New money laundering tax coming?

One Budget measure that might have escaped many was the government’s plans to hit firms in the accounting, financial, and legal sectors, with a new tax (levy) to pay for tackling economic crime.

The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, explained in his budget notes that all businesses subject to money laundering regulations will be taxed in future to deliver pledges in the government’s economic crime plan.

The regulations will apply to accountants, auditors, insolvency practitioners, tax advisers, law firms and financial institutions.

Consultation will begin this Spring on the tax, and the government could be looking to raise as much as £100m from the levy.