloaded bank or utility statements are not adequate for this purpose.
- For Companies, Partnerships etc, we will need to identify all Directors, Partners and Major Shareholders.
- If you cannot produce adequate documentation from the above, please contact us to discuss alternative solutions, and we will work constructively with you.
- Sometimes Risk Assessment will mean that we need to seek further or more in depth information from you in order to comply with regulations.
- This information is a requirement under UK and Global Anti Money Laundering Directives, and for our own risk management. We hold the information securely and do not share it with third parties except as required by law and as set out in our Privacy Policy.
