Getting Started with Anti-Money Laundering (AML)

TaxCalc’s AML products help accountants, bookkeepers and other finance professionals meet their obligations under the Money Laundering Regulations.

TaxCalc offers two products that work together helping you meet those obligations.  

• AML Centre
• AML Identity Checking service

AML Centre is the hub where all your reports and findings are held.

How is it used?

You will need to select and set up a User as a Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) or a Money Laundering Compliance Principal (MLCP)

The MLRO or MLCP has full access to Firm-Wide Compliance, such as:

• Client Due Diligence
• MLRO/MLCP
• Supervisory Authority/Regulatory Body

Log in as admin > Admin Centre > Compliance officers > Add Compliance Officer > Create

Or

Log in as admin > Click on AML Centre from the home page > Select Firm-wide Compliance > select Internal Control > AML Compliance Officers > Create

Firm-Wide Compliance is where you set up the process for how you want to run the identity checks and risk assessments for the clients.  

Client Due Diligence actioning the checks to verify the identity and risks associated

1. Set up firmwide compliance within AML centre as per your supervisory body’s requirements on what Due Diligence you are required to undertake. Who should I be supervised by for Money Laundering Regulations?
2. Generate the Identification report within the client record. This uses your AML centre licence cross referencing the parameters set to identify whether the client is a normal or high-risk client.
3. Generate the Risk Assessment report within the client record. This uses your AML centre licence cross referencing the parameters set to identify whether the client is a normal or high-risk client.

If the risk is low or normal, on the basis that this is acceptable by your governing body, no further checks are required. You can onboard the client as normal.

If the risk is high, this will need to be reviewed further by your MLRO. The MLRO will either mitigate the risk (by overriding the overall risk on the risk assessment report) or enhance due diligence will need to take place. This is not covered by AML centre but can be covered by the AML ID check or another source.

For extensive information on using the AML Centre functionality please see our application help which can be accessed from TaxCalc > Help > Contents.

AML Identity Checking Service

AML Identity Checking Service is a third-party check to verify an individual clients Residency, Identity and Alerts. This can be used when you have identified a high-risk client in AML Centre or as a way to run client Due Diligence via an external provider.

To use the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) service, you must register with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) as a Data Controller in order to be assigned a Data Protection Number (DPA). This DPA number will be required in the AML registration process on our website. You can find additional information here How to register for the Anti Money Laundering (AML) service?

How to use the AML Identity Checking service through the TaxCalc program

How to use the AML service through our website.

The scoring for the AML Identity Checking to receive a successful message is as below:

• Two Residency Tests = Pass
• One Identity Test = Pass
• Zero Alert Lists = Pass

If you have any Alert lists, this will result in a refer result and will require further inspection.

For residency and identity, they have the meet the above numbers or higher.

In the instance of running a successful check showing a Pass result, you may still need to do standard due diligence checks. However we would recommend confirming with your governing body.

In the instance that you get a refer, you will need to perform the extra steps to verify that the client’s risk is mitigated. There are a variety of reasons that could result in a refer. You need to check with your governing body to verify the correct information is gathered before the client can be safely onboarded.