HMRC splits non-compliant lists at £1,000 with quarterly naming

Penalties above £1,000 imposed on businesses supervised for anti-money laundering are published in fullGOV — business name, address, sector, regulation breached, penalty amount and appeal status — under rewritten Handbook guidance on publishing details of the non-compliantGOV. Penalties of £1,000 and below sit in a separate minor-penalties category from all other penaltiesGOV, with the full-publication particulars stated only for the above-£1,000 tierGOV. The policy page alongside this guidance separately describes minor penalties — below £2,000 and not deliberateGOV, with regulation 66 penalties always counting as deliberate — as published only in aggregateGOV, so readers should check both pages for the treatment of a penalty at or near the boundary.

The rewrite also fixes the publication rhythm. HMRC aims to publish penalties quarterlyGOV and cancellations and suspensions of registration fortnightlyGOV, updating the pages for relevant changes such as appeal outcomes. Two weeks before publication, all supervised persons are told by email that the next round of publishing details of the non-compliant is comingGOV, and anyone who made representations against publication is sent a letter with the decision. The details go out through Whitehall, the system used to publish on GOV.UK.

Anonymous publication now runs through a single decision-maker.GOV The Fraud Investigation Service Director decides whether cases meet the criteria for anonymous publicationGOV, on recommendations from the Promote Team. Officers forward any representations from businesses or individuals against publication to the EC-S publishing of Sanctions mailbox; the Promote Team tests them against the exceptions in the policy page and puts every representation into a paper for the Director.

Publication during investigations is narrower and softer than before: HMRC normally does not publish a penalty where there is an ongoing criminal investigationGOV, where previously no penalty could be published if any investigation would be jeopardised — and no reason for non-publication is communicated to the business. The policy exceptions behind this are that HMRC must not publish, anonymously or otherwise, where financial-market stability or an ongoing investigation would be in jeopardyGOV, and must defer publication where it would be disproportionate, publishing in full later once proportionateGOV.

The remaining considerations are carried over in substance. Proportionality is decided case by case, balancing the restriction imposed by the measure against the severity and nature of the breach; harm to financial viability or loss of custom is generally expected rather than disproportionate. Penalties can fall on individuals and connected persons as well as the business, and where publication would identify a living individual it must be weighed carefully, with personal safety and effects on health or mental health taken seriously. The financial-stability consideration applies to a very small proportion of supervised businesses classed as HMRC large businesses: officers must check with the Large Business team that naming would not move markets. Where an appeal or review is accepted, the published entry records its status, and a successful appeal is marked as such.

Legal basis: regulation 85 of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLR 2017)GOV — the duty to publish without undue delay with exceptions and deferralGOV — with suspensions and cancellations under regulation 60(11)GOV and refusals to register under regulation 59(6)(a)GOV.