Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced plans to consult on a levy on firms subject to money laundering regulations, in the budget this week, as well as a further £23m for the criminal justice system as a whole.
However,
Kingsley Napley criminal litigation partner Alun Milford said: ‘Earlier reports
suggested the aim is to boost funding of technology and investigators which is
all very well, but if correct, addresses only one piece of the puzzle.
‘The
government needs also to ensure investment in extra prosecutors and a proper
functioning court service to deal with money laundering and fraud cases
effectively. Only with investment across the system will the authorities really
be able to boast about a significant ramping up of the war on dirty money and
financial crime and to meet the objectives set out in the Economic Crime Plan.’
Christopher
David, counsel, WilmerHale, said: ‘The UK regulated sector already faces one of
the most onerous anti-money laundering regimes in the world and this additional
levy will undoubtedly be a further burden.’
Law Society
president Simon Davis described the extra £23m―which includes £5m to trial
specialist domestic abuse courts, £15m for crime victims and £3m for the Royal
Commission on criminal justice―as a ‘drop in the ocean’ that ‘does not come
close to the hundreds of millions cut from legal aid’. However, he welcomed the
recognition of the trauma experienced by domestic abuse victims and the
commitment to early intervention and rehabilitation measures for perpetrators.
For the
coronavirus pandemic, the Chancellor said employees would be entitled to full
pay if quarantined or told not to come in to work.
The Budget
also introduced a non-residents surcharge on stamp duty land tax of 2% from
April 2021, and confirmed it will legislate to implement the changes to the
off-payroll working rules (IR35) from 6 April 2020.
DWF corporate
tax partner Caroline Colliston said the implementation would ‘occur against a
backdrop of concerns… about the impact on business, the labour supply chain and
the confusion and lack of clarity around the terms and operation of the
legislation’.
She suggested
employers ‘take quick action’ to ensure compliance, including ‘identifying
their contingent workforce, ensuring the burden of operating PAYE is shifted
down their contractual labour supply chain, reviewing the terms of contracts in
their labour supply chain, adopting robust internal procedures and audits to
ensure status determination statements are provided and liability is limited as
well as considering establishing an employment status disagreement process’.
